by James Mottram
Studios are well-known for flaunting their wares with so-called slate presentations, alerting entertainment reporters to what is coming down the pipeline, but this was something else.
Twelve panels for upcoming shows, both new and existing, plus a smattering of movies, made it a very full day, as showrunners and actors were paraded to introduce trailers and try not to trip over any spoilers.
It was every bit as star-studded as your average Oscars ceremony, and just as slickly presented, with images beamed around a massive, curved 180 degree screen. Sadly, one of the anticipated highlights – the panel for Season 2 of the Seth Rogen-starring The Studio – was cancelled due to the recent passing of one of its stars, Catherine O’Hara.
But there was still more than enough here to whet the appetite for the coming months.
Here are the top takeaways from the day…
Apple TV Wants You
In the streaming wars, this was a show of strength from Apple TV. Unquestionably, the streamer has given us some of the best shows over the past few years, from Severance to Ted Lasso to Slow Horses. On top of that, this year they can look forward to the Oscars, with the Brad Pitt-starring F1 up for four Academy Awards including Best Picture. And so, in the tense battle for subscribers, alongside Netflix, Paramount + and others, here was a chance for Apple to announce itself as a serious contender, with a roster of content worth subscribing for.
James Marsden will rock Your Friends & Neighbors
A new cast member is always exciting, and the panel for Your Friends and Neighbors all seemed in awe of James Marsden. Created by Jonathan Tropper, the first season told of Coop, a hedge fund manager, played by Mad Men’s Jon Hamm, who loses his job and resorts to stealing from his wealthy friends and neighbours. The upcoming second season, streaming from April 3rd, sees the introduction of Marsden’s flashy Owen Ashe, a “chaos agent”, according to Hamm. God knows how he will disrupt the vibe, but according to Marsden, “he’s not a subtle guy”. The actor explained: “He kinda steps into this world and turns some heads with his behaviour. He’s got a Gatsby-esque flair to him.” This season, he promised, is going to be “super juicy”.
Pluribus Season 2 isn’t imminent.
OK, we know that this is not the news you wanted. One of Apple TV’s best shows these past months was Pluribus, the new off-kilter vision from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan, in which the population of the world turns into some kind of happy-go-lucky hive-mind – with a handful of exceptions. Namely, Rhea Seehorn’s fiction writer Carol, a role that has won her Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards. “My writers and I are plugging away,” promised Gilligan. “It takes a long time to come up with these episodes. We are deeper into the process at this moment than I would like considering how few episodes we have figured out. But it takes some time, just as it did in the first season. And we appreciate everybody’s patience. But it ain’t gonna be The Pitt coming back every year. I wish it would be, because I think that’s an awesome show.”
Cape Fear looks classy
You can argue the merits of remaking a remake, but Cape Fear has all the hallmarks of a binge-worthy show. It comes executive produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, who were behind Scorsese’s 1991 version, a deliciously pulpy thriller starring Robert De Niro as tattooed and vengeful ex-con Max Cady, itself a remake of a classic noir, starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Now we have Javier Bardem playing Cady, channeling the madness he managed in No Country For Old Men and Skyfall. Bardem wasn’t present, but Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson were on hand to talk up the show. They play Anna and Tom Bowden, the couple that Cady terrorises when he’s released from prison. Joining them was showrunner Nick Antosca, who commented: “It’s southern, it’s swampy, it feels like a nightmare…and I really wanted to capture that energy.” Best of all, the stunning score by Elmer Bernstein, a reworking of the 1962 original by Bernard Herrmann, that featured in the Scorsese film boomed over the speakers, which suggests it’ll be earworming its way into our heads when the show is unleashed on June 5th.
The movie slate is … throwaway
Apple TV has done well in the movie stakes. An Oscar-winner with CODA, a Scorsese masterpiece with Killers of the Flower Moon and an action spectacular with F1. But in truth, there was nothing to rival those films here. Jonah Hill’s Hollywood satire Outcome, starring Keanu Reeves as a messed-up A-List star, looked promising, even if the presentation from Hill, Reeves, and co-stars Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer was excruciating, as they read poorly-scripted gags from an autocue. The other films were all action-packed blockbusters: Matchbox The Movie, a Fast & The Furious-lite tale with John Cena and cars reminding us of the toy brand; Mayday, a Russian-set thriller featuring the unlikely pairing of Ryan Reynolds and Kennath Branagh, recycling his accent from Tenet; The Dink, a comedy starring Jake Johnson as a tennis pro turned pickle ball player; and Way of the Warrior Kid, a Karate Kid rip-off with Chris Pratt and Belfast’s Jude Hill. In truth, little for serious cineastes to get in a fluster about.
Formula 1 is Apple’s baby
The success of F1 required the considerable cooperation of those embedded in the world of Formula 1 motor-racing. And short of announcing a sequel to the movie – which surely would need to be called ‘F2’, or someone is missing a trick – Apple was able to boast about the fact that the upcoming Grand Prix season would stream on its platform in the U.S. Which, to be fair, is quite a coup.
Lucky is a perfect roll of the dice
Jonathan Tropper, the showrunner of Your Friends & Neighbors, was back on double duty, moderating the panel for Lucky. Joined by his co-showrunner Cassie Pappas, and stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Timothy Olyphant, this gritty action drama was one of the first shows to be shot in Los Angeles following the devastating wild fires that occurred in early 2025. The footage looked kinetic, with Taylor-Joy’s turn as Lucky, a young woman trying to escape her criminal past, looking every bit as wild as her work in Furiosa. “I think every project speaks to me very intuitively if I’m meant to do it,” she told us. “And, as soon as I read Lucky, I felt so much empathy for a woman that just couldn’t sit still and desperately wanted a place to put down roots.”
Widow’s Bay has real Twin Peaks vibes
It’s not easy to be one of the last shows up, but Widow’s Bay – streaming from April 29 – looked highly promising. With a mist-covered ocean filling the screens, creator Katie Dippold took to the stage, offering up a heartfelt intro. “I was an anxious kid, but one thing I always looked forward to was going to the boardwalk every summer in Long Branch, New Jersey. It had this terrifying haunted house, and I was way too young for this but this was the ’80s.” She was joined by Matthew Rhys, who plays Tom Loftis, a small-town mayor, who looks to have mastered the art of black comedy in the clips that were shown. The late David Lynch would surely approve.
Apple has cornered the market in female-driven stories
Sentimental Value Oscar-nominee Elle Fanning was on hand to trumpet Margot’s Got Money Troubles, in which she plays the titular youngster, who must somehow cope financially with her impending pregnancy. The show is masterminded by David E. Kelley, the brains behind Ally McBeal, and it also stars his wife Michelle Pfeiffer. But this was just one of several juicy, female-led shows. The second season of the thriller The Last Thing He Told Me brought Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer and Rita Wilson to the stage. And then there’s romantic intrigue in Imperfect Women, featuring Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington and Kate Mara, in an adaptation of the bestseller by Araminta Hall.
The legends steal the show
For all the stars who turned up, it’s hard to look past Kurt Russell and Harrison Ford, two warhorses who managed to sprinkle some real star power on the event. Neither was new to the streaming world. Still, with a fabulous head of silver hair, Russell, alongside his son Wyatt, was in town to promote Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the second season of the Godzilla and King Kong MonsterVerse show. Ford, meanwhile, was back for the third season of Shrinking and admitted it was “daunting” to play opposite Michael J. Fox, given Ford’s own character Dr. Paul Rhoades suffers from Parkinson’s like Fox. As he so often does, Ford brought a note of gravitas to the day.
