I Couldn’t Be More Excited About The Voice’s Huge Revamp, But One Change Doesn’t Make Sense To Me

I Couldn’t Be More Excited About The Voice’s Huge Revamp, But One Change Doesn’t Make Sense To Me

by | Jul 27, 2025 | Cinemablend News, News

I’m not sure a casual fan of The Voice could ever understand the jolt of adrenaline that pumped through my veins upon reading about the huge revamp that’s coming to Season 29 next spring. I have dreamed of writing these words: Kelly Clarkson is back! With Adam Levine, no less! Lots of changes are planned for the season being dubbed The Voice: Battle of Champions, so please allow me to break them all down, including the one that has me confused.

The Voice Season 28 is already in production, with Michael Bublé defending his title against Niall Horan, Snoop Dogg and Reba McEntire, and that is who we’ll see on the 2025 TV premiere calendar this fall. With the new filming schedule, however, the Spring 2026 shows are being taped simultaneously, which means Kelly Clarkson, Adam Levine and John Legend are also likely already at work. Yes, only three coaches will lead Season 29, which I’ll discuss more further down. But first, let’s talk changes.

Adam Levine is shown in his chair on The Voice Season 27.

(Image credit: Trae Patton/NBC)

The Voice Is Shaking Up Its Format For Season 29

John Legend for some kind of advantage, let’s just say I feel sorry for the guys (stream Clarkson’s episode of Barmageddon with a Peacock subscription for proof of her competitive nature).

NBC also revealed that each team will consist of just 10 artists, meaning only 30 will advance to Battle Round — a huge difference from the 48 of Season 27 and a whopping 56 in Season 26. But those aren’t the only game alterations we can expect.

Adam Levine (left) and the other Season 27 coaches of The Voice listen to a Blind Audition.

(Image credit: Trae Patton/NBC)

New Rules Will Be Introduced For The Voice: Battle Of Champions

We all know the importance of a Four-Chair Turn, so how is the show addressing that with just three coaches for Season 29? With the “Triple Turn Competition” of course! The Voice is giving an advantage to the coach who can win over the most artists who get all three coaches to turn their chairs. The winner will earn a “Super Steal” for Battles, which can be used one time to trump other coaches’ Steal attempts.

As “King of the Four-Chair Turn,” I know Legend will be vying for this prize, but Levine actually bested him in this category in Season 27, so it’s anybody’s game. (Don’t ever count out Clarkson.)

Once we reach the Knockouts, we’ll get a huge new segment — a competition-within-the-competition that The Voice is calling its “In-Season All-Star Competition.” Each coach will bring back two fan favorites from previous seasons to go head-to-head in a special episode judged by OG coach CeeLo Green. The coach with the most wins earns a guaranteed second finalist in the finale.

John Legend on The Voice Season 27 finale.

(Image credit: Tyler Golden/NBC)

Is The Voice Doing Away With America’s Vote?

It also sounds like Season 29 will switch up how it handles voting in the Semifinals and Finals. Past contestants and superfans will be part of the in-studio audience, and vote on their favorite singers in real time (I’ll be eagerly awaiting my invitation).

I agree that’s pretty cool, but does it mean America will no longer get a say, even in the final rounds? I definitely don’t love that implication, but that’s not the issue that has me the most confused.

Kelly Clarkson performs on The Voice Season 27 finale.

(Image credit: Tyler Golden/NBC)

I Don’t Understand Why There Are Only Three Coaches Instead Of Four

I’m all for mixing things up and trying something new, especially 29 seasons in, but I’m really having trouble getting past the fact that only three music superstars will sit in the Big Red Chairs this time around. That doesn’t speak to the Battle of Champions theme the way other changes do.

In its announcement, NBC proclaimed this panel as the first in The Voice’s history composed entirely of winning coaches. That is both impressive and true, but it doesn’t explain taking away one of the spots.

While Levine, Clarkson and Legend are unquestionably amongst the most iconic and long-standing mentors, they’re far from the only winners. If they wanted other winning coaches, they’d need to look no further than Season 28, which will feature two as-yet undefeated coaches in Niall Horan and Michael Bublé, who each won their first two consecutive attempts.

That’s more than Legend, whose lone win came during his debut in Season 16. Clearly these aren’t the three winningest coaches, because you couldn’t claim that without getting Blake Shelton back (and that’s likely never happening). The cowboy’s nine victories are more than double Clarkson’s second-place total of four.

John Legend on The Voice.

(Image credit: NBC)

Did The New Elements Necessitate The Big Coaching Change?

The only logical reason I can think of is that to make time for the previous seasons’ fan favorites to return and whatever “competitive elements” are being added for NBC’s “Legendary February,” there had to be a major reduction in the number of contestants, and it made more sense to have three 10-person teams than four 7.5-person teams (that’s good math, there).

This isn’t the first time I’ve been confused by new elements that The Voice has tried. I was iffy about the Coach Replay button when it was introduced in Season 26 — it goes against the whole premise of the show! — but I actually ended up enjoying the coaches being able to change their minds about not hitting their button.

Despite a little bit of uncertainty about what Battle of Champions holds, I’m overwhelmingly excited about Season 29. I was honestly afraid Kelly Clarkson might never return to The Voice, and given Levine’s comments about it not being the same without Shelton, I thought he might be gone for good as well.

I’m super excited to see Legend, Clarkson and Levine lead the first three-coach season of The Voice, but first things first — Season 28 will air on NBC this fall with episodes streaming the next day on Peacock. Keep an eye out for a premiere date.

Supernatural Showrunner Finally Weighed In On The Identity Of Sam’s Mystery Wife, But Jared Padalecki Had A Different Take

Supernatural Showrunner Finally Weighed In On The Identity Of Sam’s Mystery Wife, But Jared Padalecki Had A Different Take

by | Jul 27, 2025 | Cinemablend News, News

Supernatural Showrunner Finally Weighed In On The Identity Of Sam’s Mystery Wife, But Jared Padalecki Had A Different Take

The series finale of Supernatural was divisive for many reasons, ranging from Dean’s anticlimactic death via rebar to a shortage of familiar faces in the very last episode ever. Even as the 2025 TV schedule continues with Jensen Ackles starring in Prime Video’s Countdown and Jared Padalecki set to appear in the upcoming season of The Boys, fans of their CW show surely still want to know: who was the blurry woman who Sam married and had a son with in the finale flash-forward? Showrunner Andrew Dabb shared his thoughts, nearly five years later, and they don’t quite match what Padalecki has said.

What The Showrunner Said About Sam’s Wife

Short of Supernatural getting a Buffy-esque revival, we may never have a canonical answer, but I was among the viewers back in late 2020 who just wanted to know if the woman who was Sam’s wife was supposed to be Eileen, played by Shoshannah Stern. Was she a random brunette who we’d never met before but Sam met and married after Dean’s death? Or was she supposed to be Eileen, but the show just couldn’t get her back to film the finale under 2020 COVID-19 guidelines? Well, showrunner Andrew Dabb weighed in, with Swooon reporting his comments:

We wanted someone there, so it wasn’t like there was no female presence at all. But at the same time, do you cast someone totally brand new that the audience will have not seen before? Or do you keep it a little vague and people can imply whatever they want to imply?

Misha Collins – arguably the third lead of the series – for the finale, I can understand why even some of the most important guest stars couldn’t make the cut. I don’t love it, but I get it!

original vision for Sam and Dean’s endings that would have featured a lot of familiar faces. Still, he has a take of his own, even if the episode will never deliver the answers fans want about Eileen as Sam’s wife (or not). He said:

People can fill in whatever they want, and they’re free to. But certainly in my mind, that’s what we were building toward.

Andrew Dabb’s take? That blurry woman who married Sam and became the mother to young Dean was Eileen, as a natural extension of where Season 15 had been leading with them. Jared Padalecki just had a different take when asked about his character’s wife.

What Jared Padalecki Said About Sam’s Wife

The Supernatural co-lead was asked about the identity of Sam’s spouse a few months after the finale aired, so the mystery was a lot fresher to the episode than Andrew Dabb weighing in circa 2025. Padalecki told Variety that no version of the script included an identity of who Sam ended up with after Dean’s death, so he had no more details than what we saw: a brunette woman blurred out from a distance. He said:

I think it was very, very purposely ambiguous and strangely I agreed with that. I feel like a lot of what Sam did after Dean died was almost in honor of what Dean would have wanted, and Dean would not have wanted his little brother to marry Eileen, Ruby, someone in the life.

I feel comfortable saying that Dean definitely wouldn’t have wanted Sam to marry Ruby even if she was still around, but it’s a little harder to swallow the idea of him objecting to Eileen just because she was still in “the life.” Sam’s feelings for her in Season 15 were very real and apparent, and Dean would have wanted his brother to be happy.

Still, Padalecki is the man who played Sam Winchester for more than 300 episodes over fifteen seasons, so he obviously knows his character. Plus, his speculation is no more canonical than Andrew Dabb saying that he believed in an endgame for Sam and Eileen. Besides, who’s to say whether or not Padalecki still feels the same way these days?

I’d say that the gist is that fans can believe what they want to believe. And really, is that anything new for the Supernatural fandom? Surely I’m not the only one who just overlooks certain episodes for the sake of enjoying the whole! If you want to revisit the finale or any of the other 300+ episodes, you can find the full run of Supernatural streaming with a Netflix subscription now.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-27 19:45:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-27 19:45:00

by | Jul 27, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

interview with Vulture, Stephen King references “Rosemary’s Baby” author Ira Levin, who was “very anxious that [director Roman Polanski] follow the book very closely, right down to the kind of shirts that the John Cassavetes character wore.” King does not take this same approach, which may be why we’ve ended up with such an uneven mix in the quality of adaptations.

Most authors treat their books as sacred creations — like their own babies — because they’ve spent years writing them, and pouring all their creativity and heart into them. But Stephen King has never been overly precious about his work, letting filmmakers run wild with their own interpretations. He told Rolling Stone in 2014, “The movies have never been a big deal to me. The movies are the movies. They just make them. If they’re good, that’s terrific. If they’re not, they’re not.” This makes us wonder: what allows King to be so hands-off with his stories?

Stephen King keeps his book and the movie separate — except for one

Jack (Jack Nicholson) grins evilly with his face in between the hole of a broken door in The Shining

Warner Bros.

King explains in the Vulture interview that his easygoing attitude towards film adaptations of his work comes from “Mildred Pierce” writer James M. Cain, who replied to a reporter’s statement that his novels were ruined by the movies. Cain said, while pointing to his bookshelf, “No, they didn’t, they’re all right there.” In other words, King regards the film and book as two separate entities. King’s feeling about filmmakers visualizing his work has always been, “If it’s a success, it will help me do what I want to do, which is to write books.” No matter if it ends up being a classic like “Carrie” or a trainwreck like “Dreamcatcher,” King views his books as “untouchable.” He can adopt this laissez-faire point of view because, “a) I’m doing okay financially so I can afford to take a risk, and b) I’ve been prolific enough so that I don’t feel upset about it.”

There is one exception to his chill perspective. The novelist has been famously outspoken about hating Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”  Ironically, it’s what both /Film and many critics consider the best Stephen King adaptation of all time. King disliked that Jack Nicholson came off as too obviously Machiavellian from the start, and that Wendy was portrayed as a quivering jellyfish of a woman. He also resented Kubrick’s cold, detached, and cynical treatment of “The Shining” because it was a very personal story to him as a recovering alcoholic. It plays on his fears that the rage and violent urges of his drinking could turn him into a monster that hurts his family. Stephen King ended up producing a miniseries to tell a version that was closer to his original intentions.

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-27 19:30:00

TV & Beyond on 2025-07-27 19:30:00

by | Jul 27, 2025 | TV & Beyond Articles

Kevin Bacon’s horror series, “The Bondsman” took over the Prime Video charts, signalling the arrival of what looked to be yet another popular series for the streamer. Just one month later, Prime Video canceled “The Bondsman” in a surprising turn of events that reminded us all of the fickle nature of the streaming sphere. For Bacon, however, this wasn’t the first time he’d fronted an initially popular show with a grizzly streak that was cancelled before its time.

Back in 2013, the actor debuted as former FBI agent Ryan Hardy in “The Following.” The crime thriller series was created by Kevin Williamson, who’s best known for writing “Scream” and several of its sequels, as well as creating the archetypal teen drama series “Dawson’s Creek.” In “The Following,” however, Williamson indulged an even more violent and gritty tone, with Bacon’s Hardy tracking down serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy), a former college professor who killed young women in honor of Edgar Allan Poe. The first season sees Carroll escape death row, beginning a tense cat and mouse game between the killer, his band of acolytes and Hardy.

That initial run of episodes proved popular, and Fox renewed the series for another two seasons. After the third season wrapped up, however, the network killed off “The Following.” What happened? Well, nothing all that shocking, as the series simply couldn’t hold on to its viewership.

The Following started as a breakout hit

Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy is seen in closeup in The Following

Fox

When “The Following” debuted back in 2013, Entertainment Weekly named it one of their “9 hot new shows” and interviewed Kevin Williamson, who told the outlet he was excited when he first pitched “The Following” to Fox as it was the network that hosted his favorite show, “24.” The show creator even revealed that there was some Jack Bauer in Ryan Hardy. That, along with some startlingly grizzly murders and a compelling story about a serial killer with a cabal of devoted followers made for a hit series. It helped that Kevin Bacon — who previously thought his career was over after one particular horror movie — was onboard, too, with “The Following” representing the veteran star’s first big foray into TV à la Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson with “True Detective.”

Indeed, “The Following” debuted to strong ratings and looked set to build on that success after the week-two numbers came in and showed the series had topped its premiere viewing figures — something that no other new drama had accomplished for that same season. That momentum remained throughout season 1, with “The Following” finishing its debut season as the highest-rated new series among adults aged 18-49, according to Deadline.

The second season expanded the world of the show, introducing Hardy’s niece in the form of NYPD detective Max Hardy (Jessica Stroup) who helps her uncle on his quest to recapture Joe Carroll, who faked his death in the previous season. The second season also introduced a new cult with Lily Gray (Connie Nielsen) as its figurehead. Season 3 then followed Hardy’s life after Carroll’s arrest, depicting him as settled with a new love interest named Gwen (Zuleikha Robinson). It’s not long before a new killer and cult emerge however, forcing Hardy into another cat and mouse game. Unfortunately, by the time season 3 wrapped up, things had changed considerably in terms of ratings.

The Following couldn’t keep its viewers

Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy looks down with blood dripping down his face in The Following

Fox

“The Following” debuted on January 21, 2013 and was canceled on May 8, 2015 after three seasons. The final episode of the show aired on May 18, 2015. There wasn’t any particularly sensational reason for the cancellation, as it seems the show had been losing viewers with each successive season. As Deadline reported in May of 2015, the series simply couldn’t maintain its momentum after its successful first season.

For comparison, the season 1 premiere was seen by 15.10 million viewers (including DVR viewers watching post-broadcast) and the season finale brought in 11.32 viewers. Season 2 debuted to 14.24 viewers, and finished with 7.28, while the season 3 premiere was seen by 7.94 viewers. By the end of its final season, the show was being watched by 5.10 viewers. According to Deadline, “The Following” had “strong DVR/on-demand appeal” but that simply couldn’t make up for a lack of live viewers and Fox pulled the plug. There was talk of the show transitioning to Hulu and becoming a streaming series, but these plans were reportedly scrapped early on. Still, at least “The Following” had a decent run in comparison to the great shows that have been canceled after just one season.

It’s worth noting that, throughout its run, “The Following” faced criticism about its graphic violence, with critics questioning Kevin Williamson about whether his series was indirectly responsible for real-life acts of violence. But this seemingly didn’t play into the show’s cancellation, with Williamson telling reporters (via Deadline) that Fox hadn’t tried to force him to tone down any of the show’s more graphic scenes.

Insider Drops Claims About How Selena Gomez And Benny Blanco Feel About Their Wedding Plans Supposedly Being Leaked

Insider Drops Claims About How Selena Gomez And Benny Blanco Feel About Their Wedding Plans Supposedly Being Leaked

by | Jul 27, 2025 | Cinemablend News, News

Insider Drops Claims About How Selena Gomez And Benny Blanco Feel About Their Wedding Plans Supposedly Being Leaked

So much seems to be working in Selena Gomez’s favor right now. She has a new album with fiancée Benny Blanco earlier this year and another season of Only Murders in the Building hitting the 2025 TV schedule. On top of that, she’s also starring in the upcoming music biopic centered Linda Ronstadt. Of course, if that weren’t enough, Gomez is also getting married. However, a bit of a damper has been put on Gomez and Blanco’s impending wedding after details were leaked, and a source alleges the couple is furious.

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco are set to tie the knot in September, according to sources for the Daily Mail. However, the fact that the nuptials are only a couple of months away isn’t the only detail that’s gotten out. The venue and celebrity guest list have reportedly also been revealed but, at this point (and with their busy schedules), it’s too late for the couple to change anything or delay the wedding altogether, the insider reports, saying:

Selena and Benny are fuming their wedding plans have been leaked. If it wasn’t just two months away they’d think about changing the celebrations, but that’s an impossible task and they don’t want to delay the wedding and find a new location. Instead, they’re doubling up on security to make the event as private as possible.

adorable celebrity couple — whose meet-cute came years before they got together — were planning a relatively low-key wedding for family and close friends. However, according to the leaked details, the lovebirds will say “I do” in Montecito, California, and guests have been invited to stay overnight for the two-day event.

Only Murders in the Building co-stars Steve Martin and Martin Short will reportedly be there, along with Meryl Streep. Taylor Swift is also expected to be in attendance after attending Gomez’s epic disco birthday party, likely with boyfriend Travis Kelce in tow.

With such high-profile names as Selena Gomez’s longtime BFF making the trip, privacy was especially vital to her and Benny Blanco, and a second source suggested they will beef up security following the leak. They said:

Security for Selena’s wedding will be of the utmost importance because not only is she a public figure, many of the guests will be too. She is going back and forth on whether or not to allow people to have their phones as an extra measure of security and privacy, along with the fact that she wants everyone to be present.

Benny Blanco and Selena Gomez began dating in 2023, and hearing Blanco’s thoughts on being a good partner and his consistently sweet comments about Gomez leave no mystery as to why she thinks he’s such a catch. A year and a half into their relationship, Blanco and Gomez got engaged, with the music producer even incorporating his fiancée’s favorite fast food into his proposal.

It’s a shame that a security breach would take any of the shine off of their impending wedding. Hopefully, they will do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety and comfort of their guests and enjoy their big day.