For Joey Badass, the last week has been marked by conflict, what with seemingly half the rappers in LA ganging up on him in lyrical warfare. But, apparently, it’s also been highlighted by anticipation — both for today’s Essence feature on Joey and his longtime girlfriend Serayah, and for what the feature announced: The impending birth of their first child together (a boy), as revealed by pregnancy photos showing off Serayah’s baby bump.
The accompanying story details the couple’s relationship, from the rumors that spawned from their chemistry in the video for “Show Me” to their eventual surrender to mutual attraction, and including how Serayah realized she had a bun in the oven: “I was on set, and they brought fried chicken for the cast and crew, and I just was repulsed by the smell,” she recounted. “I remember thinking, I know that’s chicken and I can smell it coming from the hallway. And I just was like, that smells so gross. But I didn’t understand: Why do I feel like this stinks?”
For Joey, the baby will be his second; he has a seven-year-old daughter from a prior relationship. Of course, he’s not letting his second brush with fatherhood keep him from working on his new album, which he told Uproxx’s own Jeremy Hecht he plans to release by summer.
Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone saga isn’t over on Paramount+. Not even close. The Madison will arrive later this year with 1944 to follow. Meanwhile, every other streaming service would love to have a Yellowstone, and Netflix has hopped onto the neo-Western train with at least two slam dunk releases thus far. Those include American Primeval, which opened the year with historic brutality and stayed atop the streaming lists for weeks, but as a limited series, the show was not destined to stride further into the frontier.
Whereas Ransom Canyon was teed up with a lingering storyline (and over 56 million hours streamed in only one week) that clearly left room for another season, so it’s no wonder that dance-hall foot tapping is going down.
Has Ransom Canyon Been Renewed Or Cancelled?
Neither, nope, nada. As of this writing, we do not know whether dance hall proprietor Quinn O’Grady (Minka Kelly) will return from her New York pianist gig and what on earth Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) will keep doing to work through his son’s untimely passing. There’s also the question of that love triangle with Quinn’s attraction to Davis Collins (Eoin Macken), but you know that the show will not be able to resist the “‘will they, won’t they’ riptide” that Quinn and Staten have been feeling for much of their lives.
Minka Kelly went on record with Entertainment Weekly to express the desire that, if a second season happens, Quinn would at least be shown on the piano before returning to Ransom Canyon. And series creator April Blair hinted to TV Insider that although a greenlight hasn’t happened yet, writers are already working a second season that will likely happen after a six-month time jump when that piano outing is finished. Blair added, “At its core, Ransom Canyon isn’t just a town, it’s an idea. It’s the painful longing for your first love. It’s the burning desire to protect your family. It’s cowboys and lovers, grifters and thieves. Lust, deceit, heartache, home. Ransom has it all.”
And by “all,” you’d think that would would mean a second season, but the ball remains in Netflix’s court.
Jensen Ackles fans will want to prepare for several heaping helpings of the Supernatural star coming to Prime Video/Amazon. As Soldier Boy, he will not only shatter the remaining fragments of Homelander’s fragile psyche but will star in Vought International as one of two seminal Supes who mainlined the Compound V before it was a cool thing to do. Additionally, Prime Video will roll out a procedural thriller series with Ackles front and center while leading a group of undercover federal agents.
Countdown will hail from Amazon MGM Studios with a showrunner and creator, Derek Haas, who has plenty of experience (Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., FBI: International) in the first-responder drama realm. Let’s do the detective work on what to expect from Ackles’ most immediately incoming series.
Plot
Prime Video/Amazon
Sure, this is a cop drama, but Countdown will apparently please fans of Supernatural, not only due to Ackles’ presence but also because the actor wants to assure fans that his character, “rogue” LAPD detective Mark Meachum, will have much in common with demon hunter extraordinaire Dean Winchester. Really, that’s what Ackles promised Entertainment Weekly: “There’s probably going to be some familiarity from that fandom with this guy.” He added, “He’s going to be a familiar taste, which is good. I like doing that. I mean, I played Dean for 15 years. I loved playing that kind of a character. And I think this guy is in the vein of that, just with a completely different set of circumstances.”
Mark Meachum will be a risk taker with potentially extralegal ways, which should be wild considering that he’s leading a task force. Derek Haas further explained to EW that he became curious about task forces during Chicago P.D., and he describes this show’s group as “kind of like an all-star team and it’s got people from a bunch of different agencies. So you got DEA or NSA or you could have somebody from the coast guard, secret service, detectives from local police departments, feds.”
In this case, a particularly blatant crime sets the task force into motion. And for formality’s sake, a synopsis awaits:
When an officer with the Department of Homeland Security is murdered in broad daylight, LAPD detective Mark Meachum, portrayed by Ackles, is recruited to a secret task force, alongside undercover agents from all branches of law enforcement, to investigate. But the hunt for the killer soon uncovers a plot far more sinister than anyone could have imagined, kicking off a race against time to save a city of millions.
Cast
Prime Video/Amazon
Ackles will be joined by Eric Dane, Jessica Camacho, Violett Beane, Uli Latukefu, Jonathan Togo, and Elliot Knight.
Release Date
Countdown will premiere with three episodes on June 25 with weekly releases until September 3.
Trailer
A trailer should surface before much longer. Until then, we’re feeling obliged to rewatch Soldier Boy during his Solid Gold era from The Boys.
“Run that back, Turbo.” The phrase has been heard on many a Gunna song, of course, and it’s the producer tag of his frequent collaborator, producer Turbo. In a new interview with Music Business Worldwide, the producer discusses his and Gunna’s relationship.
Speaking about how they came to work together, he explained:
“We started together. In the beginning, he always looked at me as a producer, so I appreciated that, because I always wanted to be a producer, but, at that time, everybody was treating me as an engineer.
Gunna was the first one to start calling me and asking me for beats. In the beginning, I’d seen he was kind of lacking with his engineer, he wasn’t working at the pace I was working and Gunna used to be terrible with his hard drive. He used to walk around with it in two pieces. When I saw that, I vividly remember having a conversation with him like, ‘This hard drive is the most important thing ever.’ He’d pull the hard drive out of two different pockets and I’m like, ‘Bro, this isn’t how this is supposed to go.’
From that point on, I told him I was going to be his engineer and record him, and he took that as an opportunity to rap on all my beats, because he didn’t really have to go to anybody else. I was sitting right there and I always made sure I had at least 20 beats a day to play for him.”
He added, “It was [down to] our work ethic; We’re the ones that are going to stay at the studio the longest and work on the song until it’s all the way complete and sounds the best. We’ve been doing that pretty much every day and we just got glued to each other. The working relationship turned into a brotherhood and the brotherhood is everything at this point.”
Each week our staff of film and television experts surveys the entertainment landscape to select the ten best new/newish shows available for you to stream at home. We put a lot of thought into our selections, and our debates on what to include and what not to include can sometimes get a little heated and feelings may get hurt, but so be it, this is an important service for you, our readers. With that said, here are our selections for this week.
15. Hacks (Max)
Max
The last time we checked in with Hacks, Deborah (Jean Smart) succeeded in her life-long dream to become a late-night host — but not without betraying her friend and writing partner Ava (Hannah Einbinder), who holds a secret over Deborah. And she’s not afraid to use it. Season 4 finds tensions between the two rising while working on the show.
The Rehearsal, the most brilliantly deadpan show on TV, stars Nathan Fielder as a man on a mission to reduce the uncertainties of everyday life. In season 2, the urgency of his project grows as he puts his resources toward an issue that affects us all: commercial aviation. It’s good to see that laptop harness again.
Black Bag is a fun, sexy spy movie from Steven Soderbergh that stars Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Marisa Abela (Yas from Industry!), Tom Burke, Naomie Harris, Regé-Jean Page, and Pierce Brosnan — and it didn’t even make its budget back at the box office? Come on, America. Do better! You’re out of excuses now that Black Bag is on streaming. It’s one of the year’s best.
Summer of 69 received strong reviews coming out of South by Southwest, where it premiered earlier this year. Directed by the very funny Jillian Bell in her feature-length debut, the comedy is about an awkward high school student (Sam Morelos) who hires an exotic dancer (Chloe Fineman) to help seduce her longtime crush before graduation. If you’ve ever wanted to hear a stripper do a Jennifer Coolidge impression, this is the movie for you!
Following on the heels of the delightful movie Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. comes another adaptation of a Judy Blume book. Inspired by the 1975 novel of the same name, Forever is described as an “epic love story of two Black teens,” high school students Keisha (Lovie Simone) and Justin (Michael Cooper Jr.), as they prepare for college. The reviews are off the charts for the series, which was adapted by Girlfriends creator Mara Brock Akil. If you don’t watch Forever, you’ll regret it, well, forever.
Created by Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which is a very good movie, and Knives Out), Poker Face stars Natasha Lyonne as a former casino employee who has an ability to determine when someone is lying — a skill that she uses to solve various murders across the country. It’s a blast, and season 2 has an insane number of guest stars, including Cynthia Erivo, Giancarlo Esposito, John Cho, John Mulaney, Justin Theroux, Kumail Nanjiani, Margo Martindale, Patti Harrison, Richard Kind, and Sam Richardson. Don’t be surprised if Poker Face ends up as one of the best TV shows of 2025.
There’s a lot to like about The Brutalist, especially the majestic score. “We didn’t want too much ornamentation because, I mean, it’s called The Brutalist,” Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg told Uproxx. “We wanted this kind of directness, but also, there’s such a responsibility with a narrative film like this in terms of tracking the decades.” It’s an overwhelming but worthwhile experience.
Overcompensating is a college-set comedy series that follows closeted former football player Benny (Benito Skinner) and outsider Carmen (Wally Baram). Together, they’re on a mission to fit in as they “juggle horrible hookups, flavored vodka, and fake IDs.” Charli XCX is an executive music producer, and she also makes a funny cameo blasting one of her biggest hits.
Sawyer is back! Lost actor Josh Holloway makes his return to prestige TV in Duster, a new series from creators J. J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan. Set in the 1970s, the drama is about a crime syndicate’s getaway driver whose life goes from dangerous to VERY dangerous once an FBI agent (Rachel Hilson) is on the case. There’s no polar bears or smoke monsters, but it still looks good.
Murderbot? Murderbot! Murderbot. It’s fun to say, and it’s fun to watch, too. Based on Martha Wells’ book series of the same, this sci-fi comedy stars Alexander Skarsgård as a cyborg who has, as the actor put it, “hacked his system so he’s got – or it’s got – free will, and it’s talking about going on these crazy adventures, but instead it’s watching soap operas.” Maybe we’re not so different, murderbots and humans.
What’s better than one Robert Pattinson doing a weird voice? Two Robert Pattinsons doing a weird voice! Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 isn’t a stone-cold masterpiece like his last film Parasite (few films are!), but the sci-fi comedy is a lot of fun. Prepare to fall in love with the Okja-like “creepers.”
Pee-Wee As Himself is a two-part documentary about the late, great Paul Reubens, the comedy mastermind behind Pee-Wee Herman. The film is stitched together from over 40 hours of candid interview footage and 1,000 hours of archival footage, making it the definitive portrait of the performer.
It’s gone under the radar, but we’re here to tell you that there’s a new Guy Ritchie movie starring John Krasinski, Natalie Portman, Eiza González, Domhnall Gleeson, Arian Moayed, and Stanley Tucci, and it’s out this weekend! Fountain of Youth follows estranged siblings Luke and Charlotte (Krasinski and Portman) who are on a quest to find the titular fountain. There probably aren’t any Fountain of Wayne songs on the soundtrack, but you never know. Nothing says adventure like some “Mexican Wine.”
Can you guess Netflix‘s longest-running scripted series? It’s not Orange Is the New Black or BoJack Horseman or Stranger Things; that one only feels like it premiered 30 years ago. The answer is Big Mouth, the hilariously crude animated show in its eighth and final season. It finally happened: Nick Kroll & Co. ran out of masturbation jokes.
The White Lotus isn’t the only wealth-obsessed satires starring Meghann Fahy in town anymore. Sirens follows Devon (Fahy), who travels from Buffalo, New York, to a luxurious island where her sister (Milly Alcock) is working as a personal assistant for a creepy — and potential cult leader? — boss (Julianne Moore) and her billionaire husband (Glenn Howerton). “This story has a lot of teeth,” creator Molly Smith Metzler said. “There are real moments of drama, and it’s going to make people uncomfortable.” An uncomfortable but funny show with Glenn Howerton? Maybe Sirens is more It’s Always Sunny than The White Lotus.
Reacher has remained a Big Guy-sized hit through this year’s undercover stint for the wandering brick sh*thouse embodied by Alan Ritchson. His career has now reached such heights that Blue Mountain State has been pulled out for more fraternity antics, and Reacher has officially spun off with Neagley, based upon Maria Sten’s expanded P.I. character from Lee Child’s books. She’s the glue between seasons and his best friend, and only Neagley is permitted to rescue Reacher’s butt and have it feel believable. Those are the rules.
Well, Ritchson has been filming back-to-back movies (and Instagramming the process) on a tight schedule, but Reacher‘s fourth season will be coming, and earlier this week, Ritchson and Sten surfaced on Major League Baseball social media pages while filming as Reacher and Neagley. She, as a Chicagoan, was wearing a Cubs hat as they sat in the stands at Wrigley Field. We do know that Ritchson will be part of Neagley, too, but ambiguity remained on which show they have been filming this month.
Which Reacher Series Were Alan Ritchson And Maria Sten Filming At A Cubs Game?
Additionally, Ritchson Instagrammed a batch of photos that include Maria Sten and Lee Child while writing, “Stopped by the Neagley set to see my dear friend @mariasten who is absolutely crushing it.” So there you have it.
In doing so, the jacked frontman also wrote that stunts would soon be afoot for the main series, and “Season 4 is going to be the most intensely physical season yet. My body is ready.” As for filming? “Season 4 is right around the corner.”
Meanwhile, Maria Sten divulged to Collider that Neagley will revolve around private investigator exploits, but also, expect her personal life to emerge:
“Neagley has a lot going on in her life. She has a history, and she has a life lived. She has some quite severe personal issues of her own that she’s grappling with. We just get to know her better and see her grapple with these issues. For anybody who likes the character, I think it’ll be nice to get to know her a little bit better. And we have rounded up such a great cast for this season of Neagley. I’m just thrilled to get going and sink my teeth in.”
Reacher‘s first three seasons are available on Amazon with so much more coming.
Following her beloved 2024 album For Your Consideration, Empress Of is back with new music. There’s no new album cycle yet, but her latest, “Little Secret,” comes from the soundtrack of the second season of the Apple TV+ series The Buccaneers
Also appearing on the soundtrack album are Kacy Hill, Suki Waterhouse, Madi Diaz, Holly Humberstone, and more.
Meanwhile, Empress Of has some big plans for later this year, as she’s set to be one of the openers (alongside Blood Orange, The Japanese House, Nilüfer Yanya, Chanel Beads, Jim-E Stack, and Oklou) on Lorde’s tour.
Listen to “Little Secret” above and check out the full soundtrack tracklist below.
The Buccaneers: S2 (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack) Tracklist
Disc 1
1. “Main Title Remix” (remix of “North American Scum” Feat. Miya Folick by Emily Kokal) (Remixed by Chloé Caillet)
2. Empress Of — “Little Secret”
3. Kacy Hill — “Chasing After You”
4. Suki Waterhouse — “Featherweight”
5. Jade Bird — “Can’t Forget”
6. Madi Diaz — “Something To Burn”
7. Holly Humberstone — “Miss You To Death”
8. BEKA — “Worry”
9. Jana Diab — “Never The Same”
10. Emily Kokal — “What Would We Do”
11. Emily Kokal — “2U”
Disc 2
1. Avawaves — “Wedding”
2. Avawaves — “Aunt Nell”
3. Avawaves — “Lizzy”
4. Avawaves — “Affairs”
5. Avawaves — “The Institution”
6. Avawaves — “To Have A Voice”
The Buccaneers: S2 (Apple TV+ Original Series Soundtrack) is out 6/18 via Interscope.
No doubt about it, Sylvester Stallone’s most recent career act has been best summed up by his Tulsa King run. The Taylor Sheridan series puts the former Rocky and Rambo frontman in fish-out-of-water territory as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, who believed that he’d be rewarded by his loyalty (after serving a substantial prison sentence) but instead found himself shipped off to Oklahoma to build a new criminal empire. The series quickly proved to be a hit on Paramount+ and ran with a speedily-spun second season filmed far away (Atlanta) from the harsh Oklahoma climate, and the addition of Frank Grillo as rival gangster Bill Bevilaqua only added to the ratings boon.
Once a third season was confirmed, it emerged that Garrett Hedlund would be returning alongside Vincent Piazza, Annabella Sciorra, and Neal McDonough. Also look for Robert Patrick, Beau Knapp, Bella Heathcote, Dana Delaney, Martin Starr, and Jay Will. A recent Variety scoop also indicated that Kevin Pollak joined as “an FBI agent who has an axe to grind,” and with social media clues indicating that production is running fast and furious, logistics on when you can watch this should be the next concern.
Does Tulsa King Season 3 Have A Release Date Yet On Paramount+?
Not yet. However, with this series not requiring a lengthy post production phase, a fall arrival seems more than possible, which would be welcome during the current Sheridrought while his viewers await more Yellowstone lore with The Madison and 1944 spin offs.
For the moment, the most enlightening peeks at Tulsa King‘s third season can be found in Frank Grillo’s Instagrammed belt buckle and Stallone wearing the snazziest suit known to mankind. Also, Neil McDonough let slip to Collider that he has now graduated to being a more villainous force as Oklahoma governor:
“Now I play the governor on this season of Tulsa King. We were with David Glasser [executive producer] last year, and everybody said, ‘Tell him your idea. Tell him your idea.’ I said, ‘David, I’d like to come back as the governor next year.’ He thought about it and said, ‘That’s a good idea.’ I didn’t hear anything for two months… and then I get the call, ‘Okay, you’re back in Tulsa King again this year. You’ll start in two weeks.’ I read the script, and on the first page: Cal Thresher becoming governor of the great state of Oklahoma.”
Last year’s The Bikeriders didn’t shy away from the sexiness of biker pursuits, including an unconventional love triangle involving Tom Hardy and Austin Butler, but Pillion is here to take biker romance straight into kinky territory. That promise is only heightened by Alexander Skarsgård’s starring role in this movie, which in retrospect might be a natural progression after Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, in which Skarsgård spent some time on a leash, and Robert Eggers’ The Northman, in which he infamously threw himself into a naked battle scene atop a volcano.
Whew. It’s little wonder why Skarsgård didn’t mind downshifting intensity in Murderbot to cleanse his palate after Pillion, but that isn’t to say that he didn’t enjoy making the A24 film that recently debuted at Cannes. Quite the contrary, so let’s unlock the chains on what to expect.
Plot
A24
The A24 stamp of approval arrived with the Cornerstone Films title’s October 2024 acquisition, and at Cannes, Pillion received a 7-minute standing ovation that seemingly places it above several other premiering titles this year. What is Pillion about? The sparse description for the Harry Lighton-directed queer love story reads as follows: “A directionless man is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.”
That directionless dude would be Colin, portrayed by Harry Melling (The Queen’s Gambit, The Pale Blue Eye), who finds himself in an unorthodox romance with Ray, an imposing biker portrayed by Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood, Big Little Lies). Hints suggest that Ray will open up more as the film progresses, yet an introductory encounter between Ray and Colin includes the Dom requiring the sub to sleep at the foot of his bed. Naturally, the more sensational aspects of the movie involve the sexual relationship between the two men and the movie’s orgy scenes.
Yes, you definitely read that correctly. Skarsgård got frank with Deadline about how much he enjoyed that part of the gig:
“The sex scenes, the orgy scenes were very fun and playful. Robbie, the intimacy coordinator, was fantastic in helping because it got messy. There’s lots of people and lots of moving parts. But he was terrific in just orchestrating, choreographing it and also knowing when to step back and let us go with it and when to kind of step in. Those were exciting days, absolutely.”
The script hails from Harry Lighton as well with Cornerstone Films initially marketing the story as “equally compelling and shocking as it is funny and entertaining.” Lighton recently told Vanity Fair that the film’s graphic nature meant that certain practicalities emerged, and “[o]nce we got into the nitty-gritty, it emerges that you can’t just chuck a load of dicks on screen.” Sentiment ended up ruling some moments over sensationalism, but naturally, Skarsgård expressed that he was “very, very comfortable” with the nudity:
“I knew that it was going to be graphic, and Harry was very clear on his vision for it—when and how nudity was going to be depicted. I felt that it really served the story, and it made sense to me. I was very, very comfortable with all that. We had a really terrific intimacy coordinator named Robbie [Taylor Hunt] who was there with us the whole way.”
As for Melling, he revealed that choreography was key for the orgy scenes, and Skarsgård was “the most generous, dreamy scene partner, so what could have been quite a daunting experience couldn’t have been more different.”
Cast
Skarsgård and Melling take center stage with other cast members including Anthony Welsh, Douglas Hodge, Billy King, Lesley Sharp, Jake Sharp, and Brian Martin.
Release Date
A24 hasn’t revealed a theatrical release date yet for Pillion, which made a splash at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Trailer
We want to see a trailer as bad as the rest of the world, but for now, memory lane exists with Skarsgård telling Conan how much he enjoys being naked.
Following 2023’s I Told Them…, Burna Boy is back: Today (May 22), he announced No Sign Of Weakness, a new album. The news is also accompanied by “TaTaTa,” a new single featuring Travis Scott. A video for the track is set to follow tomorrow.
A press release notes the album showcases “Burna Boy’s larger-than-life charisma and unmistakable fusion of global influences with melodic pop sensibility.”
No tracklist has been revealed yet (no album cover either), but some of Burna’s recent post-I Told Them… singles include “Bundle By Bundle” (a collab with Uproxx cover star Chlöe), “Update,” and “Sweet Love.”
Speaking of Chlöe, she and Burna faced some dating rumors late last year, when the two were spotted in Burna’s home of Nigeria. They were seen enjoying Nigerian nightlife together and seemed to be physically comfortable with each other. Ultimately, though, those rumors didn’t amount to much, as “Bundle By Bundle” was released not long after the sighting and their night out was attributed to the two co-workers getting more familiar with each other. “Bundle By Bundle” ended up getting its own video, too.
Listen to “TaTaTa” above.
No Sign Of Weakness is out 7/10 via Spaceship/Bad Habit/Atlantic. Find more information here.
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