Steve Pond's Blog, page 139

‘Hacks’ Renewed for Season 5 Ahead of Season 4 Finale

Max is doubling down on Deborah Vance. The streamer renewed its Emmy-winning comedy “Hacks” for a fifth season on Tuesday ahead of its Season 4 finale.

The comedy’s creators Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky learned of the renewal news last week.

“We’re thrilled to be able to make a fifth season of a comedy,” Downs told TheWrap in an interview that also included Aniello and Statsky. “It is a very rare thing now, which we wish weren’t the case. But we don’t take for granted how fortunate we are to get to do it. We were really excited because we’ve always known where we want the story to conclude, and so to be able to continue to build towards that is so satisfying.”

It’s no surprise that Max renewed “Hacks.” So far, the comedy has been nominated for 48 Primetime Emmys. The series has even won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series once, as well as Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actress three times for Jean Smart’s performance, Outstanding Writing twice and Outstanding Directing once. “Hacks” also took home the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy for its first and third seasons. The series is expected to be part of the 2024 Emmys conversation as the biggest night in television approaches in September.

The series has also been a ratings hit for the streamer. Since its Season 4 debut, “Hacks” has been a top five series on Max in the U.S. as well as a top 10 series globally. From a viewership perspective, Season 4 is on track to be the series’ best season yet. The installment has seen both domestic and global growth every week so far.

“Yes! More! We congratulate ‘Hacks” singularly talented cast and crew and our great partners at Universal Television,” Sarah Aubrey, head of Max Original Programming, said in a statement to press.

“Like Deborah Vance herself, ‘Hacks’ only gets bolder, sharper and more iconic with time. We’re beyond thrilled to keep the laughter rolling with Jen, Paul, Lucia, our extraordinary cast and crew and our partners at Max,” Erin Underhill, president of Universal Television, said.

“Hacks” Season 4 stars Smart as Deborah Vance and Hannah Einbinder as her writing partner Ava Daniels. Additionally, the comedy stars Paul W. Downs, Megan Stalter, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Mark Indelicato and Rose Abdoo. Julianne Nicholson, Michaela Watkins, Bresha Webb, Robby Hoffman, Eric Balfour, Danny Jolles, Gavin Matts, Grover Whitmore, III, Holmes, Jasmine Ashanti, Katy Sullivan, Matt Oberg, Sandy Honig and Jake Shane also joined Season 4’s cast as new characters. They joined previously seen recurring and guest stars Dan Bucatinsky, Helen Hunt, Tony Goldwyn, Kaitlin Olson, Jane Adams, Lauren Weedman, Christopher McDonald, Poppy Liu, Lorenza Izzo, Johnny Sibilly, Paul Felder, Polly Draper, Luenell and Aristotle Athari.

The critical darling is created and showrun by Downs, Aniello and Statsky. Downs and Aniello executive produce via their Paulilu banner, and Statsky EPs via First Thought Productions. Other executive producers include Michael Schur via Fremulon, David Miner for 3 Arts Entertainment as well as Morgan Sackett and Joe Mande. “Hacks” is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

The post ‘Hacks’ Renewed for Season 5 Ahead of Season 4 Finale appeared first on TheWrap.

Netflix Sued by Dutch Drug Lord Who Claims ‘Undercover,’ ‘Ferry’ Are Unlawfully Based on His Life

Netflix is being sued by former Dutch drug baron Adrianus van Wesenbeeck for defamation, copyright infringement, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of the right of publicity over their film and TV series “Undercover” and “Ferry,” which he claims are unlawfully based on his life.

A federal lawsuit filed against the streamer in Florida on Tuesday claims that the two dramatic organized crime franchises — made of three “Undercover” seasons and two “Ferry” movies and series — depict characters inspired by him as brutal serial killers and human traffickers — inaccurate depictions that he claims have “inflicted significant emotional, reputational and financial damage.”

Van Wesenbeeck (who is also known by the first name Janus) was never charged with murder or human trafficking, but is notoriously known as a major drug trafficker at an international scale. He was convicted and imprisoned with early release in Belgium in 2011–2015 for drug trafficking, participation in a criminal organization and money laundering.

While the lawsuit admits that Netflix has never explicitly endorsed these projects as loose adaptations of Van Wesenbeeck’s life, the actors portraying these roles have confirmed to the press that they are, and the projects have been widely reported on as such.

Netflix declined TheWrap’s request for comment.

“This deliberate and misleading presentations has caused significant harm by blurring the line between fiction and reality and falsely associating the Plaintiff with the character of Ferry Bouman,” the lawsuit reads of “Ferry.”

The suit also asserts that “Ferry 2” used copyrighted material from Van Wesenbeeck’s book “Drugsbaron” and a promotional song for the film “refers to Mr. Van Wesenbeeck and his late wife, Lydia, in a demeaning and mocking way.”

Van Wesenbeeck is seeking actual damages exceeding $26 million, compensatory damages over $50 million, and punitive damages surpassing $50 million. He also seeks recovery of profits from the “Ferry” franchise and “Undercover” estimated to be over $166 million. In addition, the lawsuit requests injunctive relief, attorneys’ fees, and any other legal remedies available.

The “Ferry” franchise follows the titular Ferry Bouman who, across two films and a series, has been loosely based on Van Wesenbeeck’s life. Not all the stories Bouman encountered in the five years of the franchise were based directly on Van Wesenbeeck’s own experiences. The most recent film, “Ferry 2,” released on Dec. 20 last year.

“Undercover” premiered in 2019, with Season 2 premiering November 2020 and Season 3 in November 2021.

The post Netflix Sued by Dutch Drug Lord Who Claims ‘Undercover,’ ‘Ferry’ Are Unlawfully Based on His Life appeared first on TheWrap.

Natalie Portman Says She Set a ‘Strong Boundary’ to Keep Private Life Private After Learning Fame Can Be ‘Really Hurtful’ | Video

Natalie Portman learned early on in her career the importance of a strong boundary.

While talking on Tuesday’s episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” the “Fountain of Youth” star was asked about where she drew the line between having a thin skin in her private life and thick skin in her public-facing one. Clarkson asked how she navigated that tight rope and she said boundaries were key.

“I think it is really a boundary, like a strong boundary, that you have to repeat over and over and over,” Portman said. “I think I figured it out early because I figured out that it was really scary to have that boundary crossed – and also sometimes really hurtful if I let that energy come in that was negative.”

She continued: “I had to kind of build those walls but then you have to be careful, like you said, with your art and not just art but personal relationships that you don’t keep those walls up.”

Portman appeared on the show to support her latest film “Fountain of Youth” which is streaming now on Apple TV+. The film stars her and John Krasinski as estranged sibling treasure hunters tasked with tracking down the titular fountain. TheWrap reviewer William Bibbiani found the movie to be more empty than harmless fluff.

“It would be nice to report that ‘Fountain of Youth’ is harmless fluff, a brisk escapist adventure with a game cast and a few fun set pieces,” he wrote. “And I suppose it may be mostly harmless, unless you count wasting your time as a ‘harm’ (and I wouldn’t fight you on that). But it’s annoying fluff. It’s tedious fluff. The only thing I wanted to escape was the movie itself. The cast is either trying too hard or not enough, and none of the action sequences blew me away. There’s a bit on a boat that was probably expensive. There’s a fight in a library that’s competent. There’s a shootout at the pyramids between characters we don’t know or give a damn about. There’s a big difference between ‘fluffy’ and ’empty.’ ‘Fountain of Youth’ seems to have found it.”

You can watch Natalie Portman’s segment on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in the video above.

The post Natalie Portman Says She Set a ‘Strong Boundary’ to Keep Private Life Private After Learning Fame Can Be ‘Really Hurtful’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Will Shari Redstone Face Bribery Charges if She Settles Trump’s $20 Billion ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit?

Could Paramount Global and Shari Redstone find themselves facing bribery charges if they settle a $20 billion lawsuit with President Donald Trump, as three U.S. senators have suggested?

As pressure mounts on the Paramount chairwoman, legal experts dismissed the notion of bribery charges as a “non-case” — but that doesn’t mean Paramount would not face other legal actions if the company settles, they said.

“There is no real possibility that she’s charged with bribery first, just on the substance litigation,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told TheWrap. “There’s always uncertainty, so settling a lawsuit, I don’t think any judge anywhere would consider that a bribe.”

Entertainment and media lawyer Tre Lovell agreed. “There’s no bribery here because there’s actual litigation. There’s threats of damages of $20 billion and as a litigant you’re entitled to settle it,” he told TheWrap.

In order for the settlement to be seen as bribery, the alleged action must meet the bribery statutes, which would be giving a public official something of value with a corrupt intent to influence an official act. The experts were not convinced an action of settling a lawsuit by Paramount fits the bribery bill. 

“It’s a little bit far-fetched,” said Dan O’Neil, a veteran telecom attorney. “Clearly there’s a lot written between the lines. But Trump has not said, ‘We won’t approve the sale if you don’t pay us.’ And the FCC says its approval of the sale has nothing to do with the lawsuit.” 

“This is just political posturing,” said Rahmani, also the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers. “There’s no way the Department of Justice, any U.S. attorney in this country, is going to investigate or prosecute this case, both in terms of the weakness of the case [and] the political climate.”

Still, in a letter last week, three Democratic senators – Bernie Sanders (VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore) – warned Redstone that catering to Trump’s whims may be bribery. 

And on Friday, media advocacy group Freedom of the Press Foundation sent the Paramount mogul a warning letter, outlining plans to file a lawsuit if the media company settles the Trump suit against CBS. That suit would be a shareholders derivatives lawsuit, which legal experts say are common.

The nonprofit itself is able to seek damages in this case because it owns shares of Paramount. It plans to act on behalf of itself and other shareholders, alleging that the settlement would waste corporate assets by “engaging in conduct that U.S. senators and others believe could amount to unlawful bribery.”

Last October, the then-Republican presidential candidate sued CBS News and Paramount for $10 billion over allegations of election interference by editing a “60 Minutes” interview with then-vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris that aired weeks before the election. That amount has since jumped to $20 billion. 

Trump accused the news program of deceptively editing that interview. Legal experts have since called the lawsuit frivolous. 

Since taking office, Trump’s FCC has also opened an investigation into news practices at CBS News. The FCC led by Commissioner Brendan Carr has to approve the media company’s Skydance merger, valued at $8 billion.

Still, Paramount is facing even more blowback that may land it in court.

Press group poised to sue

Rahmani said the derivatives lawsuit is typically filed when shareholders believe a company has done something illegal.

“The legal standard is: Did the directors, did the officers of the corporation, did they do something that hurt the corporation such that it affected the shareholder stock price?” he said. The Freedom of the Press Foundation and the senators are arguing that the settlement could have greater implications on the Paramount brand.

But the “business judgment rule” protects executives, like Redstone, from shareholder suits like this one, according to Lovell.

“The business judgment rule says as long as you act in good faith and as long as you have properly reviewed and considered all the relevant information and data to make a decision, even if your decision turns out bad or turns out to hurt the company, you can’t be sued,” Lovell explained.

Redstone would be protected under this ruling, he said, because it intentionally gives business owners greater freedom in decision making, as long as they act with good intent.

Despite the tumult at the company, Paramount shares are up 14% since the start of the year.

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But veteran telecom attorney O’Neill said that Redstone still doesn’t know if settling the lawsuit will satisfy the FCC enough to approve her $8 billion merger. “Either way she’s roadkill. It’s a bad look,” he said.

State AGs or local DAs could lead the charge

As far as who would bring the bribery case forward, legal experts said it must be an attorney general or district attorney. Senators do not have this power. Typically the injured party brings a bribery case forward. In this case, O’Neill said the lines of who is hurt by the settlement are murky.

“Arguably, it could be any other broadcast network. It could be any consumer of news. I mean, you would have to show that you are an injured party,” O’Neill said. “It could be a state attorney general who could argue on behalf of the citizens of California.”

Rahmani argued, though, that because the blame lies on a federal official – Trump – it would make sense for a state official to bring the case forward. But the bribery crime would be considered a federal crime. He stood firm that “there’s no world where this would be investigated.”

Lovell agreed that if Trump was not involved in the bribery case, his DOJ could bring the case forward, but as it stands, it remains unlikely.

“Could it be brought by some state attorney general? Possibly, if people affected could have been part of that state that has bribery laws,” Lovell said. “But I honestly think it’s more of a shot across the bow.”

“It’s a successful way to draw attention to the argument that she may settle in order to curry favor with the administration,” a former FCC official who declined to be identified told TheWrap.

“It’s bad to have the president bully the media and reporters into getting his way,” Rahmani added. “It’s more of a First Amendment free speech issue, independent news court issue, as opposed to this being a bribe that should be prosecuted.”

Paramount faces additional pressure as they await the approval of their Skydance merger, which still needs to be pushed through by Carr. Redstone has a tough decision: settle to appease Trump but risk seeming politically compromised. 

Critics also warn this legal action may set a dangerous precedent for media outlets being pressured into legal settlements in the future.

“People who care about journalistic freedom might want her to notice that people are paying attention, as a political act,” the former FCC official and lawyer told TheWrap.

O’Neill argued that if the case was brought forward, Redstone would be a pawn in a larger political scheme to expose Trump.

“I don’t think anybody cares about embarrassing Shari Redstone, per se. They care about embarrassing Trump for extortion,” he said. 

Redstone’s lawyers are currently in negotiations with Trump’s, but there has been no word of any settlement.

The deadline for the FCC to approve the Paramount-Skydance merger has been extended to July 9 as the commission reviews how the company’s DEI policies comply with the Trump administration’s insistence on their removal. Legal experts say the company could get a second extension. 

The lawyers agreed that Redstone is in a rare double-bind. Each decision she makes is under a microscope and has implications for future actions between Trump and the media.

“She’s caught up in a thing where her transaction is just bad timing, bad luck and bad timing,” O’Neill said. “It gives Trump leverage not just to screw around with Paramount and CBS, but also to indirectly intimidate everybody else.” 

The post Will Shari Redstone Face Bribery Charges if She Settles Trump’s $20 Billion ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit? appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Destination X’ Star Josh Martinez Says NBC’s Travel Competition Series Is Unlike Anything Else on TV

When “Destination X” premieres Tuesday night on NBC, host Jeffrey Dean Morgan won’t be the only familiar face viewers will find on this road trip of a lifetime.

That’s because three reality TV alumni are joining the travel competition series alongside nine other fresh meat to the genre — “Big Brother” and “The Challenge” regular Josh Martinez, “The Bachelor” and “The Traitors” star Peter Weber and “Love Island USA” Season 6 fan-favorite JaNa Craig.

Ahead of the “Destination X” series premiere, Martinez opened up to TheWrap about the logistics behind his 12th stint on television, ultimately revealing that this was actually the most challenging show he’s taken on so far.

“For all my other experiences — ‘The Challenge’ is like seven, six, 10 weeks; I did 14, 15 weeks of ‘Big Brother’ — so I’m like, ‘I can do this no problem. It’s six weeks, you’re living on the bus traveling, it’s a couple challenges? Cake walk.’ I was not even nine hours into the bus ride and I was like, ‘This is going to be f–king hell,'” he admitted. “I realized that I’m just a very claustrophobic person, and I didn’t know that before ‘Destination X.’ I also get annoyed very quickly, which I do know about myself, but being confined, people were driving me crazy. I felt very deep connections very quickly, but with some people I was ready to start a riot. It was really hard.”

“I can’t say any experience prepared me for ‘Destination X.’ On a social side, I just genuinely connect with people and build relationships; I’m a very friendly, easygoing person,” Martinez continued. “But from an experience being confined on a bus and traveling and trying to figure out where the hell we’re at, there’s nothing that can prepare you for that. Just like ‘Big Brother,’ nothing can prepare you for 102 days locked in a house.”

“Destination X” will follow Martinez and his fellow 11 contestants as they traverse Europe via a blacked-out bus with the goal of using their pop culture and historical knowledge to guess their location … and not being the person farthest away from the correct answer. It may sound similar to other travel shows like “The Amazing Race” or “Road Rules,” but this is actually the American version of a hit Belgium series.

“Destination X” Season 1 cast (Matteo Graia/NBC)

“‘Amazing Race’ is great, but — I’m going to get in trouble for this — it’s missing something. It’s missing a lot, honestly. ‘Destination X’ is just a whole different beast of its own. There’s no other show like it,” the “Big Brother” Season 19 winner explained. “This is my 12th competition show and this was the hardest, gnarliest, craziest experience of my life … it’s truly my personal opinion from somebody that has been in the reality space for eight years now, it’s going to be a hit and one of the best shows that has ever existed, because it’s so different from everything.”

So after so many years competing on CBS/MTV/Paramount properties, what was it like for Martinez to test the waters over at NBCUniversal?

“A dream come true. Even when I got the call, I got off of another project and my sister was like, ‘You just got another gig, another opportunity.’ I wanted to be done, but she’s like, ‘No, this is NBC.’ And I was like, ‘I’m doing it,'” he shared.
“I fly out and instantly fell in love. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I’m an adrenaline junkie, I love adventure and I love competing. I kind of live for it. To know that it was for NBC, which has been absolutely crushing the reality space, was such an honor and such a cool experience. I felt very lucky, very grateful.”

“Destination X” premieres Tuesday, May 27 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on NBC, before streaming next day on Peacock.

The post ‘Destination X’ Star Josh Martinez Says NBC’s Travel Competition Series Is Unlike Anything Else on TV appeared first on TheWrap.

DC Politicos Know Trump Will Meet Anyone One-on-One for $5 Million, New Yorker Writer Says: ‘Shameless Transaction’ | Video

There is a price tag on talking one-on-one with President Donald Trump, and D.C. politicos apparently know it’s around $5 million, according to a staff writer for the New Yorker.

In an interview with MSNBC, staff writer Evan Osnos explained that the sitting president has monetized the White House to a point that he said we’re experiencing a “politics of plunder because of the sheer flood of money that is swirling around the White House.”

“It takes all kinds of forms, some of it is so flamboyant and in our face that it almost exhausts the public,” Osnos said. “When you hear about the jet you begin to wonder, does anyone out there even pay attention to this? But day in and day out in Washington, people who have been involved for years in the kind of – let’s call it normal pay-to-play politics – will tell you that this is completely outside anything that a president has ever been involved in. The sheer monetization of the White House is taking all kinds of forms.”

“One of which is that government affairs executives in town are now quite aware of the fact that if you want to get a one-on-one conversation with the president, the price tag is $5 million.That may go to MAGA Inc. – the super PAC that is accumulating money for midterms – but the truth is, as one executive put it to me, we have no idea where that money goes, whether it’s in favor of your interests or against you. I think that what we’re seeing now is just a level of utter and shameless transaction.”

Trump sparked a fervor in the news in May when he chose to accept a $400 million jet from Qatar as a gift to use as the new Air Force One. The news led to an outcry from many, concerns about safety from others, and jokes from many late night hosts. Stephen Colbert applauded the president’s baffling decision after it was announced.

“After all these years, it’s nice that Donald Trump is still able to surprise us,” Colbert joked. “It’s kind of sweet how he keeps the nausea fresh!”

“Because we all know he’s a sack of loose skin stuffed with greed, but I don’t think any of us expected him to accept a luxury 747 jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One,” he continued.

Watch the full MSNBC clip above.

The post DC Politicos Know Trump Will Meet Anyone One-on-One for $5 Million, New Yorker Writer Says: ‘Shameless Transaction’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Kevin Costner Sued by ‘Horizon 2’ Stunt Performer Over Unscripted Rape Scene

A stunt performer for Kevin Costner’s upcoming film “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2” has sued the director and the producers of the film, claiming that she was tasked with performing a violent rape scene without notice or consent and without the intimacy coordinator required by union rules present.

LaBella also claims that she faced retaliation for reporting the incident by not being called back for subsequent work on the “Horizon” film series and never being hired again by the stunt coordinator for the film, with whom she worked previously.

“On that day, I was left exposed, unprotected, and deeply betrayed by a system that promised safety and professionalism. What happened to me shattered my trust and forever changed how I move through this industry,” LaBella said in a statement.

In a statement provided to TheWrap, attorneys for Costner said that the accusations have “absolutely no merit.”

“As a stunt performer on ‘Horizon 2,’ the scene in question was explained to Ms. LaBella, and after she performed the rehearsal in character with another actor, she gave her Stunt Coordinator supervisor a ‘thumbs up’ and indicated her willingness to then shoot the scene, if needed (which she was not),” the statement read.

According to the lawsuit obtained by TheWrap, LaBella had been cast as a stunt double for actress Ella Hunt, who plays a British woman that is part of a wagon train traveling through the Santa Fe Trail. LaBella was tasked with shooting a scripted rape scene that had been rehearsed and overseen by an intimacy coordinator that was shot without incident.

But the lawsuit alleges that on the following day, when LaBella was expecting to double for Hunt for a pair of non-sexual scenes, she was instructed to lay down on a wagon for what turned out to be a non-scripted rape scene with no rehearsal and an intimacy coordinator not present, in violation of SAG-AFTRA rules.

The lawsuit claims that, unbeknownst to LaBella, Hunt had walked off the set “visibly upset” after being told by Costner about the impromptu scene. The rape scene was not listed on the day’s call sheet, and LaBella did not know that the scene would involve rape until another stunt performer was called on to perform simulated sex on top of her.

LaBella claims in the lawsuit that she made complaints about the alleged incident to several stunt coordinators and the film’s intimacy coordinator, and while she received apologies from some crew members, she was not used as a stunt performer for several days.

“This suit is filed not only for the damages Plaintiff has sustained, but to address the continued failures at the highest levels of Hollywood production companies to comprehend and address the impacts of performing in sexually explicit and violent ‘scenes’ and the need for intimacy coordination,” LaBella’s attorney, James A. Vagnini, said in a statement.

Costner’s attorneys disputed the performer’s recount of events, claiming that LaBella had dinner with the film’s stunt coordinator and assistant stunt coordinator the night following the scene and continued to work on “Horizon” for several more weeks. The attorneys also provided screenshots of a text exchange between the coordinator and LaBella in which LaBella thanked the coordinator for hiring her.

“The facts are clear and we are beyond confident that Kevin will prevail,” Costner’s reps said.

LaBella’s lawsuit was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

The post Kevin Costner Sued by ‘Horizon 2’ Stunt Performer Over Unscripted Rape Scene appeared first on TheWrap.

YouTube Climbs to Record 12.4% Share of TV Viewing in April

YouTube continues to dominate the field for the majority of audiences’ time spent watching television, accounting for 12.4% of the total for the month of April.

The figure marks its largest share of TV to date, as well as the third consecutive month topping Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge. April also marks the first time that the company rankings stayed exactly the same month-over-month.

Holding onto the second place spot was Disney with a total of 10.7% of TV time spent, partly driven by cross-network coverage of the NFL Draft, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship and the first round of the NBA Playoffs. It also owned the month’s top streaming title, “Grey’s Anatomy,” which generated 3.9 billion viewing minutes and benefited from its multichannel and multiplatform availability. 

Paramount claimed third place with 8.9% of TV time and saw the largest monthly share increase among the media companies tracked, with viewership gains from CBS’ broadcast affiliates driving over half of the media giant’s growth.

Photo courtesy of Nielsen

Rounding out the top five was NBCUniversal, which grew to an 8.2% share, and Netflix, which posted an 7.5% share.

Fox claimed sixth with a share of 6.8%, while Warner Bros. Discovery took seventh, maintaining a 6.7% share boosted by a 58% bump in TNT viewership due to the NBA playoffs as well as HBO’s “The White Lotus” generating 3.7 billion viewing minutes as the second most-watched streaming title in April.

The remainder of the list included Amazon with a 3.5% share, The Roku Channel with a 2.4% share, Scripps with a 2.1% share, Weigel Broadcasting with a 1.3% share, A+E Networks with a 1.1% share, Hallmark with a 1% share and AMC Networks with a 0.9% share.

The post YouTube Climbs to Record 12.4% Share of TV Viewing in April appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Bosses Break Down the End of June’s Revolution: ‘Bloodlust Satiated’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Handmaid’s Tale” Season 6, Episode 10.

And just like that, Bruce Miller’s TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel has officially taken its final bow. In six seasons and 65 episodes, viewers watched June Osborne go from a frantic but courageous handmaid into the leader of a rebellion against the patriarchal, totalitarian society of Gilead.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” showrunners Eric Tuchman and Yahlin Chang unpacked the finale’s biggest moments with TheWrap, including those heartwarming surprise returns, June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss) and Luke Osborne’s (O-T Fagbenle) tender farewell, Serena Wharton’s (Yvonne Strahovski) apology and much more.

In Episode 10, titled “The Handmaid’s Tale,” June’s years-long worth of efforts took down Gilead’s reign over Boston, returning the city to U.S. territory. As the last bits of Gilead’s hold on her home burn up in flames, memories of Nick Blaine fall onto her like ashes. She and Luke have found peace and acceptance in their newfound differences, knowing that what keeps them united is their fight to save their daughter Hannah (Jordanna Blake).

While nothing is like what it used to be or could have been, June closes the chapter with many of her love ones, including her mother Holly (Cherry Jones), Janine (Madeline Brewer) — whose daughter was also returned to her, thanks to Mark Tuella (Sam Jaeger), Naomi Putnam (Ever Carradine) and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd); as well as the return of Dr. Emily Malek (Alexis Bledel).

“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu/Disney)

“I know [show creator Bruce Miller’s] feeling, which I think is so lovely in how the episode ended up. He wanted it to not suffer from finale-itis,” Chang explained. “He didn’t want to wrap everything up in a beautiful bow, and he didn’t want it to feel like this is the final episode of this whole series. He wanted it to feel like this is what happens the next day. It feels like life.”

Chang continued: “We had Eric’s amazing, epic Episode 9, where he really delivered on everything that we wanted to see. And then I think 10 is just sort of very beautiful and elegant denouement of what happens after that huge revolution, where you finally get bloodlust satiated. It’s kind of like what happens the moment after the end of ‘The Graduate?’ Here’s the next day. It’s that realism and that novelistic quality of the show that makes it feel real, and is why people connect to it … it doesn’t feel like a TV show.”

As the city regains power, June burns the last remaining item from her horrid years as a handmaid: her red dress and cloak. However, the final scene shows June deciding to relive her abuse, but in the form of a supportive and informative tool for the families that have been torn apart. She begins to pen her story into a book, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Read below for more with the showrunners, including how the upcoming spinoff “The Testaments” changed the show’s ending. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

TheWrap: We got to see the return of some familiar faces, including Alma (Nina Kiri) and Brianna (Bahia Watson) in that dream/fantasy sequence. Talk to me about that.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu/Disney/Caitlin Moulton)

Tuchman: If you’ve talked to Bruce, he’s had the idea for that dream sequence for a long time. And if you remember in Season 1, when Janine (Madeline Brewer) is going to jump off the bridge and June is trying to get her not to, and June saying, ‘Someday we’re going to go sing karaoke and get wasted, and Moira (Samira Wiley) is going to be there.”

That stuck in [Bruce’s] head, I think. So to see it actually play out in this fantasy, and to see Alma (Nina Kiri) and Brianna (Bahia Watson) return, and to see Janine with both eyes — what should have been. These vibrant, beautiful young women should have had these lives, and these lives were destroyed or taken from them. I find it incredibly powerful, and it was even more powerful in person watching them shoot it, to see this group of people get back together. So it’s a wish fulfillment moment. It’s just an opportunity to see what could have been, should have been.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu/Disney/Caitlin Moulton)

For the first time ever, June finally gives Serena her forgiveness for all that she’s done. How was it to craft that moment?

Chang: That’s one of the themes that we played with throughout this season, which in Episode 6 actually, there are like two big June-Serena scenes. And you know, Serena even says, “Yet you refuse to forgive me. I’ve tried and tried again to make amends, and yet you refuse to forgive me.” And June says, “Well, I can’t forgive you. Don’t you think I wish I could if only to be rid of you.”

And that, for Serena, it really started to define her relationship that, like it or not, she uses June, sees June as her vehicle for redemption, and she’s not going to feel right about herself. She’s not going to feel good about herself unless June forgives her. And for so long, June can’t. Then in the finale, June finally does sort of a gift to her, and it’s a gift to herself too. Forgiveness is a gift.

So they finally come to this point where Serena did this incredible thing in Episode 9, which is give up the location of that plane. June is finally able to forgive her, and that really releases and liberates both of them, and that relationship, and their tortured, tortured dynamic, which has been very instructive for both of them, it’s like that dynamic finally comes to a close and they go their separate ways.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu/Disney)

Tell me about Luke and June’s sweet but sad — at least for the viewers — farewell.

Tuchman: So much has been made about the love triangle, and who is June going to choose? And yes, of course, I understand that was a significant thing, but ultimately, that’s not the show. It’s not what the show is about, and it’s not about her choice. What I love about how June and Luke end up, how Bruce wrote [it] and how they played it, it just feels very real. It feels mature, it feels honest. It feels like a couple that have a long history together, that share a child, but they’re different people. They’ve changed. As much as they wish they could go back to who they were, they can’t. They’ve been forever changed by this experience. What they will never give away is the connection that they have. Of course, it’s through their daughter, but the love and respect that they have for each other. So maybe they won’t be physically together, but they’ll always be bound together, and then sometime in the future, they’ll reunite again.

It just feels like the most mature, authentic, adult version of that relationship that we could get. It feels like real life.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu/Disney)

In the final scene, we see June recording audio so she can write “The Handmaid’s Tale,” were those the first lines from the book? Unpack that entire scene.

Chang: Yes, those are the first lines from the book. Bruce had that idea for June to record her handmaid’s tale I think for years, for seasons, that that would be a scene in the finale. Originally, it wasn’t actually the last scene. It wasn’t what he envisioned as the last scene, but I think that ultimately it is so perfect as the last scene. I’m glad that he made it the last scene, and actually it was like a little easter egg before, I think, in the pilot. And we did it here. When she says, ‘Chair, table, a lamp,’ there’s like a little click of a tape recorder that goes on. It’s in the pilot, but you probably don’t notice it, but here you finally see her later with the tape recorder. What I love so much about that is that the whole scene made so much sense to me as a story.

The context is that we knew we could not bring June and Hannah together, which was, as writers on the show, extremely painful. But as you know, there’s a sequel, and it’s all about Hannah. And they will hopefully reunite in that show, but we couldn’t do it in the show because [“The Handmaid’s Tale” author] Margaret [Atwood] wrote “The Testaments” and it’s a beautiful book, and it’s going to be a beautiful show.

What you would expect to happen in this show is it would end with that reunion, and we couldn’t do that. But what made so much sense to me, what was so beautiful about the way Bruce did the finale and [how] Lizzie [Elisabeth Moss] directed it and acted it, is that when she starts to record her tale, it is for Hannah. And what we realize is that this whole show we’ve been seeing in this entire story is her reaching out to her daughter, and her daughter hearing this one day. So it creates that relationship between the two of them, which has to be good enough for now, you know? And as June says, also in the finale, “This story is for the moms who don’t get their kids back.” It is a story of trauma and loss, and that is just real life, and you don’t get everything that you want.

All episodes of “The Handmaid’s Tale” are now streaming on Hulu.

The post ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Bosses Break Down the End of June’s Revolution: ‘Bloodlust Satiated’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Jake Tapper Says Cover-Up of Biden’s Mental Decline ‘May Be Even Worse Than Watergate’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said the cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline while he was in the White House was “maybe even worse than Watergate” in an interview with Piers Morgan on Monday.

Tapper said the reason the hiding of Biden’s health issues was a bigger deal than the scandal that brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency was because Nixon “was in control of his faculties when he was not drinking.”

Biden, Tapper has said several times on his recent media tour, was showing routine signs of a man who was suffering from a cognitive decline, including forgetting the names of aides and celebrity supporters like George Clooney. A moment earlier, Morgan said he believed the secrecy around the ex-president’s health was a bigger offense than Watergate.

Tapper was on Morgan’s “Uncensored” YouTube show to promote his new book, “Original Sin,” which looked at the cover up of Biden’s health while in office; he was joined by his co-author Alex Thompson.

'Even worse than Watergate'

Jake Tapper admits to Piers Morgan the Joe Biden health scandal might actually be worse than the Nixon one.

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https://t.co/a62qEi4Bjj@piersmorgan | @jaketapper | @AlexThomp pic.twitter.com/Kl5zPx9oM3

— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) May 26, 2025

The veteran CNN anchor said several people played a key role in keeping Biden’s health a secret, including his wife Jill, who was “enamored” with the lifestyle of being the First Lady, he said.

Tapper also said Biden’s son Hunter was in favor of keeping it a secret to help safeguard him against a federal investigation into his taxes and illegally buying a gun. “The best way that they could protect [Hunter Biden] was to keep the presidency so that they could protect him,” Tapper said.

The two authors have been on an extensive media tour to promote “Original Sin” in the past few weeks.

Last week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Tapper said there were “two Joe Bidens” and that the “non-functioning” version was seen more and more as his presidency went on — culminating in his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump in June 2024. Less than a month later, Biden ended his campaign.

Tapper, during an interview on his own channel, said there was was “not enough” coverage of Biden’s health issues, including from himself.

And last Tuesday, while appearing on Megyn Kelly’s show, Tapper said he called Lara Trump to apologize to her, after he ripped her in 2020 for claiming Biden was showing signs of cognitive decline. “She saw something that I did not see at the time,” Tapper said. “100 percent. And I own that.”

He made a similar comment to Morgan on Monday, saying a lot of voters could see “what was in front of their nose, [and] our nose” with regards to Biden’s health decline, “so kudos to everybody who was right on target.”

To hear more of what Morgan thinks of Biden, Trump, CNN, and the royal family, check TheWrap tomorrow to read a full interview.

The post Jake Tapper Says Cover-Up of Biden’s Mental Decline ‘May Be Even Worse Than Watergate’ appeared first on TheWrap.