Thanks to author Diana Gabaldon, the world of Outlander as we’ve seen it through seven seasons so far has been chock-a-block with memorable characters, whether we love, hate, or love to hate them. Obviously, fans all love Claire and Jamie Fraser and their assorted family and friends, and this includes a certain British, love-struck military man who crossed paths with the duo decades ago and became a good friend: Lord John Grey. Viewers have called for the character to have his own spinoff for years, and now that an Outlander EP has explained why that honor went to Blood of My Blood first, I finally kinda get their reasoning.
Why Is Outlander: Blood Of My Blood The First Spinoff?
While the 2025 TV premieres did bring us the second part of Outlander Season 7, it’s also given fans the first season of Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the prequel spinoff that follows Claire and Jamie’s parents as they adventure through early 1700s Scotland and deal with the complications of accidental time travel.
sexiest romantic moments and contenders for the Outlander franchise’s 10 best episodes, with its focus on younger versions of characters from the original show (as well as several new ones), something we don’t have is Lord John Grey (played by David Berry). Though he’s a character that fans have wanted to have his own spinoff since his first major arc in Season 3, it’s still not on the docket, but showrunner/executive producer Maril Davis recently revealed why that is to Radio Times, and I do finally understand their thinking. As she said:
realistically “spooky” resemblance to OG stars Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan (who portray their adult, on-screen children), but the series is overall just the costume-filled, shockingly dramatic/traumatic story, and dual old-timey romance-fest we need while in our current Droughtlander.
The stories of Julia and Henry Beauchamp (Claire’s folks) and Ellen and Brian Fraser (Jamie’s parents) had to largely be created from scratch for OBOMB, with the writers even changing something previously established on the parent show to make this new series possible. Meanwhile, viewers have had several seasons of Lord John action, in addition to the character having a series of novellas and novels dedicated to his exploits.
As someone who’s read those stories and loved them, I have always been on the side of Lord John getting his own TV show, but I do understand how going back and focusing on Claire and Jamie’s parents (especially with Outlander time travel playing a big part) “was too amazing to pass up.” Mostly, it was sure to remind fans of early-days Outlander, which is a beautiful thing as the parent show heads into its final season. Plus, it gives us more sweeping love stories, whereas the Lord John tales are essentially historical mysteries and similar to the OG drama in time period only.
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It sounds like the good thing is that there may still be hope for us to get that Lord John series at some point in the future, so let’s all pray that we eventually have that to look forward to.
With hundreds of credits to her name, Laraine Newman is as well-versed in comedy as anyone working, and she boasts the unique pedigree of being part of the original cast of SNL, as highlighed in Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night. She’s appeared in some of my personal favorites over the years, from American Dad and Beavis and Butt-Head to St. Elsewhere and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Every show on TV could use a jolt of Laraine Newman.
She’s set to hit the 2025 TV schedule with her latest project, the animated fantasy-novel adaptation The Sisters Grimm, which begins streaming October 3 via Apple TV+ subscription. The series doesn’t lean quite as hard into the laughs as many of her other roles, but she’s still a fun delight as Relda. (More on that show below.)
Bob Odenkirk-produced The Birthday Boys, Season 1’s “Goofy Roofers.” It all comes full circle, or something.
(Image credit: The Birthday Boys)
More to the point, the SNL icon enjoys when the cast gets shaken up by new players signing on, so she’ll likely be enthused when new episodes start and the finalized Season 51 cast can show off how it compares on the whole to last year’s vastly different lineup.
How Often Do New SNL Cast Members Reach Out To Laraine Newman For Advice?
Considering how many former cast members she’s worked with on other projects, I thought that some of them might have called her up to ask her advice when joining the Saturday Night Live ranks, and was shocked when the Coneheads co-star told me:
I have…I mean, I’ve worked with a lot of, you know, current and former cast members… No, Nick. No one’s ever asked my advice.
Astonishing! If I had Laraine Newman in my contact list, I’d probably get her advice on a daily basis, from comedy writing to performing to restaurant suggestions to vacation spots. Speaking of suggestions, both she and I would recommend checking out her new show.
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The Sisters Grimm is among the many upcoming book-to-screen adaptations, but one aimed at more of an all-ages audience than most. The first season adapts the first novel in the Sisters Grimm series, titled The Fairy Tale Detectives, as written by author Michael Buckley. It follows siblings Sabrina and Daphne (voiced respectively by Ariel Winter and Leah Newman) who find themselves in the middle of a fantastical town pulled straight out of Grimm’s fairy tales as they search for their missing parents.
Newman portrays the girls’ grandmotherly figure Relda, who helps them navigate their new surroundings. Check out a trailer for the new show below!
The Sisters Grimm — Official Trailer | Apple TV+ – YouTube
Watch On
The day before SNL’s 51st season arrives, all six episodes of The Sisters Grimm will be available to stream on Apple TV+.
The Walt Disney Company has been playing its own game of Succession in recent months, and every day we’re getting a little bit closer to when a major change at one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world will take place. Bob Iger will step down as CEO (again) at the end of 2026, but who will replace him is still a major question.
We’ve been told by the Board of Directors at The Walt Disney Company that a decision on a new CEO will come in early 2026, and that person will work closely with Iger over the next several months before taking the reins themselves. While there have been reports that Disney has looked outside the company for potential CEO material, the general understanding has been that the top candidates are all top executives within Disney.
Disney Experiences Head Josh D’Amaro And Disney Studio Co-Head Dana Walden Are Reportedly In A Race For Bob Iger’s Job
Bloomberg suggests that of the four internal candidates expected to vie for top job, Walt Disney Studios co-heads Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, Disney Experiences chief Josh D’Amaro, and ESPN head Jimmy Pitaro, it is now a “two horse race” with D’Amaro and Walden being front runners and the other two currently seen as “long shots” according to internal sources.
Bob Iger recently “bristled” at the idea that Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro is his likely successor, claiming that no decision has been made, and that he’s not part of the succession committee’s planning, it’s suggested nonetheless that D’Amaro looks like the “CEO in waiting.”
Josh D’Amaro is absolutely a qualified individual, having led Disney’s Experiences division, the most regularly profitable part of the Walt Disney Company, ever since the former head, Bob Chapek, was elevated to CEO himself. But then, that’s sort of the reason that D’Amaro’s alleged frontrunner status surprises me.
The last time that the head of Disney’s Experiences division was made CEO, things didn’t go so well. That said, Chapek and D’Amaro are absolutely different individuals by all accounts. D’Amaro is a people person who gets along with everybody, something that could not be said of Chapek. However, because of the difficulties that Disney had under Chapek, D’Amaro will have a lot of extra work to do to prove that somebody coming from his part of the company can do the job.
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Fair or not, Chapek was perceived as somebody who understood the dollars and sense of Disney, but he struggled when dealing with the studio side of the company. That fact was made most obvious when Scarlett Johansson sued Disney over her compensation surrounding the decision to release the Black Widow movie straight to Disney+.
That’s not to say D’Amaro can’t handle these things better than his predecessor, but there will almost certainly be a perception of him if he takes the job because of what happened before, and perception plays a strong role in things that are quite important to Disney, like its stock price.
Whatever way Disney goes, the incoming CEO will have to prove themselves in some way that they hadn’t before. Dana Walden certainly doesn’t know the theme park business the way D’Amaro does, just as he will have to learn about the studio. Either choice has the potential to be great, but also the potential to be another Bob Chapek situation. I don’t envy the people tasked with making this monumental decision.
Though the 2025 TV schedule hasn’t exactly been light on historical drama or romance, one thing that fans with a Netflix subscription won’t get is the upcoming Bridgerton Season 4. The beloved Regency romance takes an unfortunately long time to film and get ready for all of us eager viewers, but we do at least know plenty about the new season, including the fact that Mr. Slutty Little Glasses himself, Anthony Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey, will return. He actually just compared filming the series to a debutante ball, and I totally get where he’s coming from.
How Did Jonathan Bailey Compare Filming Bridgerton To A Real Debutante Ball?
Jonathan Bailey has turned into a major movie star since he led Season 2 of Bridgerton, and the Jurassic World: Rebirth actor has lots coming up, including Wicked: For Good (where fans can see intriguing parallels between Fiyero and Anthony) and the fourth season of the streaming hit that made him famous. While we’re still quite far from the premiere of Bridgerton Season 4, Bailey did just make a comparison where he equated the filming of the beloved show to an actual debutante ball, as he told Time:
What an amazing thing to experience every couple of years, one of your siblings go through this, you know, amazing creative process, first and foremost, of being able to tell an amazing love story. But then, you know, have the Netflix effect and literally, it sort of always feels like a meta sort of debutante ball.
the Bridgerton books, and put the main focus on one sibling as they fall in love each season. This has meant that, every couple of years, the show essentially has new stars who are then thrust into a very bright spotlight as they film.
Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek) then deal with “the Netflix effect” and have several months of whirlwind publicity focused on them. And, this does serve as sort of a debutante-esque introduction to Hollywood “society,” especially for any newcomers to the drama, like Ha.
It’s so lucky that as the seasons go on, the cast has vets like Bailey to lean on when the time comes. Even though he won’t be in the fourth season as much as fans might like, he’ll always be around for his fellow co-stars, and I’ll be surprised if we don’t hear more about his work on the new episodes as we get closer to the premiere.
The recent tragic death of a guest of Epic Universe who had ridden the Stardust Racers roller coaster has shocked the theme park community, and it has a lot of people asking a lot of questions. While some details have been released that clarify some elements of what happened, there is still a lot we don’t know. It’s honestly a bit unclear what we will ever know.
While the investigation into the death of Kevin Zavala is still ongoing, it’s actually something of a question as far as who is actually conducting such an investigation. While jurisdiction over amusement park rides is managed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, it turns out that doesn’t apply to Epic Universe.
Florida Law Doesn’t Require The State To Investigate Universal Orlando Resort
Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort, to second-tier parks like SeaWorld and LegoLand, to smaller parks like Fun Spot and Icon Park, which saw its own tragic death a few years ago, there are parks of all types and sizes.
Orlando’s News 6, there is apparently no independent investigation of the Epic Universe incident currently undertaken by FDACS. This is not to say that the state isn’t being kept apprised of the situation, though.
Universal Invited Investigators To Check Out Stardust Racers Anyway
The large theme parks are required to notify the state in cases where guests receive serious injuries or fatalities. According to all reports, Epic Universe did exactly this when Kevin Zavala was found unresponsive following a ride on Epic Universe’s flagship roller coaster. An investigator was also invited to come look at the Star Dust Racers coaster within hours of the incident, an act which “exceeded state requirements,” according to a spokesperson.
A letter sent by Universal Orlando President Karen Irwin claimed that the coaster was operating properly at the time of the incident. A statement released by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services agrees with that assessment.
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Some Florida lawmakers have argued for changes to the law so that large parks are required to undergo the same inspections as the smaller ones. In 2023, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis battled Disney over the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the governor suggested he wanted to see the law changed so that Disney specifically would no longer be able to conduct its own inspections. A law was passed which singled out the Walt Disney World Monorail for state inspections it hadn’t previously been required to undergo.
Stardust Racers remains closed following the incident. Without any state investigation, it seems likely that Epic Universe could reopen the ride at any point. The fact that it hasn’t done so yet would seemingly indicate a desire to find as many answers as possible before doing so. At this point, there are no known plans to reopen the ride.
Law & Order: SVU Season 27 kicked off in the fall 2025 TV schedule by delivering a major death, to the dismay of many fans: Captain Don Cragen, played across more than twenty years in the franchise by Dann Florek. Fortunately, Florek is still alive and well, and his character’s death was honored in the Season 27 premiere (which is available streaming now with a Peacock subscription). The tragedy comes not too long after he opened up about handing the leadership of the unit over to Mariska Hargitay’s character, with Olivia Benson stepping up as Captain of Special Victims following Cragen’s retirement.
Florek, who starred in three seasons of Law & Order before starring in fifteen seasons of SVU, was among those who celebrated the series in honor of its 25th anniversary last year. Speaking with People, he said this about Cragen retiring and being succeeded by Benson:
It’s a beautiful passing of the baton.
Stabler on Law & Order: Organized Crime for several episodes between 2022-2024. His most meaningful return after his Season 15 retirement, however, was also very quick: he appeared via video call in the 500th episode. Reflecting on the moment he shared with Mariska Hargitay in that milestone episode, Florek said:
Hulu subscription, you’ll find that Benson also looked like she was gonna cry when she got that vote of confidence from her former captain. What made it even more special, as far as I’m concerned, is that Cragen waited to say it until they were in a one-on-one chat, instead of when he was video-calling the larger group of detectives about their case of the week.
At the time, I’d been hoping that Christopher Meloni as Stabler would pop up in the 500th episode, but Dann Florek as Cragen was really the more effective choice. The episode also brought back former regulars Danny Pino as Nick Amaro and the one and only Tamara Tunie as ME Chief Melinda Warner. Other recurring actors to return were Ryan Buggle as Benson’s son and attorney Trevor Langan, played by Mariska Hargitay’s real-life husband Peter Hermann.
While I’m certainly sad that Season 27 began on such a tragic note as the off-screen death of Captain Cragen, I did appreciate that SVU brought Dann Florek back to record a speech that played at Cragen’s memorial. Plus, considering that it resulted in Benson, Fin, and even a visiting Stabler starting to consider their own mortality, it could pack a punch throughout the season if this is an arc that the show continues.
While Cragen is seemingly gone for good now, barring any flashbacks or recordings, his legacy lives on in the form of Captain Olivia Benson. You can catch new episodes this fall on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET, between Law & Order Season 25 at 8 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 at 10 p.m. ET, all on NBC. (Organized Crime‘s uncensored fifth season is already available on Peacock.) You can find Captain Cragen’s best episodes streaming on Peacock and Hulu as well.
