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This will be the second market to have an Uber robotaxi service outfitted with Lucid EVs equipped with a self-driving system from Nuro.

Pinterest has launched 'Ask Pinterest,' an experimental AI-powered shopping app that lets users seek recommendations and inspiration through a conversational interface.

⚡ Quick Take

• Bob Odenkirk returned as Saul Goodman to revamp a classic in-show PSA in honor of the USA’s 250th anniversary.

Better Call Saul, the popular spinoff of the even-more-popular Breaking Bad, ended its run in 2022. But in many ways, Saul Goodman never left us. Today, Bob Odenkirk reappeared in character to give a version of his classic in-show commercial in honor of America’s 250th birthday.

In his sarcastic way, Odenkirk lists off multiple constitutional rights and references the “wallpaper” behind him. He pays homage to the “whole bunch of good people, 250-years-worth” who have upheld the constitution.

“Hi, I’m Saul Goodman. Did you know you have rights?”

The spiel ends with Odenkirk encouraging viewers to “never give up” their constitution-given rights.

The 45-second video was uploaded to a YouTube account called “Saul4Democracy,” and it is unclear when the clip was filmed. The caption reads, “Saul Goodman wants YOU to know your rights!” Peter Gould, the executive producer of Better Call Saul, reposted the video on his BlueSky account and confirmed it was not AI-generated. The video has garnered over 123,000 views so far.

Better Call Saul was a spinoff series of the Golden Globe-winning Breaking Bad. It followed a minor character who first appeared in season two.

Albuquerque lawyer Jimmy McGill scrapes for clients and respect, but every win drags him closer to shady deals, dangerous players, and the alter ego Saul Goodman.

This PSA comes just in time for America 250, or the United States’ 250th “birthday.” For fans of the show, this video was a welcome sight four years after the story concluded. This is made even more impactful after Odenkirk’s 2025 statement.

“He’s not getting out [of prison]. If there’s another Saul show, it takes place inside prison.”

At the very end, the video featured an appearance from Mike Ehrmantraut, played by Jonathan Banks, another beloved character from the series. Many of the comments are raving about the cameo.

This is likely not a sign that the Better Call Saul universe will continue to expand. However, beyond the humor, the message within the video is important and certainly relevant.

The post Did You Know You Have Rights? Saul Goodman Returns for a PSA Honoring America 250 appeared first on Nerdist.

⚡ Quick Take

• CBS will pay a fine for the unauthorized use of a song on Stephen Colbert’s finale episode of The Late Show.
• The rights owners will donate the fine to charity.

It hasn’t even been a full month since Stephen Colbert gave his final bow as host of CBS’ The Late Show and already it feels like years. The eyeball network has moved on to pastures far less green. (They’ve also lost the timeslot’s audience, by some reports). But if you thought Colbert didn’t still have one gift left for his former network, you’d be wrong. You see, on The Late Show series finale, Colbert played a piece of music specifically without a license. Now CBS has to pay for it.

CBS

In news we first saw via The Wrap, Colbert played the song “Lucy and Linus” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio on the episode. (You know, the Peanuts song.) He specifically called out how they didn’t obtain a license for it. Well, now the network has to pony up. The rights holders, Lee Mendelson Film Productions, Inc., said in a statement that they’ll donate the fee. It will go to Chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, Colbert’s charity of choice. The Kitchen sends food around the world to areas hit by problems from natural disasters to civil unrest.

“LMFP found the music’s use on ‘The Late Show’ funny and entertaining, and is proud to support World Central Kitchen’s mission,” Jason Mendelson, Chairman of LMFP, said in a release. “A principal goal of our enforcement actions is to educate individuals, businesses, and government entities about the need to obtain written license agreements to use music in a commercial setting.”

When Colbert had his house band, Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, to play “Lucy and Linus” in the May 21 episode, he explained that LMFP had cracked down on unlicensed use of Guaraldi tracks. The show had not obtained such an agreement.

“Oh no,” Colbert said. “I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money.” Neither party has disclosed the amount of money CBS has to pay. But it’s bound to be less than the $16 million parent company Paramount paid to the President of the United States so the Skydance deal went through.

The post CBS Forced to Pay Fine for Colbert Finale’s Music Usage appeared first on Nerdist.

Anthropic's popularity with business users is growing so well that the latest beef with the government might actually boost it, data from Ramp suggests.

In the coming weeks, Apple will move anonymously generated emails addresses to a different domain.

⚡ Quick Take

• Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli’s renowned animator and filmmaker, brought Kiki’s Delivery Service to the screen in 1989.
• Now, 40 years after the publication of the book series it was based on, BBC studios is bringing the story into the 3-D world.

Eiko Kadono’s Kiki’s Delivery Service book series became an instant classic in Japan when it came out. Just a few years later, animator and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki picked up the story and released what would become a Studio Ghibli essential watch. Now, 40 years after the book series it was based on came out, Kiki will come into the 3-D world in a live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service TV series.

Studio GhibliWhat Do We Know About the Kiki’s Delivery Service Live-Action Series?

The story of Kiki’s Delivery Service follows a young, broomstick-riding witch and her cat as they move to a calm, seaside town. Throughout the movie, Kiki meets a variety of characters, overcomes challenges, and gains independence by working her own delivery service.

Eiko Kadono, author of the original novels, shares of the live-action Kiki’s Delivery Service movie.

Kiki is about to set off on another adventure into a new world. I can’t wait to see the series come to life.

BBC studios announced that Irena Brignull will write the ten-episode series. Brignull also contributed to The Boxtrolls (2014) and The Little Prince (2016). The project is a collaboration between BBC Kids and Family, Wheel in Motion, and the Kadokawa Corporation based in Japan. The Kiki’s Delivery Service live-action series will be based on the first volume in the six-book series—not the animated Studio Ghibli film. Episodes will be about a half-hour long each.

Nerdist’s Take: Will This Live-Action Kiki’s Delivery Service Series Be Good?

This is not the first time filmmakers have attempted to bring Kiki into our world. A Japanese live-action movie came out in 2014. However, it did not garner much attention or serious criticism and is not available for streaming. Like the upcoming series, the movie was based on the book and not the preexisting animation.

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Miyazaki has been historically incredible at capturing childhood innocence in a way that many other animators are not able to. From Ponyo (2008) to even stories with darker themes like Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Ghibli’s characters have been astonishingly realistic.

And so, it is no surprise that Miyazaki’s thoughtful animation was able to fully capture the story of Kiki’s Delivery Service, Kiki’s complex character, and her surrounding world in such a lush, vivid way. Whether or not a live-action remake will be able to do the same is still unclear.

When Will the Kiki’s Delivery Service Live-Action Series Release?

The Kiki’s Delivery Service live-action series has no release date yet.

The post KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE Live-Action TV Series Is Coming appeared first on Nerdist.

⚡ Quick Take

• After three decades, McDonald’s is bringing back their iconic friend apple pie for America’s 250th birthday, but only for a limited time.

If you grew up somewhere in the timeframe of the late ’70s to the early ’90s, then chances are you are intimately familiar with those McDonald’s fried apple pies. These delicious confections often burned the roof of your mouth like sweet lava, but we loved them anyway. Sadly, McDonald’s took them off the menu back in 1992, but Gen X and elder Millennials will forever be nostalgic for them. Well, via People, we’ve learned that as a way of celebrating America’s 250th birthday, the fast food giant will soon bring the fried apple pies back for a limited time only, after 34 years. After all, what’s more American than apple pie, right?

McDonald’s

To commemorate this long-awaited return, McDonald’s also announced they are building a 35-foot version, creating McDonald’s largest fried apple pie. Probably one for the record books. This will become a huge roadside attraction, located off Route 66 just outside of Chicago. Which just so happens to be the headquarters of the iconic fast food chain. McDonald’s said that the giant pie found “off America’s most iconic road,” is a tribute to a “classic American dessert.” The attraction will be available for travelers to stop and look at from June 23 to July 4. Its location is 920 N Broadway St., Joliet, IL 60435.

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Video Chronicles the Weird History of McDonaldland

The McDonald’s fried apple pie began as a family recipe from East Tennessee owner and operator Litton Cochran back in 1968, where it became popular locally. It eventually found its way onto the menu across all McDonald’s locations. But by 1992, America had become far more health-conscious and traded in friend apple pies for baked ones. Which they still sell to this day. But millions never forgot those tasty treats of yesteryear, and are happy to have them back. Whether our cholesterol suffers or not. Hopefully, they still come in those old-school pie cartons, just to make the nostalgic experience complete.

The post McDonald’s Brings Back Fried Apple Pie After 34 Years appeared first on Nerdist.

⚡ Quick Take

• Former Lucasfilm president says Spielberg and Lucas battled it out writing the script for the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

Indiana Jones, the brave tomb-raider and adventuring archaeologist, was one of the most beloved characters of the ’80s—and many fans wish it could have stayed that way. Nonetheless, two more films came out after the year 2000. One of those was Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was nobody’s favorite—even the director’s, according to new comments from Kathleen Kennedy.

Lucasfilm

Crystal Skull was a legacy sequel to the original trilogy. It came almost twenty years after the “final” film, The Last Crusade. It holds a steady 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, by no means a bad score. However, it is certainly not the highest-revered movie in the series.

Lucasfilm producer Kathleen Kennedy has said that the most significant contributor to why Crystal Skull was so ill-received was the fact that nobody working on it had their heart fully in it—and the fans seemed to know.

According to a Spielberg career overview from Vulture, the alien aspect introduced in the franchise’s fourth movie created a significant rift between he and George Lucas. Spielberg and star Harrison Ford believed aliens didn’t quite fit into the world of Indiana Jones. Kennedy told the publication:

“Steven was struggling with that movie. Harrison was struggling with the movie. They didn’t want to do a ‘Raiders’ movie that involved aliens, and they kind of got into a fight with George [Lucas] about it.”

Lucas said that his original idea for the movie was War of the Worlds-esque, even featuring UFOs. The team went through five scripts before settling on one. It satisfied everybody enough, but still kept the concept of otherworldly beings.

Kennedy says that Spielberg and Ford still never entirely bought into the concept. She thinks this is why the movie was worse than the previous installments. Spielberg went on to pull out of production for the fifth movie, The Dial of Destiny, in 2023. George Lucas, for the first time in the franchise’s run, played no role at all.

Whether or not this lack of participation from the franchise’s founding fathers was due to the tension ignited in 2008 is unclear. James Mangold took over, and the 2023 movie was rated even lower than its predecessor. But at least it didn’t have aliens.

The post Kathleen Kennedy Reveals Why CRYSTAL SKULL Was the ‘Weakest’ Indiana Jones Movie appeared first on Nerdist.

⚡ Quick Take

• DC Studios’ Upcoming Jimmy Olsen Series is also a Gorilla Grodd series.
• Co-presidents Peter Safran and James Gunn confirm it will shoot soon.

Supergirl is about to release theatrically, and Man of Tomorrow is currently shooting. But a third spin-off of James Gunn’s Superman is also confirmed to start shooting this year, now confirmed by DC Studios co-head Peter Safran. The previously announced HBO Max Jimmy Olsen spin-off, once thought to be titled “DC Crime,” will start production later this year. In an interview with @GoodNerd23 (via Screen Rant), Safran confirmed that the series, which will focus on Jimmy Olsen investigating villain Gorilla Grodd, starts shooting soon. Here’s what he had to say:

We’ve talked about the Gorilla Grodd show for HBO that we’ll start shooting this year. That’s big news, by the way. I probably shouldn’t have said that.

DC Studios/DC Comics

In a post on Threads, James Gunn confirmed the series is a Jimmy Olsen AND Gorilla Grodd show. The rumored title for the show is American Villain, perhaps a nod to the series American Vandal. Rumors suggest it’ll be a faux docuseries about various villians in the DCU, hosted by Daily Planet staffers. In season one, it’ll be Jimmy Olsen with a focus on Grodd. The inclusion of Grodd suggests that another iconic hero of the DC Justice League pantheon may arrive soon, and that’s none other than the Flash.

Threads/James Gunn

Gorilla Grodd, in the pages of DC Comics, is not traditionally a Superman villain. The hyper-intelligent ape from the hidden Gorilla City is one of the arch enemies of the Flash. It would seem impossible to tell Grodd’s story without an appearance by DC’s Scarlet Speedster. After the 2023 movie The Flash bombed, the new DC Studios didn’t seem to be in a rush to announce any new Flash-centric projects. But eventually, this cornerstone of DC lore will need to appear. And this Jimmy Olsen/Grodd series may stealthily introduce him. Which makes this show a much bigger deal than it may seem at first. We imagine we’ll know more very soon.

The post DC Studios’ Jimmy Olsen/Gorilla Grodd Series to Shoot Soon appeared first on Nerdist.

⚡ Quick Take

• Matt Reeves’ The Batman – Part II will prowl the streets of Gotham again as a DC Elseworlds movie project. Here’s what we know about the film.

Although it will not belong to the main on-screen DC Universe, we were very happy to hear that The Batman – Part II will continue on in DC’s new world order. Under James Gunn and Peter Safran, The Batman – Part II will belong to DC’s Elseworlds Projects. These projects will take place in TV, movie, or game form but will not factor into the main universe story. Still, they play a critical role in keeping the DC Universe varied and interesting.

Warner Bros.

After A LONG journey, The Batman — Part II finally has an official logo. We know a script for the DC movie was completed in August 2025. But… that’s almost a year ago now. So, it’s good to see some forward motion on the film.

Warner Bros.

Here’s everything we know about The Batman – Part II.

Title

For now, the sequel to The Batman carries the descriptive title of The Batman – Part II.

The Batman – Part II‘s Plot

We don’t know much yet about The Batman – Part II‘s plot. But we do know that a cinematic universe is building for The Batman. Next up, we’ll see a Penguin series on HBO Max, and that will tie directly into the coming sequel.

Warner Bros.

One thing is clear about The Batman – Part II; its focus will stay on Batman, a.k.a Bruce Wayne. Reeves shares:

To me, the thing that I really feel is that I also believe that Rob [Pattinson] is so special in the role. My goal has always been to do these point-of-view stories that allow the character to always be the emotional center of the story. Because a lot of times what happens is, after you do the first one, then suddenly other Rogues Gallery characters come in, and they kind of take over, and then Batman takes a backseat sort of character-wise, or emotionally.

But what is the current state of The Batman – Part II? Unfortunately, the film has been delayed once more. Although The Batman – Part II was originally meant to arrive in 2025, it will now be released on October 1, 2027, after two delays. James Gunn confirmed the news on Threads, revealing, “The only reason for the delay is there isn’t a full script (those of you who follow me here probably know that already). Matt is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write. Once there is a finished script, there is around two years for pre-production, shooting and post-production on big films.”

But happily, Matt Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin have finally finished The Batman—Part II‘s script. They took to Instagram to celebrate the news. And hey, although the script was delayed, it comes right on schedule, at least according to James Gunn.

Gunn recently shared in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “Listen, we’re supposed to get a script in June. I hope that happens. We feel really good about it. People should get off Matt’s nuts because it’s like, let the guy write the screenplay in the amount of time he needs to write it. That’s just the way it is. He doesn’t owe you something because you like his movie. I mean, you like his movie because of Matt. So let Matt do things the way he does.”

Gunn additionally shared, “I am irritated by people. I mean, it’s just that thing people don’t need to be entitled about. It’s going to come out when he feels good about the screenplay. And Matt’s not going to give me the screenplay until he feels good about the screenplay.” Happily, it seems like that time has finally come. Reeves and co made the June deadline. And, according to Variety sources, “the studio is thrilled with Matt Reeves’ just-submitted screenplay draft for the sequel to The Batman.” Huzzah!

The Batman – Part II‘s CastWarner Bros.

For now, we know Robert Pattinson will return as our Bruce Wayne/Batman. It just wouldn’t be a The Batman movie without him. In addition, an article in GQ notes that Matt Reeves has confirmed Andy Serkis’ return as Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman – Part II.

A February 21, 2024 interview on Vanity Fair also confirmed Barry Keoghan—who had a brief cameo in the first film as the Joker—will return, presumably in a much bigger role, for The Batman – Part II.

Warner Bros.Behind the Scenes

Matt Reeves is returning to write the sequel to The Batman. But this time, he will find a co-writer in Mattson Tomlin. We assume Reeves will also direct The Batman – Part II.

The Batman – Part II Release Date

The Batman – Part II will release on October 1, 2027. Production on The Batman—Part II officially began in the spring of 2026.

Originally published on February 8, 2023.

The post THE BATMAN – PART II Shares Official Logo appeared first on Nerdist.

Qualcomm's CEO said today that the company is working on over 40 new AI hardware designs

A security researcher said a flaw in FIFA’s online platforms allowed her to access several internal systems, including one that could have allowed her to take control of the TV stream of every World Cup match.

Google has released Android 17 and Wear OS 7, introducing new multitasking features, parental controls, security tools, and smartwatch upgrades. The launch is also accompanied by a Pixel Drop that brings Google’s latest AI models to its devices.

The company said the cuts were part of a restructuring meant to help scale to profitability. Rivian recently pushed back its profitability goal to invest in autonomy.

⚡ Quick Take

• In the lead-up to The Vampire Lestat, we spoke to Eric Bogosian about Daniel Molloy’s queerness and how it manifests across the series.
• Daniel Molloy’s queerness has always been a fascinating aspect of his character, one that fans want to know more about.
• Eric Bogosian confirms that Daniel Molloy is queer across Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat and says he’ll “taste any flavor.”

One of my favorite parts about AMC’s Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat is that every character is queer. In fact, famously, showrunner Rolin Jones specifically asked actor Ben Daniels if it would be okay with him if his character wasn’t queer—a vision which ended up making no sense and getting cast aside for yet more glorious queerness. And it’s exactly this expansive representation of love and sexuality that allows the series, inspired by its source material, to explore what it means to be queer via many different lenses, presentations, and definitions. Characters can confidently assert they are queer and exactly how, be deliciously murky yet settled in their romantic/sexual/lifestyle visions, or find themselves on the path toward understanding exactly who they are and what they want with no boundaries on what that might mean. (All of which is a hell of a lot more interesting than just assuming heteronormativity with no further interrogation, if you ask me.) Which leads us to the queerness of Daniel Molloy, played to perfection across Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat by Eric Bogosian and Luke Brandon Field.

AMC

Daniel Molloy’s queerness has been a fascinating aspect of the character so far in the Anne Rice Immortal Universe. On the one hand, we literally meet the ’70s version of Daniel Molloy at a gay bar, where he allows himself to be picked up by Louis de Pointe du Lac, lured by the promise of drugs. Young Daniel, played by Brandon Field, tells Louis before they leave together, “If something happens, I’m cool.” And notes that he’s “into counter-cultures.” After Louis provides a veritable buffet of substances to him, he immediately begins to strip, anticipating a reciprocation of sex for goods offered, calling it “fulfilling my side of the social contract.” Perhaps most telling, when begging Louis to turn him into a vampire and give him the dark gift, he invokes “marriage and cancer” in the same breath, calling it a part of “all this shit” that humans need to carry; something that absolutely makes us feel like young Daniel has no interest in a cookie-cutter life.

Of course, trading sex with men for drugs does not necessarily imply queerness of any kind, as much as it highlights a blend of addiction and desperation in Daniel. Indeed, Bogosian’s older Daniel tells Louis in Interview with the Vampire season one that he met Louis at a gay bar because it was “A good place to score. I did what I had to.” And yet, there’s a certain wistfulness to him when Louis confirms to him that the pair did not have sex with one another in season two, and he says, “I really thought we did.” Something almost shy appears to come over Daniel when Louis laughs and offers, “Do you want to now?” The expression the character wears in response feels meditative and somehow intense over the notion, and not remotely dismissive of it.

AMC

As we continue to understand Daniel in Interview with the Vampire, the question of his queerness is continually complicated. On the one hand, we see that Daniel stumbled into attempts at a kind of “normative” life throughout his years. He marries twice, both times ostensibly to a woman, and has children, but, of course, spectacularly blows up all his romantic and familial relationships. In the end, Daniel always prioritizes his work as a journalist over a more conventional existence. Meanwhile, we also learn that during the beginning of the AIDs epidemic, Daniel published a running series of articles on Karposi Sarcoma, a cancer that afflicted AIDS patients. And in the ads for his online journalism courses, older Daniel shows images of ACT UP and other shots of the AIDs crisis while noting, “There are some stories out there that need to be told. There’s shit out there that’s just, you know, wrong.”

AMC

Additionally, when Daniel Molloy speaks about queerness in Interview with the Vampire, he refers to the idea of being a “homophile.” The term “homophile” is one that was used by queer people in the ’50s and ’60s as they fought for their rights and societal acceptance, and served to emphasize the love and romance that exists in queer relationships (versus the more sexual emphasis in “homoesexual.”) Again, none of these aspects of Daniel confirm or deny his queerness, but are merely a whirlwind of interesting information about him, feeding our curiosity.

And so, with all this in mind, in the lead-up to The Vampire Lestat, Nerdist asked Eric Bogosian directly about Daniel Molloy’s queerness, and here’s what he had to say:

Well, I mean, Daniel and I have roughly the same timeline. So anything that has to do with queer stuff back in the ’70s has to be also rebellious if it has any sort of public aspect to it. Daniel wasn’t in the closet. He was hanging out in gay bars. He’s not strictly homosexual, he’s kind of like everything. And that is also of the Boomer ’70s. If it feels good, do it. That’s pretty much Daniel’s thing. So I think that is a part of Daniel. He’s against the status quo. The status quo is a straight, breeder world, and he’s always been ready to walk into any doorway and taste any flavor. And if it feels good, do it.

Whilst in Interview with the Vampire, Daniel’s queerness felt a bit like it had a question mark next to it. Without spoiling too much, I will say The Vampire Lestat goes out of its way to confirm that Daniel’s trysts with men were not born out of the press of addiction or desperation, but came from his own desires, as Bogosian suggests here. And that, throughout his life, his sexuality has been an evolving, complex thing, but he has NOT been straight. (And no, this doesn’t have anything specifically to do with any Armand revelations, SORRY!) While fans might be like, “Duh!” I feel this was an important path to walk for the series.

AMC Networks

And that’s basically what we get from Eric Bogosian’s discussion of Daniel as well, a firm confirmation of Daniel Molloy’s ever-present queerness in The Vampire Lestat and Interview with the Vampire. And we kind of love the idea that Daniel doesn’t have a defined label for his queerness, but that he is, in fact, diffusely queer and prepared to be queer in whichever way suits him best. Too often, even within queer circles, there’s a strong emphasis on how one’s queerness should manifest. It makes perfect sense for Daniel to be totally unconcerned with that and still totally queer. We also like his allusion to being a Boomer in the ’70s. As my writer Eric Diaz notes, “not an insignificant amount of Boomers were pioneers when it came to sexual expression.” And it’s an important fact to remember.

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An Afternoon with Eric Bogosian: On HUMPTY DUMPTY, IWTV, Art, and More

Of course, in real life, no person would ever have to overtly confirm whether or not they are queer to be queer. But in a TV series, that knowledge is important and impactful. In our mainstream properties, meaningful queer representation of any kind still struggles to bloom, and anything beyond the most normative vision of queerness struggles that much more. When it comes to queer representation, Daniel
Molloy, as played by Eric Bogosian, offers what I’ve previously called a seminal opportunity for, in colloquial terms, “elder queer representation” on our screens. Or, in more serious terms, Bogosian’s Molloy offers a chance for a generation of queer men who aren’t only missing from our screens but tragically missing from our realities to step into the limelight of a fictional work. And we’re glad the series is working to deliver on the possibility.

AMC

In the past, Bogosian shared of Daniel Molloy’s journey and queerness:

I was transfixed by episode five, what Luke [Brandon Field] did as the young Daniel, and what was going on in that. And strangely, it paralleled my own life, which is also weird. I mean, Daniel is not an old guy in the books, and yet here we have this guy who’s kind of grumpy and old, and he’s been celebrated, but now nothing is really going on for him other than a masterclass. And that was sort of where I was at as we begin to work on the show. But if you go all the way back to the mid-seventies, I’m there too. That’s what’s weird about it, is that there wasn’t a door I didn’t walk through. There was nothing that scared me. I was fascinated by whatever was going on. My gay experiences were very limited, but it wasn’t like I wouldn’t do something… So, Luke, studied me to play this part, which was crazy, without me knowing it. And those scenes start to bring up all these questions.

And there’s also this thing when they go fishing in my mind, and I propose to my wife in Paris, and I get turned down. What about those? There are so many scenes. Then there’s the present-day relationship with Armand. There’s also this amazing moment, it kind of goes by pretty quickly, of Armand’s backstory, which is so deep. And so if you’ve read the books, there’s a lot to think about with what that represents, and then what you just brought up, which frankly I haven’t even thought of, the AIDS crisis in the story. But what would that do? What would that be?”

AMC

Definitely a slew of questions that we hope to see answered in time. And, so far, in The Vampire Lestat, the queerness of Daniel Molloy feels like it has risen to the surface. Daniel and Lestat certainly have some tension. Fans also quickly grew fond of the idea of trysts between Daniel and Dee Pharma, played by Amaka Umeh, who is definitely queer, after Daniel drank from her and she called him “Papi.” (Daniel also showers in the middle of Lestat’s tour bus in some scenes, which isn’t necessarily a queer thing to do, but is a nice nod to the idea that people of any age can be sexy.) But on a more emotional level, Daniel recently spoke about the vampiric bond he shares with his wayward maker, Armand, in quite romantic terms. Armand, of course, is Daniel’s great love in the books, and a love between the pair of them is something that fans of the series immensely hope will develop this season.

Where all this will go, we don’t yet know. But we do know that Daniel Molloy is queer and not in the closet in The Vampire Lestat. And we couldn’t feel happier to hear it.

The Vampire Lestat (or season three of Interview with the Vampire) is currently streaming on AMC and AMC+. New episodes arrive Sundays at 9 pm PT/ET on AMC and at midnight on AMC+.

Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerdist. She is ready for Devil’s Minion to become canon so one of her ships can finally sail.

This post has affiliate links, which means we may earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, we just have to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

The post Eric Bogosian Talks Daniel Molloy’s Queerness in THE VAMPIRE LESTAT appeared first on Nerdist.

The Israeli tech company and Intel subsidiary said it will launch its own robotaxi service in a U.S. city in 2027.

After many years, Snap is finally launching its next consumer-focused smart glasses line.

WordPress VIP’s latest survey suggests consumers are wary of AI-generated answers even as companies increasingly view AI search as an important referral channel.

⚡ Quick Take

• The Last House is about a family of four who are sealed inside their home without warning and are unable to escape.
• The scariest part? They have no idea what is keeping them there.

A brand new “locked-room” horror movie will come out later this year, and the trailer dropped today. It is directed by Louis Leterrier, known for The Incredible Hulk (2008) and a handful of the Fast and Furious movies. It feels very “remember the pandemic?” only in this case, they literally can’t leave. But why? Check out the trailer below.

A family of four are suddenly sealed inside their home with no way out, and must work together to survive against both their dwindling resources and the mysterious, looming threat that is keeping them trapped.

The movie will star Greta Lee, who made a splash in her leading role in Past Lives, which received two Oscar nominations in 2023. Wagner Moura, her costar, starred in Narcos and Civil War (2024).

The Last House follows what appears to be a worldwide crisis: ordinary citizens trapped within their homes suddenly, without explanation. The natural world begins to take over outside. People live their lives unable to escape the walls of their own houses, forced to survive on ever-shrinking resources.

Netflix

This idea is unique. Commonly in locked-room horror setups, like the Saw franchise, for example, the protagonists are stuck somewhere with the threat. In the trailer, it appears that the threat is coming from outside.

Some well-chosen closeups of Lee frozen in horror alongside some tension-filled music make it clear that the movie will terrify. The trailer gives nary a hint at what monster or force could be behind the event.

Unfortunately, the trailer might be too vague. At the least, a few more clips with dialogue between characters definitely wouldn’t have hurt. At the most, more action or even a flashed image of something horrifying might have made it even more intriguing.

The trailer relies on the loose premise and an unseen, mysterious force to maintain its thrill. It hopes to entice horror lovers willing to take a chance going off of very little information. Hopefully, this means whatever is behind the trap is so scary that putting it onscreen would ruin the fun.

The Last House will be available to watch on Netflix starting August 7, 2026.

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