Tiffany Haddish has used her Jimmy Kimmel guest-hosting platform this week to make fun of Donald Trump, so much so that she actually got a response from the White House.

But she isn't done just yet. In the clip above, the actor takes a parting jab at the president on her final night as guest host.

"I've had the best time this week, oh my goodness. I made some new friends, I told some jokes that pissed off the White House," says Haddish. "And now I can go back to making the president mad just by being a successful Black woman."

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Donald Trump departed the NATO summit in Turkey on a different plane than he arrived on. The president landed in Ankara aboard his shiny new $400 million Qatari-gifted Boeing 747-8, but flew home in the old Air Force One.

And The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng has questions.

"OK, first off, how do you fly back on a different plane? Like, did they bring both Air Force Ones? Is that why there's no gas in the world anymore? Because the president flies with an extra emotional support plane?" the host asked on Thursday night.

"Also, you know what happens anytime they switch planes on you, OK? Trump definitely lost his luggage. He's calling them like, 'Hey, did you guys find a box? It says 'Epstein.' Don't open it.'"

According to the New York Times, the Secret Service cited security concerns with the Qatari plane amid the U.S.' ongoing war with Iran.

"Of course, we have to abandon the Qatari plane for security concerns. Of course, that happened. This is why, when it comes to the most important plane in the world, you don't go certified pre-owned," said Chieng.

"America should spring for a new one, and Trump should give the Qatar plane to...I don't know, give it to Southwest. I'll fly in it. I don't care if they spy on me. What are you gonna do? Find out I'm watching my own movies on the entertainment system? I'm not ashamed. I'm great in them."

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Daily Show host Ronny Chieng and comedian Aaron Chen have known each other for an age, so watching them in an interview situation is inevitably a delight.

On Thursday night's show Chieng, who has known Chen since he was 16, chatted about the comedian's new Apple TV film The Dink, as well as the key to comedy sports movies, yelling at Andy Roddick, living in Australia, being too young to get into stand-up comedy bars, and Chieng insisting he showed Chen the ropes.

"Well, yeah, you have been a big mentor to me," says Chen.

"Oh, OK," jokes Chieng. "You caught everyone off guard with the sincerity, including me."

"That's a pump fake," says Chen.

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Silo loves ending with an ominous shot of something mysterious, and Season 3, episode 2 is absolutely no exception.

But what are those big barrels of the troublingly named "Vitamin D+" being pushed up the central staircase? And what will they mean for the silo's residents? Let's break down what we know.

What happens at the end of Silo Season 3, episode 2?

Camille (Alexandria Riley), thinking she's managed to smooth out the growing issues with Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson), heads back to the Vault for a chat with the mysterious Algorithm.

But based on what the voice says to her, it sounds like the problems for Silo 18 are only just beginning.

"After her return, Juliette's survival was...unwelcome. But the numbers indicated it was tolerable. Perhaps even beneficial," says the voice, before bringing up a graph on the screen. "The blue line represents the calming value in the silo of having Juliette Nichols as mayor. The red line is the risk she poses if the memory protocol is not successful. If those lines cross, Juliette Nichols will have outlived her usefulness. The problem, of course, is that a sudden removal of Juliette could be catastrophically destabilising. We can only hope that the introduction of the vitamin compound into the water supply happens before that becomes necessary."

Vitamin compound? Water supply? It's not looking good, and nor does the sight of silo workers shoving large "Vitamn D+" barrels up the winding staircase in the episode's closing shots.

But what exactly is the compound, and how will it affect the silo's population?

What is Vitamin D+?

The answer seems pretty clear, and it links back to 1) What's been happening this season with Juliette, and 2) Another conversation between Camille and the Algorithm at the start of the episode, where Camille is complaining about how long it's taking Juliette to forget what happened to her.

"We have 352 years of data that demonstrates the protocol is effective most of the time, when implemented correctly," says the robotic voice in response. "Six silos have successfully undergone full resets, including your own 140 years ago, and there have been individuals targeted along the way."

So, we know Juliette is being given a drug that affects her memory. But the talk of a "full reset" suggests this strategy has been implemented on a much wider scale in the past.

Those "Vitamin D+" barrels being rolled up the stairs? Most probably the same memory-wiping medication being given to Juliette. Only this time, the target is everybody in Silo 18. Another "full reset" is in the works.

Silo Season 3 is streaming now on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping every Friday.

Another day, another bizarre Trump gaffe.

Following his attendance at the recent NATO summit, Donald Trump – while speaking about ongoing tensions with Iran – appeared to get his countries mixed up, saying missiles had been fired at a US air carrier by "the Islamic Republic of Japan."

In the Daily Show clip above, host Ronny Chieng shares his thoughts.

"Oh my God. We're losing the war with Iran so bad it converted Japan to Islam," jokes Chieng. "And I know it sounds stupid when Trump says it, but if someone told you the Islamic Republic of Japan was a new fusion restaurant in Bushwick, you f***ing hipsters would be lining up for it."

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Tiffany Haddish is guest hosting for Jimmy Kimmel this week, and she's cheerfully taken on the role of Donald Trump mocker-in-chief.

She's also apparently caught the attention of the White House. When asked about a joke Haddish made about Trump, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle responded to USA Today by asking: "Who the hell is Tiffany Haddish?"

"Who am I? Huh, huh? I'm the bitch you walk past to get to your coach seat, motherf***er," responds Haddish in the clip above. "Who am I? I'm a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, that's who I am. Who am I? Who the f*** is Davis Ingle, huh? Is that a new character in Little House on the Prairie, but yo ass in the White House? You in the wrong house!"

"But this is exciting, the White House is mad at me y'all," she continues. "This is the day that I finally become Jimmy Kimmel! I do got one question, though, if the president pulls me off the air, do I still get paid for the whole week?"

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When it comes to Emmy snubs, the Mashable team is most dismayed by Dropout walking away with nothing in this morning's nominations.

Game Changer isn't just a program on Dropout; it's also a fitting description of the platform itself. CEO and game show host Sam Reich has been rewriting the rules of Hollywood with labor practices that include paying for auditions and profit-sharing. Plus, with his comedy collaborators, he's launched inventive TV shows like Game Changer, Dimension 20, and Very Important People.

And yet the Television Academy has recognized none of the above.

Earlier this year, for Mashable 101, I interviewed Dropout stars, including Reich, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Vic Michaelis. As Michaelis said of the indie streamer's Emmy nomination potential, "It does really feel like we are at a tipping point right now."

Michaelis, who performs across several Dropout shows and hosts the comedy show Very Important People, noted, "The Oscars are moving to YouTube," and "There's a podcast category now for the Golden Globes. Things are starting to change." 

So, what happened?

Why did Dropout get snubbed at the Emmys?

Last April, Variety reported that Dropout had submitted for 11 categories for the Emmy Awards. Very Important People was submitted for Outstanding Variety Series, and Michaelis for Lead Comedy Actress. Meanwhile, Game Changer pitched for Outstanding Game Show and Outstanding Host for a Game Show, for Reich. Other submissions were in the creative Emmys categories, including direction, costumes, make-up, and picture editing.

For Dropout fans, this seemed like a strong strategy. On Very Important People, Michaelis plays a version of themself who is a desperate journalist, seeking to impress at all costs. Each week, as they welcome a new surprise guest — a prosthetics-covered comedian who improvises a character "on the spot" — Michaels is challenged to create an arc with her collaborator, while keeping in character and going off the rails for comedy greatness wherever possible.

Who did get nominated for the Emmys Dropout was aiming for?

The make-up accomplishments alone should have made Very Important People a lock. But instead, the nominations for Outstanding Makeup For A Variety, Nonfiction Or Reality Program went to Dancing with the Stars, the Oscars, and Saturday Night Live. This hints at an issue critics of the Emmys have pointed to over and over: The Emmys favor legacy over innovation.

This year, the Emmy nominations for Outstanding Variety Series went to The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Last Week with John Oliver, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Saturday Night Live. Each is an institution for comedy, leaving no room for the new voices that are cracking up audiences.

Outstanding Game Show nominees include Celebrity Family Feud, Jeopardy!, The Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Once more, all legacy shows.

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series nominees are Quinta Brunson for Abbott Elementary, Ayo Edebiri for The Bear, Elle Fanning for Margo's Got Money Troubles, Lisa Kudrow for The Comeback, and Jean Smart for Hacks. None are underserving of this honor. But all are in more traditional comedy shows than what Michaelis creates with the VIP team.

Outstanding Host for a Game Show nominees include Steve Harvey for Celebrity Family Feud, Ken Jennings for Jeopardy!, Colin Jost for Pop Culture Jeopardy!, Jimmy Kimmel for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and Martin Short for Match Game. No real surprises, but also in this bunch, no one who hosted a different game every week and then unexpectedly became a contestant when his collaborators turned the tables. (See the epic "Samalamadingdong," and tell me Jost could pull that off.)

Dropout defies easy categorization.

In an interview with Mashable, Reich spoke about the challenge of picking episodes for submission that would get across what makes Game Changer special.

At the time, he said, "'Rulette' is a pretty good bet. It's very funny, [a] very well-celebrated episode. It's very in the spirit of our show, despite even feeling a little bit basic for the show. It's like a great introduction to our show, and it's almost traditional enough that your average Emmy voter could look at it and go like, 'Oh, I understand how this is a game show like the game shows I'm used to, and how it's different.'"

A similar debate went into where to submit Very Important People, a parody talk show. As Michaelis put it, "Do [our shows] fit perfectly into those boxes? No."

But as Dropout grows, it seems the Emmys are an almost inevitable next step. And some progress has been made for creator representation, as fellow Mash 101 honoree Kareem Rahma’s "Subway Takes" earned an nomination in "Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama Or Variety Series."

It took years for the Emmys to acknowledge the excellent shows coming out of streaming studios like Netflix over traditional broadcast programs. Now, indie streamers like Dropout are facing that same uphill climb. How will it take for the Television Academy to recognize the incredible craftsmanship, creativity, and comedy that's coming out of Dropout? At least one more year.

The Television Academy announced the nominees for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards today, and this year's list sets up a showdown between HBO and Apple TV.

The two most-nominated shows of the year are HBO Max originals: The Pitt dominated the drama category with 25 nominations, while Hacks took over the comedy category with 24 nominations. Coming in right behind them are two Apple TV series: Widow's Bay, which nabbed 19 nominations on the comedy side of things, and Pluribus, which picked up 18 nominations on the drama side.

In the limited series category, Netflix's Beef and HBO Max's DTF St. Louis are the clear frontrunners, with 16 and 13 nominations, respectively.

To see what other shows made a splash in the major Emmys categories, read on.

And the nominees for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards are:

Outstanding Drama Series

The Diplomat 

The Gilded Age

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms 

Paradise 

The Pitt 

Pluribus 

Slow Horses

Your Friends and Neighbors

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age

Chase Infiniti, The Testaments

Keri Russell, The Diplomat 

Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus  

Zendaya, Euphoria 

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Sterling K. Brown, Paradise

Gary Oldman, Slow Horses 

Mark Ruffalo, Task

Rufus Sewell, The Diplomat

Noah Wyle, The Pitt

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Taylor Dearden, The Pitt 

Fiona Dourif, The Pitt 

Allison Janney, The Diplomat 

Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt 

Sepideh Moafi, The Pitt  

Julianne Nicholson, Paradise 

Karolina Wydra, Pluribus 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Patrick Ball, The Pitt 

Billy Crudup, The Morning Show 

Shawn Hatosy, The Pitt 

Gerran Howell, The Pitt 

Jack Lowden, Slow Horses 

Tom Pelphrey, Task  

Carlos-Manuel Vesga, Pluribus 

Outstanding Comedy Series

Abbott Elementary 

The Bear 

Hacks 

Margo’s Got Money Troubles 

Nobody Wants This

Only Murders in the Building 

Shrinking 

Widow’s Bay

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary 

Ayo Edebiri, The Bear

Elle Fanning, Margo’s Got Money Troubles 

Lisa Kudrow, The Comeback  

Jean Smart, Hacks 

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Wonder Man

Steve Carell, Rooster 

Matthew Rhys, Widow’s Bay 

Jason Segel, Shrinking 

Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building  

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Dale Dickey, Widow's Bay

Hannah Einbinder, Hacks

Janelle James, Abbott Elementary

Kate O'Flynn, Widow's Bay

Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo's Got Money Troubles

Megan Stalter, Hacks

Jessica Williams, Shrinking

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Colman Domingo, The Four Seasons

Paul W. Downs, Hacks

Harrison Ford, Shrinking

Nick Offerman, Margo's Got Money Troubles

Stephen Root, Widow's Bay

Michael Urie, Shrinking

Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

All Her Fault

The Beast in Me 

Beef  

DTF St. Louis 

Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Claire Danes, The Beast in Me 

Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures

Carey Mulligan, Beef  

Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette 

Sarah Snook, All Her Fault 

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Riz Ahmed, Bait

Jason Bateman, Black Rabbit

Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story 

Oscar Isaac, Beef  

Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me 

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis 

Dakota Fanning, All Her Fault

Laurie Metcalf, Monster: The Ed Gein Story 

Joy Sunday, DTF St. Louis

Youn Yuh-jung, Beef

Constance Zimmer, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie

Jason Bateman, DTF St. Louis 

Richard Gadd, Half Man 

David Harbour, DTF St. Louis  

Richard Jenkins, DTF St. Louis

Charles Melton, Beef 

Nick Offerman, Death By Lightning

Outstanding Reality Competition Program

Dancing with the Stars

RuPaul's Drag Race

Survivor

Top Chef

The Traitors

Outstanding Variety Series

The Daily Show

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Saturday Night Live

The 78th Primetime Emmys air Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

Team USA's World Cup journey came to a strange end this week after losing 4-1 to Belgium, shortly after Donald Trump admitted intervening to help reverse striker Falorin Balogun's red card suspension.

Jimmy Kimmel guest host Tiffany Haddish had the perfect joke about the situation on Monday, and on Tuesday — following the USA's defeat — Daily Show host Ronny Chieng joined in with the criticism.

"Trump only has himself to blame, because thanks to him we went from being heroes of our own Disney sports movie to being the villain in some weird European film," says Chieng in the clip above. "Up until last week America was the scrappy underdog again, but then Trump's intervention galvanised Belgium and the world to defeat Team USA for the integrity of the game. And just like everything else he tried to fix, he made it worse and ruined our reputation in the process."

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Donald Trump cheerfully admitted on Monday that he had a part to play in getting U.S. striker Falorin Balogun's red card match suspension reversed ahead of Team USA's match against Belgium. In a White House press event, the president explained that he called FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to moan about the situation.

Guest hosting for Jimmy Kimmel in the clip above, Tiffany Haddish had the perfect response.

"One of our star players was supposed to be suspended from tonight's game, but Donald Trump personally called the head of FIFA to get the player reinstated, which is surprising because Trump doesn't know anything about soccer, and it's the first time he's ever defended a Black person," says Haddish. "He's growing. I'm so proud of him."

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Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) may have finally claimed the Iron Throne, but her enemies aren't going down without a fight.

That's very much the theme of the House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 4 trailer above, which sees our new Queen trying to work out what Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton) is planning in Tumbleton.

Elsewhere, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Larys (Mathew Needham) are faced with fresh challenges, and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) gets some Harrenhal reinforcements.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Parmida and Corbin just got dumped on Love Island USA, and the internet is mourning the loss of their favorite Love Island "robot" — also known as "CorbinGPT."

The Islanders sang their hearts out in a karaoke competition in Season 8, Episode 29 of Love Island USA, which left the winners, Kenzie and Dylan, safe from being dumped from the villa. However, the episode concluded with the results of the most recent public vote, which revealed who viewers thought were the least two compatible couples: Parmida and Corbin, and Kayda and Zach.

The Islanders were asked to pick which couple to save, and four out of the five "safe" couples voted to save Kayda and Zach. Parmida and Corbin were thus dumped from the island, leading to an emotional goodbye in the villa. 

While the show claims that Islanders don't have access to online discourse, X users said they suspected the cast was breaking the fourth wall when The Boys (Bryce, Carl, KC, Dylan, Sincere, and Zach) joked about Corbin being an AI robot.

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"We broke the robot!" said Bryce in response to Corbin crying. "Wait, they put tears in that? I didn't know AI could cry!"

The online joke was sparked by Corbin's deep voice and stoic demeanor, starting shortly after he made his entrance on Love Island USA as a bombshell in Episode 4. Viewers nicknamed him "CorbinGPT" on social media, a reference to OpenAI's generative AI chatbot ChatGPT.

This nickname stuck until his departure from the villa, X users having joked that CorbinGPT received "software updates," "reboots," and "code installations" at various times throughout his stay.

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CorbinGPT may have started as a joke, but it gradually became a point of bonding within the online Love Island USA community. And it turns out, the internet is going to miss CorbinGPT and Parmida the "Persian cat" (a nickname she received after her own Casa Amor bombshell entrance in Episode 17).

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The stakes are growing higher with only six couples left in the villa, which means we can expect more couples to get dumped in the coming days leading up to the season finale. Chat, we're not ready yet!

New episodes of Love Island USA premiere daily except Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on Peacock.

There's more to Sam Reid's Say More interview than even we knew at the time.

When the star of The Vampire Lestat sat down with Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko, she'd only seen the first three episodes of Interview With the Vampire's lusty third season. So, she and Reid dug into its details, talking his Taylor Swift-like song about his traumatizing maker Magnus and the dark truth of what he has in common with his fledgling Claudia.

Now, with episode 5 "New York" live, we're looking back at what Reid teased at the time. Chiefly, he talked about how Lestat begins the season by putting up a façade through his rock star persona. Yep, Louis and Armand aren't the only unreliable narrators in this fanged franchise.

In his interview with Mashable, Reid spoke to the Lestat's season-long arc, saying, "It's really a sort of, like, a portrait of an artist, which was Rolin [Jones]' point of direction and a constant point of reference. Lestat is a creative being, and how he kind of discovers himself, works himself out, really nuts through his issues, is through his art. And that is of one of the main arcs of the season, is that he's starting the music as a point of deflection from how he's been portrayed in [Daniel's] book."

Reid went on to explain that Lestat begins by projecting a vampire "schtick" to the public, adding, "But I think deep down, he actually wants to be taken seriously as a musician, as an artist. And progressively throughout the show, the music changes. He's still looking for his sound, and particularly by the time you get to episode five, everything changes, and the music becomes much more adult."

How Lestat's music changes in episode 5

Lestat's songs, written by Daniel Hart, have ranged in influences from T. Rex and David Bowie to Taylor Swift and The Police. "Long Face" (and possibly "Black Licorice") are about his tumultuous romance with Louis. "Your Biggest Fan" is about the stalker Magnus, while "Why Do I Have to Feel?" recounts the loss of his beloved Nicky. In episode 4, he offers a diss track called "Big Boss" for Armand. But in episode 5, Lestat peels back the theatrics, swagger, and sex appeal for a song about Claudia called "Stained Glass Eyes."

At the end of the episode, he plays a song for her on piano. He's stripped away the two guitars, the bass, the violin, the drums, and the Brat Prince façade. What remains is his grief and regret.

He sings:

The day you were born, I was shaking like a leaf on an old oak tree.

Then you stayed like a thorn. Red roses raining down 'til they flooded me.

Even when we parted ways, you never turned

Never turned your gaze

And I can still, I can still hear you say,

"Don't break that stare. I'm burning in your mirror tonight.

No, don't you dare call it yearning. It's the fear that I'm right.

Don't you try to forget all the things you regret."

In those stained glass, stained glass eyes."

As he sings, he sees Claudia staring back at him, as he has seen his slain brothers, Nicky, Magnus, and others. As he sings about how "you never turned... your gaze," the episode crossfades to Claudia's death. Her sun-scorched flesh flutters to ash as she stares down Lestat, her father, uncle, maker, and mirror. This moment crosses over into the present as the ash from her execution falls into his hair as he sings in the recording studio.

As the band comments when they play the finished track back, "Stained Glass Eyes" doesn't fit with the sexy and scathing songs they've been playing on tour. Lestat knows. He says they're killing the other tracks and starting over. This leads to Larry's fateful and fatal departure (RIP, Larry), and the rest of the band begging to be made vampires so they can stay on this musical odyssey with their front man.

Lestat drops the act in episode 5.

This shift from sexy to sincere reflects something Reid said in our Say More interview, about how Lestat has been trained to behave by the two biggest influences in his life and death.

"He's got two makers, you know," Reid mused. "He's got his mother, and he's got Magnus. Both of those figures are very, very influential in what forms him as a character, and [both] are abusive. He's a highly sexualized character, because he's been sexualized from the beginning. Whether it's his mother wanting to love him to the point of being with him, because she wants to live vicariously through him, or whether it's his maker wanting what he sees on stage, that kind of performer, that spark, and eroticizing him and making him this kind of perfect, immortal being. It's the only way he knows how to express himself, is by thrusting around on stage and writhing around. And so we do ask the audience to come with him on the journey. Maybe don't understand it at first, but it's a slow unraveling that he begins to unravel too."

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat debuted on AMC and AMC+ June 7, with new episodes weekly.

We're well acquainted with most of the winged stars of House of the Dragon, past and present: the colossal Vhagar, the fierce Caraxes, the mighty Vermithor, the misunderstood Sheepstealer. But there's one dragon in Season 3 who keeps showing up and is yet to receive a full introduction.

In the military ranks of Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton), there's a smaller blue dragon who appears constantly grounded. Who is she, and will we get to see more of this little cobalt gem?

Meet Tessarion, known as the Blue Queen, a dragon ridden by Prince Daeron Targaryen (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), Ormund's ward and the youngest son of Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and King Viserys (Paddy Considine) — meaning he's a direct threat to Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) throne.

We first spy Tessarion in Season 3, episode 1, when we're introduced to Ormund at his army camp. Tessarion's not fully grown, standing only two humans high and wearing a small saddle. And she's so cute. But she's fenced in with spears, in a move that likely keeps the troops calm and horses uneaten more than anything (and keeps out thieves). At this point, we don't know House of the Dragon is hiding Daeron in plain sight, ready for the Hightower lord to pull the switcheroo in episode 3.

In the latter episode, we get a better look at Tessarion when she's in the front line of Ormund's troops, during his confrontation with Daeron Targaryen (Matt Smith). In this scene, Ormund is forced to surrender and hand over Dearon as a prisoner of war. Importantly, Ormund had the foresight to know Daemon would demand such a captive, so has his decoy ready — not mounted on Tessarion (she would not allow this) but beside her.

Just watch her little face when the decoy walks over to Daemon. Utter confusion that plays as concern. If dragons could furrow their brow, Tessarion would do it. Daemon doesn't even try to take her along as hostage, as this relatively peaceful transfer would inevitably turn hostile.

Without spoiling anything from George R. R. Martin's Fire and Blood, Tessarion's plight is not to remain a grounded dragon. She'll have a part to play in the Dance of the Dragons yet.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) is Queen of the Seven Kingdoms at last in House of the Dragon, but a good ruler is nothing without their Small Council.

We've seen numerous iterations of this micro court in the Game of Thrones universe. Essentially the Small Council acts as kind of government cabinet, with each member taking charge of a different aspect of the court.

So what are the roles, and who has Rhaenyra recruited so far? Let's break it down.

What roles are there typically on the Small Council?

Small Councils have varied over the years in Westeros, but generally there are seven roles:

Hand of the King/Queen — When Viserys (Paddy Considine) was ruler, snakey Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) became his Hand. This is the role in the Small Council that wields the most power, as whoever has the Hand's pin is essentially second-in-command.

Grand Maester — Basically the head of all maesters in the realm, advising the ruler on medical and scholarly matters.

Master of Whisperers — The most famous Master of Whisperers was probably Varys (Conleth Hill) from the early seasons of Game of Thrones. This person is charged with gathering information on enemies and allies alike.

Master of Coin — The crown's treasurer.

Master of Laws — The go-to on all legal matters in the realm.

Master of Ships — Unsurprisingly, this person is the leader of the crown's fleet. Lord Corlys (Steve Touissant) held this role under Viserys before it passed to the unfortunate Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall). RIP.

Lord Commander of the King's/Queen's Guard — The leader of the White Cloaks. Moody Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) previously held this role under Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney).

Who is on Rhaenyra's Small Council?

Rhaenyra's Small Council, at least in Season 3, episode 3, is looking pretty bare bones. There are some "early startup" vibes as she strides into the room where Aegon and Viserys took their meetings, only to find that the crown's gold is missing and she has very few trusted advisors around her for support.

She does have some advisors, though, so who are they and what are their roles?

Lady Mysaria, Mistress of Whispers — Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) has been on a long journey since Season 1, but she's been Rhaenyra's trusted advisor throughout her time on Dragonstone. She's also long peddled in information. It's no big surprise that Rhaenyra gives her this role, no matter how irritated it makes Daemon (Matt Smith).

Lord Corlys, Hand of the Queen — Back from the dead and looking somewhat less comfortable on dry land, Lord Corlys reluctantly takes on his duties as the Queen's Hand in episode three — he was promoted a while back after the death of his wife Rhaenys (Eve Best).

Grand Maester Orwlye — The one member of Aegon's Small Council that survives the regime change, Orwlye (Kurt Egyiawan) spends much of episode 3 trying to convince the others that he wasn't aware of any Team Green plots.

King Consort, Daemon Targaryen — Daemon doesn't have a traditional Small Council title in episode 3, but as the King Consort it feels like he's almost like the Hand of the Queen+ (he certainly has more to say for himself than Corlys does, anyway).

And as for the other roles? Master of Coin, Master of Ships, and Master of Laws? Well, as we mentioned before, Rhaenyra's Small Council is still looking a little small. But we're guessing there will be some new additions once she gets her feet under that Iron Throne.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

For all things House of the Dragon, Mashable has you covered.

Between Widow's Bay and House of the Dragon, foreboding bells on TV are so hot right now.

Bells are a constant presence in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 3, which chronicles Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) first days on the Iron Throne. The early phase of her rule is not marked by celebration, but by a string of crises. The treasury is depleted. The High Septon refuses to bless her ascendancy. Daemon (Matt Smith) wants her to kill her half-brother Daeron. Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) turns on her after she refuses to legitimize his bastard sons. Each setback is punctuated by the ring of a lone bell.

By themselves, the bell's mournful clangs suggest Rhaenyra's frustration with her situation. No part of her rule so far — from the brutal executions to her lackluster coronation — has met her expectations. Worse, none of it seems worth the loss of her two sons. Her reality is literally out of tune with her dreams for her queendom.

However, the bell is also a musical callback to a key sequence in Game of Thrones history: Daenerys Targaryen's infamous burning of King's Landing in Season 8, episode 5, fittingly titled "The Bells." The episode hinges on the moment when King's Landing surrenders to Daenerys by ringing the city's bells. By this point, Daenerys' time in Westeros has pushed her to the brink. She has lost two of her dragons and her closest friend, Missandei. She has weathered skepticism, scorn, and even betrayal from her close allies. Hearing the bells pushes her to the edge, and she chooses not to accept the city's submission. Instead, she continues on her warpath and torches the city, its civilians, and eventually the Red Keep. It's the defining moment in her descent into tyranny, marking her as a Mad Queen.

"The Bells" is a controversial turning point in Game of Thrones' already controversial final season. Daenerys' fall from grace feels unearned, especially since the two seasons she actually spends in Westeros are truncated to seven and six episodes. Still, the tie between Daenerys' madness and the bells of King's Landing is now seared in my brain, and it's that association that House of the Dragon plays with in Season 3, episode 3.

By using bells, House of the Dragon draws a link between Rhaenyra's strained mental state and Daenerys' final snap, although the show is by no means equating the two just yet. In George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, Rhaenyra doesn't go fully "mad" in the way that the Mad King Aerys II or his daughter Daenerys do in Game of Thrones. However, she does grow more punitive and paranoid once she takes the Iron Throne. The bells in House of the Dragon help foreshadow this transformation, and they also hint that the show will be tackling Rhaenyra's descent with more care than Game of Thrones took with Daenerys'. For starters, the lone, repeated bell sounds suggest a more gradual decline when compared to the overwhelming barrage of bells in Game of Thrones. Plus, House of the Dragon's bells aren't diegetic like Game of Thrones' are. They're part of the score, acting more like an internal monologue for Rhaenyra's frustrations.

Two of the biggest complaints with Game of Thrones' treatment of Daenerys' downfall are that it happened too fast and we didn't get to truly see her internal transformation until it was too late. And even then, it didn't make much sense! ("The Bells" director Miguel Sapochnik said that Daenerys razing King's Landing was triggered by dissatisfaction with her victory, but you wouldn't know it from the episode.) House of the Dragon counters that too-sudden shift with the promise of a more prolonged change in Rhaenyra, one rooted firmly in her perspective.

Episode 3's deliberate use of bells is just the start of how House of the Dragon stylistically heralds Rhaenyra's tragic arc. The entire episode effectively traps her in a haunted house. In her first scene, she proclaims "the air is thick with ghosts" in the Red Keep. Later, she's haunted by visions of the late Jacaerys (Harry Collett), as well as Baela (Bethany Antonia) coming to tell her of Jace's death. Episode 3 also plays with other haunted house tropes, from scurrying rats to darkened, claustrophobic hallways. It's no wonder that the time when Rhaenyra feels most powerful in this episode comes outside the walls of the Red Keep, when she's distributing food to King's Landing's poor.

Running through it all is Ramin Djawadi's score, an anxiety-inducing flutter of discordant strings that would be right at home in a horror movie. They're complemented perfectly by the bells, which sound the alarm that while Rhaenyra may now sit on the Iron Throne, her time there may well be running out.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

While I would bend the knee to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy), I would not want to attend any of her dinner parties.

In House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 3, Rhaenyra throws a banquet for the nobles of King's Landing. The main course? Cooked rat, served atop an unappetizing black sludge. Not since Arya Stark served Walder Frey his own sons has a Westerosi meal disconcerted me so much. It's pure Game of Thrones-style nastiness, yet this scene doesn't even take place in George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood.

Initial horror aside, the nobles do deserve it. (And you know what? So did Walder.) Rhaenyra cooked up the rat stunt as retaliation for their treatment of King's Landing's poor. While the city starved as a result of Corlys Velaryon's (Steve Toussaint) blockade, the nobles feasted off the food they had saved up in their store houses. Rhaenyra's rat dinner gives them a taste of the scarcity the smallfolk faced, albeit with some surprisingly stylish plating.

The rat feast, it turns out, is also a distraction. While the nobles are in the Red Keep, the Gold Cloaks are seizing their provisions and redistributing them to the city's poor. Later in the episode, Rhaenyra will distribute some of this food herself.

It's a bold move to prove Rhaenyra's allegiance to the smallfolk, and by the episode's end, it seems to have paid off. The commoners of King's Landing embrace her generosity. (Even if Rhaenyra was also responsible for Corlys Velaryon's blockade in the first place.)

However, Rhaenyra is playing with fire when it comes to her relationship with the Seven Kingdoms' nobility. While she proclaimed she had invited everyone to dinner as a "conciliator," she quickly revealed her true goal to be more punitive. Now, she's certainly struck fear into the hearts of her dinner guests, but could that cause resentment that leads them to mobilize against her?

While Rhaenyra's intentions here are good, her plan's disgusting execution signals a turn towards cruelty that may very well not stop with these nobles. In Fire and Blood, Rhaenyra develops a reputation as a vindictive ruler, earning her the nickname "Maegor with teats," a reference to former Targaryen king Maegor the Cruel. Much of Season 3, episode 3 is devoted to showing how Rhaenyra's mental state — strained to the breaking point by the death of Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and the unceasing demands of ruling — is slipping towards that cruelty. The episode even draws a musical parallel between Rhaenyra and Daenerys Targaryen's mental snap in Game of Thrones Season 8, suggesting Rhaenyra is headed down a similar tragic path.

So, while Martin never actually wrote out Rhaenyra's rat feast, it is absolutely in keeping with Rhaenyra's arc in the books, all while adhering to show Rhaenyra's more sympathetic attitude towards the smallfolk. Plus, it continues that great Game of Thrones tradition of truly upsetting meals. Remind me never to make a reservation at the Red Keep.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

House of the Dragon Season 3 has finally introduced Prince Daeron Targaryen, the youngest son of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine). Or has it?

Episode 3 opens with Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton) meeting with Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and pledging his fealty to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy). One of the conditions of his pledge is that he gives up his ward, Daeron. He presents Daemon with a young boy (Charlie Gordon) dressed in Hightower green and rocking the Targaryens' signature silver hair.

However, by the end of the episode, House of the Dragon reveals that this is not Daeron Targaryen at all. Instead, he's a child whom Ormund compelled to pose as the young prince. Ormund changed his hair and demanded him not to give up the ruse, otherwise he'd have the boy's mother hanged.

Where is the real Daeron Targaryen?

Now that Ormund's trick has been unmasked, where is the actual Daeron Targaryen? We know that he has to be traveling with the Hightower army, as his dragon Tessarion is situated at their camp. (In the episode's opening sequence, Tessarion is notably rider-less.)

Perhaps the show has already introduced Daeron. In Season 3's first episode, Ormund is accompanied by an unnamed boy (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth), also dressed in Hightower green. Due to his closeness to Ormund and the fact that he takes Ormund's orders, it seems like this boy is Ormund's squire, which is the role we've heard Daeron has taken on. Ainsworth's character was missing from the meeting with Daemon, so if he is the real Daeron, perhaps Ormund was keeping out of sight to ensure his switcheroo went off without a hitch.

Is the fake Daeron plot in Fire and Blood?

Ormund does not try to pull a fast one on Rhaenyra in George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, so his fake Daeron trick is a show-only creation.

By this point in Fire and Blood, Daeron is out in the field, fighting alongside the Hightower host. During the book's Battle of the Honeywine, a fight which House of the Dragon appears to have cut, Daeron and Tessarion turn the tide for Team Green and vanquish the combined forces of House Beesbury, House Tarly, House Rowan, and more. In the celebrations that followed, Ormund knighted Daeron and dubbed him Ser Daeron the Daring.

In keeping Daeron close — or perhaps even hiding in plain sight — Ormund might have other plans for his young ward. After all, the smaller Tessarion is no match for Rhaenyra's dragon army, so it's best not to unleash him just yet and let him lay low. Still, we're expecting the real Daeron face reveal any episode now.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

The name on everybody's lips in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 3 is Tumbleton.

By the end of the episode, Ormund Hightower (James Norton) and his army have taken over the small town, proving that he never had any intention of surrendering to Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy). (His "fake Daeron" plot doesn't do him any favors in that regard either.) Now, the Hightowers have effectively taken Tumbleton hostage. The army mingles among the civilians, so that if Rhaenyra tries to retaliate with dragon fire, she will be burning her own people along with her enemies.

Team Black also has a connection to Tumbleton. Ser Hugh Hammer's (Kieran Bew) wife Kat (Ellora Torchia) has gone to live in Tumbleton with her brother, as there was nothing left for her in King's Landing. Hopefully, now that Hugh and the other dragonseeds are officially knighted, Rhaenyra can hook them up with better housing accommodations. That is, once she's finished dealing with the myriad other concerns that plague her as a new queen.

Multiple mentions of Tumbleton in one episode suggest that the town is going to get really important, really fast. Here's what you need to know about Tumbleton, and how it figures into House of the Dragon's source material, George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood.

Where is Tumbleton in Westeros?

Let's start with the basics. According to Fire and Blood, Tumbleton is a "thriving market town" situated at the start of the Mander River, "some 50 leagues southwest of King's Landing." (So around 150 miles away.) It's the seat of House Footly, and for military purposes, it's the last town standing between the Hightowers and King's Landing. Since Fire and Blood claims the town's castle is only manned by 40 soldiers, no wonder Ormund was able to take it so easily.

What happens to Tumbleton in Fire and Blood?

In Fire and Blood, Tumbleton is the site of not one but two pivotal battles. No major spoilers, but they involve heavy dragon action and act as important turning points in the Dance of the Dragons.

House of the Dragon could make its fair share of changes to these battles, just as it did for the Battle of the Gullet. However, given that the show is already making a big deal out of Tumbleton so early on, it's clear we're going to be getting some form of conflict there in the end, so get ready to do a bit of Tumbleton tourism in the future.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Every now and then someone in House of the Dragon will say something that feels like it unlocks one of the show's key themes.

It's already happened with those recurring references to the Song of Ice and Fire prophecy that are currently driving the decision-making of Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith). And in episode 3, we get a similar moment with Alicent (Olivia Cooke).

What does Alicent say in episode 3?

Alicent is in a tricky spot at this point. She's sort of kept up her side of the bargain she struck with Rhaenyra back in Season 2, but she's essentially under house arrest in the Red Keep until Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) is found. She's also an easy outlet for Rhaenyra's growing list of problems — during one scene early on in the episode, the new queen confronts Alicent about the crown's treasury having gone missing.

Alicent, being truthful, says she doesn't know anything about it. But Rhaenyra doesn't believe her.

"They hated me from the start!" protests Alicent, referring to the other members of the small council. "Resented my influence, my mere presence. My own father kept their plot from me."

The conversation escalates from there.

"Where is Vhagar?" spits Rhaenyra at one point. "Who rides Sheepstealer?"

"I do not know!" responds Alicent. "Is Aemond not flown away as I promised? Did the guards on the parapets not suffer you to pass? I have done all I could. Will you blame me only for what men have done?"

The argument goes on a little while longer, but that feels like the pivotal moment. The line that really gets through to Rhaenyra, because it's something they both have in common.

Will you blame me only for what men have done?

Why is that line so significant?

It's a long way back now, but let's not forget that Rhaenyra and Alicent started off the show as friends. Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) then pressured his daughter into a romantic relationship (ick) with Rhaenyra's father, Viserys (Paddy Considine), then their sons started fighting and eventually killing each other, and it pretty much went downhill from there.

The common thread? Men embroiling the women in their lives in violence because they either want more power (Otto) or they're bitter and vengeful (Aemond).

This theme has continued so far in Season 3, but Rhaenyra and Alicent's latest argument finally puts a name to it. At the time, it feels like Alicent's words do land with Rhaenyra, too.

The big question: Will they be able to get past their own bitterness toward each other and find a way to work together again?

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

For all things House of the Dragon, Mashable has you covered.

Love Island USA just aired a "Movie Night" so juicy that it had to be split into two episodes — with some viewers calling it the "most uncomfortable and sad" movie night in the Love Island franchise. 

Voices were raised, tears were shed, and hearts were broken not only in the villa, but amongst the wider Love Island viewing community.

The two tensest moments were when Aniya argued with KC after seeing how much he put her down in front of the other Islanders behind her back, and when Melanie broke down in tears after seeing a compilation of Sincere lying to her and everyone in the villa about his connections.

While it was a relief to see the truth come to light for all the Islanders, it was hard to watch Aniya and Melanie get their hearts broken. Season 8's Movie Night stirred a wide range of emotions because it touched upon the scariest parts of love: betrayal, abandonment, and heartbreak — something many viewers could relate to.

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TikTok user @dombeauclair said that Movie Night was a "hard watch," and that she saw so much of herself in Melanie. "You could just see the fight leave her body when she saw all of that information right in her face."

Some viewers were brought to tears watching the recap of how The Girls have been treated throughout the season.

"I'm tearing up for these girls, like I feel so bad," said TikTok user @aloneise04. "I would never wish this type of pain on anybody. Like, this is terrible. They all deserve so much better, like the guys really dropped the ball this season for the girls."

Each Islander had to confront an uncomfortable aspect of their relationship, but Aniya, KC, Melanie, and Sincere had the most difficult time navigating their Movie Night revelations. 

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Aniya and KC talk respect while exploring

KC's movie aired during Season 8, Episode 25, and Aniya's movie followed shortly after. We first saw KC make comments about Aniya behind her back while in the villa before connecting with Tierra in Casa Amor. He told the other boys (Caleb, Zach, Corbin, and Bryce) that he had nothing in common with Aniya, and that he wasn't happy for her or her connection with Carl at the villa. While KC apologized for his comments, Trinity and Melanie called him out for dragging out his connection with Aniya and potentially using her. 

During Aniya's movie, we saw her connect with Carl and voice her desire to not "sell herself short" while KC was at Casa Amor. Things got heated after The Boys (minus Carl) called out The Girls (minus Jaiden, Parmida, Tierra, and Amora) for having a double standard when it came to Aniya exploring with Carl. Aniya said that the difference between her and KC was that she did not disrespect KC while exploring with Carl.

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However, the two apologized to each other for their behavior in Season 8, Episode 26, with Aniya apologizing for standing up and getting in his face during Movie Night and KC apologizing for his disrespectful comments about her. Viewers were glad to see the former couple end on a positive note and handling the situation with maturity.

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Melanie and Sincere talk about sticking to one's word

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While KC and Aniya were able to come to a mutual understanding in the villa, Melanie and Sincere didn't quite get there. 

Sincere's movie revealed the inconsistencies in his comments to Melanie about his connections with Sol and Amora, suggesting that he explored more deeply with Sol than he let on to Melanie. Despite usually being bubbly and outspoken, Melanie looked like she shut down while watching Sincere's movie, choosing to cry to herself in the company of The Girls instead of confronting Sincere.

In Episode 26, Melanie's movie showed her brief but strong connection with Corey, and the rest of Sincere's movie showed his connection with Amora at Casa Amor. While Sincere chose to stay in a couple with Melanie at the end of Casa Amor, he told Amora that, if they had more time, she would've been "the one." This was the final straw that led to Melanie going off on Sincere, saying that his dishonesty made her feel like a fool. Sincere's movie had both viewers and the Islanders stunned, with people commenting that Movie Night showed just how much Sincere had misled his fellow Islanders.

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After sleeping in separate beds that night, Melanie and Sincere touched base the next day, and Sincere validated Melanie's feelings about his treatment of her. Melanie said that she did not feel that Sincere deserved to be in a connection with her, leaving their future up in the air.

Maybe the real love was the friendships they made along the way

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Despite Movie Night being not-so-romantic for the couples save for Trinity and Bryce, it did have one silver lining: it revealed the deep friendships that have formed in the villa throughout Season 8.

We saw The Girls hold each other's hands while the Movie Night clips aired, and collectively stick up for Aniya after KC's movie. We also saw Aniya follow Melanie as she walked away crying after Sincere's movie, comforting her and validating her experience.

Viewers were here for the girlhood in the villa, with some calling this season "Friendship Island" and "Girlhood Island."

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Movie Night ended in Episode 26, but the preview revealed that there was still another plot twist in store for the Islanders: the next episode would not only involve a recoupling, but the Islanders would also have to choose two couples that they think are the least compatible — hinting that some Islanders might be leaving the villa soon.

New episodes of Love Island USA premiere daily except Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on Peacock.

There are many mysteries in Silo — What's the deal with that weird cloud? How exactly does the safeguard work? — but one of the biggest concerns in Season 3 is the weird voice in the vault.

Who exactly is Camille Sims (Alexandria Riley), the new head of IT, talking to when they speak with that voice? A robot? A person?

We don't know for sure yet, but we do have a theory: Could it be possible that we've already met the voice's owner?

What is the algorithm in Silo?

First, a quick recap. Back in Season 2, the currently AWOL Lukas Kyle (Avi Nash) made it to the bottom of the silo in pursuit of a secret code left by a former head of IT. He discovered a tunnel, and was addressed by a robotic-sounding voice that the subtitles credit as "The Algorithm." This voice, we learned, is the same one that communicates with the silo's head of IT in a room called the Vault. As of Season 3, the voice has picked Camille as its go-to contact.

The question is who, or maybe what, is the voice?

Well, the first thing to note is the name: "The Algorithm" sounds unmistakably machine-like, adding to the possibility that the voice could be some kind of omnipotent AI that's running the silo network. But that's only one possibility. And if the voice is in fact human, or at least based on a human, could it be the case that we've already met them?

Could the voice belong to congressman Daniel Keene?

The voice Camille speaks with is obviously distorted and robotic, but doesn't it also sound slightly familiar? Doesn't it sound, just a bit, like Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) that we meet in the flashbacks?

The algorithm's voice is uncredited in the show, so we can't say for sure. But it seems obvious that Keene's storyline is building to the silo's origin — something reenforced by the mysterious promo video Apple TV put out just before launch.

Of course, it's worth remembering that the silos were allegedly built hundreds of years before the events of the show. Keene is, presumably, long dead. But is it such a stretch to imagine his voice could have been resurrected in some way, possibly via AI, by the people in control of the silos? We'll have to wait and see.

Silo Season 3 is streaming now on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping every Friday.

We're back for another season of Silo, but this time we're spending just as much time outside as we are in.

Season 3 picks up where Season 2 left off, making it clear that the shocking flashback in last season's finale wasn't just a one-off. Alongside Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) grappling with memory loss in the present day, the episode also follows congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) and journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick) in the pre-silo days, with Keene's naval pilot sister Charles (Jessica Brown Findlay) heading off on a combat mission that almost gets her killed.

But what's with the mysterious cloud she encounters, and how might it connect with the silo? Let's dive in.

What happens in Silo Season 3, episode 1?

After a peculiar meeting in which she warns her brother to get on the Iran committee run by Senator Thurman (Laura Innes), we see Charles cutting through the clear night sky on a mission with her fellow naval pilots.

All seems to be going well until a weird cloud appears up ahead. It looks almost like a storm cloud, only with long dark tendrils creeping out of it. "What the fuck's a cloud doing at fifty thousand feet?" asks Charles as she and her fellow pilots fly into it.

Inside the cloud a weird, gooey substance shows up on Charles' instrument panel. She touches it, and the residue is reminiscent of the tendrils we saw protruding from the cloud. Shortly after that, planes start to go down around her.

Watching news of an Iran combat mission on TV, Daniel Keene is called into a meeting with the same Senator Thurman running the committee Charles told him about.

"Your sister's squadron wasn't hitting any of the targets they're talking about on TV," Thurman says. "They were on a mission to a facility in the mountains. Charlotte's plane went down, but a facility out of Turkmenistan picked her up. She's alive."

Good news! The problem? When Daniel goes to visit her in her special treatment center, she doesn't remember him.

So, what could that weird cloud be? And the goo?

There's obviously a reason why Charles' unit was sent on a mission to "a facility in the mountains," and you would imagine it has something to do with the bizarre cloud that seems to wreck their planes one by one. Could it be some kind of biological weapon, maybe a new defensive weapon, made by Iran? Perhaps something experimental that the facility they were attacking could have been working on?

It seems possible. But the other big question is, what happened to Charles' memory? Did the cloud, and the gooey substance in her cockpit, affect her neurologically?

Too early to say, but it seems a bit of a coincidence that Charles has lost her memory in the past, just as Juliette has lost her memory in the present. Surely there's a connection there...

Silo Season 3 is streaming now on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping every Friday.

Silo Season 3's premiere is now only a day away, and we already have some more clues to work with.

On Wednesday, Apple TV released the above video showing green fields gradually decaying over 20 minutes, intercut with news bulletins and clips from the show. "STAY TUNED FOR A LIVE CELEBRATION OF THE SILO'S ORIGINS" reads the central caption. Spliced in with this is footage from both the Season 2 finale and, presumably, the start of Season 3, showing glimpses of still-alive(!) Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) as well as congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman). We also get a hint of a new character, billionaire Per Stensen (Colin Hanks), along with a news story about him purchasing a large parcel of land in Georgia. Intriguing!

The video ends with a link to howdidwelosethisworld.com, a site containing more images and clips to pore through ahead of the season's premiere. The plot thickens.

Silo Season 3 premieres Friday 3 July on Apple TV, with new episodes dropping each week.

Netflix has announced a new reality competition show based on the beloved film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as well as the novel it's based on. The company is also using AI to recreate the voice of deceased actor Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the 1971 movie.

And people are mad.

Wonka's The Golden Ticket (no, that isn't a typo) will feature 12 pairs competing in a series of Wonka-themed challenges and "temptations," which are designed to push the contestants "physically, mentally, and morally." Judging from the trailer, the duos won't be lucky golden ticket-wielding children accompanied by semi-responsible adults as in Roald Dahl's 1964 story. Instead, adult ticketholders with equally adult companions will be entering Wonka's candy emporium, which has slightly more sinister vibes than its inspiration.

Interestingly, Netflix states that only one contestant will win Wonka's The Golden Ticket's "life-changing prize," which raises questions as to how the ticket winners' plus-ones factor in. Considering that Netflix describes the series as a "high-stakes social experiment," it seems possible that betrayal could be on the cards.

The staff of Netflix's fantastical chocolate factory will include an Oompa Loompa who appeared in Mel Stuart's classic film: English actor Rusty Goffe. However, the Netflix series will also feature the AI-generated voice of Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka. Wilder died in 2016 at 83 due to complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Gene Wilder at An Evening With Gene Wilder in New York on June 13, 2013 in New York City. Credit: John Lamparski / WireImage

Netflix worked with AI company ElevenLabs to digitally recreate Wilder's voice for Wonka's The Golden Ticket, which can be heard in the series' teaser trailer:

The project, according to Netflix, has the blessing of Wilder's estate, with Wilder's wife Karen stating that Wonka's The Golden Ticket "celebrates the warmth and imagination that he brought to the role." Even so, using AI to digitally resurrect deceased actors hasn't been well-received in the past, regardless of whether their family or estate agrees.

Earlier this year, upcoming film As Deep as the Grave made headlines for using a completely AI-generated deepfake of deceased actor Val Kilmer in a prominent role. Kilmer died from pneumonia at 65 in April last year. Though his children consented to the film's use of Kilmer's likeness, reactions online were overwhelmingly negative, some calling it "disgusting and disrespectful."

Alien: Romulus also faced backlash in 2024 for using generative AI and production effects to bring the late Sir Ian Holm back into the Alien franchise. Mashable's Belen Edwards wrote at the time, "the result lives in the depths of the uncanny valley," noting other films that have brought back late actors: The Flash (Christopher Reeve's Superman) and Rogue One (Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin).

"No matter what permissions an estate may grant, a late actor cannot consent to having their likeness used in a movie," Edwards wrote. "Doing so is an immediate violation of their personhood. In reviving them for the screen, you're creating a performance in a film they might never have agreed to do, with acting choices they might never have made."

Reactions to Wonka's The Golden Ticket using Wilder's AI-generated vocal likeness have also been scathing, with social media users labelling it "digital necromancy."

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While he was alive, Kilmer had worked on a separate project with UK company Sonantic to create an AI speaking voice based on his old recordings. However, rather than being completely controlled by others, this was for his own use after he lost his voice to throat cancer.

Wonka's The Golden Ticket will premiere Sept. 23 on Netflix.

The simple truth about Prime Video's Legally Blonde prequel series Elle is that it shouldn't exist in the first place. It's an IP grab of the highest degree: a prequel to a beloved movie that really doesn't need one.

In Legally Blonde, Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) proves herself as a Harvard Law student without sacrificing an ounce of her bubbly pink femininity. To get to that point, she has to push beyond her cushy Los Angeles comfort zone and brave an unfamiliar environment. That she does this is the defining element of her story. What came before was simply the status quo the movie is so eager to break from.

Now, Elle posits, Elle (Lexi Minetree) actually went through a similar fish-out-of-water experience in her high school years. That repetition winds up cheapening the value of Elle's decision to attend and eventually thrive at Harvard Law, meaning this prequel winds up clashing with its source material instead of complementing it. That's a shame, because there's a lot of bubbly teen drama fun to be had in Elle, if you can only get past the forced Legally Blonde connection.

What's Elle about?

Lexi Minetree and Zac Looker in "Elle." Credit: Jessica Brooks / Prime

If Harvard Law is the last place people would expect to find a pink-loving, fashion-idolizing person like Elle Woods, then Elle drops her in the second to last place you'd expect to find her: Seattle, circa 1995. Grungy and perpetually rain-soaked, Seattle is the Woods' new home after Elle's plastic surgeon father, Wyatt (Tom Everett Scott), botched up a high-profile nose job.

A new home means a new school, and Elle has quite a bit of fun stranding its cheery lead in a sea of flannel. One scene riffs nicely on the high school cafeteria clique trope, with everyone from nerds to popular kids sporting the school's unofficial plaid uniform.

Elle treads too-familiar ground.

Lexi Minetree in "Elle." Credit: Jessica Brooks / Prime

From here, Elle spins a familiar story of Elle Woods trying to fit in while still standing out, which we've already seen executed to the best of its abilities in Legally Blonde. It doesn't help that Elle is hell-bent on reminding us of the original film. (Every episode is named after a classic Elle Woods quote.) At one point, Elle tells her new teacher that she wasn't aware of the school's summer reading list, an echo of her failure to do the required reading for her first day at Harvard Law. At another, she shows up to a party in a wildly different outfit than everyone else, recalling Legally Blonde's infamous Playboy Bunny incident. Instead of these being cute tributes, they cause confusion. If Elle has faced these kinds of problems before, why hasn't she grown and learned from them by the time Legally Blonde rolls around?

There are still some bright spots in Elle. Minetree, for one, is stellar. She manages to embody the effervescence of Witherspoon's original turn without simply aping her mannerisms, which helps make this younger version of Elle her own. Elsewhere, Elle's burgeoning friendships with ultra-cool loner Liz (Gabrielle Policano) and fellow fashion enthusiast Shannon (Danielle Chand) offer genuinely sweet moments of bonding. And while a love triangle between Elle, boy-next-door Miles (Jacob Moskovitz), and impassioned activist Dustin (Zac Looker) is predictable, it's not without its fair share of squee-inducing teen romance. (Of course, it's all for nothing given that we already know who Elle marries, and it's neither of these guys!)

Elle's relationship with her mother, Eva (June Diane Raphael), is another highlight, as Elle dives into how Eva feels as penned-in by the Seattle move as her daughter. Do the pair fight to escape their new lives, or embrace the change? The ways in which Eva and Elle overlap or differ here wind up creating some of Elle's most emotionally resonant beats.

These story threads of friendship, romance, and parental connection are foundational building blocks of any good teen drama, and Elle pulls off them off solidly without needing the Legally Blonde connection to resonate. In fact, I felt myself enjoying the show more whenever it wasn't referencing the original movie and was just letting Elle exist as her own person, not the predecessor to a now-iconic character. (Her parents and L.A. friends keep telling her that she's Elle freaking Woods, but these pep talks feel less rooted in the show and more like reminders of Elle's legend status within pop culture.)

With that in mind, it's tough not to imagine what Elle could have been were it not tied to preexisting IP. Maybe we could have had the beginnings of our next fun high school series, complete with an exciting new heroine for viewers to obsess over. (And, you know, a love triangle with actual endgame stakes.) Instead, we're stuck with an uneven mix of great performances, solid high school dynamics, and too many shoehorned Legally Blonde references for the show's own good. Try not to think of it as a Legally Blonde companion piece, though, and you might actually have a lovely time.

Elle is now streaming on Prime Video.

In The Bear Season 4, episode 1, Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) reaffirms his quest for The Bear to get a Michelin star. After all, if the restaurant earns one, the recognition could bring in more customers and save The Bear from financial ruin.

By the end of Season 4, The Bear has not heard whether they've earned the Michelin star. The lack of follow-through on this key plot point is just one of many ways in which Season 4 drops the ball on any kind of pacing and urgency, even though The Bear's crew are staring down a two-month doomsday clock reminding them of the restaurant's imminent closure. But every second counts, right?

Still, the Michelin star plotline wasn't entirely abandoned, because the show hints pretty hard that a Michelin inspector visited The Bear.

In Season 4, episode 3, after Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) gives a dining party the surprise of a sandwich from the Chicago Beef, he briefly connects with another impressed customer (Gary Janetti).

"You have a bunch of mind readers in here," the customer says, going on to praise Sydney's (Ayo Edebiri) new scallop dish and The Bear's "excellent vibe."

Later, he catches sight of Richie's other big surprise: turning the outside of the Beef sandwich window into a winter wonderland so that a recently cancer-free diner traveling in from Los Angeles can experience a Chicago snow in person. It's clear the customer Richie spoke to is touched by the display, which is a good thing, because he's definitely the Michelin inspector.

First, the show's outsize focus on an unnamed diner hints pretty hard that he's someone important. Second, the show drops a major, Chicago-specific hint about his role.

In Season 4, episode 2, The Bear's staff strategizes over how to spot a Michelin inspector. According to the former Ever staff and real-life Chicago restaurateur Donnie Madia (playing himself), no one knows who the inspectors are, but there are signs. Sometimes they fiddle with their reservation at the last second, or bring a celebrity as a distraction.

"You do hear things, though," Madia says. "Like they use a weird last name. Like a street in the city they're visiting."

What name does the mystery diner's driver call him as she comes to pick him up from the restaurant? None other than Mr. Clark — and Clark is a major street in Chicago! Case closed, Janetti's customer is the Michelin inspector Carmy and his team were so dreading serving.

The good news is that the inspector appeared impressed with his experience at The Bear. He enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, plus he got to witness some of Richie's surprises. Maybe he'll dock points for Richie securing him an extra sandwich from the Beef, since Madia advised staff not to pamper the Michelin inspector more than they would a usual guest. But it seems like Richie truly didn't know and was just providing a nice service, so maybe the inspector will let it slide.

The bad news? The inspector's visit has no bearing on the rest of the season. Instead, a late visit by a Food & Wine critic ends up having more of an impact.

I'm sure Michelin will come back into play in a potential Season 5. However, to front-load the season with mentions of it only never to circle back is a massive failure of pacing, as well as a sign that The Bear is confused about its own priorities. At least we'll always have that Clark Street Easter egg.

Season 5 confirms Peter Clark was the Michelin inspector.

The Bear Season 5 tries to throw viewers off the scent of the mysterious Mr. Clark. They introduce a new guest, played by Peter Grosz, who fits all the telltale signs of being the Michelin inspector. He fiddles with his reservation last-minute, switching to a two-top. He brings a celebrity guest with him, legendary Chicago weatherman Tom Skilling, playing himself. The last name on his reservation, Dearborn, is also the name of a Chicago street.

However, this man is a total red herring. Janetti's mystery diner, whose full name turns out to be Peter Clark, returns in The Bear's series finale, when he calls Carmy to congratulate him on the Bear restaurant earning two Michelin stars. (Maybe the Clark Street tie-in was just a happy coincidence?)

Whoever Mr. Dearborn truly is, I hope he enjoyed his meal at the Bear and gave it a Michelin star in his heart, even if he couldn't in real life.

All seasons of The Bear are now streaming on Hulu.

UPDATE: Jun. 29, 2026, 11:09 a.m. EDT This article was first published June 26, 2025, with the release of The Bear Season 4, and has been updated to reflect the events of Season 5.

House Velaryon has been through it.

In House of the Dragon, the ancient noble house of Westeros has sat in the glow of royal power for generations, but over two seasons of the Game of Thrones sequel, we've seen patriarch Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) lose his children Laena (Nanna Blondell) and Laenor (John MacMillan), as well as his beloved wife Rhaenys (Eve Best).

But Season 3 reminds us that House Velaryon still has hope, with one shot in episode 2 that brings three generations together.

Lady Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia) and Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Following the bloody Battle of the Gullet, Corlys' fate is unsure. Plunged into the deep during Admiral Lohar's (Abigail Thorne) assault, the Sea Snake is nowhere to be found between Dragonstone and Driftmark. However, his sons Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Addam (Clinton Liberty) and his granddaughter Baela (Bethany Antonia) refuse to give up hope, scouring the marine battlefield for him.

Thankfully, they're reunited, alive, and relatively well — unfortunately, they're not joined by Baela's sister Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) for Sheepstealer reasons — and it's one of the few times we've see three generations of Velaryon on screen together in House of the Dragon. (The only other time is Lady Laena Velaryon's funeral in Season 1, episode 7, which Corlys, Laenor, Baela, and Rhaena attend).

It's a remarkable sequence, wide shots of an estranged family finally united in the wreckage of war, and one Mashable asked the House of the Dragon stars to unpack.

"In a show full of such family dysfunction, to see this unit, it just brings hope. Hope in this incredibly dark, burning show," said Salim.

"It means everything to Addam, because his whole life, that's all he's ever wanted," Liberty told Mashable. "That one shot that you saw has been Addam's dream since birth. He's always wanted to belong to a family, he's always wanted to be recognized by his father and his peers as being someone worthy of taking notice of. Unfortunately it happens in a very chaotic time with a lot of adversity, but he finds his family and his people within that chaos."

"It was an amazing scene to film, and also just filming with Beth, Abu, and Steve was just a dream come true," he adds.

The moment is one of amends for Corlys and his sons, born bastards to Marilda of Hull. The Lord of Driftmark and the Queen's Hand decides in this moment to give his sons his Velaryon name, one Alyn describes as "worth more than a mountain of gold."

"For Corlys, at least, it's the culmination of a journey from the moment in Season 2 when his wife at the time said, he is your son and he needs to be raised up just like the others. From that moment to this point is an inexorable journey, he was always going to be here," says Toussaint. "When he finally says, I'm going to give you my name, I'm going to recognize you, that's such a big deal for him. Well, it certainly has a big impact on his sons."

Baela, meanwhile, whose sister (to her knowledge) lives far away in the Vale, has just lost her betrothed Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) to the Battle of the Gullet. And though she's still a royal — her father is Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) — her sense of family is restored in this beautiful Velaryon moment.

"It was so nice, and it was also just a little bit like, finally! This kid has just been desperate for family and for people that she can see herself in, and I feel like every role model that she's had up until now has been taken away from her," said Antonia. "When we find that [Corlys] is still alive, and she's got this suddenly huge new family, and a side of herself that she can choose to go into, rather than feeling like she owes anyone anything, it was just beautiful, thinking about the prospect of her getting to know this side of herself, and her grandfather, who she loves so much.

"Obviously at the end of Season 2 we see her saying, 'I'm blood and fire, I'm not salt and sea.' I think this season she's like, 'I'm salt and sea! I'm salt and sea!'"

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

For all things House of the Dragon, Mashable has you covered.

It's all very well and good battling for years to claim the Iron Throne, but then that just opens the door to a whole new set of problems.

This is very much the case for Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) in the trailer for House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 3, which shows Team Black's leader struggling to come to grips with the weight of the crown.

And the rats are back.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Megan Thee Stallion made a special appearance in Love Island USA Season 8, Episode 23, serving up some "Hot Girl Bakery" for the Islanders after a chaotic recoupling. 

Megan hosted a series of fun cake-filled challenges for the Islanders, which was much needed after Aniya was left heartbroken from giving up a connection with Carl in favor of staying loyal to KC. The Islanders, boys and girls alike, were asked to sit on cake, throw some cake (both literally and figuratively), ice some cake, and eat some cake.

As one can expect, Megan kept it real, and called out some of The Boys (KC, Caleb, Zach, Corbin, Bryce, and Sincere) for putting some of The Girls (Aniya, Jen, Kayda, Kenzie, Melanie, and Trinity) down while they were at Casa Amor — and the internet was here for it.

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There were four challenges: the first was musical chairs, the second was a cake-throwing (a change from the usual Love Island pie-throwing), the third involved icing The Boys in a cake using a giant piping bag, and the fourth was a cake-eating challenge. The rounds got increasingly heated, with the Islanders taking out some of their frustrations from the recoupling on each other. 

KC and Corbin seemed to get the most cake and icing in the face from The Girls, and even a bit from the new Casa Amor addition, Parmida.

For the icing challenge, Megan saved the best bite for last, singing Aniya's praises before letting her go all in on KC. Specifically, Megan called Aniya "the thickest, the realest, the cutest, and the prettiest," before handing her the piping bag.

"I am choosing to cream this guy because I have never felt so disrespected, put to the side, not checked up on in my entire f***ing life, and I feel like he's going to see how that feels today," Aniya said before icing KC.

Social media users loved that Megan used her presence to uplift Aniya.

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After announcing The Girls as the winners of "Hot Girl Bakery," Megan Thee Stallion revealed she had one more dessert on the menu for the Islanders: the results of the public vote that would determine which dumped Casa Amor bombshells would return to the island.

Since revenge is a dish best served cold, the newly returned bombshells made their entrances in giant cakes. These two bombshells were revealed to be Amora, who briefly explored a connection with Sincere at Casa Amor, and Carl, who had built a strong connection with Aniya in the villa.

Viewers were excited that Aniya might have a shot with Carl again.

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However, Amora's arrival might stir some trouble for Sincere and Melanie, who were already in a tense spot after having a fight earlier that day about Sincere’s behavior at Casa Amor. The cake might be gone this episode, but the post-cake regret is just getting started.

New episodes of Love Island USA premiere daily except Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on Peacock.

The "Casa Amor" portion of Love Island USA ended with a recoupling in Season 8, Episode 21, marking the ultimate test of faith for the Islanders when it comes to their partners. One couple in particular passed with flying colors, and social media users couldn't contain their excitement.

Things weren't looking too hopeful for The Girls (Aniya, Jen, Kayda, Kenzie, Melanie, and Trinity) when Casa Amor first aired in Season 8, Episode 17, kicking off with a dramatic livestream of The Boys (KC, Caleb, Zach, Corbin, Sincere, and Bryce) receiving lap dances from the Casa Amor bombshells (Amora, Parmida, Jaiden, Tierra, Alannah, and Sydney). Things got even more confusing for The Girls when they were given the opportunity to explore connections with a boatload (pun intended) of 12 new bombshells at the villa.

Both sides were forced to rethink their existing partnerships, and were given the opportunity to either stay in their couples or choose one of the bombshells to partner up with in Episode 21. Trinity and Bryce were one of three couples who chose to stay loyal to each other, and people were moved by the duo's tear-filled reunion. 

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Some people are saying that the recoupling of Trinity and Bryce might give them a chance to be this season's winning couple.

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Two other couples also had us biting our fingernails with uncertainty because both had explored other connections during Casa Amor: Kayda and Zach, and Melanie and Sincere. Kayda explored a connection with Chay while Zach briefly spoke to Alannah (who has since been removed from the rest of the season), and Melanie explored a connection with Corey while Sincere got to know Amora.

However, both duos ultimately decided to stay coupled within their existing connections. Melanie didn't let Sincere off the hook so easily for his behavior at Casa Amor though, and social media users had some conflicting thoughts about the situation.

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While Kayda, Zach, Melanie, and Sincere reaffirmed their existing connections, Aniya did not have the same luck with KC. Aniya chose to stay local to KC, but KC walked in with Tierra — ending their connection and leaving Aniya single and vulnerable.

Aniya was devastated not only at KC's betrayal, but also because choosing KC meant that she had to give up a connection with Carl, the bombshell she had genuinely hit it off with during Casa Amor. Social media users were sympathetic to Aniya's heartbreak.

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The Girls came to Aniya's defense, calling out KC for being dishonest with Aniya. Trinity and Tierra got into an argument, with Tierra calling Trinity a "little girl." Let’s just say there wasn't much amor in the casa that night.

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The other Islanders chose to partner up with the new bombshells: Jen chose Gal, Caleb chose Jaiden, Kenzie chose Dylan, and Corbin chose Parmida (followed by a series of "boos" from The Girls).

The remaining bombshell men who did not get picked (Carl, Chay, Corey, and Ronnie) were asked to leave the villa. Bombshell women Amora and Sydney's exits were not shown on-screen.

Despite the episode ending on a heartbreaking note for Aniya, a call for a public vote on which dumped Islander (between Amora and Sydney for the bombshell women and Carl, Chay, Corey, and Ronnie for the bombshell men) should be allowed to return to the villa left viewers with some hope. 

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New episodes of Love Island USA premiere daily except Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT on Peacock.

House of the Dragon can't get enough of a good prophecy.

We've already had a number of these courtesy of Helaena (Phia Saban), but there's one big central prophecy that things keep coming back to. We're talking, of course, about the Song of Ice and Fire dream that Aegon the Conqueror himself had, and which Viserys (Paddy Considine) told young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) about back in the show's very first episode.

We're now a few seasons on from that moment, but the prophecy continues to hang over our central characters like a shadow. So, how did it rear its head in episode 3, and what does it mean? Let's recap.

How does the prophecy feature in Season 3, episode 2?

The prophecy is mentioned by Daemon (Matt Smith) when he returns to Dragonstone and finds adult Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) bedbound with grief over the death of her son, Jace (Harry Collett).

"I saw it, Rhaenyra. At Harrenhal," he says. "The darkness in the North. The Song of Ice and Fire. I saw a girl with silver hair in a desert far away, and there were dragons at her breast."

He's talking specifically about the visions he had during his time at Harrenhal in Season 2, during which he saw images from the prophecy, along with glimpses of his own role in the story.

For a moment, Rhaenyra remains unmoved. But then Daemon says something that clearly gets through to her.

"But if it is real, what my brother told you... if it were true... what, then, would you do?"

What prophecy is Daemon talking about?

Hang on a minute. What did Daemon's brother Viserys tell Rhaenyra again, exactly?

Here's a reminder of his speech, word for word, from episode 1:

"Just as Daenys foresaw the end of Valyria, Aegon foresaw the end of the world of men. 'Tis to begin with a terrible winter, gusting out of the distant North. Aegon saw absolute darkness riding on those wings, and whatever dwells within will destroy the world of the living. When this great winter comes, Rhaenyra, all of Westeros must stand against it. And if the world of men is to survive, a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen, strong enough to unite the realm against the cold and the dark. Aegon called his dream the Song of Ice and Fire. This secret has been passed from king to heir since Aegon's time. Now you must promise to carry it and protect it. Promise me, dear Rhaenyra. Promise me."

Looking back on that, it's not hard to see why Daemon's mention of the prophecy — and the fact he's seen it himself in a vision — is enough to persuade Rhaenyra to push on to King's Landing. Back in Season 2, she tells Jace about the prophecy in a way that suggests she has come to believe it. And given that she also believes her father wanted her to be his heir, it follows that she needs to return to King's Landing to carry out Viserys' wishes.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Warning: Contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 2.

It's always nice to see a familiar face in House of the Dragon, even if said face is rolling across the floor of the Great Hall minutes after reappearing on our screens.

We're talking, of course, about Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), the former Hand of the King who's had quite the spectacular fall from grace since Season 1.

But what exactly happened to him, and where has he been all this time? It's been a while since we last saw him, so let's recap.

What happens with Otto Hightower in Season 3, episode 2?

After Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon (Matt Smith) stroll into King's Landing to seize control, the latter pays a visit to the dungeons.

"If you would, my prince," says a man holding a torch. "A gift for you, if you ever returned, from Lord Larys Strong."

Daemon follows him deep into the bowls of the Red Keep, then reappears in the Great Hall with a familiar face: Otto Hightower, looking very much the worse for wear.

Otto is brought to kneel before Rhaenyra, and Daemon advises her to behead him in the place of on-the-run Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney).

"If your father could see what it's come to," mutters Otto. "He would never have imagined it."

Otto's final words, before Rhaenyra starts hacking away at his neck? "I did my best..."

When did we last see Otto Hightower?

It's been a while, but we did briefly see Otto in the Season 2 finale. Back then, he was already in his jail cell, although at the time we didn't know where he was being held or why.

Prior to last season's finale, we last saw a very different Otto all the way back in Season 2, episode 2. After being fired as Hand by Aegon, Otto told his daughter Alicent (Olivia Cooke) that he planned to leave King's Landing to return to Oldtown. Alicent advised him to go to Highgarden instead so he could stop the Tyrells from "wavering" in their support for Team Green, but it looks like he was waylaid before he could get very far at all.

And finally, now, we know what happened to him: He was captured at the request of Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), who clearly planned to use him in order to buy favor with Team Black, should they ever reclaim power. Sneaky.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

"It's our house, man."

Matt Smith declares the Targaryen energy of House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 2, as Mashable tasked the cast with unpacking the episode's biggest moments. And there are many of them.

As Team Black march back into the Red Keep, and Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) finally stares down the Iron Throne, episode 2 sees the major players of Westeros making monumental moves. In the video above, House of the Dragon stars D'Arcy, Smith, Olivia Cooke, Fabien Frankel, Steve Toussaint, Abubakar Salim, Ewan Mitchell, Gayle Rankin, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Clinton Liberty, Tom Bennett, and Kieran Bew give us an insight into the chaos.

"The episode was just amazing on the page, and very, very electric, and so I certainly wanted to meet the bar that was set by Sara [Hess], Ryan [Condal], and the team," D'Arcy told Mashable. "But I think my instinct was that this is where a political family, one's personal and political lives being so enmeshed, can be so fruitful, because some of the personal/professional boundaries that [Rhaenyra] has to cross in order to take her her place and to take her crown are important identity thresholds.

"I wanted it to feel like a moment of personal reckoning, and I wanted to trouble the journey to the throne so much that by the time she gets there, the anticipated triumph is robbed in that moment, and that actually there's something very sparse about it, especially under the gaze of Alicent, her former friend."

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

After 20 episodes, several bloody battles, and the death of two sons, Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) has finally done it. She's taken the Iron Throne of Westeros.

The victory comes at the end of House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 2, which sees Rhaenyra and Daemon (Matt Smith) crash King's Landing on dragonback and take the Red Keep by storm. It's a massive development in both the show and its source material, George R.R. Martin's Targaryen history Fire and Blood. However, just like with episode 1's gargantuan Battle of the Gullet, House of the Dragon makes several changes when translating Rhaenyra's triumph to the screen.

From Alicent Hightower's (Olivia Cooke) new involvement to her father Otto's (Rhys Ifans) demise, here are all the biggest differences between House of the Dragon and Fire and Blood's takes on the Fall of King's Landing.

Alicent is behind the Fall of King's Landing in House of the Dragon.

Olivia Cooke and Phia Saban in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

House of the Dragon's biggest change to the Fall of King's Landing has been in the works since the Season 2 finale, when Alicent came to Dragonstone to strike a deal with Rhaenyra. She told Rhaenyra that once Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) flew to Harrenhal, she would be free to take King's Landing, along with Aegon II's (Tom Glynn-Carney) head. Alicent would even tell the soldiers to stand down, and in return Rhaenyra would let her, Helaena (Phia Saban), and Jaehaera go free. This deal is all completely new to the show, and the same goes for the deal's execution in Season 3, episode 2, as Alicent keeps her word.

In the book, the end result is the same: Alicent surrenders the city. However, she does so under duress. Rhaenyra offers her the choice between giving up her life and giving up King's Landing, and obviously, Alicent chooses to stay alive.

Gwayne straight up dies in Fire and Blood.

Freddie Fox in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Theo Whiteman / HBO

Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) might not like slumming it in the Riverlands with Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), but he should be thankful he's not around for the Fall of King's Landing. If he were, he'd likely meet his Fire and Blood fate: death at the hands of City Watch commander Luthor Largent (Tom Cullen).

In the book, Gwayne is second in command of the gold cloaks, and he wants to sound the alarm on Rhaenyra's arrival. Luthor, still loyal to Daemon for creating the City Watch, puts an end to it by stabbing him. However, show Gwayne gets to live another day.

Otto Hightower's execution looks different in House of the Dragon.

Rhys Ifans in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

While Gwayne escapes his Fire and Blood death, his father Otto is not so lucky. Like in Fire and Blood, he is the first person to be beheaded during Rhaenyra's reign.

House of the Dragon does alter some elements of Otto Hightower's execution, though. For starters, it comes right after his release from the prison cells below King's Landing, which is where Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) has apparently been keeping him since halfway through Season 2. Otto avoids any prison time in Fire and Blood.

House of the Dragon also fleshes out Otto's death by having Daemon encourage Rhaenyra to take his head herself. (The book does not describe his execution in any detail.) It's a brutal moment that sees a still-grieving Rhaenyra continue the cycle of violence that has plagued Westeros since the start of the Dance of the Dragons. It also bodes very ill for her relationship with Alicent, who's escorted back to the Red Keep just in time to see her former friend standing over her dead father's body. Not quite how you imagined the day would end, right, Alicent?

Aegon II flees during Rhaenyra's invasion in Fire and Blood.

Matthew Needham and Tom Glynn-Carney in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Theo Whiteman / HBO

Part of Alicent and Rhaenyra's deal was that Rhaenyra would get to take Aegon's life. In the show, he's already far from King's Landing, but in Fire and Blood, he makes his escape during the Fall of King's Landing itself. He doesn't go alone: He takes his children Jaehaera and Maelor (who does not exist in the show), along with Kingsguard members Willis Fell and Rickard Thorne.

Rhaenyra doesn't get sliced by the Iron Throne in House of the Dragon.

Emma D'Arcy in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

While Rhaenyra winds up on the Iron Throne in both House of the Dragon and Fire and Blood, the show leaves out a pretty major detail about her first time on Westeros' most famous chair. In Fire and Blood, the Iron Throne cuts her legs and palm, suggesting that it has "spurned" her and that she won't sit atop it for long. House of the Dragon leaves this out entirely, perhaps choosing not to play into the legend of the Iron Throne rejecting unworthy rulers. (Or choosing to emphasize that Rhaenyra is truly worthy.) However, the show has set a precedent for the Iron Throne cutting people in the past, with Viserys' (Paddy Considine) many festering wounds throughout Season 1.

But just because House of the Dragon's Iron Throne didn't cut Rhaenyra doesn't mean she's in for a smooth reign. Based on the trailer for the rest of Season 3, she's going to face the challenge of winning the realm back to her side, as well as contend with the forces of Ormund Hightower (James Norton). She may officially be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, but there's still plenty of Season 3 left for things to go wrong.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

You can see why people talk about Harrenhal being cursed.

Not only is the place a spooky, ruined husk of a castle, but it's now been invaded by both Team Black and Team Green since the Dance of the Dragons began.

Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) conquered it back in House of the Dragon Season 2, and now Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) has done the same thing. But what do their very comparable, but also very different, conquests of the castle reveal about them? Actually, quite a lot.

What happens in Harrenhal in Season 3, episode 2?

Fresh from kissing his own mother (heave), Aemond flies in to Harrenhal on the back of Vhagar and immediately starts burning soldiers. He dismounts, kills a few more people, then bursts in on poor old Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale) and his children eating supper.

"Draw your sword," hisses Aemond.

"Your grace, I have no sword," responds sweet Ser Simon.

"Then get one!" says Aemond.

Ser Simon, now in peak charm offensive mode, gets up from the table and slowly walks towards Aemond, telling him he does not wish to oppose him. But the minute he's face-to-face with Team Green's drama king, he gets a dagger in the belly.

Aemond then kills both of Ser Simon's sons, but not before he gets a knife in the back himself.

What does this second Harrenhal invasion tell us about Aemond?

The scene in episode 2 has multiple similarities to Daemon's invasion of Harrenhal back in Season 2, episode 3. Like Aemond, Daemon also flies in on his dragon and faces minimal opposition (even less, in fact — there's just one guard who he quickly knocks out cold before reaching the dining hall).

The difference? When Ser Simon Strong immediately surrenders, Daemon doesn't needlessly slaughter him. He accepts his offer and stays in the castle.

Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Aemond and Daemon are both undoubtedly fierce warriors. But their parallel Harrenhal sieges show a key weakness in Aemond's character: Either because of a deep mistrust of people, a ruthlessness, or some combination of the two, Aemond makes a mistake in killing Ser Simon. In return for his restraint, Daemon gets supper, while Aemond's aggression only gets him gravely injured.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

For all things House of the Dragon, Mashable has you covered.

No matter where you stand in the Game of Thrones versus House of the Dragon debate, there's one area where the prequel series trounces the original, and that's its treatment of sexual violence.

Onscreen sexual violence was a constant from Game of Thrones' very first episode, in which Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) raped Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) on their wedding night. From there on out, scenes of sexual assault became a disquieting norm. Several consensual encounters in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels were turned into non-consensual ones in the show, including Jaime Lannister's (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) rape of his twin sister, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), in Season 4. At times, Game of Thrones even used a woman's assault as a vehicle for a male character's development. The show's depiction of Sansa Stark's (Sophie Turner) rape at the hands of Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) became less about her traumatic experience than about Theon Greyjoy's (Alfie Allen) reaction to it. (Sansa does not even cross paths with Ramsay in the novels.)

In showing these scenes of sexual violence in graphic detail, Game of Thrones hoped to hammer home the brutality of Westeros. But House of the Dragon proved that you don't need explicit scenes of assault to emphasize the harsh realities women face in the series (and by extension, the medieval period on which it was based). Aside from one upsetting but brief scene of marital rape between Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) and young Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey), House of the Dragon has shown far more restraint than its predecessor when it comes to portraying sexual violence. Instead, it focuses on the patriarchal systems that cast doubt and inferiority on women like Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke), which in turn foster violence.

However, a scene in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 2 threatens to derail that restraint and launch the series down a slippery slope towards Game of Thrones' worst tendencies.

In the scene, Master of Laws Jasper Wylde (Paul Kennedy) accosts Alicent, believing her to be a traitor to the Iron Throne. He then attempts to rape her, falsely assuming she would be willing due to her prior sexual relationship with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). Thankfully, Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan) intervenes not too long into the attack, and the scene is nowhere near as graphic as anything we've seen in Game of Thrones. Still, Alicent's extended struggle set off alarm bells that any Game of Thrones viewer is all too familiar with. For a moment, it looked like we were about to watch yet another unnecessary Westeros-set rape.

"Unnecessary" is truly the best way to describe the scene. Alicent's assault is not in House of the Dragon's source material, Martin's Fire and Blood. Nor does it wind up having any further bearing on the episode, besides terrifying Alicent as she tries to ensure Rhaenyra's safe passage to the Red Keep. You know what else could have established that fear? The simple fact that Jasper already suspects her plans! There was absolutely no need to escalate to threats of sexual violence. Possibly losing her head as a traitor to the crown should be frightening enough, yet House of the Dragon seems to believe that the only way it can truly raise the stakes for Alicent is by putting rape on the table. (The show has already put her through enough sexually, between her marital rape, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) fetishizing her feet, and her own son, Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), giving her a non-consensual kiss.)

Alicent's assault isn't the only troubling moment of sexual violence to appear in House of the Dragon Season 3. In episode 1, Ser Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox) witnesses a frightened, half-dressed woman leaving a soldier's tent. He informs Criston that their troops are hurting women and should be punished for their crimes, to which Criston responds that they'll all be reduced to their base animal instincts soon enough thanks to the war. The scene is meant to establish their opposing outlooks: Gwayne hopes to hold fast to order and any last modicum of knightly honor, while Criston embraces apathy. Yet the show fails to consider the victim who sparked this conversation. She's a nameless entity whose trauma exists solely to fuel Gwayne and Criston's differences. Her rape is as good as window dressing for House of the Dragon's purposes, and that is a severe step back for a show that has previously not relied on sexual violence as a crutch for shock value.

Rape should not be a world-building tool. It took five seasons and a loud uproar over Sansa's assault for Game of Thrones to truly understand that. While the series scaled back its portrayals of sexual violence in Season 6 and beyond, that unfortunate legacy still lingers over the franchise, including in Game of Thrones spin-off A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. In the show's first few scenes, Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) rehearses being a knight by telling an imaginary assailant to "stop raping." In a vacuum, it's a funny moment, but it also feels like an acknowledgement of Game of Thrones' over-reliance on rape as a plot device. If only House of the Dragon would listen.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

If you have experienced sexual abuse, call the free, confidential National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), or access the 24-7 help online by visiting online.rainn.org.

Team Black supporters, rejoice! Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) has the Iron Throne, and King's Landing with it.

The momentous victory comes at the end of House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 2, when Rhaenyra, Daemon (Matt Smith), and the rest of Team Black's dragonriders descend upon King's Landing. Thanks to her many dragons and Alicent Hightower's (Olivia Cooke) help from the inside, it's not long before Rhaenyra wins the world's bloodiest game of musical chairs and sits atop the Iron Throne.

The entire Fall of King's Landing sequence plays out similarly to how it does in George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, with a few exceptions, of course. Among the biggest is Rhaenyra's first interaction with the Iron Throne during her coronation.

In the book, the Iron Throne slices and dices Rhaenyra when she sits on it for the first time. According to an eyewitness account from Septon Eustace, she leaves the throne room with blood running down her legs and palm. That can only mean one thing: The Iron Throne has rejected her, and her rule won't last long.

In House of the Dragon, though, Rhaenyra leaves the Iron Throne cut-free. (She is, however, traumatized by having to behead Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), so it's not a pleasant seating experience either way.) The omission of the cuts could come down to the show's source material. Fire and Blood is written as a historical account, so everything we're reading is filtered through biased, perhaps even unreliable sources. Septon Eustace is one such source. He supports Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) over Rhaenyra, and if anyone were going to embellish Rhaenyra's coronation in a way that delegitimizes her rule, it would be someone like him.

By ignoring Eustace's account, House of the Dragon firmly legitimizes Rhaenyra's rule instead, a choice that tracks with the its very sympathetic portrayal of her. (House of the Dragon has previously brought up the idea of the Iron Throne rejecting rulers in the past, though, as the throne did cut Viserys (Paddy Considine) during his reign.)

However, the series also alludes to book Rhaenyra's experience with the Iron Throne in a clever way. Her first moments on the Iron Throne are reflected in the pool of blood left over from Otto's execution, hinting at the bloodshed that led her to this moment, as well as all the bloodshed to come. After all, we're only on episode 2 of Season 3. There are so many more episodes left for things to go wrong; we don't need a cut from the Iron Throne to let us know things are only going to go south from here.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

If you can hear the sound of screeching angst on the wind, that's no rogue dragon. That's me, after watching House of the Dragon's latest episode.

Season 3, episode 2 of the HBO series features the loss of one of my favourite characters in Westeros, at the hands of one of the most diabolical. We're used to character deaths by now — this is the Game of Thrones universe — but this death in particular need not have happened. Nay, should not.

I'm talking about Aemond Targaryen's (Ewan Mitchell) cold-blooded slaying of Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale). And yes, Mashable asked Mitchell about it.

What happens to Ser Simon Strong in House of the Dragon?

Vale, Ser Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale). Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

The most patient man in the Seven Kingdoms and a stealth MVP of House of the Dragon Season 2, Ser Simon has been putting up with Targaryen bravado for an age. As Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) stomped through seized halls and tripped balls nightly last season, the Castellan of Harrenhal remained a paragon of diplomacy — even making sure Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) wasn't usurped by her own uncle-husband.

Strong pledged fealty to Rhaenyra in Season 2, so he's technically a direct enemy of Aemond's, who's next in line for his brother Aegon II's (Tom Glynn-Carney) throne. However, when Aemond strides into Harrenhal, with his dragon Vhagar happily barbecuing up the small number of soldiers stationed in the crumbling castle, Ser Simon is yet again hospitable to a gate-crashing Targaryen.

Called to duel for the castle by the prince regent, Ser Simon simply hands the keys over instead of taking up arms. "I do not wish to oppose you; I have not wielded a blade these many years," he says. Strong makes the unwise decision to try and reason with Aemond, even putting a hand on his shoulder to seal the peace deal. It doesn't work. Aemond murders the unarmed Ser Simon and his sons (but not before one of them gets a cheeky stab in).

Reader, I flipped the proverbial table. Not this delightful Harrenhal Santa, this provider of post-battle wine, this constant source of acquiescence to punk princes. Aemond's no stranger to eliminating those in his way — whether he intends to or not — but murdering my gracious Westeros grandfather at his own table is too far. Worse than pashing your own mother.

"I'm innocent, man," Mitchell told Mashable. "He came to me!"

Asked why Aemond demands Ser Simon pick up his sword, Mitchell said Aemond's aim is clear.

"It's just to give him a fair fight, or just be like, look, go out on your sword, as opposed to, you know..." he said. "Because I think Aemond goes into that room with the intention he's going to wipe out everyone in it, and he does until [Alys] shows up."

Who's even left in House Strong?

Aemond's Strongicide means big trouble for the Strong family's legacy. This noble Riverlands family's days are numbered. Ser Simon and his sons are now slain. Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr) and his father, Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes), died in a fire. Harwin's bastard sons with Rhaenyra are both dead, so all we have left is... the diabolical master of whisperers, Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), who commissioned the fire that killed his father and brother. He's currently on the World's Worst Road Trip with Aegon II, in enemy territory where everyone seems to want their heads.

Now, my question for the room. Will Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), who showed up after the slaughter of the Strongs, help this murdering brigand, Aemond? Should she? I, for one, might leave him on the floor for a bit.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Despite a torrential storm, broken pipes, and a rampaging spoon thief, The Bear Season 5 — and therefore the series as a whole — managed to cook up a happy ending.

The Bear earned not one but two Michelin stars from Michelin inspector Peter Clark (Gary Janetti), who visited the restaurant in Season 4. (The man everyone thought was the inspector in Season 5, played by Peter Grosz, was just a red herring.) Thanks to its new, doubly stellar rating, the Bear is able to stay in business, meaning Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), Marcus (Lionel Boyce), and the rest of the Bear's staff are able to keep cooking up a storm in the kitchen they worked so hard to build.

Outside the kitchen, Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) gets the opportunity to fly to Japan for a hospitality conference, and Jess (Sarah Ramos) is coming with him. While I'm not the biggest fan of how The Bear has handled its romances in the past, the reveal of the two holding hands on the plane did cause my Grinch heart to grow three sizes. Elsewhere, Ebra (Edwin Lee Gibson) kickstarts the Beef's ghost kitchen empire, with emphatic approval from Carmy (Jeremy Allen White).

Speaking of Carmy, what happened to The Bear's main Bear?

Season 5 of The Bear finally lets Carmy move on.

In The Bear's series finale, Carmy makes good on his promise from the end of Season 4. He officially leaves the food industry.

His mind was made up before he participated in what might have been the Bear's final night, but even then, that last service was proof that he needed to escape this line of work. Between a blowup fight over his quitting announcement to his panic over a dropped lamb dish, Season 5 made it clearer than ever to Carmy that working in a restaurant simply isn't healthy for him. The reverse is also true: Carmy's behavior in the kitchen has repeatedly created a hostile work environment for his coworkers, something he has grown to recognize and tried to change over the show's run.

In a Season 5 conversation emblematic of Carmy's understanding of his unhealthy relationship with restaurant work, he compares his response to stress to Sydney's own coping mechanism. When she gets frustrated, she heads out to the Bear's empty back alley to yell into the void. Carmy, on the other hand, knows that he would just yell at other people, and that knowledge is why he needs to leave the industry.

Carmy explores a new passion in The Bear's series finale.

While The Bear Season 5 doesn't actually explore Carmy's new life beyond cooking — which feels like a bit of a cop-out given the bombshell of Season 4's ending — it does give viewers a taste of what's in store for ex-chef Carmy. In the series finale, Carmy interviews for an internship at an architecture firm, suggesting a new career path that would still let him exercise his creativity.

The Bear has established Carmy's love of art and design often throughout its run, between his elaborately structured dishes and his gorgeous drawings of his creations. On top of that, Season 4 featured a long sequence of him visiting and admiring famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio in Oak Park, just outside of Chicago. Clearly, he has an eye for the field, and in his final appearance at Richie's daughter Eva's (Annabelle Toomey) birthday party, he already seems to be more at peace outside the restaurant world. Here's hoping he can let it rip in his new career.

The Bear Season 5 is now streaming in its entirety on Hulu. Episodes also air Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET on FX.

The Vampire Lestat is making this Brat Prince Summer. All hail Sam Reid, the Aussie actor who's brought Lestat to vivid life onscreen and on stage, yowling original songs of lust, love, and loneliness.

Three episodes into Interview with the Vampire Season 3, and Reid has fans ravenous for more from the wolf-killing wannabe rock star. So, when The Vampire Lestat star came by Mashable's Say More studio to talk with Entertainment Editor (and long-time Anne Rice fan) Kristy Puchko, the two dug into the blood, sweat, and blood tears of this season.

Reid spoke about songs like "Your Biggest Fan," and what they have to tell us about Lestat's life and psyche, and moreover, how he wants to be seen by the world. With Puchko, he plunged into the climactic reveals of "Toronto," wherein a new layer of Claudia and Lestat's similarities were unearthed. Beyond that, Reid teased that Lestat's music will see a stark shift in episode 5, becoming more "adult."

And as Puchko had previously pitched the idea that queer music icon Chappell Roan should appear on this season (and noted where her red carpet behavior was mimicked within it), she had to ask what Lestat would make of the "Pink Pony Club" singer/songwriter.

Reid shared, "I think he would love Chappell Roan. I think she's fantastic."

The Vampire Lestat streams on AMC+, with new episodes weekly.

On May 5, The Bear dropped surprise episode "Gary," a standalone flashback installment all about Mikey (Jon Bernthal) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach also co-wrote the episode.

Whether the existence of "Gary" is news to you or you just haven't gotten around to it yet, you may be wondering, "Do I absolutely need to check it out before binge-watching Season 5 of The Bear? Or can I hold off on watching it until later?"

Don't worry: I'm here to tell you that you can certainly skip "Gary" before jumping into Season 5 and seeing how Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), and the rest of the Bear staff's story ends. While it teases a plot element in Season 5, it ultimately has little bearing on The Bear's final season.

The episode follows Mikey and Richie on a work trip to Gary, Indiana, and is mostly a character study of their turbulent relationship and inner pain. Its final scene cuts back to the present, with Richie recalling that trip on his drive to the Bear. The episode ends abruptly with (spoiler alert!) Richie getting in a car crash.

Flash forward to The Bear Season 5, episode 1, which reuses Richie's final car scene from "Gary," but peppers in some flashbacks to the Indiana trip to remind viewers of what Richie is thinking of. The car crash itself winds up being just a minor blip in Season 5. Richie escapes unscathed, and it's the least of his problems behind a flooding restaurant, an overbooked evening service, and a lack of food in the kitchen.

"Gary" does come back later in the season, when Richie tells Carmy about his and Mikey's trip. However, you don't need the context of the episode to understand the monologue. The emotion comes through anyway, and it might work even better without the overwrought build-up of "Gary."

Personally, I wasn't the biggest fan of the episode, believing it to be too indulgent and ultimately having no impact on Season 5. However, for The Bear super fans (or diehard completionists), I'd recommend checking it out if you desperately want more Mikey and Richie. Overall, though, don't put off your Season 5 watch plans for "Gary." Jump right in, and let it rip.

The Bear Season 5 is now streaming in its entirety on Hulu. Episodes also air Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET on FX.

The stakes going into The Bear Season 5 are enormous.

Within the show, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Natalie (Abby Elliott) are reeling from Carmy's (Jeremy Allen White) shocking Season 4 decision to quit the industry. Outside the world of the show, The Bear is hoping to end on a high note, especially after two frustratingly self-indulgent seasons that ran in circles. So, how does The Bear go big for its final season? What spectacular trick is it hiding up its chef's jacket sleeves?

Simple. It reheats The Pitt's nachos — then artfully re-plates them and drizzles them with Michelin-worthy garnishes — by setting the season over the course of one day.

The Bear Season 5 feels an awful lot like The Pitt.

Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White in "The Bear." Credit: FX

That day is the one directly following Season 4's conclusion, when the clock officially ran out for the Bear. Now, Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) plans to sell the building, while Sydney, Richie, and Natalie try to get through one last service with their staff. Hopefully, this will be the one that earns them a Michelin star — that is, if a gargantuan storm doesn't interfere with their plans.

The first seven episodes of the season that were sent to critics (there are eight in total) unfold almost in real time, beginning with the staff's journeys to the Bear, then moving through prep and service. In a post-Pitt world, The Bear's choice to set its final season over one day is a confusing one, even if it ties into the show's oft-repeated mantra that "every second counts." Obviously, The Pitt isn't the only TV show set in real time. There's 24, the godfather of the genre, as well as recent additions like Hijack. Yet The Bear's thematic focus on stressful work environments, mental health, and work-life balance makes the comparison to The Pitt near-impossible to ignore. Given that The Bear felt like a breath of fresh air in its first season, it's a shame that the core conceit of its last outing is so inseparable from another acclaimed series.

The Bear Season 5 reminds us the show is at its best in the kitchen.

Ayo Edebiri in "The Bear." Credit: FX

However, the single-day structure does offer The Bear a chance to go back to the basics of what made it tick so well in the first place. For starters, you won't find any standalone character- or event-focused episodes this season. While some of these kinds of episodes, like Season 2's "Forks" and "Fishes," remain series highs, later examples, like Season 4's "Bears," became the clearest proof of The Bear's overindulgence (especially its distracting reliance on stunt casting).

Instead, Season 5 hones in on this last service with a concentration that mirrors its characters' near-obsession with getting the night right. That tighter focus whips up a stressful pressure cooker that recalls Season 1's most harrowing, scream-filled moments, and you can always count on The Bear to alleviate some of that stress with a heaping dash of competency porn from its team. But the real winner here is The Bear's food scenes. In Season 3 and especially Season 4, The Bear spent more time outside the kitchen, and therefore away from cooking. By spending most of Season 5 in the restaurant proper, The Bear zeroes back in on food, delivering mouth-watering sequences rooted in character and story. Each dish has deep ties to the person who made it, sometimes recalling moments from all the way back in Season 1. The ever-evolving menu and the loving way the food is shot are perhaps the best sendoffs The Bear could ask for.

Unfortunately, The Bear takes its final season as a chance to throw everything at the wall, and its sound and fury often overpower the simpler joys of the season. The storm is the largest culprit here, a too on-the-nose plot device that externalizes the restaurant's inner turmoil to an exhausting degree. Every episode begins with the rumble of thunder to remind us of the chaos raging within the Bear. Trust us, we know!

Elsewhere, a side plot where Uncle Jimmy scrambles around Chicago to sell the restaurant is an unwelcome departure from the kitchen, and the Fak brothers continue their reign of unfunny terror. (We'll never have to see them again after this season, but that's still not reward enough for having to suffer through their antics for five seasons straight.)

Most frustrating of all is the melodrama between staffers. When they're not yelling at one another, they sound like therapists spelling out The Bear's themes in the simplest of terms, and the season's condensed timeline means that most personal growth comes on far too suddenly.

Carmy's return in The Bear Season 5 undermines the show's most interesting choice.

Jeremy Allen White in "The Bear." Credit: FX

Speaking of growth, let's talk about Carmy. By the end of Season 4, he made the bold but healthy choice to step away from the Bear for a bit. In Season 5, though, he's right back in the kitchen, albeit ceding control to Sydney like he said he would.

I understand that you can't do a full season of The Bear — especially not the last season — without Carmy. But to have him return the literal day after his game-changing decision totally undermines Season 4's ending, which is the most interesting move the show had made in two seasons. Here was a chance to see Carmy without the kitchen, and the Bear's kitchen without Carmy. How would that environment look? How would each character adapt to his choice? The Bear doesn't give anyone the chance to find out, reverting to an uneasy equilibrium far too quickly. (The show stresses he'll be leaving the restaurant after this service, but that's an empty promise in a final season.)

The Bear's semi-backtrack on Carmy's decision loops back around to Season 5's single-day structure. Carmy actually leaving is something that would take a greater time span to explore in depth, whereas the "last service" angle is a flashier conceit guaranteed to pull at the heartstrings as the show says goodbye. The two ideas fundamentally chafe against one another. In the end, the latter wins out, turning The Bear's final course into a lackluster serving of confusing choices and wasted potential.

The Bear Season 5 premieres in its entirety June 25 at 9 p.m. ET on Hulu. The first two episodes air at 9 p.m. ET on FX, with a new episode airing every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender blends a Fire Nation's worth of episodes into 10, which means some characters from the animated series don't make the cut.

Sure, certain cabbage merchants are given the respect they deserve. However, in Season 2, one Earth Kingdom icon is missing: Bosco.

Earth King Kuei's pet bear, mammalian royalty of Ba Sing Se, is not present in the Netflix series, despite being the second most important being in the Earth Kingdom during the animated show. Bosco is so highly ranked he's essentially the king's best friend, and had an entire birthday party thrown for him in the palace, in Season 2, episode 14, "City of Walls and Secrets."

"Quiet, you don't know what I had to do to get seats this near the bear," says one party attendee, as VIP Bosco absolutely rips into the banquet in front of him.

In fact, Bosco's so influential in Earth Kingdom court politics, in Season 2, episode 18, "The Earth King," Team Avatar is allowed to plead their case to the monarch simply because his bear liked Aang's waterbending tricks at the party. They're in cuffs in the throne room and Bosco licks Aang's face, so the Earth King hears them out and changes his mind. That's power.

During the coup of Ba Sing Se, in Season 2, episode 20, "The Crossroads of Destiny," Sokka, Toph, and the Earth King breakd into the throne room to rescue Bosco from the usurper Azula and her friends Mai and Ty Lee. "Just take the bear," is Mai's iconic deadpan response. After they've escaped, Bosco and the Earth King hit the road together in the first episode of Season 3, with the bear removing his little court hat. We don't talk about what happened to Bosco after the king's death — in sequel series The Legend of Korra, we learn he was eaten by the king's daughter, the Earth Queen. Horrifying. (She gets her comeuppance, don't worry.)

Where is Bosco the bear in the live action Avatar: The Last Airbender?

In the Netflix live action series, Bosco is absent, not snoozing beside the Earth King where we expected him to be. However, the bear is honoured with a colossal portrait hanging in the Earth Kingdom Royal Palace. In Season 2, episode 6, "The Parable of Two Dragons," Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katara (Kiawentiio), Sokka (Ian Ousley), and Toph (Miya Cech) infiltrate the palace to speak to Earth King Kuei (Justin Chien) and General Sung (Lourdes Faberes).

As they're walking through the palace, Sokka notices an enormous painting on one of the walls, an undeniable portrait of Bosco. Commissioned on the scale of a history painting, the piece suggests the bear has been an influential court noble at one point (the painting takes up the entire wall). A masterpiece of a masterpiece, and a fitting Easter egg for Avatar: The Last Airbender fans.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

Amateur rapper, boxer, extremely public Trump supporter, and sticker business CEO Anthony Constantino won the Republican House nomination in New York's North Country on Wednesday. And if you haven't heard the businessman-turned-politician's apparently hip hop releases like his album titled Thank You, President Trump, one Constantino says he made "to persuade all Americans to be more patriotic and to see the world as we see it, using the power of music," The Daily Show's Josh Johnson has done it for you.

"As Black people, I know we had our fun, but I think we need to let rap go," the host joked on Wednesday night. "It's over now. We lost it."

Johnson then played footage from Constantino's racist attempt at a diss track against New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, and it's a stream of insults that see rhythm and rhyme as optional.

"Did he just get so mad he forgot he was supposed to be rapping?" said Johnson. "Like, that's not even a song anymore. It's just a guy on the corner going '...and another thing!'"

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Netflix's live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 takes on the original show's Book Two: Earth, bringing with it fan favorite Toph (Miya Cech) and Ba Sing Se's court intrigue.

However, as with any adaptation, Avatar: The Last Airbender makes some serious changes from its source material. Most notably, it mashes up several of the original show's episodes, condensing 20 half-hour-long episodes' worth of story into seven hour-long episodes. This is nothing new: The first season followed the same path.

But which episodes get the mash-up treatment in Season 2? (Spoiler alert: If you like swamps or deserts, you're out of luck.) From "The Blind Bandit" to "The Tales of Ba Sing Se," we've put together the ultimate guide to what episodes appear in Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2, along with the biggest differences between the shows. Saddle up your flying bison, and let's dive right in.

Episode 1: "Somewhere Safe"

Gordon Cormier and Kiawentiio in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Credit: Netflix

Episodes covered:

• "Winter Solstice, Part 2: Avatar Roku" (Book 1, episode 8)

• "Return to Omashu" (Book 2, episode 3)

• "Avatar Day" (Book 2, episode 5)

• "The Serpent's Pass" (Book 2, episode 12)

• "The Painted Lady" (Book 3, episode 3)

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 kicks off with one hell of a mash-up, incorporating plot points from all three seasons into its premiere. Drawing from "Return to Omashu," Aang (Gordon Cormier) heads back to a Fire Nation-occupied Omashu to try to rescue Bumi (Utkarsh Ambudkar) and recruit him to be his earthbending teacher. Like in the animated series, Bumi refuses but tells Aang to look for someone who knows how to wait and listen. Unlike in the animated series, we miss out on a big fight between Team Avatar and Azula (Elizabeth Yu), Mai (Thalia Tran), and Ty Lee (Momona Tamada). (And we also miss out on Bumi's metal cage.)

From there, the show jumps right into "The Serpent's Pass," covering Team Avatar's perilous journey towards Ba Sing Se. In the original series, this episode fell in the middle of Season 2, while Appa was missing. Here, it's moved all the way up, hinting at the many major adaptation changes to come.

On the Zuko (Dallas Liu) side of things, "Somewhere Safe" draws from his parting from Uncle Iroh (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) in "Avatar Day." Elsewhere, mechanist Sai (Danny Pudi) reveals that the return of Sozin's Comet is imminent, a task that fell to Avatar Roku (C.S. Lee) in Season 1 of the animated show. Finally, Avatar: The Last Airbender cooks up a new legend for the Painted Lady, Katara's (Kiawentiio) alter ego in Season 3 of the original. In the live-action show, the Painted Lady isn't just tied to a river spirit. It's also a kind of flower. Learning this in episode 1 plants the seeds in Katara's mind for her vigilante benevolence later this season. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

Episode 2: "A Fight, Once Begun"

Dallas Liu in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Credit: Netflix

Episodes covered:

• "The Blind Bandit" (Book 2, episode 6)

• "Zuko Alone" (Book 2, episode 7)

• "The Chase" (Book 2, episode 8)

Episode 2 is all about everyone's favorite earthbender (sorry, Bumi). At long last, Toph Beifong is here! And her introduction is based on "The Blind Bandit," an animated episode that shares its name with Toph's secret identity from Earth Rumble, the Earth Kingdom's WWE. The major change here? In the animated series, we get round after round of earthbending fights before Aang faces Toph in the ring, and later, Team Avatar fights alongside Toph in the ring against The Boulder and friends. Neither fight happens in the Netflix series, just Toph vs. The Boulder (Kelemete Misipeka).

Episode 2 shares the spotlight, putting Zuko front and center in an adaptation of the defining Zuko episode, "Zuko Alone." Here, the Fire Nation prince is a solo fugitive, plagued by flashbacks of his childhood and his mother’s tragic fate. Both the live-action and animated episodes cover Zuko’s stay with Earth Kingdom locals after protecting them from the army, and the couple he finds in the desert. In the animated series, Zuko leaves them be, but he's overcome with guilt by his choice to rob them in the Netflix series.

In the other Fire Nation sibling corner, Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender adapts nail-biter "The Chase," in which Azula tracks the Avatar with Mai and Ty Lee. In the animated series, Team Avatar is chased by a speeding tank containing the Fire Nation trio, riding on lizards. In the live-action, there's no real chase (or lizards, sadly), but we do get Team Avatar meeting Zuko and Azula face-to-face in the village standoff. — Shannon Connellan, Senior Editor

Episode 3: "City of Walls and Secrets"

Miya Cech in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Credit: Netflix

Episodes covered:

• "Bitter Work" (Book 2, episode 9)

• "City of Walls and Secrets" (Book 2, episode 14)

• "The Library" (Book 2, episode 10)

• "The Desert" (Book 2, episode 11)

• "The Serpent's Pass" (Book 2, episode 12)

• "The Painted Lady" (Book 3, episode 3)

Episode 3, "City of Walls and Secrets," draws its name from an episode from the animated series, so it only makes since that it covers much of the same ground. Like in the original Avatar: The Last Airbender, this episode is Team Avatar's introduction to Ba Sing Se, as well as cultural minister Long Feng (Chin Han) and the uncanny Joo Dee (Amanda Zhou). While Netflix's version spins up new conflict with the Earth Kingdom army and makes Long Feng way less menacing off the bat, it also hits several of the same beats, including the Earth King's (Justin Chien) lavish party.

Here, we get a few references to other Season 2 episodes: The introduction of Professor Zei (Hoa Xuande) kickstarts the show's search for Wan Shi Tong's library in "The Library," while Sokka's (Ian Ousley) love of cactus juice is pulled straight from "The Desert." (Yes, we do get "Nothing's quenchier!")

This episode sees Zuko cross paths with Jet on a ferry to Ba Sing Se, which originally happens in "The Serpent's Pass." It also covers some of Aang's difficult earthbending training from "Bitter Earth," before kicking off Katara's Painted Lady era in earnest. — B.E.

Episode 4: "The Water Falls, The Stones Emerge"

Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Gordon Cormier, and Miya Cech in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Credit: Katie Yu / Netflix

Episodes covered:

• "The Deserter" (Book 1, episode 16)

• "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" (Book 2, episode 15)

• "The Earth King" (Book 2, episode 18)

At last, we've arrived at "The Tales of Ba Sing Se," an episode of vignettes in the animated series set in the Earth Kingdom capital. From Sokka's haiku battle to Iroh's devastating memory of his late son, the Netflix series covers multiple strands of this legendary episode (not Aang's zoo jailbreak though).

We also meet Fire Nation defector Jeong Jeong (Terry Chen) in this episode, the focus of the animated show's Season 1 episode "The Deserter." In the Netflix series, we meet him living in Ba Sing Se's Fire Nation district, where Zuko warns him of an impending attack. While Jeong Jeong's not named in the live-action series, we'd recognize that scar and world-weary attitude anywhere.

Plus, we get a tiny slice of "The Earth King" in this episode, which covers Azula's ruse to get into Ba Sing Se with Mai and Ty Lee dressed as Kyoshi Warriors. — S.C.

Episode 5: "Ten Thousand Things"

Gordon Cormier and Miya Cech in "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Credit: Katie Yu / Netflix

Episodes covered:

• "The Chase" (Book 2, episode 8)

• "The Library" (Book 2, episode 10)

• "Lake Laogai" (Book 2, episode 17)

• "The Guru" (Book 2, episode 19)

It's library time! Avatar: The Last Airbender sends Team Avatar and Professor Zei back into the spirit world for a pretty faithful adaptation of Season 2's "The Library." There are some key differences, though. The library is in Ba Sing Se instead of the desert, because Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender avoids deserts more than Ba Sing Se citizens avoid conversations about war. Also, Jet is here now! Not for much longer, though. He sacrifices himself in a fight against Wan Shi Tong, dying like he did in the original's "Lake Laogai." Unlike in the animated series, his death here is actually really clear.

"Ten Thousand Things" also pulls from the beginnings of Azula's Ba Sing Se coup in "The Guru." Plus, before Team Avatar heads to the library, this episode features another nod to "The Chase" with Iroh and Toph's sweet conversation. In the original series, the two share a cup of tea on the road. Netflix's version transposes that discussion to Iroh's tea shop, and the effects are no less heartwarming. — B.E.

Episode 6: "The Parable of the Two Dragons"

Episodes covered:

• "The Desert" (Book 2, episode 11)

• "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" (Book 2, episode 15)

• "The Earth King" (Book 2, episode 18)

• "The Guru" (Book 2, episode 19)

With Appa missing and Aang distraught, this episode draws from "The Desert," an ambling trip from the animated series in which Team Avatar are stuck in a sprawling sandy landscape after their escapade from "The Library." (In the Netflix show, they're still in Ba Sing Se.) "The Desert" episode also covers Uncle Iroh's revealed involvement in the Order of the White Lotus, which Netflix's version turns into an emotional scene of forgiveness between Iroh and the Fire Nation deserters.

Episode 6 also covers a lot of two episodes: "The Earth King" and "The Guru." Zuko's fever dream of two dragons comes from "The Earth King," although Netflix's version gives the dream a puppet makeover. "The Earth King" is also the animated episode where you'll find Team Avatar's meeting with the Earth Kingdom's enigmatic leader.

Zuko's recovery and his starting work at Iroh's tea house come from the next animated episode, "The Guru," which also covers more of Azula's infiltration of Ba Sing Se, her plotted coup with Long Feng, and the team's continued mission in the palace.

Lastly, we get a tiny glimpse of the fan-favorite "Jinko" ship from "The Tales of Ba Sing Se" in this episode. In the animated series, Jin is a regular at Iroh's tea shop and takes Zuko on a cute date. (In the Netflix series, she's an employee). — S.C.

Episode 7: "Something Broken"

Episodes covered:

• "Appa's Lost Days" (Book 2, episode 16)

• "Lake Laogai" (Book 2, episode 17)

• "The Guru" (Book 2, episode 19)

• "The Crossroads of Destiny" (Book 2, episode 20)

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 ends with the combination of "Lake Laogai" and "The Crossroads of Destiny." That's because the crystal caves from "The Crossroads of Destiny" now double as the spooky underground hypnosis facility of "Lake Laogai." (Notably missing? An actual lake!) This episode hits all the "Crossroads of Destiny" highlights, from Zuko and Katara's cave conversation — this is a big season for Zutara shippers! — to the explosive final fight. It also gives us a glimpse of the Dai Li's terrifying brainwashing techniques.

Before all that, though, it'll make you tear up with a flashback to Appa and Aang's first meeting, as seen in the animated show's heartbreaking "Appa's Lost Days." And of course, you can't end Season 2 without Toph inventing metalbending, which originally happens in "The Guru." She's the greatest earthbender in the world for a reason! — B.E.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender brings blind earthbending master Toph Beifong (Miya Cech) to live action for the first time ever. And while I had serious doubts, the series actually manages to do justice to the fan-favorite character, originally voiced by Michaela Jill Murphy (also known as Jessie Flower).

While Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender unfortunately flattened characters like Aang (Gordon Cormier) and Katara (Kiawentiio) in its first season, it allows Toph's wise-cracking personality to shine through right from the jump. She slings jokes as often as she slings boulders at her opponents, with Cech deftly capturing both Toph's brash confidence and unique physicality.

Avatar: The Last Airbender pays homage to several of Toph's most iconic moments from the animated series, recreating her seismic sense, her distinct earthbending moves, and even her many, many blind jokes. At times, it even builds on the character in fun ways, like staging a montage full of her nicknames for Aang (Twinkle Toes reigns supreme, obviously), or pitting her in a haiku battle with Sokka (Ian Ousley) that dives into why she puts up such a tough exterior.

However, there's one major aspect of Toph's live-action debut that falls seriously short, and that's the show's treatment of Earth Rumble VI.

Avatar: The Last Airbender's live-action Earth Rumble VI fails Toph.

In both versions of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the earthbending smackdown known as Earth Rumble VI is Toph's emphatic introduction to Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Over the course of several rounds, they watch the formidable fighter known as the Boulder take down equally formidable opponents like the Big Bad Hippo, the Gopher, and Fire Nation Man. (Who should, as Sokka puts it, go back to the Fire Nation.)

By the end of it, the Boulder seems almost unbeatable — that is, until Toph manages to send him packing with just two moves. It's a clean way to prove just how powerful she is, but the animated series doesn't stop there. In order to stop Aang from being kidnapped and ransomed to the Fire Nation, Toph unleashes against the entire crew of Earth Rumble VI fighters, Boulder included.

It is, quite frankly, one of the most badass moments of the show, not just because it's Toph showing off why she's the world's greatest earthbender, but because it's her way of revealing her true power to her parents, who always doubted her and considered her frail due to her blindness.

Unfortunately, the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender cuts this final fight completely. In fact, it gets rid of every Earth Rumble VI fighter who isn't the Boulder. The omission, likely due to budget constraints and the fact that this episode was already a mash-up of several others, stings. It downgrades Toph's introduction from a full-on welcome bash to the TV equivalent of a cordial handshake.

On top of all that, losing the rest of the Earth Rumble VI fighters means that Avatar: The Last Airbender misses out on a showcase of the versatility of earthbending. The Earth Rumble VI fighters burrow through earth, shake entire platforms, and incorporate wrestling moves into their repertoire, creating one of the most memorable fights of the show. Live-action Toph's head-to-head match with the Boulder is fun, but it lacks the same style and scale of her fights in the animated show. (See also: the series cutting Toph and the rest of Team Avatar's absolute rout of the Earth King's guards from the original.)

Avatar: The Last Airbender's trimming of Earth Rumble VI is symptomatic of the show's larger problem: It will never be able to match the fluidity, rhythm, and magnitude of the animated show's bending fight scenes, so it doesn't attempt to execute them.

Of course, fans of the original will notice what's missing anyway, which will in turn make them long for the show they already know. In the end, that longing ties back to the question that's been plaguing Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender since it was announced: Why remake something that was already so untouchable in the first place?

Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

Donald Trump's $15 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool swiftly managed to turn it green, and the president is blaming vandals.

In the Daily Show monologue above, Josh Johnson plays back-to-back clips of Trump accusing someone of cutting the pool with a knife, before showing a clip from two months earlier in which he said such an act was impossible: "I don't want to give anybody any ideas. If you had a knife, you couldn't even cut it," Trump said.

"I've never seen someone have a line of logic so stupid they reverse-Inception themselves," says Johnson. "Me from before had the idea to never. I told myself it couldn't be done, and then I forgot. That's why it happened.

"Look, I'll admit right now I'm one of Trump's biggest haters. But Donnie, let me help you out: You have got to chill. People are not shanking the pool at night. Also, algae can't be that hard to get rid of. I mean damn, you got one of the biggest algae eaters in your cabinet."

The accompanying image on the screen? RFK Jr.

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House of the Dragon Season 3 sees some characters catapulted back into the action while others wait in the woods.

The latter, in episode 1, applies to our Westeros odd couple, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox), a pair who couldn't have a more contrasting attitude to The Times if they tried. The mission? Wait for Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) to show up on his colossal dragon Vhagar and take the crumbling castle of Harrenhal from Team Black. But where the hell are they?

On one hand, Cole's really going through it. The traumatised Lord Commander fatalistically wallows in the "doom and ruin" surrounding him, especially after the massacre that was Rook's Rest in Season 2. It's a very different Cole from the man we first met in the very first season, who found himself swept up in court politics, heartbreak, and ended up covered in blood. At the start of Season 3, he's all nihilism.

"He's on the road, all of his stuff is so isolated, so you're not dealing with so much plot," Frankel told Mashable. "First two seasons, especially in the Small Council...that stuff is so dense material-wise. It takes so long to shoot and it's almost always plot, which needs to happen, but it's not massively about character development in that sense."

Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

On the other hand, we've got Gwayne, a knight of House Hightower, and a man of principles with big Rob Stark energy. And as the troops wait, he's constantly asking his Lord Commander to be a good manager, to keep his men in line.

"It's very difficult, they have such opposing views on how to see this war out, and when you're second-in-command to someone who has, in some sense, got a death wish, you've got this load on your back, and you don't know how to shift out from under it," Fox told Mashable. "Especially if you're trained in the school of honor, and respecting that hierarchy that Gwayne would have obviously grown up around. Do you break your principles to honor, or do you go, 'we just have to survive'? It's a rock and a hard place.

"He's obviously been schooled in the way that knights would have been trained in a training ground — jousting and all of that stuff — and when it comes up against actual war, an almost nuclear holocaust style of war that the dragons represent, it's a really sobering, immediate maturing. He realises that if, unless I am ultra responsible, there's no way through here for anybody, least of all, my men, who I am responsible for."

Gwayne Hightower (Freddie Fox). Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

How will they sort it out this season? Time will tell — especially if Aemond doesn't get here soon.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

For all things House of the Dragon, Mashable has you covered.

Donald Trump's recent deal with Iran has been met with criticism from both sides of the aisle — and speaking in his monologue on Monday, Jimmy Kimmel wasted no time in joining in with the naysayers.

"The deal is Iran gets billions of dollars and then we'll talk about a deal. It's a deal to make a deal," says Kimmel. "They still haven't even gotten into the details of the nuclear stuff, which is interesting because three months ago, Trump wrote, 'No deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!" Little did we know he meant it was ours.

"So in the end, after all of this, Trump's answer to the questions, 'Who did you go to war with?' and 'How did it end?' will be the same answer: 'I-Ran.'"

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In House of the Dragon Season 3, we find the once proud Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) in an even worse state than we left him in Season 2.

We've seen "the usurper" essentially dragged to the Iron Throne by his mother, where he terrorised the staff of Red Keep. We've seen him married to his sister Helaena (Phia Saban), endure the violent loss of a child, and execute an entire King's Landing profession in retaliation. He's a Targaryen who lost his dragon, Sunfyre, in the Battle at at Rook's Rest and he's been mercilessly burned by Vhagar probably thanks to his brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), who now rules in his stead as prince regent.

It's a lot.

Now, a panicked and persuaded Aegon has fled the capital and gone undercover, trundling through enemy territory in a bird cart with the diabolical Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). And he's in despair, to put it lightly. "I am the king of nothing, with raven shit for a throne," Aegon declares in characteristically verbose hilarity in episode 1, and he's not entirely wrong.

"He likes to lament," Glynn-Carney told Mashable. "He is really in his pit of self pity and wallowing in it. Eventually you can see that that really grates on Larys — and it would do if that's your journey partner and all they do is moan."

"He likes to lament." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

In episode 1, however, we see a glimmer of pride still clinging to Aegon, when he and Larys are apprehended by guards loyal to Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy). Unlike his road buddy, who plunges that knee to the ground and offers up Aegon's crown, the king refuses to kneel and denounce the usurper (that's him).

"Originally it was in the script that he kneeled straight away, and I was like, no, he wouldn't do that. He'd be defiant and get himself in a lot of trouble," said Glynn-Carney. "But I think that's what's important to hold on to with Aegon. He's in a situation now where his status is out the window, and he's lowest of the low, but there needs to be — and what we achieved, I think, in the end — is that tiny thread still hanging on to pride.

"You know, the line in Season 2 where he says, 'Fuck dignity, I want revenge.' Actually, he doesn't want to fuck dignity, he wants his dignity back at this point, because he totally lost it."

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

For all things House of the Dragon, Mashable has you covered.

Mindfulness and meditation app Calm has teamed up with the opposite of tranquil, House of the Dragon, for a Season 3-promoting soundscape that sends you into King's Landing. And honestly, it sounds like a pretty chill day for the capital. Suspiciously so.

There are no Game of Thrones-worthy explosions coming from the Great Sept of Baelor, no Battle of the Blackwater hubbub, and no Targaryen queen burning the city to the ground. Even from a House of the Dragon perspective, there's no sound of starving peasants squabbling over scraps, no Aegon II-ordered ratcatcher executions, and no Daemon-ordered violence by Kingsguard on the smallfolk.

Instead, you can hear idle chatter of happy townspeople, sprinkled with tinkering sounds from a local blacksmith, a few Faith of the Seven church bells clanging away. If I were a fiction conspiracy theorist, I'd call this "everything's fine" propaganda straight from the Red Keep. Pay no attention to that blockade, folks! La la la! However, the closer we get to the castle the creepier the sounds get, and by the time we reach the dragon cellars it all gets rather echo-filled and ominous.

With such a pivot, there could be an unexpected use for Calm's soundscape.

"im definitely using this for my dnd campaign as background noise," one commenter on YouTube said. Not a bad idea.

For all things House of the Dragon, Mashable has you covered.

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Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are ongoing, but fear not: the country has its best man on the case.

In the clip above, Jon Stewart reacts to the news that JD Vance is being sent to the negotiations with a long, drawn out, "Noooooooo!" followed by some commentary on how things are going so far.

"It's a risky move on [Donald] Trump's part, given that the first time he sent JD Vance overseas, JD Vance killed Pope Francis," says Stewart in the Daily Show monologue above. "It happened. 88 years. Pope Francis lived in leper colonies, went through so much in his life, survived. Spent 10 minutes with JD Vance and went, 'Check please, I'm out.'"

Stewart then cuts to footage of Vance appearing to be snubbed by Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

"Well that is awkward," says Stewart. "JD Vance really answers the question, 'What if a middle school dance were a person?'"

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On Sunday, House of the Dragon's Harry Collett watched hundreds of fans witness his onscreen death. But first, he DJed for them.

HBO celebrated House of the Dragon's Season 3 premiere with a rooftop viewing party of the episode at New York City's Pier 17.

Before the screening began, treating fans to the spectacular Battle of the Gullet (including the tragic death of Collett's Jacaerys Velaryon), the event featured DJ sets from Mister Sunday, Marc Kinchen, and Collett himself, sporting a House of the Dragon-themed soccer jersey.

For people who didn't know what was in store for Jace, Collett's DJing was a fun way to ring in the new season. For people who knew what was coming, it felt like a rager before a funeral.

It didn't help that the graphics on the screen behind Collett foreshadowed his character's fate. The screen read "Harry Collett" against a watery background littered with ship wreckage, hinting at the Battle of the Gullet and how Jace dies: clinging to driftwood. Not cool, graphics designers! I wanted to boogie to Cheryl Lynn's "Got To Be Real," not be reminded of Jace's impending death!

The good vibes from the DJ sets shifted once the episode began, with the energy moving from party mode to House of the Dragon mode. Attendees locked in harder than Jace locking Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) in Dragonstone. (Too soon?) Watching alongside a group of passionate people, you could hear watercooler moments being born in real-time.

Fans applauded as Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) claimed Sheepstealer, screamed at Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Alicent's (Olivia Cooke) upsetting kiss, and experienced non-stop panic attacks throughout the entire Battle of the Gullet.

When Rhaena crashed the Gullet, cheers erupted. But when Sheepstealer went rogue, those cheers turned to anguished yells. Elsewhere, Alyn of Hull's (Abubakar Salim) takedown of Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) earned satisfied hoots and hollers, which faded into despair as viewers reckoned with the fact that Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) might be dead.

Harry Collett gives a speech after a "House of the Dragon" premiere screening. Credit: Gabe Yeh

It all culminated in Jace's death, which earned the loudest (and most pained) shouts of the night. As sad as it was to see the poor prince peppered with arrows, Boromir-style, hearing these reactions was a reminder of the communal power of TV, especially event TV like House of the Dragon. It's just more fun to watch with other people, to experience these blistering highs and lows together, even if what you're watching is a beloved character sink to his watery grave.

While the night ended poorly for Jace, the same was not true for Collett.

After the screening, he returned to the stage, with the screen now reading "All men must die." On the one hand, ouch. On the other hand, who else gets to say they DJed their own funeral?

"Thank you for accepting me as your Jace for the past five years," Collett told the audience. "It's honestly been the job of a lifetime."

Collett went to cut a large Iron Throne cake with — what else? — a giant sword.

After the cake had been thoroughly massacred, he gave fans one last tease of what's to come in a post-Jace House of the Dragon: "I hope you enjoy the rest of Season 3, because it's an absolute banger."

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Does this season of House of the Dragon contain multitudes? Does a dragonseed shit in the woods?

In Season 3, episode 1, one character joins the distinguished ranks of Westeros folk who've pooped onscreen. And it's none other than Ulf the White (Tom Bennett).

Early in the episode, far from the Battle of the Gullet, we reconnect with the wild cards of Westeros. These are the three dragonriders who claimed Silverwing, Seasmoke, and Vermithor: Ulf, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew), respectively, despite being born adjacent to the royal bloodline. They've been assigned to a creepy camp near Harrenhal, tasked by Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) to await the arrival of Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) on his enormous dragon Vhagar.

The thing is, Aemond's late. And when you've gotta go, you've gotta go, despite the freaky visions you might encounter. And here, we're gifted a charming shot of Ulf having a crap in the woods, with all the juicy foley effects you can imagine.

Those sound effects? Jail. Credit: Ollie

The scene instantly brings to mind one of the opening shots of Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, in which we see Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) letting loose in a very scenic location. And never forget, in Game of Thrones Season 4, Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) died on the toilet, possibly mid-poop.

When asked what it was like to join the Westeros Hall of Fame for Characters Who Hath Shat on Camera, Bennett told Mashable he relished the opportunity.

"You know what? That did go through my head. Part of me went, OK, who's had a poo in House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones?" Bennett said.

"He's actually also in a league of his own, because he's at least — to my knowledge — he's the only person that has a dragon and has pooed," noted Liberty. "So, you're very rarefied air."

"Yeah, I get to poo on camera, and uh..maybe you'll see me poo on camera again. Spoiler alert!" said Bennett.

"On Tom's CV, it says 'pooed on camera in House of the Dragon,'" said Liberty.

"'Can poo on camera,'" said Bennett.

"This is HBO," said Bew.

All shits aside, it's a complex start to the season for the dragonseeds, as Hugh, Addam, and Ulf's varied personalities clash.

"We have been forced together by circumstances. We've all come from different places, and ultimately, we all want to get something different out of this newfound power. But we're different human beings, so there is a chemistry test happening in real time, where we are forced to sit on the edge of a cliff for three days in the rain," said Bennett.

"But we're being bonded by our frustration of the information flow from our very scary bosses who don't really instil a lot of confidence and security," said Bew.

"No one's ever had that initiation to be a dragonrider...being commoners," said Liberty. "So the fear that you have to go through, I think that also pulls us together."

The camp where Addam, Ulf, and Hugh spend their assignment was originally filmed at a lakeside location in Wales near sprawling mountains — and it was actually too beautiful to be as creepy as the House of the Dragon team needed it to be.

"It looked like a Nordic vodka commercial," says Bennett. "When it came to the rushes, they went, it looks like they're having too good a time. It looks delightful. It looks like a jolly boys outing. So we had to reshoot everything in this little dank cave with water dripping, because the first time we did it, it just looked too nice."

"I was eating lamb the whole day," said Liberty. "Oh my god, I ate so much lamb. It was amazing, because I didn't eat breakfast, and then we got to set, and I was just being fed lamb. I think there was a take, I forgot my lines, because I was getting lamb out of my teeth, it was class."

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

Through fire and blood House of the Dragon has roared back onto HBO for Season 3, and if you've watched episode 1, you might need a cup of tea.

In a colossal, jaw-dropping episode involving the much-anticipated Battle of the Gullet and many deaths, events conspired that will change everything for Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and her son, Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett). And Mashable asked the cast about it, so consider this a major spoiler warning.

What happens in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 1?

Jace (Harry Collett) hits the Battle of the Gullet with Vermax. Credit: Courtesy of HBO

In Season 3, episode 1, we're finally here: the Battle of the Gullet, an inevitability the show's been foreshadowing for two seasons with Lord Corlys Velaryon's (Steve Toussaint) all-important blockade. When the Triarchy shows up, led by Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorne), the battle finally begins.

However, on Dragonstone, Rhaenyra finds herself barred from flying into war by one more man standing in her way, one she didn't expect: her son, Jacaerys. Locked in her chambers by her Queensguard, wearing her riding leathers, Rhaenyra is frustrated enough to tear her court dress to shreds. But it's complicated.

"For two seasons we've seen Rhaenyra restrained from action, often by her male council," D'Arcy tells Mashable. "And at the start of Season 3, there's finally huge momentum in her campaign, and she is poised to move into action. That momentum hits a very sudden brick wall — or locked door.

"Rhaenyra has become very familiar with the ways in which patriarchy looks to consolidate male power, and there's something interesting going on here, where something that's framed as protection or care is actually an arm of control. I think that's a strong tool within the toolkit of patriarchy."

Why did Jace defy Rhaenyra?

It's essentially treason with good intentions. Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

For Collett, Jace's decision to defy his mother and fight in the Battle of the Gullet in her stead isn't one of malevolence (though it's technically treason). We watch Jace pitch the move as one of valor to his fiancée Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), as a means to prove his worth as the future king of Westeros.

"There's no malice behind it. If she goes, then she could die, and I feel like he'd rather die than lose his mother. It's a protective thing," Collett tells Mashable.

"If things did go his way, then he would have locked her up, won the battle, come back, dealt with the consequences easy, but he still would have won the battle. Well, he technically did win the battle anyway, but he lost his life in it. But there's nothing malicious about it, just all protective."

"He technically did win the battle anyway, but he lost his life in it." Credit: Courtesy of HBO.

Fans are processing the loss of Jacerys and his dragon Vermax, brought down in the midst of battle despite the efforts of Baela and her dragon Moondancer. They're left floating in the turbulent waters between Dragonstone and Driftmark. It's a shocking, deeply upsetting moment, watching Vermax thrashing to survive, slowly going under, with Jace plunged into open water. Then, Triarchy arrows end the young prince's life.

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Collett took us through how the House of the Dragon team helped him prepare for Jace's tragic demise, ranging from horse riding lessons and wetsuit fittings to developing techniques for conveying emotion on a dragon rig.

"I had loads of meetings with Loni [Peristere], the director of the episode, and Ryan [Condal] talking about how I can portray feelings while being up in the air and having all this stuff going on around me," he said. "We would make up scenarios that would happen with Jace that didn't happen in the show, which really helped me get into character...It was really fun this time around, because I finally get to get out the offices."

When asked about what he learned this season about riding dragons, Collett had one response.

"God, don't fly low next time."

So, what's next for House of the Dragon after Jace's death?

Here's a few things to think about:

• Jace was the only one who saw Sheepstealer's rider, Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell), who has now fled.

• Rhaenyra doesn't know another of her sons is dead and that she's one major dragon down, so she's likely to react.

• The young Joffrey Velaryon is Rhaenyra's sole blood heir now, but he's in the Vale, under the protection of Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin).

• Baela was betrothed to Jace but she's still a high-ranking member of the house, being Daemon Targaryen's (Matt Smith) daughter.

• We still don't know whether or not Corlys is alive.

• Harry Collett was not slain in battle as Jace. He's an actor and totally OK.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

This isn't going to end well, is it?

After an opening episode that finally gave us the Battle of the Gullet (and the requisite number of dead bodies), HBO has dropped its "weeks ahead" trailer for House of the Dragon Season 3.

The two-minute clip shows Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) struggling to hold onto power, while seemingly everyone around her is intent on taking it away. We also get some more battle shots, and plenty more dragon fire. Eep.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

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In House of the Dragon's Season 2 finale, Lysene Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) declared that the Triarchy's fleet was headed to the Gullet, a stretch of water blockaded by Corlys Velaryon's (Steve Toussaint) forces, "on the morrow."

Well, "the morrow" stretched into a two-year wait for House of the Dragon viewers, but in the show's Season 3 premiere, that fated day finally comes. And with the morrow comes the incredible set piece that is the Battle of the Gullet.

In both House of the Dragon and its source material, George R.R. Martin's Targaryen history Fire and Blood, the Battle of the Gullet marks a huge turning point in the Dance of the Dragons. It annihilates Team Green's attempted power move with the Triarchy, and it also sees the death of Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett). Both of these key events carry over from the book to the show, which follows the Battle of the Gullet's broad strokes. However, the show also changes several key aspects of how the Battle of the Gullet plays out.

From a Sheepstealer surprise to Lohar's demise, here are all the biggest differences between House of the Dragon and Fire and Blood's Battle of the Gullet.

House of the Dragon's Battle of the Gullet leaves out a subplot about Rhaenyra's sons Viserys and Aegon.

Abubakar Salim in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

In Fire and Blood, Jace isn't the only one of Queen Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) sons in mortal peril at the Battle of the Gullet. Her two youngest sons with Daemon (Matt Smith), Aegon and Viserys, are also present. They're onboard the Gay Abandon, a cog taking them to Pentos for safety. Unfortunately, safety is the complete opposite of what they find, as they get caught up in the naval clash. Aegon escapes on his young dragon Stormcloud. He makes it back to Dragonstone, but Stormcloud is fatally wounded in the process. Meanwhile, Viserys hides his own dragon egg and disguises himself as a ship boy onboard in a Lysene crew. He's soon discovered and becomes the captive of Lohar.

None of this happens in House of the Dragon. Strangely, Season 2 did hint at the boys' upcoming involvement in the battle, with Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin) namedropping the Gay Abandon as she sent the boys off to Pentos.

The show not adapting Aegon and especially Viserys' storylines has broader implications for the future of Westeros. However, House of the Dragon most likely isn't progressing that far into Targaryen history, so leaving out the the brothers' horrible jaunt at sea helps streamline the battle.

Jace goes rogue in House of the Dragon, but not Fire and Blood.

Bethany Antonia and Harry Collett in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Throughout Season 2, Jace challenged Rhaenyra's decisions, especially her plan to recruit the dragonseeds. (In the book, it was his idea.) However, in the Season 3 premiere, he defies her outright, locking her in Dragonstone to prevent her from flying out to the Battle of the Gullet herself. He claims it's a protective move, but there's a bit of a glory-hunting streak in there as well. He tells Baela (Bethany Antonia) that it's their purpose to win the war for Rhaenyra. But maybe they could do that without being reckless teenagers, right?

Jace's move against his mother is a new addition to the show, but it does provide an interesting justification as to why Rhaenyra doesn't fly to the Gullet herself in Fire and Blood. In Martin's work, Rhaenyra doesn't actually engage in combat much, instead commanding from Dragonstone. But the show's version of her wants desperately to be in the field, meaning they have to keep coming up with new ways to keep her away. Jace's defiance is the culmination of the tension between the two, and it also makes his death that much more painful for Rhaenyra. The last interaction she ever had with her eldest son was him keeping her from protecting him.

Did somebody order a beef between Lohar and Corlys?

Steve Toussaint in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Fire and Blood is written like a historical text, so some characters are fairly flat on the page. One such character is Sharako Lohar. We know he's a formidable admiral, and not too much else.

House of the Dragon seeks to flesh Lohar out further, with both the gender-bending established in the Season 2 finale, as well as her hatred of Corlys Velaryon, revealed in the Season 3 premiere to be the true reason she signed a contract with Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall). That motivation brings an extra layer of vitriol to Lohar's decision to sack High Tide. Plus, it leads to that incredibly suspenseful ship chase through a narrow pass, so I'm not complaining.

Tyland Lannister's death is an anti-armor PSA — and new to House of the Dragon.

Jefferson Hall in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

RIP Tyland Lannister, who does not die in the Battle of the Gullet in Fire and Blood. By this point in the book, he's still in King's Landing, although later on, he travels across the narrow sea to Pentos, Tyrosh, and Myr. House of the Dragon won't be adapting far enough into Fire and Blood for his departure from and return to Westeros to be relevant, so he's perfect cannon fodder for the Gullet. And what a way to go, shoved overboard by Lohar to lighten her ship's load. Sorry Tyland, but let this be a lesson to all other sailors that you should always choose a life vest over armor.

Which dragons are involved in the Battle of the Gullet?

Harry Collett in "House of the Dragon." Credit: HBO

The Battle of the Gullet is the unholy lovechild of naval warfare and dragon warfare, but the particular dragons vary between Fire and Blood and House of the Dragon.

In Fire and Blood, Jace leads the attack on the Triarchy fleet with his dragon Vermax. He's joined by the dragonseeds and their dragons: Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) on Silverwing, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) on Seasmoke, Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) on Vermithor, and lowborn Driftmark resident Nettles on Sheepstealer.

House of the Dragon makes several switches to this lineup. In: Baela on Moondancer. Out: the three male dragonseeds, who are camping out near Harrenhal until further notice. Nettles has also been cut from House of the Dragon entirely. Her storyline has been looped in with Rhaena's (Phoebe Campbell), who takes control of Sheepstealer. Speaking of...

Rhaena doesn't crash the Battle of the Gullet in Fire and Blood.

Phoebe Campbell in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Theo Whiteman / HBO

Rhaena claiming Sheepstealer in the Season 3 premiere is already a massive deviation from Fire and Blood. (RIP Nettles, we never knew you.) But what happens next is even more of a deviation. Instead of aiding Rhaenyra's side, Sheepstealer unleashes friendly dragon fire on the Velaryon ships and attacks Vermax and Moondancer. That's not quite how you train your wild dragon, Rhaena.

Rhaena's unwitting involvement in Jace's demise sets up a remix of a key arc in Fire and Blood: Rhaenyra's hatred of Sheepstealer's rider. Obviously, there's no Nettles to hate in the show, so House of the Dragon is retooling. Instead of Rhaenyra despising Nettles for her closeness to Daemon, she'll likely wind up hating Rhaena for the role she played in Jace's death. Yet another Targaryen family tragedy to add to the tally.

Sharako Lohar dies in House of the Dragon, but lives on in Fire and Blood.

Abigail Thorn in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Sharako Lohar joins Jace, Tyland, and Rhaena's mental health as a casualty of the Battle of the Gullet. Corlys' bastard son Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) has the honor of taking her out in a brutal one-on-one brawl.

However, Sharako lives well past the Battle of the Gullet in Fire and Blood. He remains the captor of young Prince Viserys, eventually selling him off. His murder down the line sparks a larger war within the destabilized Triarchy. Again, since House of the Dragon won't adapt that far into the future, killing Lohar off is another streamlining move. We'll always have "to the Gullet on the morrow," though, even if that morrow has finally passed.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

After a slightly frustrating end to Season 2, Season 3 of House of the Dragon has come out swinging.

Episode 1 finally saw the long-awaited Battle of the Gullet, with Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Team Black facing off against Triarchy captain Admiral Lohar (Abigail Thorn) and a nervous Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall).

It was an episode with a pretty high body count, even by Game of Thrones standards — but was Corlys himself among them? Is the Velaryon lord dead, or will we be seeing him again?

What happens with Lord Corlys in episode 1?

Lord Corlys and his bastard son, Alyn (Abubakar Salim), are up against it in this episode. Outnumbered by the Triarchy, Corlys decides to lead Admiral Lohar through a narrow gully in an attempt to let the rocks do his dirty work for him. It almost works. Though two of Lohar's ships capsize, she manages to make it through and give chase, ramming his boat and jumping aboard for a good old-fashioned sword fight.

The ensuing matchup is violent and bloody, with injuries on both sides. But just as Lord Corlys is about to strike the killing blow, the ship lurches in the waves, and he's thrown overboard. Alyn looks over the side, but there's no sign of him. We don't see him again.

Is Lord Corlys dead?

Well, it's not exactly looking good, is it? Corlys is thrown overboard in a full suit of armour, which — as we know from Lohar's decision to yeet Ser Tyland over the side earlier on — is pretty heavy. Someone decked out in metal tends to sink rather than float.

On the other hand, it's important to remember that characters in the GoT universe are never dead until we've seen a body (and in some cases they're not dead, even then). When Corlys goes overboard, he's close to the rocks, which could be a bad thing, but it also means dry land may be in reach for him. Going overboard in armour isn't necessarily a death sentence, either. Minutes before Corlys goes in, we see his son Alyn do the same, and he still manages to fight someone off and clamber to safety.

In a nutshell, the jury is still out. Corlys' fate, like his life, will be determined by the fortune of the tides.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

House of the Dragon left us on a brutal cliffhanger at the end of Season 2, but Season 3 has quickly made up for that with the Battle of the Gullet and a mountain of bodies.

So many bodies, in fact, that it's probably worth a recap. Who are all the named characters that have died so far in the first episode of Season 3?

Ser Tyland Lannister

Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Poor old Ser Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) has been out of his depth ever since he met with Triarchy Admiral Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn) back in Season 2. He looks particularly out of his depth on her ship cruising into the Battle of the Gullet, but he manages to hold his own up to a point — that point being when Lohar unceremoniously tosses him over the side to stop him weighing her boat down.

Ser Jason Lannister

Credit: Theo Whiteman / HBO

The Lannisters have a rough time of it in episode 1, with not one but two key members of the house slain. The other victim? Head of Casterly Rock and twin brother to Tyland, Jason Lannister, who is killed off-screen and has his severed head presented to Daemon (Matt Smith) on the battlefield. Still, it does give Jefferson Hall the impressive accolade of getting to die twice in one episode.

Admiral Sharako Lohar

Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

For a character that was only in a few episodes, Admiral Lohar certainly makes a big impression. She racks up an impressive body count in episode 1 — possibly including her sworn nemesis, Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) — before ultimately meeting her match in Corlys' bastard son, Alyn. Their sword fight is bloody and brutal, ending overboard in the water, where Lohar ultimately meets her maker.

Jacaerys Velaryon

Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Oh dear. Jace (Harry Collett) makes the questionable decision to lock his mother up so that he can go to battle in her place, presumably thinking he'll be relatively safe on Vermax's scaly back. Unfortunately, what he doesn't account for is the anti-dragon weaponry aboard the Triarchy's ships. Baela (Bethany Antonia) manages to save him the first time he gets snared, but the second time she's too late. Jace gets dragged underwater, resurfaces, then gets multiple arrows in the neck.

Lord Corlys Velaryon?

Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

There's a question mark over this one because we don't know for certain whether Lord Corlys Velaryon is dead or not. He goes over the side of the ship while fighting Lohar and doesn't appear to resurface, but that doesn't mean we can count out the Velaryon lord just yet.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

For two seasons of House of the Dragon, patriarchal Westeros has tried to quash its women leaders. And in Season 3, we see Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) literally shredding her gown in frustration, in one of the defining moments of episode 1.

Despite the fact that no queen had ever sat on the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra Targaryen (then played by Milly Alcock) was named heir of King Viserys (Paddy Considine) in Season 1, though it came with sexist doubts and death bed confusion. "Men would sooner put the realm to the torch than see a woman ascend the Iron Throne," Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) told a young Rhaenyra, having experienced such bigotry herself.

By Season 3, Rhaenyra's since been usurped by Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney) and entered into civil war for her own birthright. She's constantly interrupted and mansplained by her councillors on Dragonstone; she's competed with her husband Daemon for influence (he's all good now); and she has had just about enough of this sexist shit.

"For two seasons we've seen Rhaenyra restrained from action, often by her male council," D'Arcy tells Mashable. "And at the start of Season 3, there's finally huge momentum in her campaign, and she is poised to move into action. That momentum hits a very sudden brick wall — or locked door."

Without spoiling anything, this locked door, though noble in intention, represents the ultimate male defiance for Rhaenyra in the opening episode. In utter frustration within her prison, the queen (who is dressed in her riding leathers, ready for battle) seizes her court gown — another elaborate masterpiece from House of the Dragon costume designer Caroline McCall — and tears it to pieces. And here, she utters one of Rhaenyra's most unfiltered lines:

"I may appear to have the weak and feeble body of a woman, but I possess the heart and spirit of a king."

Viewers who've seen Rhaenyra go through extreme resilience in body and mind over the last two seasons, and who know the staggering might and power of women's bodies in general, will probably bristle at the beginning of this line — and in reality, it could be seen as indicative of Rhaenyra's internalised misogyny, the result of being raised in a patriarchal kingdom. However, it's the second half that truly hits home for the usurped queen, who finds herself yet again undermined by a man, even in a moment of heroism.

"Rhaenyra has become very familiar with the ways in which patriarchy looks to consolidate male power, and there's something interesting going on here, where something that's framed as protection or care is actually an arm of control. I think that's a strong tool within the toolkit of patriarchy," says D'Arcy.

"When Rhaenyra destroys the dress, I think it's about destroying an image that has suffered so much criticism or skepticism, I suppose. And taking up the mantle of a king, again, is about trying to take on the machinery of othering and say no, I'm the same, with the same facility for leadership as you, as my male colleagues."

Dress plays an enormously important part in House of the Dragon, as we've seen in previous seasons. Costume in court can show more power than armor on a battlefield, with women characters including Rhaenyra and notably, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), wielding dress as a political tool. For some in Westeros, gowns represent oppression; for others, agency.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

In its Season 3 premiere, House of the Dragon does the impossible. It somehow adds incest to a Targaryen story.

The extra dose of incest comes in a scene between Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and her son, Prince Regent Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell). As Alicent tries to persuade Aemond to head to Harrenhal, which would free up King's Landing to Queen Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) incoming invasion, he leans in and gives her a long kiss. Horrified, Alicent freezes, not reciprocating but unable to retaliate against her son's sudden advance.

"He's very dangerous, and she can't reject him," Cooke told Mashable during a junket interview.

It's a shocking moment, which is saying something, given that House of the Dragon features a marriage between a brother and sister, as well as one between an uncle and niece. The show has dabbled in mother-son incest before, during one of Daemon's (Matt Smith) Harrenhal visions, but that was a dream. Aemond's kiss is a reality — one that doesn't appear at all in George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood. (Neither does Daemon's dream of his mother.)

House of the Dragon has hinted at Aemond's Oedipal feelings towards Alicent before. In his interactions with brothel owner and sex worker Sylvi (Michelle Bonnard), he seems to be looking for motherly nurturing. For Mitchell, Aemond's charged interaction with Alicent stems from his issues with affection, dating all the way back to childhood.

"He never felt like he had sufficient love as a child, and kids need that unconditional love to develop a balanced view of themselves," Mitchell told Mashable. "And Aemond, he felt like he was lacking in that department, and so he has a very skewed sense of how to show affection. His perception of it is very flawed."

However, in his attempt to show affection toward his mother, who already fears him, Aemond has worsened that relationship.

"He might have burnt bridges with his mum after that moment, because it's singularly just one of the creepiest actions that he's done — and shocking as well," Mitchell said. "It's in Aemond's DNA to be shocking, and he does it there, he shocks the audience, just in a way that you don't expect."

For Alicent, the kiss is the latest in a series of unwanted advances that have come to define her time in the Red Keep. From her marital rape at the hands of Viserys (Paddy Considine) to Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) fetishizing her feet, Alicent has long been fighting for power in a cage where the men around her only see value in her body: how it can make them feel, or whether it can produce heirs. Now even her own son seems to feel the same way, a realization that becomes another reason why Alicent needs to escape the prison that is the Red Keep. That it's Aemond, her least controllable child, adds an extra layer of worry for Alicent, as well as an extra layer for Cooke to play.

"[Ewan and I] didn't need to do much, because it's such a shocking thing that we had to do," Cooke said. "It felt quite explicit on the page, and I really like working with Ewan. The way he plays Aemond is so different to any other character on the show, and it's so strange that I think Alicent always feels like she's on the back foot with him anyway. So that's all I really had to do, and then just let the shock of that speak for itself."

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Major spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 1. Beware.

As Lord Corlys Velaryon says, "Rough seas lie ahead," especially for the major players in House of the Dragon's long-awaited, colossal naval contest, the Battle of the Gullet.

We've known this was coming for two seasons, with the all-important blockade omnipresent in civil war strategy meetings on both sides of Team Black and Team Green. And in Season 3, episode 1, the Triarchy finally takes on the mighty Sea Serpent's fleet in one of the most bloody, devastating, and nail-biting sequences in the series yet.

Mashable unpacked the House of the Dragon battle with cast members Steve Toussaint, Abubakar Salim, Abigail Thorn, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, and Harry Collett.

Shot over several months in a massive Warner Bros. Studios set in Leavesden, England, the battle is a major turning point, particularly for Corlys Velaryon (Toussaint) and his son Alyn of Hull (Salim).

"The important thing about the whole battle is just the sheer violence of it," Salim tells Mashable in the video above. "That is mainly seen, obviously, through the actual physical nature of it, but also through the people participating in it. That was something that was really important to tell this story of the Gullet, just like, how terrifying and violent it was."

It's a rare moment for Corlys, commanding his fleet in full Sea Snake mode.

"It was a joy, because in a way I've been waiting to show that side of him," said Toussaint. "Other than the Battle of the Stepstones in Season 1, we've not always seen him in action. Most of Season 2 is like, 'My wife's dead and my son doesn't love me.'"

In the other corner, the relentless Sharako Lohar (Thorn), the rugged Triarchy admiral, who Thorn based on Captain Ahab.

"She's a pirate, and historically, in real life, pirates were pretty democratic, and I think she definitely has the inspiration of all her men," said Thorn. "There's a pivotal moment in the script, just after something big happens, where she swears at her men for the first time, and we start to see that style of egalitarian command giving way to something more authoritarian. She starts getting more cavalier about throwing their lives away."

As for the major aerial combat players in the battle? The wild card of the Gullet, undeniably, is Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell), whose first run on her dragon Sheepstealer does not go to plan — especially when she comes way too close to her also-flying sister, Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia), and spirals out of control in the air.

"Hard relate, you know? Where I go into things thinking I've got this and just... so it wasn't an unfamiliar feeling," said Campbell. "But yeah, that realisation of 'I have no control over this, there's nothing I can do,' I think we can all relate to that in some way."

And then there's Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett), the young prince and Queen Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) heir, whose moment of misguided heroism becomes the climactic moment of the episode.

"I had loads of meetings with Loni [Peristere], the director of the episode, and Ryan [Condal, creator and showrunner] just talking about how I can portray feelings while being up in the air and having all this stuff going on around me," Collett said. "We would make up scenarios that would happen with Jace that didn't happen in the show, which really helped me get into character...It was really fun this time around, because I finally get to get out the offices."

That sure is one hell of an off-site. You can watch the whole House of the Dragon cast interview in video above.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Gone but not forgotten, Claudia comes back in the third episode of The Vampire Lestat, "Toronto." The vicious daughter who took after her maker, Lestat, is remembered in echoes of the past and a doppelgänger in the present. So, what does Sam Reid, who plays Lestat, have to say about how "Toronto" adds a new layer to what father and daughter have in common?

In an interview for Mashable's Say More series, Reid reflected, "They have a mutual understanding, Claudia and Lestat, where, yeah, they're at loggerheads. They sort of hate each other, but they have a lot of mutual respect between the two of them." He noted, "The writers never shy away from making these issues as complex and as truthful as possible."

The complex new truth revealed in "Toronto" is that Claudia and Lestat have both endured brutal violation at the hands of a vampire. In this episode, while Lestat is forced to face his own violent vampire origins at the hands of his maker, Magnus, Louis seeks vengeance on Bruce, the motorcycling bloodsucker who'd preyed on Claudia in Season 1, while she was out on her own.

"They are similar," Reid said in his interview with Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko. "They have a shared experience."

Jacob Anderson is Louis in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

To drive this parallel home, The Vampire Lestat shows Louis read the missing pages of Claudia's diary aloud to her abuser, Bruce (before burning him alive undead). But rather than flashbacks of Bruce's assaults on Claudia, "Toronto" cuts to flashbacks of Magnus' assault on Lestat, which turned him into an immortal. Where Claudia expressed her feelings in her diary, Lestat offers his songs, including "Your Biggest Fan." Reid explained to Mashable, this early in the season, Lestat is more interesting in presenting a version of himself he prefers than actually interrogating his life. But maybe Claudia took after him here too.

Of all the things Lestat says Louis and Daniel got wrong in their book, Interview with the Vampire, he's most affronted by the claim that he'd gotten Claudia to come back to their Louisiana home by threatening to rape her on that train out of town. "Never fucking happened," he wrote on the pages, a reaction which caused Daniel to chuckle in episode two.

Reid says of Claudia's account of the train scene, "He's blindsided by that. I think it's a very painful thing." He then teased we'll see Lestat's version of the train scene before the end of the season, saying, "You understand why it's there in the book later on. But he's blindsided about it, because he actually wouldn't do that."

For more from Mashable's interview with Sam Reid, look for our new Say More episode on Friday, June 19.

The Vampire Lestat streams on AMC+, with new episodes weekly.

With "Toronto," the third episode of The Vampire Lestat, the titular bloodsucker reveals how he got the dark gift through a lusty music video. But of course, that's not all there is to that story. So, who better to ask about Lestat as an unreliable narrator than Sam Reid, the critically heralded actor who's brought the Brat Prince to life onscreen and on stage (for one night only)? 

Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko sat down with Reid in our Say More studio to dig into "Toronto," and in particular the bad romance ballad that is "Your Biggest Fan."

 "Your Biggest Fan" is about Lestat's maker, Magnus. 

Sam Reid plays Lestat de Lioncourt in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

In "Toronto," Lestat's initial telling of how he became a vampire plays out in the music video for "Your Biggest Fan," which echoes the romance and drama of Meatloaf's 1993 music video "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)." Here, he is a flawless star on stage performing Lélio (not harlequin!), while a greasy, pale ghoul looks on in awe. This is Magnus, a deranged vampire in search of the perfect fledgling. And Lestat, abducted from his bed, smiles as he's forced to a dirty cavern floor and bitten by Magnus without warning. 

"He's got a lot of unpacked baggage," Reid said of Lestat's transformation trauma, "and so the way that he chooses to talk about it in the real world is, 'This guy was obsessed with me, and he's a loser, and here's his little fun ballad, like a Taylor Swift kind of pop song.'" 

Reid continued, "Obviously, the reality of [their relationship] is not a simple at-your-window ballad. It's much more complex... But he's trying to control his narrative at any point in time."

Reid went on to explain,"He very rightfully says to Molloy, like, 'Who wants another sob story?' Like, I'm not going to present you my life as some big abuse narrative. I'm not going to sit here and wallow like Louis did, and just talk about how painful my existence is, and suffer when there are so many positive things about the situation that I'm in." 

So, instead Lestat offers a version that Reid described as, "[Magnus] liberated me, he made me who I am, and look how fantastic I am." 

Of course, with Lestat's muses unleashed, this pretty lie won't keep the ghosts of his past at bay. 

How does Lestat's story of Magnus differ from Louis'? 

Sam Reid plays Lestat de Lioncourt in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

At first, it seems Lestat relished being ripped out of his bed, away from his boyfriend Nicky, and made into an immortal. But in the climax of "Toronto," Magnus appears in Lestat's car, and with his arrival come a flood of more gruesome flashbacks that reveal the terror, pain, and lack of consent of this pivotal moment. 

Asked about this, Reid compared Lestat's look back at his life to Louis' in Season 1 and 2, saying, "Louis is actually actively seeking to get to the center himself [through the recounting of his story]. And Lestat is actively trying to obfuscate the situation and not expose himself. But he has no choice. It's constantly being thrown back in his face, until he's forced to deal with it."

Reid teased this processing will get harder before it gets any easier, not just this season but in seasons beyond. "That's what The Failures is," he said of Lestat's in-show album. "We're now seeing somebody go through something that actually leads us through to future seasons. But when he's had time to process, that's when he can have some more self-reflection, whereas where he is in the story, he doesn't want to have any self-reflection." 

"But actually, he does have a lot of darkness," Reid acknowledged, adding, "He's got two makers. He's got his mother [Gabriella], and he's got Magnus. And both of those figures are very, very influential in what forms him as a character, and [both] are abusive." 

From there, Reid connected Lestat's sultry exhibitionism to what his mother and Magnus valued. "He's a highly sexualized character," Reid said, "because he's been sexualized from the beginning, from whether it's his mother wanting to love him to the point of being with him, because she wants to live vicariously through him, or whether it's his maker wanting that, that he sees on stage, that kind of, that performer, that spark, and kind of eroticizing him and making him this kind of perfect immortal being. It's then all he knows; the only way he knows how to express himself is by thrusting around on stage and writhing around. So we do ask, we ask the audience to come with him on the journey — maybe don't understand it at first, but it's a slow unraveling that he begins to unravel too."

For more from Mashable's interview with Sam Reid, look for our new Say More episode on Friday, June 19.

The Vampire Lestat streams on AMC+, with new episodes weekly.

There's a moment in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 1, when I wanted the cutscene to end so I could take the helm.

Right in the middle of the long-awaited Ballet of the Gullet, we see the mighty Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) in full evasive maneuvering mode. Here, the Sea Snake's skills are on full display. And it's absolutely made to be a video game level.

In the third act of the episode, as one of the most important battles in the Dance of the Dragons rages on, the vengeful Triarchy admiral, Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn), spots her prey in the Velaryon leader. To minimise losses and evade Lohar's rogue assault, Corlys commands his ship into Dragonstone Pass, a narrow, perilous marine path where one millimetre could mean the difference between sailing and sinking.

"In a way I've been waiting to show that side of him," Toussaint told Mashable. "Because, of course, other than the Battle of the Stepstones in Season 1, we've not always seen him in action. Most of Season 2 is like, 'My wife's dead and my son doesn't love me.'

"So it was nice to show, 'Oh yes, that's right, that's what he's good at.' This is why he runs away to sea whenever there's a problem, because he's good at it, and he feels comfortable there. So, doing those scenes, putting yourself in that position where you're the guy, was joyous."

Watching Corlys command his crew to "ease the sheets and pull out the oars," then gently take the helm to navigate these treacherous waters like a pro is the stuff of gaming dreams — the steering mechanism even looks like a wooden joystick in this scene. It's spatial awareness competency porn, and I love it.

Corlys' Dragonstone Pass prowess brings to mind notorious moments in racing games like 1999's Star Wars Episode I: Racer and the dastardly move needed to complete the Boonta Training Course on Tattoine. Remember?! For the most part, if you didn't flip that pod right through the crack you'd never make it into the Hutt Flats. It's giving Mario Kart's Rainbow Road shortcut, Gran Turismo's hairpins, even the ever-present Corkscrew, which turns up everywhere.

It's not the only video game-like moment in the Battle of the Gullet, either, especially when it comes to Lohar. The admiral's "Stay the course and f***ing row!" moment, ramming her ship right into Corlys', is a maritime move worthy of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, while her dragon-hunting ballista skills are right out of Dragon's Dogma 2.

There are, in fact, plenty of video games set in the world of Westeros, from the microtransaction-plagued Game of Thrones: Kingsroad to the upcoming real-time strategy game Game of Thrones: War for Westeros. But there are none that allow me to traverse the Dragonstone Pass. Let me be the Sea Snake.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Are you ready to meet even more Targaryens in House of the Dragon? Your answer had better be yes, because the show is about to introduce yet another member of Westeros' most messed-up family.

That extra Targaryen is Prince Daeron, the youngest son of Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine). He's been off in Oldtown for the entirety of the show so far, where he lives as the ward of House Hightower. However, as House Hightower's army marches towards King's Landing, House of the Dragon has been mentioning Daeron (along with his dragon, Tessarion) more and more. That can only mean one thing: His debut is imminent.

Or has it already arrived in Season 3?

Is Daeron Targaryen in the Season 3 premiere of House of the Dragon?

In George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood, Daeron serves as a squire to Alicent's cousin, Lord Ormund Hightower (James Norton). We meet Ormund for the very first time in House of the Dragon's Season 3 premiere, at the Hightower army's camp. There, he greets Alicent's messenger from King's Landing. He's joined by Ser Jon Roxton (Joplin Sibtain) and an unnamed boy (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) dressed in Hightower green.

Ormund orders the boy to draw the messenger a bath and bring him to a tent. The command, as well as the boy's proximity to Ormund, suggest that he's his squire. That would make him none other than Daeron Targaryen, whom we already know is at camp thanks to Tessarion's presence.

Of course, there's one big sign that the boy isn't Daeron: He's missing the Targaryens' signature silver hair. However, his auburn hair does bear a striking resemblance to Alicent's. If this boy really is Daeron, does he simply take after his mother? Or did Ormund encourage him to dye his hair in order to hide in plain sight?

HBO has yet to confirm Daeron's casting, but showrunner Ryan Condal did confirm in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Daeron would play a large role this season. Perhaps that role begins with the simple act of drawing a bath.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

If there's one character in House of the Dragon Season 3 that gets the lion's share of the best lines, it's Sharako Lohar.

Played to perfection by Abigail Thorn, the rugged Triarchy admiral drops one-liner after one-liner in the heart of episode 1's colossal Battle of the Gullet. Each commanding moment seems made for an action trailer, as Lohar finds vengeance in her grasp.

"She's got all the best lines!" Thorn told Mashable, when we asked her about jaw-dropping dialogue moments like: "Hold the course and f***ing row!"

On her ship, the Bitchfist (seriously, bring me a better name for a boat), Lohar is a tenacious commander who spends her life obsessively seeking one elusive target across the seas. And if that sounds familiar, Thorn said her Lohar draws from the iconic Captain Ahab from Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby Dick.

Abigail Thorn as Sharako Lohar in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

"Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, he inspires his men. Everyone loves Captain Ahab until they realise he's going to drag us all down on this mission, isn't he? And it's the same with Lohar," said Thorn, who did a vast amount of research into the classic character.

"I read the novel, and I watched every adaptation I could get my hands on, like the Gregory Peck Moby Dick," she said. "And also Ricardo Montalbán's performance in Star Trek II, which is very inspired by Moby Dick — Khan is Ahab in that movie, and there's a fair bit of that in Lohar too."

There's even a moment in the epic fight between Lohar and Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) that Thorn and House of the Dragon director Loni Peristere referred to quite literally as "the Captain Ahab moment."

"She's up on the rails, she hits Steve and gets him away, and she lunges towards him with the axe," says Thorn. "There's no way that move is going to succeed, and it's really, if this doesn't hit his head and kill him, she's dead. She knows it, because she's overextended. In that moment, she knows that she's risking it all, and so we have that Captain Ahab moment. It's that 'from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath,' and she really, she really goes for it."

Here's our favourite Lohar lines from House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 1, ranked.

7. "Did you think I sailed across the Narrow Sea to win your king's war for him?"

Uh, yeah. That's exactly what Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) thought Lohar was doing. Right up until you chuckled like that...

6. "You'll ruin all this kit if you wind up in the drink."

Foreshadowing. We love it.

5. "What do you weigh in that armor?"

Watching Tyland Lannister getting suddenly tossed overboard made me spit out my drink.

4. "Here she comes, lads, our jewel in the rough!"

I'm about to use this line every time I spot the perfect free table in a beer garden, a Lime bike with pedals and full charge, or stranger's dog that's making it perfectly clear I have been chosen.

3. "Tonight, we will walk in the ashes of High Tide. You'll all join me as I sit on the Driftwood throne and dine on the Sea Snake's ears!"

Ears? Ears!

2. "Call me Lohar, Dragonslayer."

Did someone just bring a ballista to a dragon fight? The Triarchy came prepared for aerial warfare, as Lohar unveils the giant weapon, equipped with grapnel, on board her flagship. We hate to see precious dragons attacked, but this line is pure history.

"The moment where they set the grapnel up, there's no line in the script for this, but I just look at Steve, and in my head you could see me thinking, 'Check this shit out, playboy,' because he doesn't know what the big dragon-killing gun is," says Thorn. "I love that they kept it in, just me being like, 'Hehehehehehe.'"

We hate to see precious dragons attacked, but this line is pure history. Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

1. "Hold the course and f***ing row!"

How could this not be the ultimate Lohar line? Having dodged Dragonstone Pass and chased the Sea Snake into open water, the Triarchy close in on their target. With Lohar's aim true, she gives the final command to her crew and gets set to ram. It's pure cinema.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

In Westeros, nothing can be said to be certain except death, Targaryen incest, and weird things happening around Harrenhal.

The Seven Kingdoms' most haunted castle and its de facto guardian, witch Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), treated Daemon (Matt Smith) to a barrage of unsettling visions in House of the Dragon Season 2. That strangeness keeps coming in House of the Dragon's Season 3 premiere, but this time, Alys finds a new target: dragonseeds Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), Ulf the White (Tom Bennett), and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew).

The trio have been stationed near Harrenhal on Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) orders. They've made their camp on the edge of the Gods Eye, the largest lake in the Seven Kingdoms. After several days away from the action and unsure of their next moves, the dragonseeds are antsy. It doesn't help that Alys crashes their party with a haunted goat and a large man who appears to have antlers. We only see him for a second, but his identity is connected to the ancient history of Westeros.

The dragonseeds spot one of the Green Men of Westeros.

The antlered man is one of the Green Men, a group that guards the Isle of Faces in the middle of the Gods Eye. Their order was founded 10,000 years before Aegon's conquest of Westeros, when the First Men warred with the magical Children of the Forest.

The two sides sued for peace on the Isle of Faces, where they signed the pact that decreed that the First Men could control the open lands of Westeros, while the Children could keep the deep forests. Those present carved faces in all the Isle of Faces' trees as a way for the gods to witness the pact, thus giving the island its name. The Green Men were charged with protecting the sacred place. Accounts vary on their appearances: Old tales claim they have green skin and horns, while maesters believe they simply wear green clothing and antler headdresses. House of the Dragon appears to eschew the green clothing and skin visuals in favor of animal pelts.

Are the Green Men in Fire and Blood?

Matt Smith in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

The dragonseeds' sighting of a Green Man isn't the first time we've glimpsed this order in House of the Dragon. Daemon also saw one by Harrenhal's weirwood in the Season 2 finale, as a part of his vision quest.

However, these Green Men moments aren't in George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood. The only time they are mentioned is a brief section when Addam of Hull visits them on the Isle of Faces for advice. Perhaps these sightings are building towards that meeting, or perhaps House of the Dragon is hoping to flesh out the Green Men's involvement in the Dance of the Dragons in a larger way. After all, the series has shown them venturing further afield than the Isle of Faces, and both times they've popped up, Alys has been present. Has she partnered with them in some way? And if so, what are their next plans for Harrenhal and the surrounding lands? When Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) arrives there, he may find himself facing down more magic than he'd bargained for.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes premiering Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

A new season of House of the Dragon brings back many familiar faces, but in Season 3, episode 1 we also seen some new players enter the mix.

Perhaps the most famous of these is Happy Valley star James Norton, who strikes an imposing, armour-clad figure as Lord Ormund Hightower. But who exactly is this new Hightower, and what role might he play in the action going forward?

We've broken down everything we know so far.

What happens with Ormund Hightower in episode 1?

Midway through episode 1, we get a drone shot showing what appears to be hundreds of green tents set up around a river. We go in closer and see a dragon in the ranks, growling as a messenger on horseback thunders past.

The man waiting to meet said messenger is Lord Ormund Hightower (Norton), flanked by a younger boy and a burly, no-nonsense looking soldier who appears to be his right-hand man. Hightower receives the parchment from the (fairly mud-spattered) messenger, wrinkles his nose in apparent disgust at the man's smell, and then breaks the seal to read it.

"Aemond says we are to make camp here and await further word. He shall join us in three days time," Hightower reads.

"So, Aegon's dead then?" grunts his henchman.

"One king is as good as another," smiles Hightower.

He tells the boy next to him to see the messenger has a bath and bed, then turns on his heel and walks back to his tent.

So, who is Ormund Hightower, anyway?

Okay, so we don't have much to go on so far. But we already know a little about Ormund from previous seasons, so let's recap.

First of all, how is he related to the currently AWOL Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans) and his daughter, Alicent (Olivia Cooke)? Well, put simply, he's Otto's nephew and Alicent's cousin. Ormund is the son of Hobert Hightower (Steffan Rhodri), who popped up back in the first half of Season 1. By Season 2 he's dead, though, and his son Ormund has taken his place as head of the Hightower household.

Now, as we see from his brief appearance, he commands a very large army that includes a dragon (this belongs not to him, but to his ward, Daeron Targaryen) — and he appears to be loyal to the cause of Team Green.

Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) may be struggling to figure out what to do with himself in King's Landing, but he does still have a powerful ally marching to meet him.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is here, and you know what that means: It's time to take a climb into the very tangled branches of the Targaryen family tree.

Over the first two seasons of House of the Dragon, some of these branches have been pruned. (RIP to the many Targs who've perished in this bloody show.) However, Season 2 also added its fair share of new offshoots, further complicating the knotted web between Houses Targaryen, Velaryon, and Hightower. If you're looking for a refresher on that web as you head into Season 3, we've got you covered.

Below, you'll find the Targaryen family tree as it stands heading into House of the Dragon Season 3, as well as a rundown of the characters and how they connect.

Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

Which Targaryens have died since Season 2?

There were two key deaths in the Targaryen family in Season 2: one on the Greens' side and one on the Blacks'.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) camp lost Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best), also known as the Queen Who Never Was. Meanwhile, King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney) and Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) lost their young son Jaehaerys when gold cloak Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and rat catcher Cheese (Mark Stobbart) assassinated him on Prince Daemon's (Matt Smith) orders.

There are still plenty of Targaryens left standing, though. Here's who to watch out for in Season 3.

The Targaryen family tree: Rhaenyra, Daemon, and their children

Matt Smith, Phoebe Campbell, Emma D'Arcy, Harry Collett, and Bethany Antonia in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Rhaenyra heads up the Team Black branch of the Targaryen family tree, with her husband/uncle Daemon by her side. (It was touch and go for a minute in Season 2, but after a life-changing study abroad trip to Harrenhal, complete with witches and visions, Daemon is finally ready to accept Rhaenyra as his queen.)

Their two young sons, Aegon and Viserys, are on their way to Pentos for protection after a brief pit stop in the Vale. However, Rhaenyra and Daemon's children from their prior marriages are still in Westeros and locked in on Rhaenyra's fight for the throne.

Rhaenyra's son Jacaerys (Harry Collett) and Daemon's daughter Baela (Bethany Antonia) are both dragonriders. Daemon's other daughter, Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell), doesn't have a dragon, which is why she was sent off as Aegon and Viserys' guardian. However, when they went to Pentos, she remained behind in the Vale, hoping to tame its wild dragon Sheepstealer. Could Rhaenyra be welcoming a new dragonrider to her side soon?

The Targaryen family tree: Alicent Hightower and her children

Tom Glynn-Carney, Olivia Cooke, Phia Saban, and Ewan Mitchell in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Dowager Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) remains the matriarch of Team Green, although she's growing increasingly regretful about her role in the war for succession. (So regretful, in fact, that she's offered to surrender the Iron Throne to Rhaenyra.) She had four children with the late King Viserys (Paddy Considine).

The eldest, Aegon, remains King of Westeros. His younger brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) attempted to kill him in a dragon dogfight at the Battle of Rook's Rest, and once Aegon recovered from his worst injuries, he fled King's Landing with the help of Larys Strong (Matthew Needham). Now Aemond is Prince Regent, and Alicent is trying her best to get herself and her daughter Helaena out of harm's way.

Alicent's youngest son Daeron has yet to appear in House of the Dragon, as he's been a ward of House Hightower in Oldtown for the past few years. However, Season 2 offered up a glimpse of his dragon Tessarion wheeling over the Hightower army, so expect him to enter the fray soon.

The Hightower family tree: Otto, Gwayne, and Ormund

James Norton, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, and Freddie Fox in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

In addition to Alicent, the rest of House Hightower continues to be a major player in House of the Dragon. Her father, Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), former hand of the King, has wound up in a jail cell — although we don't yet know where or why. Elsewhere, Alicent's brother Gwayne (Freddie Fox) has been traipsing around the Seven Kingdoms with Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), a nightmare we wouldn't wish on even our worst enemies.

House of the Dragon Season 3 also introduces a new member of the Hightower family: Lord Ormund (James Norton), head of House Hightower. His late father Hobert (Steffan Rhodri) was Otto's oldest brother, making Ormund Alicent and Gwayne's cousin. Daeron is his ward.

The Velaryon family tree: Corlys and his sons Alyn and Addam

Steve Toussaint, Abubakar Salim, and Clinton Liberty in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Rhaenyra's Hand is Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), also known as the Sea Snake due to his naval prowess. Over the course of House of the Dragon, he's lost his wife Rhaenys, as well as their children Laena (Nanna Blondell) and Laenor (John Macmillan).

However, Season 2 revealed that Laena and Laenor weren't Corlys' only descendants. He also has two bastard sons, Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) and Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty). Their mother Marilda, unseen in the show, was a shipwright. House of the Dragon primarily refers to Marilda in the past tense, implying she is dead, hence why she's greyed out in our family tree. However, by this point in Fire and Blood, she is still alive.

While Corlys didn't truly acknowledge Alyn and Addam prior to Season 2, the pair are now a much more prominent part of his life — and the show. Alyn is a notable sailor in Corlys' fleet, and Addam became a dragonrider. Thanks to his Valyrian blood, he now rides Seasmoke, Laenor's old dragon.

The dragonseeds: Addam, Ulf the White, and Hugh Hammer

Kieran Bew, Tom Bennett, and Clinton Liberty in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: HBO

Addam isn't the only new dragonrider to join Rhaenyra's ranks in Season 2. Smallfolk Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) also claimed dragons. Ulf rides Silverwing, the dragon of Rhaenyra's grandmother Alysanne, while Hugh rides Vermithor, the dragon of Rhaenyra's grandfather Jaehaerys. The pair, like Addam, are bastards of Valyrian blood, earning them the nickname of "dragonseeds." While they haven't been legitimized as Targaryens, they will certainly have a large role to play in the battles to come.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

UPDATE: Jun. 26, 2026, 4:02 p.m. EDT A previous version of the family tree did not show Rhaenys, Hobert, or Marilda as deceased the way they are in the show. It has since been updated.

Let's face it: Season 2 of House of the Dragon promised fire and blood, but its baffling finale felt more like a puff of smoke.

The season fizzled to an ending with zero catharsis, forced Game of Thrones references, and a highlight reel of what was to come. In some ways, that structure mirrored the season's core conflict. For all of Season 2, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) tried everything they could to prevent all-out war. But while their stalling to prevent the inevitable was rooted deeply in the story, the show's own reluctance to leap into the next phase of George R.R. Martin's Fire and Blood felt more like it was spinning its wheels until Season 3.

Now, the third season of House of the Dragon is finally here, and its first four episodes manage to make up for Season 2's finale and then some, delivering jaw-dropping spectacle and somber truths about the cost of war.

House of the Dragon's Battle of the Gullet is spectacular.

Steve Toussaint in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

Remember how barely an episode of House of the Dragon Season 2 went by without a mention of Corlys Velaryon's (Steve Toussaint) naval blockade in the Gullet? We finally get the payoff for that blockade at the top of Season 3, as the Triarchy's fleet bears down on the Sea Snake's forces. The ensuing clash, known as the Battle of the Gullet, is one of the defining fights of the Dance of the Dragons — the royal succession civil war between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney).

Given that so much of Season 2 was building to this point — hence the fan frustration that it wasn't included — the pressure on House of the Dragon to pull off this battle is immense. Thankfully, the series more than delivers, with a sequence that had me yelling and pacing around my living room while also thinking, "We're so back."

A dazzling set piece involving ships, human soldiers, and multiple dragons, the Battle of the Gullet sets a new bar for Westerosi action. Every element is honed for maximum impact, from long takes of sailors boarding enemy ships to sweeping shots of dragons dive bombing the fleet. The battle, directed by Loni Peristere, wrings epic terror and awe from those big moments, but it also strikes gold in quieter moments, like a suspenseful boat chase that quickly becomes a stealth highlight of the episode.

Oh, and did I mention that this all takes place during the day, so you can make out every ounce of action taking place onscreen? For a franchise whose biggest battles have often been marred by darkness (looking at you, Battle of Winterfell), the Battle of the Gullet is a welcome adjustment. And, based on the first four episodes sent to critics for review, it's only the beginning for House of the Dragon Season 3's big action sequences.

House of the Dragon Season 3 pushes Rhaenyra to the brink.

Emma D'Arcy in "House of the Dragon." Credit: HBO

The Battle of the Gullet isn't just an emphatic statement to open Season 3. It's also a major turning point for the Dance of the Dragons, and for Rhaenyra in particular. All throughout House of the Dragon, she has balked at violence, worried at the havoc dragon warfare would wreak on the wider realm. By Season 3, though, Rhaenyra has lost so much to this conflict that she needs to do whatever she can to see it through. Only by taking the Iron Throne can she justify the pain she's experienced. That means making impossible choices and committing to violence she once would have shunned, sometimes carrying it out with her own hands. As she does, House of the Dragon asks, even after all this, will victory be worth it?

It's a haunting question, one that House of the Dragon teases out with tinges of psychological horror in the aftermath of the Battle of the Gullet. D'Arcy has always been magnificent as Rhaenyra, but here, they reach new heights with their raw portrayal of the queen's grief and rage. Their trembling hands and wracking sobs were just as wrenching as some of the Battle of the Gullet's most devastating moments, proving that House of the Dragon can match its biggest set pieces with pure human drama.

While the first half of House of the Dragon Season 3 manages to atone for Season 2's ending, it still commits its share of familiar sins. Threats of sexual violence towards women abound unnecessarily in these episodes, a trend that harkens back to Game of Thrones' worst moments. (Although thankfully nothing here is nearly as graphic.) Elsewhere, several plot threads feel stagnant, with once major players like Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) getting so little to do they may as well be set dressing. Their decreased roles may wind up paying off down the road, though, just like the many, many changes the show makes from Fire and Blood. While the latter reportedly strained the relationship between Martin and showrunner Ryan Condal, these changes do muddy the Targaryens' already very complicated relationships in intriguing ways, to the point that I'm more fascinated at how the writers came to these new arcs than mad at not getting a precise adaptation.

Despite the occasional low point and my misgivings following Season 2, House of the Dragon Season 3 flies high. Instead of spinning its wheels, it roars into the Targaryens' bloody future with action and creeping dread to spare, and that assurance and forward momentum turns out to be exactly what the show needs.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

Take a look at our Best TV list for 2026, and you'll find a motley crew: vampires, football stars, even an aspiring James Bond.

They're all part of the astonishingly varied TV shows that have premiered in the first half of this year, which include the triumphant return of dramas like Industry and The Pitt, the premiere of yet another Game of Thrones spin-off, and even more Bridgerton. And that was just January!

Beyond that, genre TV has dominated 2026, with horror-comedy Widow's Bay, dystopian Handmaid's Tale sequel The Testaments, and sci-fi twist-fest Paradise earning critical acclaim. This year's superhero offerings, Wonder Man and Spider-Noir, also delivered on their promise with fun takes on an oversaturated genre.

On the comedy front, Hacks delivered what might be the most satisfying series finale of the year, Jury Duty pulled off its magic trick yet again in Season 2, and Shrinking and Rooster proved that Bill Lawrence is still the master of the feel-good hangout comedy. Drama lovers were spoiled for choice too, Love Story's historical romance, Half Man's bleak examination of toxic masculinity, and The Audacity's Silicon Valley satire. In the mood for a true dramedy? The always-excellent Tatiana Maslany has you covered in the darkly funny thriller Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.

All this is to say, there's been a lot of TV to start out 2026 — and a lot of it has been great! But 10 titles rose above the rest for us. Here are the 10 best TV shows of 2026 (so far).

10. Shrinking Season 3

Harrison Ford and Jason Segel in "Shrinking." Credit: Apple TV

TV's most relentlessly optimistic show refuses to let you be a glass-half-empty person in yet another magnificent season. Created by Jason Segel, Bill Lawrence, and Brett Goldstein, Shrinking has become one of my go-to reflections on life, relationships, and finding unconventional ways to gain perspective on your Stuff™️. Though hilarious, Season 3 is all about the fear of moving forward, with Jimmy (Segel) and his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) staring down college, Gaby (Jessica Williams) navigating commitment, Brian (Michael Urie) moving into parenthood, and more. But it's Harrison Ford who steals the show this season, with Paul saying much more than just "f*** Parkinson's." As I wrote in my review, "It's this humans-will-surprise-you magic that makes Shrinking so wonderful, a laugh-out-loud comedy that reminds you that asking for support and supporting others in turn is an everyday superpower. An adamant champion of human complexity for three seasons, this show is so good it boggles my brain." — Shannon Connellan, Senior Editor

Starring: Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, Ted McGinley, Brett Goldstein, Damon Wayans Jr., Wendie Malick, Cobie Smulders, Jeff Daniels, Candice Bergen, and Michael J. Fox

How to watch: Shrinking Season 3 is now streaming on Apple TV.

9. The Pitt Season 2

Sepideh Moafi and Noah Wyle in "The Pitt." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

Don't let the bizarre online backlash fool you: The Pitt's sophomore outing is a tremendous season of television. The series stays true to its real-time gimmick, but shakes things up just enough with new arrivals, like Sepideh Moafi's Dr. Al-Hashimi, as well as a slate of afflictions that range from fascinating to heartbreaking. When it comes to medical dramas, R. Scott Gemmill's HBO series remains the new gold standard.

In addition to its impressive surgery sequences and a series of escalating emergencies, The Pitt Season 2 manages to look even deeper inward than its predecessor. It pushes everyone to their breaking point, then sits quietly in the aftermath. Nowhere is this clearer than with Noah Wyle's Dr. Robby, who puts himself — and especially his team — through hell in the show's thorniest arc yet. More challenging than Season 1, Season 2 remains, as I wrote in my review, "empathetic, educational, and totally unforgettable." — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

Starring: Noah Wyle, Patrick Ball, Katherine LaNasa, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, Shabana Azeez, and Sepideh Moafi

How to watch: The Pitt Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max.

8. Beef Season 2

Charles Melton, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, and Cailee Spaeny in "Beef." Credit: Netflix

Lee Sung Jin serves up a delectable new feud in Beef Season 2, a sharp examination of the intersection between capitalism and love. Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, and Cailee Spaeny star as two couples at war. As each pair fights tooth and nail to come out on top, Beef weaves a dazzling web of scams, blackmail, and rage that stretches all the way from California to Seoul.

That international reach is just one of several ways Beef Season 2 goes bigger than Season 1. (See also: doubling the number of beefing people.) What follows is a tad less focused than Beef's first entry, but it more than makes up for that with its astounding lead performances and awe-inspiring execution. As I wrote in my review, "Beef Season 2 is ambitious, impeccably acted, and proof that the series, while brilliant as a stand-alone, does have legs as an anthology." — B.E.

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, Cailee Spaeny, Youn Yuh-jung, Song Kang-ho, Jang So-yeon, Mikaela Hoover, BM, and William Fichtner

How to watch: Beef Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

7. The Comeback Season 3

Lisa Kudrow in "The Comeback." Credit: Erin Simkin / HBO

Between Hacks' generative AI writing program QuikScribbl and The Pitt's AI charting tool, 2026 has been the year where TV confronted AI in the workplace. But no show has been more laser-focused on the topic than The Comeback Season 3, which turns a swan song for Lisa Kudrow's all-time great character Valerie Cherish into an urgent warning about the future of the entertainment industry.

Naturally, The Comeback Season 3 is a riot, but it's also a deeply bleak, deeply prescient look at the devaluation of art in favor of AI. Kudrow is magnificent throughout, playing Valerie like a frog stuck in a pot of boiling water as she embraces AI without understanding the consequences. The Comeback understands the consequences loud and clear, though, and the result is as somber as it is funny. If this is truly, truly the last time we see Valerie Cherish, it's a hell of a way to go. (And proof that yes, she's still got it.) — B.E.

Starring: Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky, Laura Silverman, Damian Young, Tim Bagley, Matt Cook, Jack O’Brien, Ella Stiller, John Early, Barry Shabaka Henley, Abbi Jacobson, Tony Macht, Brittany O’Grady, Zane Phillips, Julian Stern, and Andrew Scott

How to watch: The Comeback Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max.

6. The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins

Daniel Radcliffe, Erika Alexander, and Tracy Morgan in "The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins." Credit: Scott Gries / NBC

What do you get when you cross 30 Rock's breakneck rhythm with the mockumentary format? Sitcom gem The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, starring Tracy Morgan as a disgraced football star and Daniel Radcliffe as the documentarian tasked with rehabilitating his image.

Bursting with killer cutaway gags and pop culture zingers, Reggie Dinkins filled the 30 Rock-shaped hole in my heart that few other shows can. (Shout-out to Girls5eva and The Other Two, gone too soon.) Plus, it's blessed with the funniest ensemble on television, from Living Single's Erika Alexander to Saturday Night Live's Bobby Moynihan. At the heart of it all, of course, is the odd-couple of Morgan and Radcliffe, which proves a gift from the comedy gods. As I wrote in my review, "While their Reggie Dinkins characters gel like rubber and glue at first, Morgan and Radcliffe are the comedy equivalent of peanut butter and jelly: perfectly complementary, and a joy to savor." — B.E.

Starring: Tracy Morgan, Daniel Radcliffe, Erika Alexander, Bobby Moynihan, Precious Way, and Jalyn Hall

How to watch: The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins is now streaming on Peacock.

5. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Steffan Hill / HBO

I fully expected to experience franchise fatigue with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the latest Game of Thrones spin-off. I have never been happier for a TV show to prove me wrong. 

Based on George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg novellas, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms goes smaller in scale, focusing not on a Westeros-wide war but on a single tournament. There, hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) crosses paths with sassy squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). The pair's ensuing friendship offers up a surprisingly comforting take on Westeros, complete with a supporting cast of good people genuinely trying to do the honorable thing. This isn't to say A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is devoid of Thrones-style tragedy, but as I wrote in my review, "It's a welcome switch-up in HBO's Game of Thrones lineup, and proof that the world of Westeros can be more than just a brutal cage match between warring families. More than that, though, it's a balm for the soul." — B.E.

Starring: Peter Claffey, Dexter Sol Ansell, Finn Bennett, Bertie Carvel, Tanzyn Crawford, Daniel Ings, and Sam Spruell

How to watch: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is now streaming on HBO Max.

4. Bait

Guz Khan and Riz Ahmed in "Bait." Credit: Prime Video

If you haven't spent the three hours watching the entirety of Riz Ahmed's exceptional series Bait, cancel your plans. The Oscar winner's sharp satire begins with a seemingly simple question — who will play the next James Bond? — and uses it as a jumping off point to examine questions about identity and ambition for actors of colour, especially in the treacherous court of public opinion. Ahmed plays British Pakistani actor Shah Latif, whose 007 audition tanks, so he seizes the opportunity to start rumours about his potential casting through the press — and the effects are chaotic.

With co-writers Prashanth Venkataramanujam (Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj), Azam Mahmood (Ramy), and Karen Joseph Adcock (The Bear), and directors Bassam Tariq (Mogul Mowgli), and Tom George (This Country), Ahmed has crafted a crucial, moving, and hilarious show, with jaw-dropping surrealism, '60s cinematography, and a banger soundtrack. But it's the star's performance that will stay with you, as I wrote in my review, "Ahmed really pushes himself to the brink in Bait, through deadpan comedic stylings to romantic yearning and wholehearted drama. As Shah loses his sense of control, of his identity, and of who exactly people demand him to be, Ahmed brings his characteristic intensity and finesse to each stage." — S.C.

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Guz Khan, Sheeba Chaddha, Aasiya Shah, Sajid Hasan, Ritu Arya, Weruche Opia, Rafe Spall, and Nabhaan Rizwan

How to watch: Bait is now streaming on Prime Video.

3. The Vampire Lestat

Sam Reid in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Seasons 1 and 2 of AMC's sublime Interview with the Vampire focused on a saga told by Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) — and his clingy immortal boyfriend Armand (Assad Zaman). Season 3, rebranded The Vampire Lestat, is all about the POV of the Brat Prince. And as Lestat (Sam Reid) is seeking both a rewrite of his tarnished image and to become a rock god by spilling vampire secrets, this season is a wild ride of sex, drugs, rock n' roll, and incest. Yep. Turns out Lestat is a real motherfucker.

Kicking off with rollicking energy and plenty of action (of every kind), The Vampire Lestat already has fans giddy. The thrills of the show have spread thanks to Reid's live performance in character for a one-night-only concert and an accompanying soundtrack of glam rock songs of lust, love, and loneliness. Drinking up those lyrics and his velvet-tongued singing is wickedly intoxicating, but trust us, things are just going to get wilder this season. And be warned: reading the books won't safeguard you from surprises. This adaptation is off the rails in the best way possible. — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

Starring: Sam Reid, Jennifer Ehle, Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman, and Delainey Hayles

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat is now streaming on AMC+.

2. Widow's Bay

Matthew Rhys in "Widow's Bay." Credit: Apple TV

There's nothing on TV like Widow's Bay. That's not hyperbole: There's genuinely no show out right now that has carved out such a singular niche, in such a self-assured manner. Part small-town spookfest, part riotous bureaucratic sitcom, Katie Dippold's series about the mayor (Matthew Rhys) of a cursed New England island effortlessly blends horror and comedy, and it somehow always winds up with the best of both worlds. 

Take the show's superlative fourth episode, where Kate O'Flynn's Patricia (a perfect character whose existence alone earns Widow's Bay a spot on this list) throws a cocktail party gone horribly, horribly wrong. Eerie and hysterical in equal measure, it's a miraculous half-hour that defies easy genre categorization. The same goes for the rest of the show. Even while paying homage to horror classics like Jaws and Halloween, Widow's Bay deftly charts its own path to excellence. Forget being the next Martha's Vineyard; Widow's Bay is the next great TV town, and I can't see anyone dethroning it anytime soon. — B.E.

Starring: Matthew Rhys, Stephen Root, Kate O'Flynn, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, and Dale Dickey

How to watch: Widow's Bay is now streaming on Apple TV.

1. Industry Season 4

Myha'la and Marisa Abela in "Industry." Credit: Simon Ridgway / HBO

There are few greater joys in a TV critic's life than watching a show level up each season, and that's exactly what Industry has done. After blowing up Pierpoint in its Season 3 finale, Industry aims even higher in its spectacular fourth season. Its ambitions have never been more lofty, its execution has never been so confident, and its themes have never been more timely.

In its quest to illuminate the networks of greed, power, and desire that govern us all, Industry delivers standout episode after standout episode. Henry Muck's (Kit Harington) costumed birthday dinner becomes a meditation on past trauma, while Sweetpea Golightly (Miriam Petche) and Kwabena Bannerman's (Toheeb Jimoh) trip to Accra is a haunting thriller. Threading through it all is the cat and mouse game between Harper Stern (Myha'la), Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), and Whitney Halberstram (Max Minghella). It's a slippery slope that causes one of Industry's leads to rise to her fullest potential, while the other sinks to almost unimaginable depths. Both arcs are masterfully crafted and exquisitely performed by Myha'la and Abela, and as Industry hurtles towards its fifth and final season, it's hard to imagine it getting even better than this. Given the show's past track record, though, I'm ready and excited to be proven wrong.

Starring: Myha’la, Marisa Abela, Kit Harington, Ken Leung, Max Minghella, Miriam Petche, Sagar Radia, Toheeb Jimoh, Charlie Heaton, Amy James-Kelly, Roger Barclay, Andrew Havill, Kiernan Shipka, Kal Penn, Jack Farthing, Stephen Campbell Moore, Claire Forlani, and Edward Holcroft

How to watch: Industry is now streaming on HBO Max.

For the best movies of 2026, Mashable's got you covered.

President Donald Trump and President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a "memorandum of understanding" this week, an agreement which will reportedly end the U.S.-Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, the 14-point document isn't the final deal, and the U.S. president opted for vaguery telling press at the G7 summit it was "a very strong deal. Nobody knows what it is, but it's very strong."

Seth Meyers unpacked this during Late Night on Thursday, during his "A Closer Look" segment.

"What do you mean, 'Nobody knows what it is,' why not? Is it written in Zodiac code? Is it a diplomatic agreement, or the list of herbs and spices?" said Meyers. "Also, it's an agreement. With agreements, the key is that everyone knows what it is, for the purposes of the agreeing. This is like if you said to your bride, 'I'm just gonna do my vows in my head.' Why won't you say them out loud?"

Meyers then moves to clarify the three goals of the agreement, which Trump lightly covered during his G7 press address as "ending the current conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon."

"Wait, so the three goals of the deal to end the war were: ending the war, reopening a strait that was already opened before we started the war, preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which they had already agreed not to obtain under the deal you ripped up, which started the war that closed the strait, which you reopened by ending the war you started," said Meyers.

"I currently have a worse headache than the Knicks the morning after they won the title, and at least they won something."

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The Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is finally flying back for a third season and you need to get caught up on all things Targaryen. Mashable's Belen Edwards is here to catch us all up to speed, and in just under 2 minutes!

We'll re-introduce you to Rhaenyra Targaryen's Team Black and Alicent Hightower's Team Green and take you all the way up to the moments before Season 3's much anticipated return. Give this a quick viewing before the show aires on June 21st as there is much to catch up on.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

Meta has casually added some facial recognition code for smart glasses to the Meta AI app, but don't worry: the company says its just "exploring" the feature.

Speaking in the monologue above, Jimmy Kimmel remained unconvinced.

"Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, they've got some fun projects in the hopper. They are reportedly testing facial recognition and surveillance software for their smart glasses. Which, if they work, the glasses would have the same technology used by the government and the police to record everything and identify everyone. But it only works on human faces, not whatever this is," says Kimmel, cutting to a photo of CEO Mark Zuckerberg looking particularly robotic.

"Remember when Mark Zuckerberg was just this weird kid from Harvard who created The Facebook so he could hopefully one day lose his virginity? Now he's a sneaky little narc making pervert glasses."

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Donald Trump's newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool cost almost $15 million, but it's still managed to turn green.

Seth Meyers took "A Closer Look" at the project during Wednesday's Late Night, particularly the fact that the pool is currently not the Bahamas-like turquoise or "American Flag Blue" the president hoped for. Instead, it's green, thanks to algae. And like Jimmy Kimmel, Meyers pointed out the irony.

"Trump gave out a no-bid contract to a friendly company with an inflated profit margin for a project no one asked for, and in the process he took an iconic American institution and turned it puke green. This brings us to a segment called 'The Metaphor Is Way Too Obvious'," said Meyers.

"You guys, the metaphor is way too obvious. I mean, do I really need to spell it out for you? My whole job here is to come out and make ridiculous metaphors, but real life is already a metaphor. He said he was going to 'drain the swamp' and he literally drained a pool or lake or small ocean and created an actual swamp.

"At this point, I might as well just quit and move to the Bahamas, so I can swim in a pool that's actually turquoise."

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Stephen King has been on a TV and movie recommendation spree over the past couple of days.

On Tuesday the horror master shared his thoughts on Obsession, and on Wednesday he turned his attention to Widow's Bay. The popular Apple TV horror show about a creepy New England island has just streamed its finale, and — given that the show had been described as a "Stephen King mixtape" — it's no big surprise that the author himself tuned in and posted a review on X.

As for King's thoughts?

Overall it sounds like he enjoyed it, although he did take the opportunity to shout out another show he's enjoying even more.

"WIDOW'S BAY is good," King wrote on X. "MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED is even better. It's like Hitchcock came back to do it one more time. And Tatiana Maslany is so good. The play of emotions on her face is pretty incredible. She goes from comic to terror in an instant."

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Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is a dark comedy/crime thriller that follows Paula (Tatiana Maslany), a divorced fact-checker who witnesses an apparent kidnapping while on a call with a cam boy (Brandon Flynn).

"Maslany and series creator David J. Rosen have crafted a compelling trainwreck of a character, one whom you'll want to follow to the ends of the earth," wrote Mashable's Belen Edwards in her review. "Or at the very least, the end of 10 pulse-pounding episodes."

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is now streaming on Apple TV, as is Widow's Bay.

"Why are you here?"

"Freedom. And beer. My future ex-wife, hopefully."

"Thank you for your honesty."

Daily Show host Jordan Klepper's conversations with attendees at Donald Trump's Freedom 250 UFC fight birthday party at the White House bring a cornucopia of responses.

On Sunday, the correspondent headed to the president's $60 million celebrations to chat to some of the estimated 80,000 people either invited to the event on the South Lawn or headed to a fan zone nearby.

"This is the American Dream," says one attendee.

"This is the American Dream?" responds Klepper. "Two sweaty guys fighting on the White House lawn?"

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Widow's Bay ends not with a bang, but with a clang. Eight clangs, actually: those of the island's pesky church bell.

The bell rings out in the episode's final moments, in the sudden aftermath of the storm that ravaged Widow's Bay. But what do they mean, and what do they signal for the island's future?

The bells in Widow's Bay are a call for sacrifice.

While the town and its tourists weather out the storm in the shelter below City Hall, Dale (Jeff Hiller) stumbles upon a film reel labeled "For you." In the video, a man urges viewers, "Be strong, honor the pact, and remember, their sacrifice is our survival."

The pact refers to Richard Warren's (Hamish Linklater) deal with the island's threatening entity. He wanted to ensure he and his fellow settlers survived their harsh first winter, and in exchange, the the island demanded (and still demands!) sacrifice. As long as Widow's Bay's residents keep feeding the island, they will keep surviving. Fail to honor the pact, though, and they can expect stormy skies aheads.

"The bad times will not end until the covenant is honored, and honored fully," the video continues. "Life for life, the island will make its needs known. One soul for each bell toll."

That's right: The island calls for sacrifice using the church bell. Think of it as the dinner bell from hell, with each ring acting as an order for a tasty treat — sorry, soul — for consumption.

How many souls does Widow's Bay's island want?

The first time we heard the church bell in Widow's Bay, it rang nine times. That means the island hungered for nine souls.

In the season finale, poor custodian Kenny (Michael Malvesti) winds up being the first of those nine souls to be sacrificed. He stumbles into the sacrifice chamber beneath City Hall, kicking out Evan (Kingston Rumi Southwick) and his friends and unwittingly giving up his life in the process. The door slams and locks him in, then the entity — whatever it may be — scarfs him up. That sacrifice is enough to banish the storm battering the island, but it's not a long-term solution.

In Widow's Bay Season 1's last scene, the bell rings out again, eight times. That's the island's way of saying, "Yummy appetizer, but chop-chop on those next eight courses!"

It's a foreboding way to cap off an already devastating episode. On top of revealing Widow's Bay's history of ritualistic sacrifice, the finale also reveals that Ruth (K Callan) isn't the last living descendant of Richard Warren. Evan is her grandson, meaning that in order to break the island's curse, both he and Ruth would have to die. It's the ultimate trolley problem: two lives weighed against those of the entire island. But there's no way Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) will make the choice to kill these two. The trolley is staying on its tracks.

However, the island's need for sacrifice presents a second trolley problem: eight lives or the misery of the entire island. Will Tom pull the proverbial lever and find eight islanders to sacrifice? Or will the residents commit to riding out the curse together? These are questions for Season 2, which I hunger for more than the island hungers for souls.

Widow's Bay Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.

It's almost unfair for Widow's Bay to be as hilarious and terrifying as it is.

Not an episode of Apple TV's latest hit went by without me belly laughing or letting out a shriek of terror. From Patricia's (Kate O'Flynn) cursed "Rhythm of the Night" dance circle to the finale's unsettling sacrifice, Widow's Bay crafted some of 2026's most effective horror moments. But which of these scares impacted the cast the most?

In an interview with Mashable, Widow's Bay stars Matthew Rhys, Stephen Root, and O'Flynn, as well as series creator Katie Dippold and director Hiro Murai, broke down their favorite scares from the season. Rhys's choice? The murderous Willy the Clown (Tim Baltz).

"He worked on that crawl, and the speed at which he came to me, I actually yelped," Rhys recalled. "I still look at it and go, 'How did he do that?'"

Elsewhere, O'Flynn recalled shooting Patricia's memorable final girl encounter with the Boogeyman (Airon Armstrong), a serial killer pulled straight out of Halloween.

"He did so many amazing stunts in one take, and it was quite extraordinary to watch," O'Flynn said. "I was worried about him walking through the fire, but he did it, no problem."

To hear more about the Widow's Bay team's favorite scares, as well as the show's many horror influences, check out the full video above.

Widow's Bay Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.

Anthony Bourdain's 2012 graphic novel, Get Jiro, has received the Adult Swim treatment, with a new animated series bringing the chef and author's enigmatic protagonist to the screen. And of course, it's set in a world where cooking rules.

It's been a long road for the adaptation, almost a decade of conversations, approvals, a writer's strike, and finally, two years of production — all notably after the famed chef's passing in 2018. Created by filmmakers Alessandro Tanaka and Brian Gatewood, this unashamedly bloody series transports us to a dystopian future where the ruling class is something only Bourdain (and his co-writer Joel Rose) could come up with: chefs.

Mashable was lucky enough to view the first two episodes at Get Jiro's SXSW London premiere. And friends, from the very first scene, you'll be hungry.

In this cutthroat future Los Angeles, economic collapse has left one only non-virtual experience: food, which means it's big business. Chefs are revered as gods. Waiting lists for the top restaurants are years long, with coveted spots to die for. Here, the stakes are a little higher than the Chicago Tribune review in The Bear. Food itself is scarce, meaning ingredients are precious. Hospitality groups are run like crime syndicates, with fresh produce providers treated like drug suppliers. Fish markets are hushed affairs with blacklists. Armed chefs patrol their turf in veste de chef outfits and terrorise anyone who dares to grow their own ingredients at home.

Here, we meet the mysterious sushi chef, Jiro (voiced by Brian Tee), who has just moved from Japan set up shop in LA's lawless Outer Rim. Class divide rules this city, with all the fanciest restaurants located within the Inner Rim. However, such a societal divide will not stop Jiro from making pristine, top-level sushi — with no soy sauce allowed. (Seriously, a man could lose his head for such a request — and that would be a health code violation.)

From the very first moments of episode 1, the team's animation, editing, cinematography, and foley skills are on full display, using Bourdain's narrative as a jumping off point but finding a new style — though the chef's signature adoration for both the beautiful and grotesque is absolutely here. Clean lines and visceral sound effects make every slice of salmon, the process of making rice, and the plating of perfect nigiri a feast for the senses. If you're a fan of kitchen/cooking dramas like The Bear, Boiling Point, or Chef, or cinematically-shot cooking series like Chef's Table, you'll appreciate the detail these scenes.

"Obviously, we had to get the food right, because it's Bourdain," said series co-creator Tanaka at SXSW, who added that the team recruited a friend of Bourdain's, Matt Goulding, to consult on the show. "He was basically our food guy. Every script, every animatic, every rough cut of every episode went through him," he said.

Despite being made after his death, Bourdain feels undeniably present in Get Jiro. There are cameos from famous chefs including David Chang, Eric Ripert, and José Andrés. Those who know the chef's love for meat and disdain for vegetarians will enjoy a storyline entirely based on a rival vegan chef's empire with harsh, even puke-inducing commentary on meat substitutes. And the production team recruited Bourdain's Get Jiro co-writer Rose for the writers room, even penning an episode.

"He was kind of always there to make sure that we were doing right by Bourdain," said Tanaka. "The spirit and the energy of Bourdain loom very large on this series."

In terms of cinematography in this animation, Get Jiro also leans into Bourdain's love of cinema, shared by Tanaka and Gatewood, with references ranging from the work of Japanese cinema icons Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu to George Miller's Mad Max films, and more.

"Bourdain was a huge cinephile. Brian and I also love movies, and so for us, we wanted to explore different genres," said Tanaka, explaining each episode is its own genre. "We're constantly making references to movies, cinema history, and to other filmmakers," he said. "We have an episode that's coming up that is a prison episode, and we did it all as one take, which in live action, you see it a lot — you don't often see that in animation. We use a lot of the tools from film in order to make the show."

Get Jiro will premiere on Adult Swim in 2026, with dates TBC. The graphic novel is available on Amazon.

Friends, I'm not ready.

Three years since Season 1 hit Netflix, followed by two sublime seasons, Heartstopper is coming to an end with a movie, dropping one hell of a moving trailer for Heartstopper Forever. Dammit Olivia Rodrigo and your perfect "Stupid Song" scoring this thing! I need to work!

High school is almost over but Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) aren't, with our protagonists preparing to go long distance as university looms. But they're not the only ones facing the future, with Tao (William Gao), Elle (Yasmin Finney), Isaac (Tobie Donovan), Tara (Corinna Brown), Darcy (Kizzy Edgell), Imogen (Rhea Norwood), and Tori (Jenny Walser) all figuring out their next chapters.

Heartstopper Forever will be based on the sixth volume of Alice Oseman’s graphic novels, which is set to be released on July 7. Directed by Still Alice's Wash Westmoreland with series director Euros Lyn executive producing, the film is unlikely to leave us without a few major cinematic "hi" moments.

Honestly, I'm not ready to say goodbye to the Paris Crew, but growing up is inevitable. Here's to Heartstopper and the joyous exploration of queer identity and figuring yourself out that it is. Happy Pride!

Heartstopper Forever is streaming on Netflix July 17.

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House of the Dragon is finally back, with a spectacular third season you won't want to miss.

However, after a two-year wait for Season 3, some of the details from Season 2 may have gotten hazy. Don't worry: If you can't tell your dragons from your dragonseeds, or you just need a quick refresher, we're here to catch you up to speed in just 60 seconds.

Here, you'll find all the information you absolutely have to know going into the Season 3 premiere, from Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) new squad of dragonriders to the deal she struck with Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) in the Season 2 finale. Pop this on before diving into Season 3, and you'll be ready to return to Westeros in no time.

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres June 21 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, with a new episode every Sunday.

Knicks fever took over The Tonight Show on Monday, with the NBA Champions joining Jimmy Fallon for a special episode.

Following a historic win that broke the internet, NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, six-time NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, and head coach Mike Brown joined Fallon to talk winning the New York Knicks' first NBA championship since 1973.

"It hasn't sunk in yet," said Brunson. "I don't know if it will for a while. But the opportunity presented itself, we went out there as a team, we found a way to do it, fighting back all those games, and it was worth it."

The three delved into superstitions, pre-game playlists, curses, and uncurses via WWE. And they also thanked Knicks fans and acknowledged the power of their community.

"When we get the fans involved, and we give them something to cheer for, it's something special," said Towns.

Brown also gave insight into his now viral "Who Let the Dogs Out" chant, leading The Tonight Show audience into it and delightfully sending his players into a cringe spiral. "We've got to put that to bed," said Brunson.

You can watch the whole episode on Peacock or through clips on The Tonight Show's YouTube page.

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Jimmy Kimmel's monologue was very sports-focused on Monday, and after recapping the Knicks' NBA finals win he was forced to turn his attention to Donald Trump's White House UFC 250 event.

"We had a sporting event that didn't bring people together this weekend, Donald Trump's big, violent birthday party, the UFC fight at the White House," says Kimmel in the clip above. "Last night, Trump turned the White House into a Waffle House."

The host then goes on to break down some key moments from the night, showing a photo of Donald Trump Jr. looking miserable ("This is the moment he realised his dad wasn't able to let him have his wedding at the White House, but was able to host a 4,000-person MMA fight") and the president appearing to nod off again.

"It was so exciting he almost stayed awake for the whole thing. Until it was time to take a little UFCiesta. So sweet, he's like an angel when he sleeps," says Kimmel. "Only Donald Trump could fall asleep at a party sponsored by Monster energy drink."

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Donald Trump threw himself and America a lavish $60 million birthday party on the White House lawn on Sunday, and Seth Meyers dug into the details on Late Night.

"Donald Trump threw himself a birthday party at the White House with big strong men fighting each other and motorcycles flying through the air, and then he gave himself the gift of a peace deal with Iran that accomplished nothing other than getting us back to where we were before the war began," said Meyers on Monday night. "But at least his name is still on the Kennedy Center. Right? Oh, it's not."

Trump's Freedom 250 event, which marked the president's 80th birthday and America's 250 years of independence, involved an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on the South Lawn, held in a 92-foot steel arena called "The Claw."

"So, The Claw was in place at the White House, as I'm sure the Founding Fathers would have loved, and to prepare for the fight, there was a press conference at the Lincoln Memorial, which had to be one of the weirdest things anyone's seen in our nation's capital," said Meyers. "Look at Lincoln in the background. It's like he saw what they were doing and said, 'Oh, I gotta sit down.'"

The event didn't exactly earn public praise, as Meyers pointed out that a recent Reuters poll shows just 16 percent of Americans, including only a third ‌of Republicans, approve of UFC fights being held at the White House — and as CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten pointed out, that's lower than the 28 percent of Americans who believe in telepathy.

"Fewer Americans support UFC fights in the White House than believe in telepathy," said Meyers. "Oh, speaking of which, I'm getting a message, I'm telepathically communicating with the American people, and they're telling me...wait...yes, this sucks."

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"Sunday night gave the president and his acolytes an opportunity to rebut the joyous communion of teamwork that embodied the New York Knickerbockers for a joyless, Vegas-style trudge through the People's House, now transformed into a gold-plated pummeling center."

That's Daily Show host Jon Stewart introducing Donald Trump's UFC Freedom 250 White House event that took place over the weekend, with the host cracking jokes before abruptly changing his tone upon realising that the event was broadcast by the Daily Show's parent network Paramount+.

"Once again the leaders of Paramount+ providing us all with incredible content at reasonable prices," says a suddenly robotic Stewart. "I...I am proud to stand with the Paramount family and whatever shows they decide to either cancel or put on."

Still, he makes his feelings very clear about UFC fighter Josh Hokit, who targeted former First Lady Michelle Obama with insults during a post-fight interview.

"What a f***ing asshole," says Stewart.

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Knicks fever remains sky high this week with the NBA Champions set to take over The Tonight Show.

Following a historic win that essentially broke the internet, the New York Knicks will join Jimmy Fallon for a special episode on Monday night.

In a press statement, Fallon called it "a booking 53 years in the making."

After 53 years, the Knicks won their first NBA championship since 1973 on Saturday night, beating the San Antonio Spurs. Following alleged curses and one hell of a comeback, the Knicks sealed their Game 5 victory 94-90, prompting celebrations in the streets of New York City and across social media.

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On Monday night, the entire Knicks team will appear on The Tonight Show, with NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges set to be interviewed by Fallon. Knicks head coach Mike Brown and the Knicks City Dancers will also join the show.

To seal the celebrations, New York icons Wu-Tang Clan will perform on the episode.

Tickets to the Knicks Tonight Show special have already been allocated to "Knicks fans who were unable to attend the Finals in person," according to a press release. Guests previously locked in for the June 15 Tonight Show — Lin-Manuel Miranda, Britt Lower, Rhett and Link, and Zarna Garg, per Variety — will be moved to another date.

The Tonight Show Knicks special will air Monday, June 15 at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC, and will be streaming Tuesday on Peacock.

Despite frequently bragging about his health, as Donald Trump nears his 80th birthday he certainly seems to be meeting with a lot of healthcare professionals — and Daily Show host Desi Lydic shared her thoughts on the matter.

"This weekend is his birthday, and he made it to 80 — with a little help," said Lydic during Thursday's show, before throwing to a Washington Post article about Trump reportedly being seen by 22 different medical specialists. "No wonder I can't get a doctor's appointment, half the medical profession is busy duct-taping together the world's healthiest man."

Ouch.

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Sunny day! Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie came to Mashable's Say More studio for a visit with Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko. Together, they talked about the importance of compromise when it comes to being a good roommate and ordering a pizza that can make everyone happy.

In this segment, which we're calling "Roommate Therapy," Mashable's Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards and Senior Editor Shannon Connellan called in with questions for Bert and Ernie. They've been roommates for ages. So, who better to ask about how to handle sharing space and the best way to ensure some quiet time to yourself?

Bert and Ernie were happy to help, as you can see for yourself.

For more from Bert and Ernie and the whole Sesame Street family, check out Sesame Street: Volume 2, now streaming on Netflix.

Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO has reportedly made him the world's first trillionaire (or at least very close — there are some mixed reports), and nobody's happier for him than Jimmy Kimmel.

"What makes that even more unsettling is that this man, our first trillionaire, the richest man in the world, is also one of the weirdest people we've ever seen on this planet. This obscenely wealthy weirdo has the ability and means to blow up the moon if he chooses," the host says in the clip above. "Wasn't he supposed to be going to Mars? Can't we chip in to help speed that up?"

Kimmel then uses a graphic to show exactly how much stuff Musk could buy with all his money, before going on to speak a little about the SpaceX CEO's personal history.

"Elon musk came to the United States from South Africa in 1995, the son of a humble emerald mine owner, and he is so grateful to this country that allowed him to become a trillionaire, Tesla paid almost no federal income tax over the past three years," says Kimmel. "You know, for a guy who has been openly cheering immigrants getting kicked out of the country for stealing from us, sure seems like an immigrant who's been stealing from us to me."

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Whenever you play a game of Among Us, the Impostor's identity is completely random. Red could just as easily be the culprit as Blue, and there is no narrative reason why any character in particular gets chosen.

But when Among Us made its jump from video game to TV show, the choice of Impostor had to be intentional and character-driven. So, how did series creator Owen Dennis decide that the show's Impostors would be (spoiler!) eager unpaid intern Green (voiced by Elijah Wood) and overly peppy HR rep Orange (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown)?

The answer was rooted in murder mystery tropes.

"If you think about the various tropes that come with murder mysteries, you end up with the classic: The butler did it," Dennis told Mashable in a video interview. "Why did the butler do it? Why is that the idea? It's because the butler is the person that's always there. At the time period that these sort of mysteries were written, they're basically the lowest on the totem pole."

Who, then, is the lowest person on the totem pole on Among Us' spaceship, The Skeld? None other than the unpaid intern.

While Green gets taken over by the Impostor alien parasite, Dennis views the harm as also coming from MIRA, the mining corporation behind the Crewmates' mission. After all, their nefarious pursuit of Ore+ — otherwise known as the alien eggs — is what caused this mess in the first place.

"The entire ship is just like this negligent corporation," Dennis said. "Who would the negligent corporation hurt first and hardest? It would be the person who has the least power, and that would be the intern."

The aliens' parasitic nature acts as a stand-in for MIRA and its wrongdoings, which is why Orange, the company's main presence on the ship, also wound up as an Impostor.

"The first person to turn in this [situation] would be the one who is the most pro-corporation, who, of course, would give themselves willingly to this horrible machine that they're a part of," Dennis explained.

Anti-corporate, anti-capitalist messaging was one of the last things I'd expect to see from an Among Us adaptation, but for Dennis, the idea jumped out at him from the sheer isolation of the game's Crewmates.

"Why isn't there anybody to help them?" Dennis asked. "There's so many systems that seem to fail them over and over again throughout this whole process. There's no government system that can help them. There's no corporate system that seems to help them. Even when they follow their own rules that are given to them by the corporation, where you have to do a vote, it's still an extremely imperfect system that can get a lot of innocent people killed."

Among Us' combination of murder mystery tropes and anti-corporate rhetoric became a potent fuel for its Impostor choices, and Dennis wouldn't have it any other way.

"If there's anything that I'm always happy to push out into the light of day, it's how shitty corporations are," Dennis said.

Among Us is now streaming on Paramount+.

Despite constantly bragging about his cognitive test scores, Donald Trump appears to struggle with the concept of percentages.

"Trump creates and inhabits his own reality with his own rules," Seth Meyers explains in the Late Night monologue above. "He even has his own math. In our world, you can only reduce the price of something by 100 percent max. Once you've reduced it 100 percent it's free. But in Trump's world, numbers work very differently."

Cue a montage of Trump saying he wants to reduce various things by various percentages well over 100, ending with the president explaining that with numbers, "It's all about the phrasing of the question."

"No!" says Meyers. "It's not! Math is math. There's no math problem where the answer is '500 or 600 or 80 or 75.' I don't remember that from my AP algebra days."

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Melania Trump has been speaking about AI again, this time at a White House AI Challenge Awards event on Tuesday.

In the clip above, Daily Show host Desi Lydic plays a clip of Trump's speech, with the First Lady telling the audience to "use this chapter of your life to sail away with your dreams."

"What was the prompt to write that speech?" asks a confused Lydic. "ChatGPT, give me metaphor. No! Give me all metaphors."

Lydic goes on to play a compilation of Trump talking about AI and robots, finishing with the First Lady saying, "The robots are here."

"The robots are here, asking you to join us," says Lydic, in Melania impression mode. "I mean them. Them. Delete previous sentence."

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Another day, another piece of gold Trump merchandise for sale.

In the clip above Jimmy Kimmel talks about Donald Trump's commemorative gold coin, being sold for "the low, low price of only $11,999" to mark the upcoming UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House.

"You can see though it's a beautiful coin — Julius UFCaesar is pictured," says Kimmel. "This is one ounce of pure PF70-rated gold. Just for comparison, an ounce of PF70-rated gold in coin form without his head on it goes for about $4,500, so this is a deal."

Jimmy Kimmel then goes through the site's fine print, pointing out that the coin is not intended for "investment purposes", is not "legal tender", and has "no face value".

"You really have to hand it to Trump, it takes a special kind of con man to sell your supporters money they cannot spend any place," says Kimmel.

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Brennan Lee Mulligan is a fascinating figure on Dropout because of the comical duality he's cultivated across the subscription streaming platform's shows.

On Dimension 20, a tabletop role-playing show he created, he's the mighty Game Master, in charge of dreaming up the fantasy worlds his intrepid heroes — or, in this case, a gaggle of improv comedians — traverse. In this role, he plays villains, love interests, gods, and an army of NPCs, all to build out the stories of his co-stars in collaborative play. There is no winning or losing. And through his many characters, Mulligan has shown incredible patience and empathy toward everyone, from an angst-ridden tiefling to a grief-stricken candy king to a vampire who sees himself as a superhero.

However, on Game Changer, where the game changes every episode, Mulligan's competitive side shines like a sword's edge, ready to cut down his competition. As the series enters Season 8, Mashable interviewed Mulligan about his work at Dropout. And when it comes to his role on Game Changer, he explained his on-camera dynamic with host Sam Reich.

"The me I play in Game Changer is most often the Daffy Duck to Sam Reich's Bugs Bunny," Mulligan said. "I don't beat Sam, right? Sam beats me, even in the Brennan revenge episode. Spoilers: Sam wins, right? I know deep down, people, there is no hunger in the world for a Brennan Lee Mulligan victory."

How "Samalamadingdong" could bring a win for Mulligan.

Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

The "Brennan revenge episode" is officially titled "Samalamadingdong." The finale of Game Changer Season 7, this episode saw the contestants turn the tables on Reich, who was pranked with a fake photo shoot, then hauled off to a castle where a variety of puzzles awaited him. The episode featured scads of callbacks to past Game Changer gags, including those tied to Mulligan's wildest moments on the show.

For instance, the episode "Yes or No" from Season 2 had only one rule to discover: Brennan cannot win. Once Mulligan realized this, he unleashed a monologue that included this epic phrase, "The minotaur's escaped, and you're going to get the horns, buddy."

"Samalamadingdong" delivered on this promise, pitching Reich into a complicated labyrinth that culminates in him facing down Mulligan, dressed as a minotaur. And the only way out was for Reich to recall the declaration that Mulligan made in the very first episode of Game Changer, "Lie Detector." There, Mulligan gave a juicy personal confession, then declared, "There is no corner of my heart I would not turn over to the world for five points."

Of course, in the end of "Samalamadingdong," Reich wins, defeating the mighty minotaur that is Mulligan. But Reich, in a separate interview, joked that "Samalamadingdong" could give Mulligan an unexpected victory.

How could Brennan Lee Mulligan beat Sam Reich at his own game?

Sam Reich on the set of Dropout's "Game Changer." Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout

This Emmy season, Dropout has put forth several episodes of Game Changer and Very Important People for awards consideration. Reich spoke with Mashable about the difficulty of choosing which episodes to send to the nomination committee for consideration.

For Best Game Show, Reich was leaning toward "Rulette," where contestants had to improvise with ever-changing circumstances determined by a giant roulette wheel.

"'Rulette' is a pretty good bet," Reich said, "It's very funny, [a] very well-celebrated episode. It's very in the spirit of our show, despite even feeling a little bit basic for the show. It's like a great introduction to our show, and it's almost traditional enough that your average Emmy voter could look at it and go like, 'Oh, I understand how this is a game show like the game shows I'm used to, and how it's different.'"

In terms of production design, "Rulette" was considered, as was "Fool's Gold." For that Shark Tank parody, Dropout's team produced a string of aspiring viral videos that demanded a lot of creativity and craftsmanship, including the construction of tiny doll shoes for a video where Mulligan claims he's leaving the platform to become a cobbler for American Girl dolls.

"We did make those American Girl doll shoes," Reich noted, "Or is 'Rulette' [a better call] because, like, the big wheel and the Velcro costumes? The overall project feels a little bit more cohesive." 

Then, asked if "Samalamadingdong" might be submitted for consideration, Reich answered, "I think it's such a strong contender in so many categories. On the other hand, if Brennan gets nominated for this Emmy before I do, I am going to lose it. I am going to lose my mind."

Reich then clarified, "The truth is, he's an executive producer on the show as well. So when he wins, I win, and when I win, he wins. I'm just saying metaphorically, in terms of sheer symbolism: If the episode that I had nothing to do with before I showed up on set [wins]?"

Emmy nominations will be announced on July 8.

You can never just watch a whodunnit once. You have to go back and pick out all the clues you may have missed along the way and analyze the killer's every move.

The same goes for the TV adaptation of Among Us, which presents a horrifying space-set murder mystery.

For creator Owen Dennis, "pretty much everything" changes when you rewatch the show knowing that (spoiler!) the Impostors are none other than Green (voiced by Elijah Wood) and Orange (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown).

"I have seen people online be like, 'I didn't see any foreshadowing on any of these characters,' and I'm just like, 'Watch it again!'" Dennis told Mashable in a video interview. "If you watch it again, you'll see that every single interaction that Green ever has has something upsetting behind it... Same with Orange, and I find that to be a joyful thing."

What Easter eggs can you spot when you rewatch Among Us?

Upon rewatch, viewers will be able to catch even the smallest of details that hint at how Orange and especially Green (because let's be real, he carried the Impostor team) pulled off their murders. Take a close look at where the pair sit. If they're on a vent, you'll spot a glimpse of parasitic alien tendrils creeping through the grates, revealing how the Impostors are able to pull off murders in different rooms.

"I was afraid nobody was ever gonna find that stuff, but they did," Dennis said of the vent tendrils. "I personally animated the tiniest little triangles of stuff in them, because I was like, 'It can't be that obvious.' I don't want anyone to see it on the first go, but I do want someone to see it on the second or third. That's what I was hoping."

Dennis notes that in the first episode, eagle-eyed viewers will also be able to see the exact moment Green and Orange get infected by the alien parasite. Later episodes feature further clues at the Impostors and their weaknesses.

"Somebody also found out that there's a shadow on a wall that shows up when Black [(voiced by Liv Hewson)] steps into a salt circle. When they do, the shadow disappears because it didn't want to deal with the salt," Dennis said. "I'm just very happy people are going through, frame by frame, and trying to find what the differences are. There's still a few that people haven't found yet, which I think is fun."

For Dennis, Among Us' rich rewatch factor is a testament to the larger team that built the show.

"I keep seeing people ask, 'How did you figure out all these little clues?' I'm like, 'I didn't!' I thought of a few of them, but I work on a crew with 30 to 100 people at any given moment," Dennis explained. "Because everybody else is working towards the same goal, everybody figures out how to make a billion different clues all over the show that no one catches until later."

Among Us is now streaming on Paramount+.

The Crewmates in Paramount+'s Among Us series spend half the show running from Impostors, and the other half showing off their surprisingly nice butts.

According to series creator Owen Dennis, the deluge of butts in the show began with episode 1, appearing in a few shots of Crewmates walking out of the elevator, or a moment when Green (voiced by Elijah Wood) climbs into a chair.

"Butt was shown a few times," Dennis told Mashable in a video interview. "Because of this, what happened was that basically every artist on the show saw that I did not say no to the butt, and so from there on out they were like, 'Well, I'm gonna add some butt too.'"

(On Bluesky, Dennis posted: "Everyone agrees: We like them having little gumdrop booties.")

About midway through the season, the Among Us team received an email asking to tone down the number of butts in the show. (And looking at just how many butts are currently in the show, you can only imagine how many more were originally in it.)

"I was like, 'I'm not going to to be the one to say which butts to take out. I don't want to take them out!'" Dennis said.

Instead, he asked for a list of which butts could stay in the show and received a detailed, timestamped breakdown in return. From there, Dennis had to remove butts or find creative solutions to tone them down.

"There's one shot where it's a close up on Red's [(voiced by Randall Park)] butt as the camera zoomed out," Dennis explained. "In animation, you can't redo a shot. The shot exists as it exists, and we'd already gotten that shot back from animation. I couldn't redo the shot from the ground up, so instead what I did was I took out the butt, then I put the tiniest little upside-down V of the bottom of a butt cheek."

Upon seeing that solution, Dennis recalled Among Us co-executive producer and writer Madeline Queripel comparing Red's butt to another famed animated rear end: that of Hank Hill. So Among Us' Crewmates' butts (or lack thereof) are in good company.

Among Us is now streaming on Paramount+.

Taskmaster Season 21 is drawing to a close with episode 10. So, what challenge could Greg Davies and (little) Alex Horne have for celebrity contestants? Well, Mashable has an exclusive sneak peek with the clip above, featuring the challengers teaming up to capture on camera "the greatest pillow fight of all time."

Armando Iannucci and Joanna Page make up one team, while Amy Gledhill, Joel Dommett, and Kumail Nanjiani make up the other. With just 20 minutes to prepare, Dommett is not scared but pumped, noting, "This is great! We've got a bona fide action star with us."

Cut to Eternals' star Nanjiani in a cowboy costume, facing off against Dommett in an escalating battle. It begins with a stare-down. Then, some eyebrow wiggling in a close-up known as a "cowboy." Then, they draw — not guns, but pillows. Blood will be spilled, as will teeth, and ... a leg. Meanwhile, Gledhill looks on while cleaning a margarita glass.

What could Iannucci and Page possibly do to compete? Will not having Gledhill get in on the action prove a pivotal error? We'll find out when episode 10 debuts.

Taskmaster airs on Channel 4 in the UK. In the U.S., you can watch Taskmasker on the Taskmaster YouTube Channel.