What’s Up Archives

Patrick Stewart will be reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard in a new Star Trek series for CBS All Access. The actor announced the news on Twitter, calling the chance to play Picard again “an unexpected but delightful surprise.”  Stewart played the iconic Starfleet captain on Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994, and last reprised the role in the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis.
Details about Picard’s next adventure are limited, but the new show will not be a reboot or prequel but will cover “the next chapter of Picard’s life.”   In June, news broke that the studio had hired Alex Kurtzman, co-creator of Star Trek: Discovery, to an overall deal that included expanding the Star Trek franchise. Picard’s further adventures will be broadcast on CBS All Access, the network’s premium subscription service.

Beauty and fashion magazine Vogue is changing how it does business with celebrities for the first time in its history. Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour is giving superstar Beyoncé “unprecedented control” over her photographs and captions when she appears on the cover of its September issue.  Beyoncé will also be writing the photographs’ captions herself, and the singer has used her star power to get the publication to hire its first black photographer to shoot her cover photo. 

Fox Network recently revealed they were working on a 24 prequel, but it turns out the network is actually working on two projects based on the action thriller. The first is a prequel that explores the early days of Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland in the original series). The second is actually a legal drama, which will move the iconic ticking clock real-time format into an entirely different genre. Fox CEO and Chairman Gary Newman said “we feel [the 24 format] still has a lot of power and a lot of legs. Times are fraught now, these are emotional times. Security continues to be a big issue. In terms of the prequel, people love Jack Bauer and [we] would tell a story that I think the audience would very much connect with — of how he became that character. It would be set in the same world of security.”

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown is coming to an end, but CNN has enough material to move ahead with one final season as a tribute to Anthony Bourdain, who died at the age of 61 on June 8. Seven new episodes will premiere this fall. There will only be one episode of the final season to feature Bourdain’s written narration — the still-untitled chapter set in Kenya with W. Kamau Bell — as it was the only one completed before his death. Amy Entelis, CNN’s executive vice president of talent and content, announced that other episodes will feature New York City’s Lower East Side, Texas’ Big Bend area along the Mexican border, Spain’s Asturias region, and Indonesia. According to the Times, the directors who shot these latter episodes will finalize the installments using audio from Bourdain while filming on location, as well as follow-up interviews. Entelis also said the penultimate episode will consist of cast and crew members discussing the creation of Parts Unknown, and the finale will focus on “how Tony affected the world.” Bourdain was on location in France for Parts Unknown when he died.  Parts Unkown earned five Emmys and a Peabody award.

In a new court filing, Johnny Depp alleges Amber Heard assaulted him during the time they were married, telling a different version of events from the night when Heard claims Depp threw an iPhone at her face. The court documents were filed by Depp as part of a libel case in the U.K., the actor’s most recent legal effort to dispute accusations that he was violent towards Heard. In the court papers, Depp claims Heard assaulted him after he arrived almost two hours late to his then-wife’s 30th birthday dinner on April 21, 2016. “These allegations are totally false.” said attorneys for Ms. Heard. Depp’s court filing also includes his version of events from the night of May 21, 2016, when Heard claimed Depp threw an iPhone at her face. The documents say Depp “tossed the phone on to the sofa and crossed the room away from Ms. Heard … The phone did not hit Ms. Heard on the face or elsewhere.” Heard filed for divorce against Depp on May 23, 2016 and four days later requested a temporary domestic violence restraining order against him, which a judge granted.  The couple were married in February 2015, and Heard filed for divorce after 15 months of marriage. The couple were officially divorced in January 2017.