Somehow, 2025 was the year of TV that kept on giving. After knocking it out of the park early with The Pitt and Severance season 2, the hits didn't stop thanks to Andor, Adolescence, Pluribus, Task, The Studio, Black Rabbit, Paradise, and countless others that simply blew us away. Hell, 2025 even fit in the Stranger Things series finale. So if you're looking at the slate for 2026 and noticing a lot of familiar faces, that's a good thing—many of our favorite shows from 2025 are coming back to try and defend their title. Dr. Robby returns to the ER in The Pitt season 2, Kayce Dutton laces up his cowboy boots for the first Yellowstone spin-off sequel, and Carmy plans to step out of the kitchen for the first time in The Bear season 5. Elsewhere, many award-winning shows are gearing up for their last hurrah in 2026. The final seasons of Hacks, Yellowjackets, The Boys, and The Witcher, as well as (hopefully) the grand return of Euphoria, will look to make 2026 something special. I can't speak to the state of the film industry in the near future, but it's looking bright and sunny on the small screen. |
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In recent years, there's one word you hear again and again from movie distributors and pundits: event. Making a great movie is nice. But creating a culture-shaking event is what's required in the current boom-bust film landscape. It's something everyone has known for a long time, but in 2026 it seems as if studios are really beginning to grasp what it actually means. From Tom Cruise in an auteur-driven comedy to the sequels to The Devil Wears Prada and The Social Network to Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Greta Gerwig's Narnia (Narnyssey?), this year's slate is jam-packed with big, splashy cinema sure to get people talking. I'm excited for many of those projects, but there are a bunch of small indies (Maddie's Secret, $Positions, Blue Heron, The Scout) that have me equally, if not more, pumped. The entire film business may be crumbling, but I feel pretty confident that in 2026 the great movies will keep on coming. |
"They tend to put less makeup on me the longer we go, because it's like, 'No, you're looking tired. This is perfect!'" Gerran Howell told Esquire about The Pitt season 2. / photo by: JJ Geiger |
The Pitt is finally back, racking up even more awards at the Golden Globes last night just as season 2 returned. As an Esquire reader recently commented, "I am already hooked through April." Not a bad way to start 2026! Let me know what else you're excited to see this year by writing to me at josh.rosenberg@hearst.com. Did someone forward you this email? Sign up here. |
The Continuing Adventures of the Esquire Entertainment Desk |
Speaking of The Pitt, Gerran Howell (aka Dr. Whitaker) told Brady Langmann about how his timid resident has leveled up in season 2 under the tutelage of Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle). "Everyone keeps saying there's a glow-up happening there, but the bar was low from season 1, man," Howell says, laughing. Read the interview here. Karl Urban, Priyanka Chopra, and the director of the new swashbuckling pirate drama, The Bluff, spoke to Anthony Breznican about their action-packed film. "As a Caribbean person, I don't always feel like our story was told and represented in a lot of pirate films," filmmaker Frank E. Flowers says. "So I was like, 'What if we did a pirate film from the Caribbean perspective and lean into what was real?' " Read the full interview with Urban and Chopra here. |
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Noah Wyle (The Pitt) accepts the award for Best Male Actor in a Television Series – Drama at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards. / photo provided by: Getty Images |
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The Cliff-Hanger's Winners and Losers of the Week |
Winner: Indy the Dog The Academy may never add my much-fought-for Animal Oscar category, but there are still pockets in the industry willing to celebrate our furry stars this season. This week, Indy the Dog from the indie horror film Good Boy took home the award for Best Horror Performance at the Astra Film Awards over Allison Brie (Together) and Ethan Hawke (Black Phone 2). I guess the competition wasn't so ruff, after all. Loser: Tommy Norris Landman fans are losing their minds after a shocking cliff-hanger to last night's episode. Billy Bob Thornton's character, Tommy Norris, was fired from his job at M-Tex oil—leaving viewers absolutely stunned. Something tells me that Tommy might just bounce back as a winner come Sunday's season 2 finale. Winner: Reptile Expos in New Jersey When Rose Byrne accepted the Golden Globe award for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical last night, she stated that her husband, actor Bobby Cannavale, was absent because "we're getting a bearded dragon, and he went to a reptile expo in New Jersey." Move over, Hollywood—the biggest event of the night was actually a lizard convention. Loser: George R. R. Martin The Games of Thrones creator said in a recent interview that he plans to write twelve additional novellas after he finishes his A Song of Ice and Fire series. Good luck, George … we've been waiting for The Winds of Winter for over fifteen years now. Winner: Noah Wyle Not only did The Pitt star nab another award last night at the Golden Globes, but he apparently returned home to find that his kids crafted him a "Best Dad" trophy. It doesn't get more wholesome than that. |
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