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As Ahsoka barrels into its season finale this week, the latest live-action series has left Star Wars fans with plenty to chew on as the show threatens the status quo of the galaxy far, far away. Ahsoka takes place just after the events of The Mandalorian Season 3 as the New Republic struggles to build a peace-oriented and effective government following the destruction of the Empire in Return of the Jedi. However, that mission is threatened by leftover Imperial remnants and an even greater danger in the form of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen).

After being teased in The Mandalorian, the iconic Star Wars villain made his live-action in Episode 6 of Ahsoka finally answering the question of where Thrawn disappeared to in the series finale of Star Wars: Rebels. The ruthless Imperial strategist was blasted to an unknown location alongside fledgling Jedi Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Ahsoka Episode 6 revealed that location to be the planet of Peridea, nestled in a separate galaxy that Star Wars fans have never seen before. But the planet is holding a dark secret that is “calling” to the mercenary Jedi Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) that could be an even more grave threat than the return of Thrawn.

While the secrets of Peridea have yet to be revealed by Ahsoka, the show has dropped some clues and Easter eggs that could hint at what’s in store for the finale. Let’s break down the biggest theories and predictions as well as drop one of our own.

What Is Calling Baylan Skoll?

For most of his screen time on Ahsoka, Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll has stared off into the distance as something clearly troubles his thoughts. Don’t get us wrong, it looks badass as hell thanks to the late Stevenson’s imposing figure and natural gravitas, but it would be nice to know what the heck is going on.

As eagle-eyed fans noticed in Episode 6, the temple where Thrawn meets with the Night Sisters is littered with Zeffo symbols from hit video game Jedi: Fallen Order. The Zeffo are an ancient species who were wildly adept at wielding the Force. While on Peridea, Baylan finally tells his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) that he’s been feeling something from the planet calling him and whatever it is, the Night Sisters don’t want to go near it. The Zeffo could easily fit that bill, or something that even scared them out of their space pants…

The other major theory is that Baylan is being called by Abeloth, an extremely powerful and immortal Force entity, who’s also called the “Bringer of Chaos.” Considering Ahsoka Episode 7 was titled, “Dreams and Madness,” Abeloth is also a solid bet. Baylan has often spoken of a power greater than anyone has ever seen that can reshape an entire galaxy, and a full-on Force goddess sounds like it would do the trick.

Ezra Bridger Has Been ‘Possessed’

Now, we’re venturing a little more into wild speculation. Going into Ahsoka, there were already theories that Ezra Bridger turned to the Dark Side. The character was tempted by Darth Maul during his time on Rebels, and maybe years in exile pushed Ezra over the edge.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case based on his live-action debut so far. He seems genuinely happy to be reunited with Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and is living peacefully with the Noti. That said, Ezra does exhibit some possibly suspicious behavior. For starters, he’s extremely eager to get off Peridea. Although being in exile probably sucked. During a showdown with Shin Hati and Thrawn’s Night Troopers, he adamantly refuses to take his old lightsaber when Sabine offers it back to him. Ezra then proceeds to take out troopers left and right — and block Shin’s lightsaber — using nothing but the Force. But, again, this could all be explained by his time in exile. Ezra was forced to adapt. (We’re so sorry.)

By themselves, Ezra’s eagerness to leave and his refusal to use a lightsaber have easy explanations. But then there’s the matter of the Night Sisters. They were able to easily locate Ahsoka in orbit, but not Ezra over the past ten years? Thrawn also had little interest in going after a Jedi who could sabotage his plans. Was the Grand Admiral conserving resources, or were he and the Night Sisters afraid of Ezra because he now has a power far greater than the Dark Side? During the skirmish in Episode 7, Baylan Skoll notably stayed far away from Ezra as well. Granted, Baylan could have needed to get his pensive stare on again, or maybe he sensed something in the missing Jedi.

The Time Travel Theory

One of the problems going into Ahsoka is honestly a problem with a lot of Star Wars stories: We know how it ends. In this case, should Thrawn resume control of the Empire, which is looking increasingly likely, we know that he’s ultimately defeated and the First Order is running things in the Sequel Trilogy. Granted, there’s a roughly 20-year gap until that happens, so that leaves plenty of storytelling possibilities. But what if Ahsoka jumps completely over that problem?

Thanks to Episode 6’s use of The World Between Worlds, Ahsoka has essentially brought the potential of time travel to live-action Star Wars. However, the series doesn’t have to get that hand-wavey to solve the Sequel Trilogy problem. By visiting Peridea, Ahsoka’s characters have traveled to a whole other galaxy and will presumably have to return at some point. Who’s to say when they return it will be around the same time they left? What if they returned after the events of the Sequel Trilogy? This would lean Thrawn’s rein of power wide open and untether Ahsoka from the canonical restrictions that these Star Wars shows get tangled up in.

Granted, this prediction probably won’t happen because that’s a whole lot of narrative leap-frogging, but it is an exciting idea to consider.

Shin Hati Is Mara Jade

This last prediction is the biggest long shot yet, but not completely out of the realm of possibility. With the live-action debut of Thrawn, Dave Filoni is setting the stage for his live-action Star Wars movie that seems to be pulling heavily from Heir to the Empire books. The early ’90s book and its two sequels were one of the first and most memorable stabs at imagining a post-Return of the Jedi world before being knocked out of canon by the Sequel Trilogy.

Also included in Heir to the Empire is a fan-favorite Star Wars character named Mara Jade. Known as the Emperor’s Hand, Mara served as Palpatine’s secret weapon before becoming entangled with Thrawn’s regime. However, her allegiance to the Empire slowly waned and she eventually became a love interest for Luke Skywalker after embracing the Light Side of the Force.

Ever since Ahsoka‘s debut, Star Wars fans have been hoping for a live-action Mara Jade to be retrofitted into the story just like Thrawn. But what if she’s already here? In Episode 7, Ahsoka offers to help Shin who’s seemingly been abandoned by both Thrawn and Baylan. Shin could accept that aid in the season finale and in doing so potentially reveal her real name: Mara Jade.

Again, this one is a huge long shot, but not for nothing, actress Ivanna Sakhno did pull off red hair in The Reunion. That’s half of the character work right there, plus Sakhno has been winning rave reviews for her performance as a fledgling Dark Jedi apprentice.

The Ahsoka season finale starts streaming October 3 at 9 ET/6 PT on Disney+.

Media day is always an exciting one around the NBA, as it marks the beginning of the new season and all 30 teams feel a wave of optimism about what is to come.

How quickly that feeling of optimism dissipates varies from team to team, but it is always fun seeing players mostly in a good mood and ready to get the season underway. The teams take advantage of that excitement and players being in good spirits to put them through their paces in front of the camera, knocking out most all of the photo shoots and in-arena entertainment videos for the upcoming year. For star players, that means a particularly large workload in front of the camera and as media day has become a bigger operation, teams have started doing more than just having players do stuff in front of a green screen.

In Atlanta, they want to quite literally get fired up for the season and had Trae Young and others shoot some photos and video in front of pyrotechnics, and poor Trae was not prepared for how aggressive the flames would be.

I want to know what Trae was told was going to happen and what he was expecting here, because it clearly wasn’t giant columns of fire shooting off behind him. As someone who used to work concert security and would occasionally end up closer to the pyro than I wanted to be, I can respect this reaction because those things are jarringly hot. Maybe next time they should at least show the guys what the pyro is going to do before the first shot.

I don’t know who is on the Daily Show host selection committee over at Paramount and Comedy Central, but it really feels like the people want Roy Wood Jr and that he’s the best person for the job.

Every (E-V-E-R-Y) conversation I have about the subject ends in the same place: “but they gotta give it to Roy.” On social, all I saw around reports that the search was going “back to square one” with another round of guest hosts when it comes back on October 16 were posts that asked a variation on, “Why don’t they just give to Roy?” And yet…

The decision-makers hear the chatter and see the tweets too. They know Wood Jr. crushed it as guest host and as host of The White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD). They know the resume too: the eight years spent becoming a Hall Of Fame level Daily Show correspondent, the three stand-up specials (specifically Imperfect Messenger, an absolute clinic on cooking a something-for-everyone feast of social commentary, pop culture, and observational comedy). They know about the stirring documentary he produced on the fight over racist statues (The Neutral Ground).

Those decision-makers also know that the guest host experiment has worked really, really well, but the carousel can’t spin forever. And it probably shouldn’t spin up until early 2024 (when a new permanent host is set to take over), either.

The case for Wood Jr. to be the final pick has always been strong, but he’s not the only one. During the strike, the rumor was that Hasan Minhaj was leading the field for the permanent host chair. Then he got called out in Clare Malone’s stunning article in The New Yorker for exaggerating certain elements from his comedy specials. Since then, there have been reports that Minhaj is still in the running, an article from The Wrap where former Daily Show staffers talked about why he shouldn’t be, and a Variety story pointing to the scandal as a reason the Daily Show is starting “from square one” with the search while also indicating that he is still a candidate. With everything that’s happened, though, it’s hard to imagine Minhaj getting the job, especially with the reputational damage he’s taken on over the last couple of weeks and the unique expectations that come with hosting The Daily Show.

The ‘Daily Show’ Needs A Fake News Truth Teller

In 2004, Rolling Stone ran a Jon Stewart profile titled, “The Most Trusted Name In News.” In 2008, a New York Times headline doubled down, asking, “Is Jon Stewart The Most Trusted Man In America?” Perhaps proving the point of these articles (and others), Stewart was tabbed by Time Magazine’s online readers in 2009 as America’s most trustworthy anchor. It wasn’t very close. Stewart scored a 44% with NBC’s Brian Williams getting 29%. This was before Williams’ 2015 scandal for exaggerating the events of a helicopter flight in Iraq, something that dimmed his star power and irrevocably tainted his trustworthiness.

Like Stewart (a “fake journalist” before the term became corrupted), Roy Wood Jr. would probably bristle if you were to call him a journalist. His father, Roy Wood Sr., was a journalist, an iconic one, so he knows the difference between that job and what he, Stewart, and other Daily Show alums do and have done with their “fake news” work. I think he also knows that there is high value in the way The Daily Show contextualizes the news through the lens of satire and comedy — cutting through the noise in ways that others either will not or cannot do.

“We’re also kind of guiding people through the news, and in some cases, it’s bad news, Sometimes it’s good news,” Wood Jr. told us earlier this year when discussing his stint guest hosting the show. “I think the first night, I jokingly called myself Uncle Roy, just kind of on some, ‘That’s what your uncle does. Your uncle helps you, the good uncle. The good uncles help you through tragedies and problems and issues in the world.’”

We’re stuck in a moment where a more literal and dangerous breed of fake journalists work to gaslight the audience, muddying the difference between true and false. There’s no wink and nod, just a chaotic glint in their eyes. Thank God we’ve got real journalists doing their jobs and pushing back on that within the well-established and necessary parameters of their profession. But it’s not enough, we also need trusted “fake journalists” in the Stewart mold who can operate outside of those boundaries and throw a few elbows while calling out the absurdity of it all; making us laugh while making it all make sense.

Telling Truth To Power

The moment that made me believe completely in Roy Wood Jr. as host of The Daily Show came during the White House Correspondents Dinner when he got groans for a joke about nonsense drag queen groomer conspiracy theories and inaction on gun control.

Roy Wood Jr.: 'Drag queens are not at a school to groom your kids. Stop it. And even if they were, most of them kids are going to get shot up at school — Don’t groan, pass legislation.' #WHCD pic.twitter.com/13wJQcjFC8

— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) April 30, 2023

“Don’t groan, pass legislation!”

At another point during the dinner, Wood Jr. said, “Everybody knows how you do politics, we don’t pass laws. You make a promise to voters and then you don’t do it. That’s what the great leaders in this room understand. You know how to make things not happen.”

Wood Jr. has a healthy amount of skepticism when it comes to politicians. He’s impatient with politics as usual. His give-a-damn is always showing, even when he’s going for the laugh. It never feels heavy-handed or condescending. His week as guest host offered several proof points.

Look at the Cop City in Atlanta segment and his Long Story Short segment on whether it’s time to retire four-year colleges. Or the interview with Senator Corey Booker (NJ-D), which was particularly noteworthy for how Roy pushed on Democrat efforts to stifle Senator Tim Scott’s police reform bill, demonstrating (as he did during the WHCD) that he’ll call out Democrats too. All this and a world-class blow job for coupons joke in a segment about Bed Bath & Beyond the week prior. I don’t know what more evidence is needed, but I’ll drop this cut of his best food segments to make it a rout. Clearly, there’s an aptitude for all of it.

And yet…we’re “back to square one” with the host search.

I’d guess that when the next round of guest hosts is announced, Roy Wood Jr. will be on it and he will, predictably, crush the opportunity. Again. And then we’ll wait. For a sign, a decision, or for someone else to make an offer because they can also see what we see.

Wood Jr. has never been shy about saying he’d look at other opportunities. To be honest, I’ve been as shocked as I am impressed by how honest he’s been about that (and his reverence and ambition for The Daily Show) when I’ve interviewed him over the last few years. But I’ll remind you that CBS has an opening at 12:35, that there are 165 streamers out here still trying to stand out with an election on the horizon. Maybe it’ll be an acting job. He was great in Confess, Fletch. Talent doesn’t sit on a shelf for long.

I’ll wrap on this thought: the flood of distractions and general election nonsense is rising. We need someone who can credibly call out the bullshit in ways unique, impactful, and too hilarious and smart to be mistaken for preaching. We need someone real in an era of unrealness, essentially. We need Roy Wood Jr. as the host of The Daily Show before he takes another job.

Stevie Nicks revealed that she’s getting her own Barbie doll, with style inspired by Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors era — including a black witchy dress and her holding a tambourine. The doll costs $55, as Nicks showed it off at her recent Madison Square Garden show.

The star also talked about the honor in a new interview with USA Today.

“I tend to think all the women in the world would love to have a Barbie made of them, but they know that isn’t going to happen,” Nicks shared. “When I found out, I was really catapulted back to when the first Barbies came out in 1959 and my mom bought me a Barbie.”

Nicks extended her love even further in a new X (formerly Twitter) post. “When I look at her, I see my 27 year old self,” she wrote. “All the memories of walking out on a big stage in that black outfit and those gorgeous boots come rushing back~ and then I see myself now in her face. What we have been through since 1975~ the battles we have fought, the lessons we have learned~ together. I am her and she is me. She absolutely has my heart.”

Check out her post, which includes photos of the new Nicks Barbie doll, below. Info on where to buy the collector item can be found here.

In honor of the Foo Fighters’ new album, But Here We Are, the band has announced the Everything Or Nothing At All Tour for next year. Given it marks their first true run since the passing of their drummer, Taylor Hawkins, some might still be wondering who will replace him on the road.

Back in May, they revealed that Josh Freese was taking over — and went on to make his live debut with Foo Fighters during a New Hampshire show. Freese’s past drumming work has included songs for bands like Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Devo, Danny Elfman, and more.

Freese had been seen as a contender to be the band’s new drummer, as he played with Foo Fighters during their tribute concerts to Hawkins back in 2022. After he was tapped to be the new touring drummer, Variety noted that he left playing for Elfman and The Offspring to join them.

As for their upcoming tour, it will start next July with two nights at Citi Field before ending in mid-August in Seattle. Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 6 at 10 a.m. local time. You can find a complete list of tour dates and more information here.

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

Jigsaw finally met his match in AMC’s lawyers.

Last month, Lionsgate released a Saw X-themed party of Nicole Kidman’s famous “heartbreak feels good in a place like this” ad for AMC theaters, with Billy the puppet filling in for the Eyes Wide Shut actress (“Somehow, self-amputation feels good in a place like this”). I’d say you can watch it here, but you can’t: the video was removed from YouTube. What happened?

“It’s like Voldemort. It’s the Thing That Shall Not Be Named,” Saw X co-producer Oren Koules told Entertainment Weekly with a laugh. Co-producer Mark Burg added, “It was 100 percent the genius of the marketing team at Lionsgate. It’s a shame that AMC did not share our joy in it.”

Billy took out his frustrations by getting hammered.

Saw X (which is getting solid reviews) opened to #2 at the box office this weekend. It made $18 million to Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie‘s $22 million, making it the Oppenheimer to Paw Patrol‘s Barbie in Barbenheimer 2: Saw Patrol. (If any of that made sense to you, it’s time to close the computer, go outdoors, and take a relaxing bike ride. Maybe a certain puppet will join you.)

(Via Entertainment Weekly)

According to fascinating little detail from the new Michael Lewis biography on Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced FTX founder reportedly tried to broker a deal to stop Donald Trump from running for president again by paying him a hefty sum of $5 billion deal.

Obviously, this alleged offer was being kicked around before the infamous collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange that led to Bankman-Fried being indicted for fraud. However, while promoting the new book on 60 Minutes, Lewis revealed that it’s not entirely clear on whether or not Trump was aware the deal, or more importantly, open to the offer.

You can see the bombshell moment below:

Via New York Post:

Lewis said during a “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday that the “number that was kicking around when I was talking to Sam about this was $5 billion,” adding, “Sam wasn’t sure that number came directly from Trump.”

Likewise, it wasn’t immediately clear if whether 45th president was even willing to negotiate with Bankman-Fried, who is slated to go on trial Tuesday in Manhattan federal court on epic fraud charges.

According to Lewis, Bankman-Fried did have some doubts about whether or not paying a politician not to run for office is legal. That did not stop him from still having those conversations right up until the point when FTX “blew up.”

Trump’s team did not respond to the Post‘s request for comment, but given the mounting legal problems facing the former president, we doubt he’s in a rush to admit he was open to a $5 billion bribe.

You can watch the full 60 Minutes interview with Lewis below:

(Via New York Post)

Every Monday, Billboard unveils the top 10 songs on the latest Hot 100 chart. The most recent rankings, for the chart dated October 7, are out now, so let’s run down who had this week’s biggest hits.

10. Dua Lipa — “Dance The Night”

Lipa may have moved on to new movie project (the Argylle trailer just dropped last week), but her Barbie hit still has legs as it rounds out this week’s top 10.

9. Rema and Selena Gomez — “Calm Down”

Rema and Selena find themselves back in the top 10 this week after spending last week at No. 11. The song is also killing it on the US Afrobeats chart, where it’s No. 1 for a record-extending 57th week.

8. Gunna — “F*kumean”

In addition to “F*kumean” sticking around in the top 10, Gunna also recently put on a heck of a show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, as Uproxx’s Wongo Okon notes.

7. Olivia Rodrigo — “Vampire”

After returning to No. 1 recently, “Vampire” is sitting comfortably at No. 7, the same position as last week.

6. Morgan Wallen — “Last Night”

“Last Night” just won’t go away: It was No. 8 last week, but now the 16-week No. 1 hit rises slightly to No. 6.

5. Zach Bryan — “I Remember Everything” Feat. Kacey Musgraves

After debuting at No. 1 four weeks ago, Bryan and Musgraves hold steady at No. 5, while the song is No. 1 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Rock Songs charts for a fifth week.

4. Taylor Swift — “Cruel Summer”

After reaching as high as No. 3 and living at No. 6 last week, Swift’s “Cruel Summer” returns to the top 5 at No. 4, which is pretty good for a song that originally came out in 2019.

3. Luke Combs — “Fast Car”

Combs’ Tracy Chapman cover continues to be a consistent top-10 presence on the Hot 100 as it spends its second week at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

2. SZA — “Snooze”

“Snooze” was No. 3 last week, and while it didn’t claim the top spot, it did reach a new high at No. 2 this week.

1. Doja Cat — “Paint The Town Red”

“Paint The Town Red” previously spent a single week back at No. 1, but after a spell away, the song is back on top, making it Doja’s first song to spend multiple weeks at No. 1.

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

These days, nothing is really as it seems, and that’s all thanks to AI. Fake trailers, movie concepts, and even full AI songs can make it harder to distinguish what’s real and what’s just a randomly generated Drake verse. Luckily, a lot of people can tell the difference, but it doesn’t make it any easier for these celebrities who are out of touch with the internet (by “out of touch” I mean “older”).

Even Tom Hanks is fed up with AI, particularly one company that is using his likeness to sell some sort of dental treatment. The unnamed company has been using a fake image of Hanks to seemingly sell a plan, which is a red flag because it’s not like he’s known for having good teeth, right? Either way, Hanks wanted to be sure that out-of-touch (or older) people didn’t fall for it, so the actor took to Instagram to warn his followers.

“BEWARE!! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it,” Hanks wrote over the photo with a clearly de-aged Hanks.

Hanks has been openly critical of AI technology, particularly in movies. Earlier this year, Hanks said on The Adam Buxton podcast: “Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are, by way of AI or deepfake technology. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it. But my performances can go on and on and on and on, and outside of the understanding that has been done with AI or deepfake. There’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me and me alone.”

Luckily, Hank wasn’t hit by a bus, but if he was, he could probably get some good dental reconstruction work done by the unnamed company. For now, it seems like he will just have to keep warning his followers not to believe everything they see with his face on it. Much like the plot of Cloud Atlas.

(Via CBS News)

LCD Soundsystem will be taking over New York City once again, as the band announced a 12-date residency that will span three venues in three different boroughs. While they’ve done similar annual shows in the past, they’ve only been held at Brooklyn Steel.

This time, Terminal 5 and Knockdown Center have been added to the mix. The dates will run from November 16 at Brooklyn Steel, giving four shows at each spot, and ending on December 10 in Queens.

Three of the shows are just for American Express cardholders, who will get early access to tickets on Tuesday, October 10. However, there still are a lot of times to catch the band — even without a card. Fans can sign up currently for presale access here, which will start on Wednesday, October 11 at 10 a.m. ET. A general sale will then be held on Thursday, October 12 at the same time.

Continue scrolling for a complete list of tour dates.

11/16 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
11/17 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
11/18 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel
11/19 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel*
11/28 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/29 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/30 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5*
12/01 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
12/07 — Queens, NY @ Knockdown Center*
12/08 — Queens, NY @ Knockdown Center
12/09 — Queens, NY @ Knockdown Center
12/10 — Queens, NY @ Knockdown Center

* Amex® Card Member Only shows