Steve Pond's Blog, page 162

Trump Is Reviewing Jon Voight’s Proposal to ‘Bring More Productions Back to America’ After Weekend Mar-a-Lago Meeting

President Trump is reviewing Special Ambassador Jon Voight’s proposal to “bring more productions back to America” after meeting with the actor and his producing partner Steven Paul at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend.

The proposed plan includes federal incentives for production and post-production, the establishment of co-production treaties with foreign countries, as well as infrastructure subsidies for theater owners, job training, and other changes to the tax code. The plan also calls for the use for tariffs in “certain limited circumstances.”

“The president loves the entertainment business and this country, and he will help us make Hollywood great again,” the actor says.

The White House on Monday said “no final decisions” have been made on hitting foreign films with a 100% tariff, according to a statement shared with TheWrap. The update came just one day after President Trump said he would impose the stiff tariff to help save a “dying” entertainment industry.

“Although no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made, the administration is exploring all options to deliver on President Trump’s directive to safeguard our country’s national and economic security while Making Hollywood Great Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said.

Desai’s statement came less than 24 hours after the president said he will impose a 100% tariff on “any and all” films made outside the United States.

On Monday evening, Voight released a short video in which, with an American flag background behind him, he restated what he had said earlier regarding the proposals and praised Trump in effusive, exaggerated terms, comparing him to both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.

The post Trump Is Reviewing Jon Voight’s Proposal to ‘Bring More Productions Back to America’ After Weekend Mar-a-Lago Meeting appeared first on TheWrap.

Colin Jost Attempts to Sell Staten Island Ferry Boat in New ‘SNL’ Sketch: ‘Please Buy It’ | Video

Colin Jost still has a Staten Island ferry boat to sell. On the most recent episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the “Weekend Update” anchor starred in a sketch in which he attempted to sell the boat — which he bought with Pete Davidson in 2022 — to Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman.

The sketch, called “Ferry Altercation,” starred the trio as well as host Quinta Brunson. Day and Brunson played two angry drivers who enter into a verbal altercation while trying to park on the ferry, and Fineman played Day’s daughter.

Jost makes his appearance after an exasperated Day complained he typically “loves the ferry.” Jost then showed up at the passenger side of Day and Fineman’s car. “Hey!” he said. “ou said you love ferries? If you love ferries, would you like to buy one?”

A surprised Fineman asked, “Is that Colin Jost?” to which Day answered, “Yes, that’s Colin Jost. Don’t make eye contact.”

He then turned down Jost’s offer, to which Jost begged, “Please buy it.”

Jost, Davidson, and Paul Italia bought the decommissioned MV John F. Kennedy in 2022. NBC News confirmed the purchase, which was made at auction for $280,100.

Jost’s wife Scarlett Johansson expressed her hesitation about the purchase two years later. “He’s a kind person and he’s hilarious and thoughtful and loving, and he’s a great dad and I love him. I feel very, very lucky. But also he’s got his naughty side,” the Marvel star revealed on “LIVE With Kelly and Mark.” That “naughty side” is represented by Jost’s purchase on the John F. Kennedy ferry, which he bought in 2022 through an online public auction.

“It is, yep, still decommissioned. I was like, ‘OK, what’s happening with this boat?’ You’ve got to start paying for its own docking fees at least, right?’” Johansson said.

“So if anybody has a Bat Mitzvah they need to throw, go to RentAFerry.com. It will really make our family happy,” she added.

The post Colin Jost Attempts to Sell Staten Island Ferry Boat in New ‘SNL’ Sketch: ‘Please Buy It’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Danny McBride on That ‘Righteous Gemstones’ Finale Shootout and Tackling Religion Without Being Judgmental

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Righteous Gemstones” Season 4, Episode 9.

Over the course of six years, “The Righteous Gemstones” took some wild turns. What started as a plot to steal money from a megachurch to cover up an affair morphed into a saga about a money-losing teenage Jesus show — or “Teenjus” — by Season 4. But even in its own wild universe, the series finale of Danny McBride’s HBO comedy feels surprising.

Most of Season 4 follows the Gemstone family facing off against Cobb Milsap (Michael Rooker), a former family friend who has grown to resent the Gemstones’ wealth. The penultimate episode sees Cobb dying in his own gator pit. In “That Man of God May Be Complete,” his son Corey (Seann William Scott) steps in to finish the job. After asking this family for $7 million, Corey goes on a rampage, shooting Jesse (McBride), Kelvin (Adam DeVine) and Judy (Edi Patterson) in their lake house. But thanks to an assist from Dr. Watson (yes, the monkey), it’s Corey and not the Gemstone children who suffers a deadly blow.

Season 4 started with Elijah Gemstone (Bradley Cooper) scamming his way into becoming a minister yet being asked to pray for the sick and dying during the Civil War. Hundreds of years later, his ancestors are put in the same position. In a surprisingly heartfelt moment, Jesse, Kelvin and Judy put aside their wealth and vanity to pray alongside their dying friend.

“With all of the s–t that the Gemstone kids have done or been through, in that moment at the end they have to do what the job requires without monster trucks or jet packs or anything,” McBride told TheWrap. “They weirdly rise to that occasion, as strange as it is.”

It’s this unexpected moment that spoke to why McBride has been so fascinated by this particular family for so long.

“Sometimes in the Bible or in some of those religious stories, God isn’t known for picking the perfect person to deliver the message. A lot of times they’ll say stuff like, ‘He makes ready whoever is chosen,’ or whatever. I always thought that was an interesting concept, even for the Gemstones,” McBride told TheWrap. “They’re scoundrels. They’re making money, and they’re not living what they preach. But I do think what makes them interesting is they’re believers. I do think that they believe this. But I think their wealth and their money makes them feel like they don’t have to follow the rules for real.”

From afar, “The Righteous Gemstones” may look like a takedown of Christianity at large, but that’s never been what’s in this show’s heart. McBride’s raunchy comedy isn’t mocking religion; it’s mocking the vanity and hypocrisy of this particular family that controls a megachurch. This sincerity around faith carries through the show’s finale, which never scoffs at Corey, Jesse, Kelvin or Judy for their belief.

John Goodman, Adam DeVine, Edit Patterson and Danny McBride in “The Righteous Gemstones” (HBO)

“With that approach, weirdly, I just felt like I hadn’t seen it before. Very rarely does someone tell a story in modern times that’s in the world of religion without having some judgment on religion, you know?” McBride said. “I’m a student of the world. I appreciate all religions, and I appreciate everyone’s quest to figure out what this is all about and where we all land in that. So it wouldn’t be in me to be judgmental about belief. I could be judgmental about somebody being a con artist.”

McBride likened his approach to Christianity to shows about the entertainment industry that are full of monstrous characters. “It doesn’t mean that everyone in the entertainment industry is a monster,” McBride said. “That was a line I always wanted to make sure we rode with this. Ultimately, I hope that people that are religious watch the show too. The joke isn’t at their expense.”

This refusal to pass judgement is also why “The Righteous Gemstones” concludes in an open-ended way. Corey’s death isn’t the final moment of the series. Instead, the HBO comedy shows vignettes to each of main characters moving on with their lives. The uncertainty around “The Sopranos” finale inspired McBride to take this open-ended approach.

“There’s a finality to a show ending with judgment, and I didn’t want it to end that way,” he said. “At the end of the day, the justice that you want to see in real life doesn’t need to like happen in this story. That’s not what this is ultimately about. It also creates an end to the story, in a way, and I feel like it’s better to leave things where you, as the viewer, can imagine that their lives continue. It lives on in your brain, in a way of like, ‘What happens next?’ or ‘What are they up to now?'”

Ultimately, McBride is proud of his religious comedy. Despite all of its monster trucks, car crashes, elaborate musical numbers and period costumes that make this the biggest budget show he’s ever worked on, McBride emphasized that it’s genuine emotion underneath all of these stories that make “The Righteous Gemstones” work.

“All this stuff, as someone who just loves creating, it was so much fun. It was fun to push other creatives to embrace this craziness. But as far as we go with it, there still has to be something underneath it that was real so that you can really land it at the end and have it add up to something other than just being insanity,” McBride said. “That was the line we always were trying to ride: pushing ourselves to be as indulgent and crazy as we want, but trying to make sure that, underneath it all, there was still something that resembled a human experience.”

“The Righteous Gemstones” is now streaming on Max.

The post Danny McBride on That ‘Righteous Gemstones’ Finale Shootout and Tackling Religion Without Being Judgmental appeared first on TheWrap.

Who Is Isaac? Jeffrey Wright’s ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Character, Explained

Sunday’s episode of “The Last of Us” Season 2 introduces viewers to Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright), a former FEDRA soldier who turned on the governmental force in favor of joining Seattle’s Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.). Throughout the episode, he blows up an entire squad of soldiers who had pledged their loyalty to him and tortures, interrogates and kills a bruised, battered member of the Seraphites (Ryan Masson), a.k.a. Scars.

Isaac, consequently, makes quite the impression in the episode, thanks in no small part to Wright’s reliably magnetic screen presence. What viewers might know is that Isaac is a character that Wright himself actually played in 2020’s “The Last of Us Part II,” the video game that inspired the HBO series’ second season. Isaac is an important figure within the franchise’s dystopian world and he will play a pivotal role in its story from here on out.

Jeffrey Wright in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4 (Liane Hentscher/HBO)Who is Isaac in “The Last of Us” Season 2?

Isaac is the totalitarian leader of the Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.). He leads, as viewers discover in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4, with an absolutely iron fist. He executes W.L.F. deserters, tortures Scars for information and demands complete loyalty to the W.L.F. from anyone who lives in Seattle. Video game players even learn through discoverable artifacts and items that Isaac coldly banished anyone from the city who was not willing to swear their allegiance to the W.L.F.

He is an unbending militaristic figure, and a considerable force to be reckoned with, especially now that Ellie and Dina have ventured into his domain while it is in the middle of an unending war. HBO’s “The Last of Us” has, notably, already fleshed out Isaac more than its video game source material ever did, and he seems primed to have a much larger presence in the show.

That said, it does not seem likely that the HBO series will diverge too much from Isaac’s overall video game arc. So, for those who want to know what happens to Isaac in “The Last of Us Part II,” keep reading. Those who want to avoid any and all potential spoilers for future episodes, meanwhile, should stop here.

Jeffrey Wright as Isaac Dixon in “The Last Of Us Part II” (Naughty Dog)What happens to Isaac?

By the time Ellie and Dina arrive in Seattle in “The Last of Us Part II,” Isaac has already decided that the only way for the W.L.F. to actually win its war against the Scars is to plan a full-scale invasion and massacre of the faction’s island located off the coast of Seattle. If he does not follow through with his plan, Isaac believes the Scars will kill and convert too many W.L.F. soldiers in the long run for his side to come out on top.

The seeds for this plan have already been planted in Isaac’s brutal interrogation scene in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4. Unfortunately for Isaac, while his eventual invasion initially looks like it will be successful in “The Last of Us Part II,” everything goes wrong when he discovers Abby, his once-favorite soldier, protecting Lev, an exiled transgender Seraphite, on the Scars’ island. When Abby refuses to rejoin him and let him kill Lev, Isaac prepares to shoot them both.

Before he can, he is shot from behind by Yara, Lev’s loyal sister, who dies in turn. Abby and Lev escape the W.L.F.’s invasion, which ends with a full-scale retreat, while Isaac dies offscreen from his gunshot wound. Isaac survives most of the Seattle events of “The Last of Us Part II,” though, so it seems unlikely viewers of its HBO adaptation will be saying goodbye to Wright’s live-action Isaac anytime soon. Just don’t be surprised when and if he eventually makes his exit in much the same manner as his video game counterpart.

“The Last of Us” airs Sundays on HBO and Max.

The post Who Is Isaac? Jeffrey Wright’s ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Character, Explained appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Last of Us’ Star Isabela Merced Unpacks Dina’s Big Episode 4 Reveal

Note: This article contains spoilers from “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4

After taking time to grieve Joel’s death last week, Sunday’s episode of HBO’s “The Last of Us” saw Ellie and Dina arrive in Seattle as part of their revenge against Abby and her crew of ex-Fireflies.

The journey proved to be more dangerous than the pair was expecting as they encounter the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), dead Seraphites and infected around every corner. But the biggest bombshell of Episode 4 comes towards the end as Ellie (Bella Ramsey) reveals to Dina that she’s immune — and Dina reveals to Ellie that she’s pregnant with Jesse’s child.

“It isn’t your average pregnancy experience. I think learning while she’s already on the way plays a big factor [in why she chooses to stay on the journey with Ellie]. But she has her own motivations for it and I don’t think much is going to get in the way,” Isabela Merced, who plays Dina, told TheWrap. “That shows how devoted she is to the people she loves. She’s ready, willing and able to do this. She’s devoted, but not like a cult follower, maybe more just a good girlfriend.”

Despite all the challenges they face, Episode 4 balanced the tone with a light-hearted moment between Ellie and Dina taken straight from the game, in which the former serenades the latter with a rendition of A-ha’s “Take on Me.”

Bella Ramsey in Episode 4, Season 2 (Liane Hentscher/HBO)

When asked about recreating the scene and what’s going through Dina’s head as she stares longingly at Ellie, Merced said it’s not only a moment where Dina and Ellie get to express joy and love for one another, but also another opportunity to mourn Joel (Pedro Pascal).

“A lot of the love Dina has for Ellie is thanks to Joel. He taught her how to play the guitar, he taught her a lot of the values that she holds, he taught her a lot of the jokes and whatnot. So I think it’s a happy sort of grieving for Joel, and one of those moments where you’re happy thinking of them even though they’re gone,” Merced said. “When she gets sad, it’s actually because the feelings she has for Ellie potentially scare her, because it’s that deep and it’s much more than she anticipated. By that point, she knows she’s pregnant, she’s already peed on the stick. So she’s also going through a lot of emotions because she’s a very pregnant woman. There’s a lot of hormones. So there’s a lot of factors that go into that look and why I think that scene is such a special and true moment for both of those characters.”

Ultimately, that scene proves to be one of the last moments of levity we see in the rest of the episode, as the pair come face to face with a horde of infected shortly after while running through an abandoned and destroyed subway system.

Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced in Episode 4, Season 2 (Liane Hentscher/HBO)

“My favorite part of that sequence is when Dina is counting the infected noises, incorporating that from earlier in the season. But also on top of that, incorporating the crouching in the game where you’re normally able to see where the infected might be around you,” she said. “So it’s incorporating that element but in a more clever way.”

The sequence culminates in Ellie getting bitten to protect Dina, a slight change from the game due to the absence of spores. It also sets up a difficult choice for Dina: to believe that Ellie is immune or to kill her.

“[Bella and I] both had a really interesting task. It was to tell the truth and then to decide if Dina was going to believe it. I can only speak for myself really and I really appreciate Bella giving me that performance,” Merced said. “A lot of it was internal. It didn’t matter what Ellie said to Dina in that moment because there was a lot of questioning if she was lying. There’s also a lot of questioning if she’s telling the truth because that also is pretty sh—t and changes everything. So either way, it’s a messed up situation for everyone involved. But I wanted people to really think that I could have shot Ellie and Bella really had to act that way, which is really stressful.”

Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced in Episode 4, Season 2 (Liane Hentscher/HBO)

Ellie ultimately proves her immunity to Dina and the two proceed to passionately show their love for one another. Despite her love for Jesse, Dina admitted that she doesn’t see him as “the one” and was forced to hide being bisexual growing up.

“I think with acceptance of feelings for Ellie naturally comes her acknowledgement of her relationship with Jesse, and sort of a mourning for what she thought it would be or could be. And an acceptance of like ‘Damn, I was really just forcing myself into complicit heterosexuality’,” Merced said. “I think she also did care for Jesse genuinely and that’s confusing for her, because bisexual is not a word that she even knows.”

“They don’t know what the LGBTQIA+ community is. They don’t know about Pride. They were in Seattle and in a literal gay community and were like, ‘Well, they must have been a bunch of optimists.’ So they were just really out of the loop,” she added. “Every time she does accept her feelings for Ellie, she feels conflicted when it comes to her experience with Jesse.”

Merced praised both co-creator and executive producer Craig Mazin and co-executive producer and writer Halley Gross, who was a co-writer on “The Last of Us: Part II,” for making Dina and Ellie’s relationship so relatable and expanding upon the idea that sexuality is a spectrum.

“People are really multifaceted and fascinating and layered and I love how Craig Mazin writes and how Halley Gross, who came on board for the second game, really expanded upon that and made these two women in a really believable sapphic relationship,” she said. “I have to thank Halley a lot for Dina.”

“The Last of Us” airs new episodes Sundays on HBO and Max.

The post ‘The Last of Us’ Star Isabela Merced Unpacks Dina’s Big Episode 4 Reveal appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 2 Drops Apocalypse Pros Maggie and Negan ‘Back Down to Zero’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Walking Dead: Dead City” Season 2, Episode 1

After a combined 18 seasons in “The Walking Dead” universe, Scott M. Gimple considers Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to be zombie-bashing pros. That’s why it’s been so thrilling to force these two characters to return to the highest stakes apocalypse landscape imaginable in “The Waking Dead: Dead City”: New York City.

“New York is a new environment for them. They might be pros out in the world, but in New York, they kind of go back down to zero,” Gimple, chief content officer for “The Walking Dead” television franchise, told TheWrap. “That’s refreshing. After all this time, they don’t know what’s around every corner. They don’t know how to handle every situation that falls in their lap. And we see their strength, heroism and maybe the ability come out because of those situations.”

It’s not just the endless mass of walkers that makes New York City a challenge. It’s the fact that Manhattan is an island and that its urban environment hides danger in every block. In nearly every zombie show, movie, comic or game, New York is quickly written off as a lost cause. That’s what makes this season’s war between the divided communities of Manhattan and the New Babylon Federation so enticing.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan in “The Walking Dead: Dead City” (Photo Credit: Robert Clark/AMC)

“It’s the geography. It makes things different. It makes the people who survive there different. It makes their communities different. It makes the nature of the walkers different. It makes the nature of survival different. So it was really, really rich with possibility,” Gimple said.

“It’s the city of possibility and resourcefulness and power. And these are all the themes that we got to to dive into being in the city,” Cohan told TheWrap. One of the actor’s favorite aspects of Season 2 was seeing the beauty and culture of the city.

“Even though it’s sometimes being misused by our baddies, it’s also depicted with such decay and artfulness that it is kind of this dreamy landscape,” Cohan said. “It was a level up.”

Maggie is certainly back at Level 1 at the beginning of this new season. Throughout “The Waking Dead,” Maggie is known for her independence and fighting skills. She may have began the series ignorant about the apocalypse, but by the show’s end she becomes the leader of the Virginia colony known as The Hilltop.

Those high ranks are far from where Maggie is at the start of “Dead City” Season 2. After trading Negan to the Manhattan-based Croat (Željko Ivanek) in exchange for her son Hershel (Logan Kim), Maggie finds herself indebted to the New Babylon Federation. After being on top for so long, Maggie starts this season on possibly the lowest rung of the ladder, seen as a possible traitor by this group she doesn’t trust. For Cohan, much of this season was about exploring Maggie’s loss of control.

“It’s upended when New Babylon comes and there’s a test she has to face that is unavoidable in order to protect Herschel and other people from going to fight a war they don’t believe in. But then there’s also the control of being a parent and knowing that you have to let your child find their own way and loosen the grip in a world that’s so full of danger,” Cohan said. “Herschel is obviously a much more capable kid than most, but it doesn’t change the dynamic that I felt to be very relatable in a normal setting, in a normal world.”

New episodes of “The Waking Dead: Dead City” premiere on AMC and AMC+ at 9 p.m. ET.

The post ‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Season 2 Drops Apocalypse Pros Maggie and Negan ‘Back Down to Zero’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Yes, That Was Josh Peck in ‘The Last of Us’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4.

That was not a trick of the light, Josh Peck did in fact have a quick cameo in “The Last of Us.”

The actor appeared in a quick scene to open up Season 2, Episode 4 of the HBO adaptation. Like many people in the post-apocalyptic landscape of “The Last of Us,” the “Drake and Josh” alum is not long to survive but his appearance is likely to turn some heads and raise some eyebrows.

Here’s what you need to know about Peck’s cameo.

Who does Josh Peck play in “The Last of Us”

Peck is part of a flashback to 2018 and plays an unnamed FEDRA soldier. He spends most of his screen time telling a crude story to the other members of his squad while riding in the back of a military vehicle. This isn’t just a bit of flavor to flesh out the world — it’s to introduce a new character that will stand between Ellie (Bella Ramsay) and her revenge plot.

Peck’s character is interrupted by Isaac (Jeffrey Wright), the leader of the squad. He tells the truck to stop while he and another soldier get out the back. Another group of survivors, led by a woman, are waiting for Isaac. The two shake hands – clearly working together on a deal — before Isaac turns back to the truck, drops in a couple grenades and slams the door shut. Peck’s character and the rest of his squad are all stuck inside and killed.

What other cameos has “The Last of Us” featured?

Most of the cameos in “The Last of Us” up to this point have been honoring the many voice actors who worked on the game. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker (who voiced Ellie and Joel) appeared as Ellie’s mom and a member of David’s cannibal crew respectively. Laura Bailey (who voiced Abby in “The Last of Us Part II”) played a Firefly nurse and Jeffrey Pierce (who voiced Tommy) played Perry — the second-in-command for Kathleen’s (Melanie Lynskey) rebels.

Johnson also appeared in a way in Season 2. The song “Through the Valley” that played through the credits at the end of Episode 2 was performed by the actress.

Wright playing Isaac joins Season 1’s Merle Dandridge as an actor who voiced their character in the game and reprised their role for the show. Dandridge appeared in the first season as Marlene.

“The Last of Us” airs Sundays on HBO and Max.

The post Yes, That Was Josh Peck in ‘The Last of Us’ appeared first on TheWrap.

‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 4 Recap: Guitars, Torture and Pregnancy Tests

“The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4, titled “Day One,” begins 11 years in the past, though that is not initially clear. Having traveled with its young leads, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Dina (Isabela Merced), to post-apocalyptic Seattle at the end of last week’s “The Path,” this Sunday’s episode gives viewers a brief taste of the city’s violent past and present. It opens in the back of a FEDRA truck where a loud-mouthed soldier (a surprise Josh Peck) tells a crude story, which is eventually interrupted by another younger soldier, Burton (Ben Ahlers), who asks why Peck’s FEDRA goon keeps calling Seattle’s citizens “voters.” Before Peck’s character can answer, the squad’s sergeant, Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright), answers. “We took away their rights. Took away their right to vote and someone started calling them ‘voters’ to mock them,” Isaac bitterly explains. 

Moments later, he gets out of the truck and comes face-to-face with Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach), a leader of the then-fledgling Washington Liberation Front (W.L.F.). With Burton standing nearby, Isaac throws two grenades into the FEDRA truck and seals the remaining soldiers inside. He shoots one that escapes, and then gives Burton the choice to either join the W.L.F. with him or die with their former FEDRA comrades. This prologue, which is entirely original to HBO’s “Last of Us,” effectively introduces viewers to Wright’s decisive, unwavering Isaac. It also establishes the way he wages war and, therefore, teases the brutal conflict between the W.L.F.’s Wolves and the Seraphites, a.k.a. Scars, that is still raging in the show’s version of Seattle, despite the W.L.F.’s rise to power in FREDA’s place.

From there, “The Last of Us” catches back up with Ellie and Dina. The two explore Seattle’s abandoned streets, observing the pride flags painted and hanging around the city with confusion. “Maybe they’re optimists,” Ellie wonders aloud. The two take refuge in a music store where Ellie finds a guitar and sings a cover of “Take on Me” by A-ha in a scene taken straight out of “The Last of Us Part II.” Dina is brought to tears by Ellie’s performance, but neither addresses the romantic energy still crackling between them. On paper, this sequence may seem like a strange left-turn for “The Last of Us” to take following its explosive, violent prologue. It makes sense within the wider context of the episode, though, which tries — not with total success — to explore both the growing love between Ellie and Dina and the life-destroying violence of the world they’re falling in love in.

Jeffrey Wright as Isaac Dixon in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4 (Liane Hentscher/HBO)Chicken-and-Egg Games

Ellie and Dina’s exploration of Seattle is interrupted when “Day One” returns to Wright’s Isaac. Standing in a dilapidated restaurant kitchen, he muses about the days before the apocalypse when he was still a young man desperate to impress women. “What I would do is cook for them, and I was good,” he says. “Good enough to deserve quality tools, but did I have the money for that? No, I did not.” The target of all his fantasies was a French-made Mauviel saucepan. As he stares up at one of those very pans, he remarks, “I would think … ‘One day, I will own a Mauviel saucepan,’ and I was right — just not how I planned.” As he heats up the copper cooking instrument, director Kate Herron (“Loki” Season 1) pans her camera to reveal the recipient of Isaac’s speech: a bruised, battered and naked Seraphite (Ryan Masson), who sits chained to a nearby wall.

Isaac presses the pan’s scalding hot metal to his prisoner’s hand, torturing the man for information about the Seraphites’ next attack. The Scar resists, and when Isaac asks whether the Seraphites’ prophet told them to kill children, the imprisoned man counters, “You kill our children.” What follows is a bitter back and forth about which side is really to blame for the ongoing war between the W.L.F. and the Scars and the breaking of their previous truce. “I’m not playing your little chicken-and-egg games today, Scar,” Isaac says, putting an end to an exchange that is original to HBO’s “Last of Us” and which brings this season’s themes about the cyclical nature of violence and retribution — as well as all of the thinly veiled allusions to the Israel-Palestine conflict present in its video game source material — into startling clarity. 

Rather than get the information he is looking for, Isaac is told by his prisoner that the Wolves are going to lose. “Are we? Son, we have automatic weapons and hospitals and you lunatics have bolt-action rifles, bows and arrows and superstition. So tell me: How are we going to lose?” Isaac asks. “Every day, a Wolf leaves you to take the holy mortification to become a Seraphite, and none of us ever leave to become a Wolf,” the Seraphite replies. His answer, as well as his willing acceptance of further torture, unnerve Isaac enough for him to just shoot his prisoner in the head. This scene is one of the best and sharpest of “The Last of Us” Season 2 so far. It is also clear from his two appearances in “Day One” that “The Last of Us” wants to use Wright, who is just as accomplished and magnetic as Pedro Pascal, to make up for some of the star power it lost when it killed Pascal’s Joel in “Through the Valley.”

Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4 (Liane Hentscher/HBO)Feel Her Love

Whether or not Wright will be able to lift “The Last of Us” up enough remains to be seen. He does not appear again in “Day One,” which instead spends the remainder of its runtime with Ellie and Dina. The episode follows them as they use the cover of nightfall to sneak into the W.L.F. radio station they’d spotted earlier in the day. Inside, Ellie and Dina discover a group of disemboweled Wolves hanging from the ceiling. “Feel her love,” is painted on a wall in blood and Ellie deduces based on a nearby symbol that the murdered W.L.F. soldiers were killed by members of the same group they discovered dead in the forests outside Seattle. Before they get the chance to investigate further, they are forced to hide from a new group of Wolves, who begin scouring the building for any hiding Scars.

Ellie and Dina make a desperate escape from the radio station by killing a pair of Wolves who get in their way. The two girls run from the remaining Wolves by scrambling into a collapsed subway tunnel. They are followed inside, but both they and their pursuers find themselves quickly overwhelmed by a massive horde of infected. The set piece that follows, which sticks with Ellie and Dina as they scramble onto and into upturned subway cars while trying to avoid the infected crashing in from all sides, ranks squarely as the most thrilling action sequence of “The Last of Us” Season 2 to date. It might even be the series’ best — period — and, if nothing else, proves just like “Loki” Season 1 did that Herron is an immensely capable action filmmaker.

Ellie and Dina’s subway chase reaches its climax when — in a minor deviation from “The Last of Us Part II” — the former saves the latter’s life by sticking her bare arm into an approaching infected’s biting mouth. Dina watches in horror as the infected bites Ellie’s arm, and she is prepared to put Ellie down when they take refuge above ground in an abandoned theatre just moments later. With no other option, Ellie tells her companion that she is immune and proves it by sleeping for several hours in front of the watchful, armed Dina. When Ellie wakes later, Dina reveals a secret of her own: She is pregnant with Jesse’s (Young Mazino) baby. In the wake of this bombshell, the two sleep together in an initially baffling decision that is later explained by Dina, who confesses that she was just so relieved to find out her imagined future with Ellie was still possible that she did not want to wait any longer to act on her feelings for her.

Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced in “The Last of Us” Season 2, Episode 4 (HBO)Forward Together

As they lie on the theatre lobby’s floor together, Dina tells Ellie that her mother tried to make her ignore her bisexuality when she was young, which is why she has spent so many years trying to make her relationship with Jesse work. This whole scene, unfortunately, carries serious YA romance vibes, and Dina’s insistence that she and Ellie eat some beef jerky to disguise their morning breath before kissing (the world has ended, y’all) feels like the kind of beat that writer Craig Mazin intends to be cute but instead just comes off as cringey. (To be fair: It is not particularly worse than any of Ellie and Dina’s early Seattle scenes together in “The Last of Us Part II.”)

The two eventually race to the theatre’s rooftop to see explosions raging several blocks away. They hear Nora’s (Tati Gabrielle) name over a W.L.F. radio they stole and realize where they need to go next, but before they do, Ellie tells Dina she does not have to accompany her anymore. “It’s different now,” she says, and Dina doesn’t necessarily disagree. She nonetheless grabs Ellie’s hand and promises they are going to finish their mission “together.”

And thus ends an episode of “The Last of Us” that is uneven in a new way for the HBO series.  Throughout its first season, “The Last of Us” was better at handling and developing its interpersonal relationships than it was at pushing its plot forward or doling out brutal violence. Based on the parts that work and don’t in “Day One,” the opposite seems to be true now — for better or worse.

“The Last of Us” airs Sundays on HBO and Max.

The post ‘The Last of Us’ Season 2, Episode 4 Recap: Guitars, Torture and Pregnancy Tests appeared first on TheWrap.

Where to Watch ‘Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain’: Is the New Series Streaming?

If you’re looking to escape to a new country, but can’t actually get there, we’ve got some good news for you. You can go to Spain.

Not literally, of course. Just by means of “Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain,” a new series on CNN following the success of “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy.” In this version, fans are able to follow Longoria across Spain as she tries new foods, immerses in the culture, and more.

“Spain’s rich culture, passionate people and bold and diverse cuisines have captivated me as long as I can remember, especially knowing that one of my Mexican-American ancestors has deep roots in this remarkable country,” Longoria said in a statement.

“The opportunity to immerse myself in Spain’s many regions, to discover its fascinating history, to indulge in its dynamic culinary traditions and innovations has been nothing short of exhilarating. I am so excited to finally share this incredible journey with the world!”

Here’s what you need to know.

What is the premiere date?

“Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain” will premiere on Sunday, April 27 at 9pm ET/PT on CNN.

Where can I watch it?

Of all places, you’ll be able to watch the series on CNN. “Searching for Spain” will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps.

It will also be available on demand beginning Monday, April 28 to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN connected TV and mobile apps, and Cable Operator Platforms.

What is “Searching for Spain” about?

With this series, CNN “invites viewers to journey with Longoria across Spain’s sun-drenched plains, rugged mountains and dramatic seascapes exploring its incredible wealth of cultures, climates and cuisines.” This season, Longoria will make her way across Spain, with stops in San Sebastián, Barcelona, Madrid, Andalusia, Galicia, and more.

When do new episodes come out?

This is not a series you’ll be able to binge, as it actually follows the traditional weekly rollout method. You’ll be able to watch a new episode every Sunday at 9 p.m.

How many episodes are there?

There will be eight episodes in total.

Watch the trailer

The post Where to Watch ‘Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain’: Is the New Series Streaming? appeared first on TheWrap.

Donald Trump Vows 100% Tariff on All Movies Made Outside the US: ‘A National Security Threat’

Donald Trump on Sunday said he will impose a 100% tariff on “any and all” films made outside the United States.

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,” the president wrote on Truth Social Sunday.

“Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

To put it lightly, Hollywood has many questions.

It is unclear how Trump plans to impose these tariffs. Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday” just started production in the UK, is Disney on the hook for that? What about James Cameron’s “Avatar” sequels, which are shot in New Zealand? And what of Netflix’s “Wuthering Heights” and Universal’s “Wicked: For Good,” both of which were shot in the UK?

And how soon will these tariffs be imposed? Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” hits theaters in just a few weeks, and the globe-trotting spy actioner shot pretty much everywhere but the United States.

Will the tariffs apply to animated films? That would be bad news for Universal’s box office hit-maker Illumination, which is based in France.

It’s also unclear if Trump’s planned tariffs include international films that are then distributed in the United States, a question that many would no doubt like to have answered before the Cannes Film Festival gets underway in less than 10 days — a host of distributors are primed to acquire foreign-made films at Cannes for domestic release.

It’s also unclear why Trump singled out movies and not TV production, as television shows are also increasingly shot outside Los Angeles.

Trump answered reporters’ questions about his announcement later on Sunday, but as is often the case, his answers led to more questions.

“What they’ve done is other nations have been stealing the movies, the moviemaking capabilities from the United States. And I said to a couple of people, ‘What do you think?’ I’ve done some very strong research over the last week, and we’re making very few movies now. Hollywood is being destroyed,” Trump said outside the White House.

Reporter: What about the movie tariffs?

Trump: Other nations have been stealing the movies— the movie making capabilities from the US. I’ve done some very strong research over the past week and we’re making very few movies now.
pic.twitter.com/oKCf0wnV6c

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 5, 2025

The president didn’t specify who he questioned about the situation, but in January, Trump announced Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone as Special Ambassadors to Hollywood. Reports swirled in recent weeks that Voight has been quietly meeting with people in Hollywood about the production exodus from L.A.

And Bloomberg reported on Sunday night that Voight and his manager Steven Paul spent the weekend with Trump at Mar-a-Lago outlining their proposed plan to institute a federal tax incentive to keep production in the United States.

Trump’s tweet came Sunday evening.

“Other nations, a lot of them, have stolen our movie industry and if they’re not willing to make a movie inside the United States, then we should have a tariff on movies that come in,” Trump continued when talking to reporters on Sunday. “Not only that, governments are actually giving big money, I mean they’re supporting them financially. So that’s sort of a threat to our country, in a sense.”

The tariff announcement comes as California is battling an exodus of production, not only overseas — especially to the U.K. — but also to Atlanta and New York. California lawmakers are currently mulling bills that would make the state more desirable for production, including nearly doubling the tax incentive to be more competitive with those offered elsewhere.

But a tariff on any films made outside the U.S. would seem to impact every major studio at a time when the entire industry — especially exhibitors — has singled out 2025 as a make-or-break box office year.

Are we headed towards a scenario where tickets to see “Avatar: Fire and Ash” are upcharged just because the New Zealand-shot film is now that much more expensive to release in the United States?

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