• "Squid Game" season one premiered on Netflix three years ago.
• The Korean-language series is one of Netflix's biggest shows ever and was renewed for a second season.
• Here's a recap of everything important you need to remember from season one.

Back in 2021, "Squid Game" premiered, and the buzzy show quickly turned into a global sensation.

The Korean-language Netflix series, created by Hwang Dong-hyuk and starring Lee Jung-jae, is broadly about how adverse financial situations drive people to desperation. In the show, which is set in South Korea, people in heavy debt are invited to participate in a shady game with the promise of a monetary reward. What they don't realize upon joining, however, is that they'll be killed if they lose.

"Squid Game" is one of Netflix's biggest hits ever, to the extent that the streamer even spun it off into a reality series called "Squid Game: The Challenge." Despite the fact that it's endured as a pop culture phenomenon, it's been three years since the first season was released on Netflix.

Ahead of "Squid Game" season two's premiere on December 26, here's everything you need to remember about what happened in season one.

Seong Gi-hun decided to join the games after falling into debt

At the beginning of "Squid Game," Seong Gi-hun is a down-on-his-luck man who, following his divorce, lives with his mother. Hounded by loan sharks and unable to take his daughter Ga-yeong out for her birthday, Gi-hun encounters a recruiter who invites him to participate in a game with a monetary reward.

Gi-hun agrees, and is taken with 455 other players to a mysterious facility. There, he's assigned the player number 456 and encounters his old friend Cho Sang-woo (player 218) who has also fallen into deep debt. Gi-hun also befriends player 001, an old man named Oh Il-nam, and recognizes player 067, Kang Sae-byeok, as a woman who pickpocketed him outside of the games.

Sae-byeok is a North Korean defector attempting to bring her mother to South Korea and provide for her younger brother. Other relevant players include Ali (Player 199), a Pakistani immigrant attempting to provide for his wife and child; Han Mi-nyeo (player 212), a woman who relies on allies to survive the games; and Deok-su (Player 101), a gangster whose comrades sold him out in the outside world.

Guards inform the players that should they win six games, they'll win billions of Korean won.

The first game, 'Red Light, Green Light,' is a bloodbath — but the players still return after.

Gi-hun and the other participants quickly realize that they're in mortal peril when players who fail the first game, "Red Light, Green Light," are immediately gunned down. However, for every player who dies in the games, 100 million won gets added to the prize pot.

Gi-hun and the above players all make it through the first game. The surviving players vote to leave the game without any of the winnings. When presented with the choice outside the game, however, they choose to return. Gi-hun chooses to play after realizing that he can't pay for his mother's diabetes treatment.

Detective Hwang Jun-ho investigates the games, believing they may be tied to his brother's disappearance.

While briefly back in the outside world, Gi-hun attempts to expose the games to the police but fails.

However, detective Hwang Jun-ho notices similarities between Gi-hun's story and the disappearance of his brother, and decides to follow Gi-hun back to the island when he returns to the game. Once there, he poses as a guard. While undercover, Jun-ho discovers a secret organ-harvesting ring led by the game's guards.

Jun-ho eventually finds the games' archives and records, which indicate that his brother was a previous player.

In episode seven, when a group of VIP guests arrive, Jun-ho goes undercover as a waiter to find out more about their identities. After separating one from the rest of the group, he threatens him with a gun and interrogates him about the games.

In episode eight, Jun-ho escapes to another island but is tracked down by the Front Man, the boss of the games, and a group of guards.

The Front Man takes off his mask and reveals he is In-ho, Jun-ho's lost brother, and asks Jun-ho to join him. When Jun-ho declines, In-ho shoots him and Jun-ho seemingly falls off a cliff to his death.

Players begin to form alliances over the next rounds of games.

Gi-hun, Ali, Sang-woo, and Il-nam form one group and are the main focus after the first game. Han Mi-nyeo tries to join Deok-su and begins a sexual relationship with him. Sae-byeok tries to get through the games alone.

The second round is Dalgona, in which players have to cut shapes out of a sugar honeycomb biscuit without breaking it. Sang-woo figures out the game before it starts but tricks his group into splitting up, leading to Gi-hun picking the hardest shape (umbrella). Gi-hun still makes it through after figuring out it is easier to break the shape out by licking the biscuit.

The third game is tug-of-war, in which two teams of 10 pull a rope across a high platform. The losing team's members are pulled over the edge to their death.

Gi-hun and his allies, now including Sae-byeok, split up to recruit five more people, leading to three men and a woman, Ji-yeong (player 240), joining the team. Deok-su betrays Mi-nyeo, kicking her out of his team of men, so she joins Gi-hun's team.

Using clever tactics, Gi-hun's team makes it through tug-of-war despite having weaker people.

There's a secret organ-harvesting sect within the organization.

In episode four, we learn that some of the guards are harvesting the body parts of the players killed in the games to sell on the black market.

They hire Byeong-gi (Player 111), a doctor, to perform the surgery to safely remove the organs. The guards buy his allegiance by giving him the secrets of the next game so he can stay alive, and he uses that information to ally with Deok-su and his group of strong men.

In episode five, the organ smuggling ring falls apart when the guards are unable to tell Byeong-gi what the next game is. He freaks out, kills a guard, and tries to escape. The Front Man tracks down Byeong-gi and the remaining guard and kills them both.

In episode four, the players riot.

After Deok-su accidentally kills another player during a confrontation over food, the players learn they can kill each other outside the games without any consequences and still increase the prize fund.

When the lights go out for bedtime, the players turn on each other. Amid the chaos, Gi-hun and his allies protect Sae-byeok from Deok-su and his cronies. Before there is more bloodshed, Il-nam cries out that everyone should "stop this madness," and the guards intervene and end the riot.

While the guards check the bodies, Jun-ho, still disguised as a guard, approaches Gi-hun and asks him if he has seen his brother, Hwang In-ho. Gi-hun says players don't use names inside the games, so he doesn't know.

Gi-hun bonds with Il-nam.

One night between the games, Gi-hun and his team form a barricade to stop themselves from getting attacked.

While Gi-hun and Il-nam are on watch duty, Gi-hun daydreams about the time he went on strike with his fellow employees at a motor company and was mercilessly attacked by the police.

He then talks about the experience with Il-nam, explaining that they went on strike and barricaded themselves in the company building after the company laid off Gi-hun and a group of employees who had been working there for over a decade.

Then Il-nam falls ill, and Gi-hun looks after him.

Players turn against each other in the Marbles game.

In this game, everyone pairs up. The twist, however, is that their partner will be their opponent: They will play games against each other until one person is the winner and the loser is killed.

Ali and Sang-woo pair up and play a game where you have to guess if there's an even or odd number of marbles in a hidden hand. Ali, who has never played the game before, has a streak of wins, so Sang-woo begs for his life and then tricks Ali into believing they both can win by sticking together. Sang-Woo then steals Ali's marbles and progresses, leaving Ali to die.

Gi-hun and Il-nam play a similar game, but Il-nam begins to lose his memory and focus and wanders off. When they finally play the game, Il-nam is winning until Gi-hun starts to use Il-nam's poor memory to his advantage, lying about the guesses they make. As Gi-hun is about to win, Il-nam reveals that he knew Gi-hun was deceiving him but gives him the final marble anyway. Gi-hun progresses, and Il-nam is seemingly shot off-screen.

Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok pair up, but instead of playing, they open up about their lives. Ji-yeong reveals that she went to prison after killing her abusive father, who killed her mother. At the last moment, the pair play a game where they have to throw a marble nearest to the wall to win all the marbles. After Sae-byeok throws her marble, Ji-yeong deliberately fails her throw. She tells Sae-byeok she has nothing to live for, so she wants her to win and live life to the fullest.

Deok-su makes it through. Mi-nyeo could not find someone to pair with, so makes it through automatically.

Only three characters make it past game five.

Game five is Glass Bridge, where players have to make it across a bridge made of glass platforms. Half of the glass is tempered glass, which could survive the weight of two players, and the other half will break on impact, letting the players fall to their deaths.

The contestants must choose which path is the safe one. They're given an order and Gi-hun, Sae-byeok, and Sang-woo end up near the back of the line.

During the game, Mi-nyeo uses the opportunity to get her revenge, throwing herself and Deok-su onto one of the brittle glass platforms and to their deaths.

After Sang-woo pushes the final player in front of them to his death, Sang-woo, Gi-hun, and Sae-byeok make it across just in time before the remaining glass blows up, but shards of glass stab all three of them.

Sang-woo kills Sae-byeok but dies during the last game.

When they return from the glass bridge, Gi-hun and Sang-woo get into a fight over Sang-woo killing the other player during the glass bridge game. Sang-woo, Gi-hun, and Sae-byeok are given a feast — and at the end, each of them are left with a knife.

Sae-byeok was gravely wounded by a glass shard during the bridge game, so Gi-hun tries to protect her during the night. They promise to look after each other's family members if one of them dies in the next round.

Gi-hun attempts to kill Sang-woo in his sleep, but Sae-byeok stops him and says that he is not a killer. She passes out, and Gi-hun tries to get her medical help. Sang-woo uses this as a distraction to stab Sae-byeok in the neck, killing her.

The final game is Squid Game, where an attacker has to get to a safe area behind a defender. Gi-hun is the attacker, and Sang-woo is the defender. Sang-woo says that he killed Sae-byeok out of mercy — and to prevent Gi-hun and Sae-byeok from voting to end the game.

The game devolves into a bloody fight in the rain, with both men attempting to stab each other. Gi-hun overpowers Sang-woo but doesn't kill him. He moves toward the safe area, but attempts to convince Sang-woo to stop the game with him and leave with their lives.

Sang-woo chooses instead to stab himself, and asks Gi-hun to look after his mother. Gi-hun sees her after he is released from the game, but returns home to learn that his own mother has died.

Gi-hun discovers Il-nam is alive — and not who he appeared to be.

Gi-hun has barely touched his winnings a year after the games. One day, he receives a mysterious card with an address on it.

There he finds Il-nam (Player 001), who reveals he created the games and entered the competition to have fun because he was dying from a tumor. Il-nam also makes a wager with Gi-hun that no one will help an unconscious drunk man lying on the pavement across the street from them. Gi-hun accepts, but Il-nam dies before discovering that he was wrong.

Gi-hun is revived from this encounter, gets a haircut, and changes his hair color. He picks up Sae-byeok's brother, Kang Cheol, and takes him — and a suitcase full of money — to live with Sang-woo's mother.

Gi-hun almost leaves Korea but changes his mind.

Gi-hun prepares to fly to the United States to visit his daughter, but spots the game recruiter at the airport inviting someone else to the game.

Gi-hun chases him down, but the recruiter escapes. Gi-hun steals the invitation card from the new candidate and calls the number on the way to his plane. In-ho answers, and urges Gi-hun to get on the plane.

Gi-hun says that he can't forgive him, and turns back.

"Squid Game" season two premieres Thursday, December 26 on Netflix.

• 2024 may not have been as big a year for television as 2023 – but there were plenty of gems.
• Series like FX's "Shōgun," Prime Video's "Fallout," and Netflix's "Baby Reindeer" cut through the noise.
• Here are the BI entertainment team's favorite television series of the year.

Amid shake-ups in the television industry, 2024 still delivered a slate of great TV series ranging from familiar continuations to ambitious debuts.

That includes series like FX's "Shōgun," an immersive adaptation that brought top Japanese talent to American screens; the Brian Jordan Alvarez comedy "English Teacher," which turns high school culture wars into comedy fodder; and hits like "Baby Reindeer," which captivated the world with a story pulled from creator Richard Gadd's life.

Here are our favorites from this year.

"Abbott Elementary" season 4

Season four of "Abbott Elementary" picks up with Janine (Quinta Brunson) and Gregory (Tyler James Williams) officially dating after their slow-burn romance played in the show's previous seasons. At the start of this season, the pair are unsuccessfully trying to keep their relationship a secret from their Abbott Elementary coworkers when they return to school.

The writing of "Abbott Elementary" remains as sharp and culturally relevant as ever, and the latest season sprinkles in new characters that keep the show fresh and exciting — from Jacob's younger brother Caleb (Tyler Perez) and an IT guy named O'Shon (Matthew Law) whom the staff have a crush on to a lovable guinea pig named Sweet Cheeks who breaks through Melissa's (Lisa Ann Walter) tough exterior. — Olivia Singh

"Arcane" season 2

Netflix and Riot Games' "Arcane" is one of the most impressive and ambitious animated works of the past decade — and while it doesn't always find its footing, the end result is still so spectacular.

The series is adapted from Riot Games' massively popular video game "League of Legends," honing in on a small cast of characters who live in Piltover, the gleaming city of progress, and Zaun, its less-than-scintillating undercity. The conflict between the two cities has reached a critical point by season two. Unfortunately for all parties, so has the evolution of Hextech, a magic-powered technology that has spiraled out of control and turned one of its developers into a misguided messiah. Oops!

Season two is nothing if not ambitious and widens its scope while leveling up its already excellent animation, courtesy of the French studio Fortiche. In the process, it loses some of the intimate character work and tight focus that made its first season truly extraordinary. Still, the second season serves as a fitting conclusion and is a harbinger of good things to come from Riot's entertainment arm. — Palmer Haasch

Read Haasch's interview with "Arcane" showrunner Christian Linke.

"Baby Reindeer"

Few shows caused as much of a stir this year as "Baby Reindeer," starring and written by comedian Richard Gadd. Netflix and the creator himself billed the series as a true story based on Gadd's real-life experience of being stalked by an older woman. Unfortunately, the show's stalker character, Martha Scott, was quickly outed as Fiona Harvey, who took legal action against the streamer.

Despite all the behind-the-scenes controversy, "Baby Reindeer" is a work of art. Gadd lays himself bare as Donny, who's loosely based on himself. He's a powerhouse in episode four, which flashes back to explain the source of Donny's trauma before meeting Martha.

It's an engrossing watch with equally powerful performances from Jessica Gunning, who plays the disturbed but deeply sad Martha, and Nava Mau, who plays Donny's girlfriend, Teri. — Caralynn Matassa

Read about the legal drama behind "Baby Reindeer.'

"The Boys," season 4

If "The Boys" is Prime Video's NSFW answer to superhero fare like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then season four feels like the equivalent of "Avengers: Infinity War" — minus a snap from a villain that wipes out half the universe.

Season four of "The Boys" is darker than past seasons, as the characters confront deep-seated traumas. For an aging Homelander (Anthony Starr), this means grappling with the legacy he'll leave behind for his son Ryan. For his nemesis Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), it means coming to terms with his looming death and trying to prevent Ryan from succumbing to Homelander's darkness.

It's a season filled with even more gory, jaw-dropping scenes and yet another Emmy-worthy performance by Starr, particularly in Homelander's gory homecoming episode.

The endgame is nearing, with a fifth and final season of "The Boys" likely premiering in 2026. Season four ends with the perfect foundation for all hell to break loose one last time. — OS

"English Teacher"

It's astounding that it took this long for Brian Jordan Alvarez to get a series order after the release of his excellent 2016 web series "The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo" — but thankfully, "English Teacher" premiered this year.

The series stars Alvarez as Evan Marquez, a beleaguered but idealistic Texas high school teacher who comes under fire at work when a parent complains about him kissing his ex-boyfriend in front of the students.

While "English Teacher" embraces the thorny politics of being an American educator in 2024, it doesn't spin them into saccharine teaching moments or cheap jokes. It mines them for character threads and comedy. — PH

"Fallout"

With "Fallout," Jonathan Nolan proved that prestige-y video game adaptations weren't exclusive to HBO. Rather than directly adapting one of the multiple games in the postapocalyptic "Fallout" universe, Nolan instead leverages the style, humor, and striking visual identity of the games to show us something new.

"Fallout" stars Ella Purnell as Lucy, a naive resident who grew up in an underground bunker known as a Vault, established to protect humanity from nuclear armageddon. However, after tragedy befalls her home, she ventures to the surface, only to learn it isn't as deserted or unsurvivable as she was led to believe.

The series features stellar performances from Purnell and Walton Goggins, who spends most of the season admirably noseless. And while it's set in the grim aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse, it's also irreverently funny and endearing. — PH

Read Eammon Jacobs' review of "Fallout" and Jason Guerrasio's interview with Walton Goggins.

"Hacks" season 3

The Max original "Hacks" has only gotten better with age, and in season three, it feels like the show has hit its stride.

The show follows veteran stand-up comedian Deborah Vance, who, on the coattails of a successful comedy special, is gunning for her dream: a late-night hosting gig. After cutting her young writer, Ava Daniels, loose at the end of season two, Deborah realizes that she needs Ava — and Ava craves working with Deborah again, too.

This central relationship — and all the ways Deobrah and Ava support, encourage, and mess each other up — is constantly in flux. Season three not only succeeded in being funnier and more resonant than its predecessors but also in shifting Deborah and Ava's power dynamic into something new and a bit dangerous ahead of season four. — PH

Read Haasch's interview with "Hacks" stars Carl Clemons-Hopkins and Mark Indelicato.

"Industry" season 3

Move over, "Succession" — there's another contender for the best HBO show about horny, psychopathic capitalists. "Industry," the show about London's most dedicated and depraved bankers, finally broke through to the mainstream with its third season.

Seasons one and two delivered well-written, well-acted, character-driven drama about the highs and lows of a group of young bankers trading stocks (and spit). Still, season three upped the ante, spending more time away from the office in lavish locations, such as the English countryside, a yacht in the Mediterranean, and a Davos-like conference in Switzerland.

The change in scenery enhanced the story and deepened our understanding of the series' core group of complicated characters, most of whom have greatly evolved since we first saw them sitting and sweating at their Pierpoint desks.

All of it leads to an explosive finale that's massive in both budget and sheer plot, effectively wiping the slate clean for a now-confirmed season four. It's an appropriately daring move for a show confident in its vision. It's peak TV at its peak. — Samantha Rollins

Read Rollins' interview with "Industry" showrunners Mickey Down and Konrad Kay.

"Love Island USA" season 6

There were many (many) reality dating shows that aired in 2024. Having regrettably watched most of them, I can confirm that the latest installment of "Love Island USA" blew them all out of the water.

The franchise, which spun off of the UK edition, has the secret sauce that makes this genre sing. It's largely thanks to a format that other shows have tried — and failed — to replicate, wherein participants must constantly recouple to find true love (and win a cash prize).

Season six had a particularly explosive set of personalities among its cast, leading to some serious drama, shocking betrayals, truly memorable moments, and fan-favorite standouts, including Serena Page, Leah Kateb, and Jana Craig. — CM

"A Man on the Inside"

"A Man on the Inside" is initially presented as a spy mystery series as Charles Nieuwendyk (Ted Danson), a widower who recently lost his wife, accepts a job to go undercover in a retirement home.

That's all background noise to the main event, which follows the lives of a kooky gang of residents who find community with each other after being left behind by their loved ones.

Anyone who has seen Danson in any of his other many roles would not be surprised that he is an incredible leading man. However, the show's real strength is the supporting cast, especially Margaret Avery, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Sally Struthers, who provide so much humor and heart that they may make you shed tears.

"A Man on the Inside" proves we really need more TV shows centered on older characters, and there's ample talent out there to make those stories worth watching. — Ayomikun Adekaiyero

Read Rollins' interview with "A Man on the Inside" creator Mike Schur.

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith"

Prime Video's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," a reboot of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's 2005 film (mostly in name only), is deeply funny, emotionally stirring, and clever.

Sure, both titles share a similar premise — a husband and wife who are both assassins — but the television series flips it on its head to create something much better.

Donald Glover and Maya Erskine play two strangers who, upon taking a new job as shady agents for a mysterious boss, are paired together as a cover story.

The 10-episode season features a laundry list of guest stars, ranging from Ron Perlman to Micaela Coel. — PH

Read Haasch's review of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and Jacobs' interview with guest star Ron Perlman.

"Nobody Wants This"

Rom-coms are so back.

Six years after Netflix was credited with a rom-com renaissance thanks to hits like "Set It Up" and "To All the Boys I've Loved Before," the streamer struck gold again with "Nobody Wants This," a comedy series starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. The show became an instant hit, proving audiences yearn for more high-quality modern rom-coms.

"Nobody Wants This," created by Erin Foster and loosely inspired by her love story, follows Noah (Brody), an attractive and newly single rabbi, and Joanne (Kristen Bell), the outspoken agnostic host of a sex podcast. Despite their different views on religion and lifestyle, they pursue a relationship.

Noah and Joanne's swoon-worthy first kiss scene went viral, people realized that Brody had been leading man material all along, and the show jumped to the No. 2 slot on the streamer's Top 10 list for English-language TV in the week of its debut. Unsurprisingly, "Nobody Wants This" will be returning for a second season, which begins filming in February. — OS

"One Day"

The second attempt at bringing David Nicholls' bestselling novel "One Day" to the screen (after a 2011 film adaptation) is a rousing success.

The novel of the same name is already beautifully tragic, relatable, and perspective-altering, but the Netflix show amplifies all these strengths with gut-punching performances from leads Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod, who play destined lovers Dexter and Emma.

With each episode set in a different year, "One Day" takes audiences on a 14-year journey as the two grow into adults and fall in love with other people and each other, but never at the right time. For romantics or young people worried about the future, this is the show to watch from 2024. — AA

"The Penguin"

Colin Farrell leads the spinoff sequel to the 2022 film "The Batman," playing the titular comic book villain Oz "Penguin" Cobb. It was fascinating how quickly it became apparent that the show had more in common with "The Sopranos" than nearly anything DC Studios has released.

Farrell utterly transforms as Cobb, the mobster clawing to the top in Gotham after the death of crime boss Carmine Falcone in "The Batman" left a power vacuum. Still, Cristin Milioti is the real standout as Sofia Falcone, Carmine's daughter and accused psychopathic serial killer, fresh out of a stay in Arkham State Hospital. — CM

Read Jacobs' interview with "The Penguin" showrunner Lauren LeFranc.

"The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives"

On its surface, "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" was a show greenlit solely because of a TikTok scandal where several couples in a Mormon community were implicated in an alleged swinging scandal. That premise didn't seem like it'd carry far, but turns out the swinging was possibly the least dramatic thing about these women.

After a moderately slow start, "Secret Lives" turns the dial up to 11 in episode four, a group birthday vacation where all hell breaks loose as the group of friends and frenemies start calling one another out. (Shout out to the truth box, the real MVP.)

It was hard not to root for Taylor Frankie Paul and follow her tumultuous relationship with Dakota Mortensen or to root against the deeply annoying Whitney Leavitt, who became the sleeper villain of season one. We're dying to see what becomes of MomTok when the show returns in 2025. — CM

Read Haasch's interview with Taylor Frankie Paul and Mayci Neeley.

"Shōgun"

There was no stopping "Shōgun" at the 2024 Emmys, and for good reason. Based on James Clavell's 1975 novel, the stunning historical epic focuses on an English sailor who finds himself shipwrecked in Japan and crosses paths with Lord Toranga, a powerful warlord.

With incredible performances, sweeping visuals, and mesmerizing battle sequences, it's no wonder the show set a record for the most Emmys won by a single season of television and that the creators decided to rethink their limited series plan and continue the show with second and third seasons. — CM

"The Traitors" season 2

They were the words heard 'round the reality TV-loving world: "Oh lord, not Ekin-Su."

Few shows were as memed as "The Traitors," the US iteration of the international competition series where reality stars and celebrities try to deceive one another to claim a cash prize.

Season one, which aired in 2023, was entertaining, but season two reached new heights, largely thanks to compulsively watchable characters like meme factory Phaedra Parks and "Shahs of Sunset" star MJ Javid, who gave us one of the best reaction shots of the year. — CM

Read Matassa's interview with "Big Brother" alum Dan Gheesling, who tried and failed to extend his gaming skills to "The Traitors."

"X-Men '97"

Not only did "X-Men '97" expertly capture the spirit of the original animated "X-Men" series, but it also made it feel modern and relevant to the 2020s amid some gorgeously animated action.

The performances are seamless with the original show, adding new dimensions to the Marvel Universe that fans, new and old, will appreciate.

It deserves all of the praise for easily navigating the messy Jean Grey/Madelyne Prior clone saga from the comics. Season two can't come quickly enough. — Eammon Jacobs

• "Squid Game" was a massive hit for Netflix, which greenlighted a second and third season.
• Its creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk, said he's "exhausted" after working on the show and wants a break.
• Netflix has spun off "Squid Game" into a reality series, in-person experiences, and a video game.

After "Squid Game" became a global sensation in 2021, Netflix invested big time in the series and the franchise — and after working on the show's second and third seasons, its creator is ready for a break.

"I'm so exhausted. I'm so tired," Hwang Dong-hyuk, the mastermind behind the show, told Variety. "In a way, I have to say, I'm so sick of 'Squid Game.' I'm so sick of my life making something, promoting something. So I'm not thinking about my next project right now."

He added: "I'm just thinking about going to some remote island and having my own free time without any phone calls from Netflix."

"Squid Game," a Korean-language series, captured global audiences three years ago with bright, childlike aesthetics juxtaposed against a gripping, deadly story.

Unable to provide for himself or his mother's medical care, Seong Gi-hun, a divorced dad, signs on to a game where people in heavy amounts of debt play children's games in pursuit of a 45.6 billion won cash prize. To do so, they wager their lives: Losing a game means instant death. Seong, played by Lee Jung-jae, survives, but the other 455 players don't — and at the end of season one, he sets off to shut down the games himself.

The series was a massive hit for Netflix, to the tune of 330 million viewers and 2.8 billion hours viewed to date, according to Variety. Bloomberg reported a month after season one's premiere in October 2021 that Netflix estimated the series would make the company $900 million. The first season was critically successful as well: The show was nominated for 14 Emmy awards and won six, including outstanding directing for a drama series for Hwang and outstanding lead actor in a drama series for Lee.

In the three-year gap between seasons one and two, the streaming platform has capitalized on the property, spinning off the "Squid Game" franchise into the reality series "Squid Game: The Challenge" and in-person experiences where people can play through nondeadly versions of the games with their friends. This year, Netflix launched the video game "Squid Game: Unleashed" and made it available to nonsubscribers.

Hwang has been kept in the loop on these "Squid Game" projects and consults on prospective on-screen continuations of the franchise, Variety said. However, he told the publication that he was more concerned with finishing the main series.

He told Entertainment Weekly he'd intended seasons two and three to be one story but had to split them in two because of what would have been a lengthy episode count. The second and third seasons were filmed back-to-back, and season three is expected in 2025.

It's a lot of work for a creator who didn't anticipate he'd be doing a second season at all.

"I had no intention of doing a second season," Hwang said, "because the overall process of writing, producing, and directing the series was so challenging."

• HBO's "Dune: Prophecy" explores the origins of the Bene Gesserit sisterhood.
• The show is loosely based on a "Dune" prequel novel but expands past its scope.
• Showrunner Alison Schapker spoke with BI about bringing the franchise to the small screen.

"Dune: Prophecy" goes way back, thousands of years into the history of the powerful women who shaped the history of the entire "Dune" universe.

"Any 'Dune' fan knows it's just so endlessly deep in its lore, and its worldbuilding, and its specificity," showrunner Alison Schapker told Business Insider. "But for new fans who are coming in, I feel like the best way to discover a world is always through your characters."

The HBO prequel series focuses on the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the shadowy organization responsible for a breeding program meant to bring about a messiah known as the Kwisatz Haderach. In Frank Herbert's original novel and Denis Villeneuve's film adaptations, that messiah is Paul Atreides (played by Timothée Chalamet in the Villeneuve movies), a young man who shapes the history of the Imperium.

"Prophecy" is loosely based on "Sisterhood of Dune," a novel with the same premise co-authored by Herbert's son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. It follows Valya and Tula Harkonnen, sisters from a then-disgraced family — not the powerhouse the Harkonnens are in Villeneuve's films — who shape the development of the Sisterhood 10,000 years before Paul's birth.

The prequel novel served as a jumping-off point, but the creative team had free rein to build on the story, creating new characters and twists along the way. It was a challenge that Schapker, a sci-fi veteran known for her previous work on "Westworld" and "Altered Carbon," enthusiastically approached.

Schapker spoke with BI about adapting the vastness of "Dune" for the small screen, which involved juggling interpersonal drama, science fiction scope, and multiple timelines to tell the Sisterhood's story.

You were brought onto "Dune: Prophecy" after it had already been in development. How did you approach it?

This was a corner of the "Dune" universe that I really dove into. I was much more familiar with Frank Herbert's vision of "Dune." Over the years I've always been on the lookout for "Dune." But then obviously, Denis' films come along, and I think unlocked it in a new way for fans and new people, and just is so elegant, so immersive, so artistically rich.

I approach every project the same way. I want to look at everything that's there, everything I inherit, and build upon it, and deepen it, and prune it, and just continue the process of crafting story. We're only six episodes — I would say these are very robust, full hours of television, and there's a lot of discovery that goes on as you're doing it, which is really just the best.

This show has to do a lot of exposition for "Dune" in a very short timeframe, especially for newcomers. What was top of mind for you when it came to setting things up in the first episode?

Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson in their novels were not just looking at the origins of the Bene Gesserit, but they put two Harkonnen sisters right in the middle of it all. I felt like that was so exciting as a "Dune" fan, as a writer to explore, "Okay, what does it mean that this organization that's going to have such influence had a Harkonnen shepherding it? What does that tell us about the Harkonnens, and what does that tell us about the sisterhood?"

It was really fun to have this familial sisterhood between Valya Harkonnen and Tula Harkonnen at the center of a larger sisterhood with all the women at the school. That baked-in choice I thought was so strong, and the premise unfolded from there.

Telling the sisters' story requires two different timelines in the show, with younger and older versions of both Valya and Tula. How did you manage that, and craft the throughline of their relationship in both eras?

I feel like we're all a product of our past selves, and our history over time. The Bene Gesserit and the sisterhood, at this time period, they're big on long-term plans, and eventually, they're going to put into motion a plan that would last many thousands of years.

Part of it begins when Valya Harkonnen comes into control of the sisterhood, when she's a young woman played by Jessica Barden. That is very much the time period of the books. So when we were doing a direct adaptation, a lot of that is this younger Valya Harkonnen and her rise to power in the sisterhood.

But we also wanted to have room to create a rich television series, and see an older Valya, played by Emily Watson, a little more in control — where she took the sisterhood, and then how she was tested as part of a larger exploration of how it went from the Sisterhood to the Bene Gesserit. We wanted to look at the organization over time.

That's the new stuff we were extrapolating. We were doing it in conjunction with the Herbert Estate, but it allowed us some room to create and bring in some new events and characters.

In this show, you have that grounded familial relationship, but also the space opera scope of a "Dune" property. How do you balance that?

That is my joy. That's everything I want.

Obviously, we're never going to have an IMAX screen — but I do think "Dune" warrants an epic, but intimate juxtaposition, because it is asking you to think about time and worlds and politics and the impact of things like war, and power, and nature.

I think the epicness really helps those themes come through. It puts you in your place almost as a small piece of something larger. I feel like the humanity of it is woven into this bigger tapestry of the universe, and so I think some of the epicness really helps that feeling.

Early on in the development of this series, there was a push to bring in a female showrunner. I'm curious about how you've reckoned with that side of the discourse, and how any of it plays into this being a show functionally driven by women on the page and behind the camera.

It's incredibly rewarding. First of all, I think we have to start with "Dune" and the fact that women are players in such a pivotal and real way. Right in the narrative, you're brought on board as an equal in terms of who's pulling the strings, and the Imperium. That's just exciting. As a creator, of course I want my women characters to be having an impact on story as much as anyone else.

But yes, there's nothing better than feeling all your characters have a specificity and a voice. It was really fun to center the Bene Gesserit, and the sisterhood, and the Harkonnen sisters.

At the same time, it's certainly not out to be a treatise on gender. I had a lot of discussions with the Herbert estate. Just that idea that he's always thinking about how social structures and social forces might change, but be familiar even while utterly different.

"Dune: Prophecy" airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and streams on Max.

• "A Complete Unknown," directed by James Mangold, follows the early years of Bob Dylan's career.
• Timothée Chalamet gives a great performance as Bob Dylan, down to his musical performances.
• The film, however, doesn't fully context, and fails to properly establish its stakes.

The last time someone made a Bob Dylan movie, it took six actors to capture his essence. That film was Todd Haynes' 2007 "I'm Not There," a conceptual take on Dylan that split the artist into six facets of his public persona, each played by actors like Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and Cate Blanchett.

In "A Complete Unknown," James Mangold enlists only one: Timothée Chalamet, tasked with treading the path of Dylan's early career and the weight of his canonical presence in American music. The film is mostly a biopic that traces Dylan's transition to electric music, but it also functions as an ensemble drama, roping in other contemporary figures like Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) to establish the specific moment in folk music.

Unfortunately, it doesn't fully deliver on either task. The film casts Dylan as a man determined to shake his new American prophet status by innovating out of spite. As he struggles to shake the influences that tug him in different directions — fandom, contemporaries, girlfriends — it's hard to grasp exactly who we're supposed to believe this iteration of Dylan is by the end of this film.

"A Complete Unknown" is at its best when it lets the music, rendered vibrantly through live performances, stand on its own. However, in trying to capture too much, the film glosses over character and history alike and loses the connective tissue that would truly make it sing.

'A Complete Unknown' throws a lot of historical context at you, all at once

The film takes place on the heels of the McCarthy era, which called musicians like Pete Seeger into question for potential communist ties. It also occurs during the American Civil Rights Movement and the Cold War. All this political context was crucial to Dylan's formation as an artist, and influenced songs on his 1963 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" like "Blowin' in the wind" and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall."

However, past a fleeting "This Machine Kills Fascists" sticker, "A Complete Unknown" mostly relegates that political milieu to the background. Rather, it uses the political upheaval of the 1960s as a backdrop for Dylan's romantic relationships with his girlfriend Sylvie (a representation of the real-life Suze Rotolo) and fellow musician Baez.

It's the folk scene where things get a bit more complicated. "A Complete Unknown" hinges on Dylan's transition from acoustic folk music to electric instrumentation and folk rock, culminating with a controversial performance at the July 1965 Newport Folk Festival that earned him boos from the audience.

As a viewer, you're made to understand that Dylan's percolating interest in electric music and his public commitment to it is a huge deal. The issue is, the film struggles to establish exactly why. Is it due to the old guard of folk being stubborn in their ways? An audience who fears that embracing electric means eschewing protest music? Is it a side effect of the naturally slow-moving pace of culture?

It's difficult to grasp the impact of Dylan's shift, but even more difficult to fully understand his motivation in doing so. After his first record brings newfound celebrity and ponderous expectations from fans, execs, and fellow musicians alike, "A Complete Unknown" frames Dylan's changing sound as a desire to buck expectations. In one moment, Dylan says that people should "just let me be" — "whatever it is they don't want me to be."

That thread can only carry so much water, and ultimately isn't a compelling enough character reason to explain Dylan's determination to piss off an entire musical establishment. Compounded with the lack of clear stakes, the film meanders its way to its own climax as a series of vignettes that lack propulsion.

The music, and Chalamet, are pretty great, though

"A Complete Unknown" succeeds best in its music.

Both Chalamet and Barbaro, who plays Baez, underwent musical training to play their respective icons, and it pays off. Mangold keenly reproduces a sense of being in the room for the production of Dylan's early hits, whether that room is a recording studio, a club, or a hospital room.

There's a sense of gravity every time Chalamet opens his mouth, recreating Dylan's musical style in a way that's congruous with his own take on the character. Barbaro delivers Baez's ethereal vibrato well, and she and Chalamet make for a compelling duet. While Dylan's shift to electric is narratively muddy, sonically, it's not. As his musical style shifts, "A Complete Unknown" takes you on the same journey, withholding kick drums and electric guitars in the film until Dylan considers using them himself.

As for Chalamet himself, it's no small feat to tackle one of the biggest personalities in American music — especially when it's Bob Dylan, an inscrutable character on the best of days.

Chalamet's take feels equally difficult to read throughout the film, but it's the brief flashes of vulnerability, like when he first plays for his musical hero Woody Guthrie, or his enmity for an establishment that's slowly constricting him, where he shines best. It's a solid and distinguishing notch in the young actor's already prolific career.

Ultimately, "A Complete Unknown" is an imperfect beast, struggling to distill the mythos of Dylan into something wholly tangible. In that respect, Haynes' high-concept, multifaceted approach to split Dylan into thematic parts makes sense. Narrative flaws aside, however, there is something about Mangold's take on the artist that draws you in — even if it's mostly Dylan's music itself, refracted through Chalamet's voice.

"A Complete Unknown" is in theaters on Christmas Day.

• "Wicked" adapts the first half of the Broadway musical of the same name.
• Starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, it was a massive undertaking with a reported $160 million budget.
• Here are some of the behind-the-scenes details and stories that were part of the making of the film.

Warning: Some "Wicked" spoilers ahead.

"Wicked," the film adaptation of one of the longest-running Broadway musicals of all time, was understandably a major undertaking.

The movie, directed by Jon M. Chu ("In The Heights"), only tackles the first half of the stage musical in its two-hour and 41-minute runtime ("Wicked" part two is set to hit theaters in 2025). Depicting Elphaba and Glinda's school years and creating the world of Oz required major practical sets, some insurance fears, and of course, lots of green paint.

With a reported $160 million budget, "Wicked" had a stellar opening weekend at the global box office to the tune of $164.2 million. Needless to say, people are loving "Wicked" and all its fun easter eggs.

Here are some of the behind-the-scenes details and filming secrets from the making of "Wicked," part one.

The cast sang live on the set of 'Wicked.'

Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, and the rest of the cast decided to sing live on set, and that's the audio that you hear in the film itself.

Ariana Grande didn't remember saying 'RIGHT!' during 'Popular.'

In Grande's version of "Popular," she enthusiastically yells "Right!" in response to Erivo's Elphaba finishing one of her sentences. The moment, which is a departure from Chenoweth's delivery on the original cast recording, has gone viral on social media.

Grande, however, didn't remember delivering it on set, she revealed on TikTok.

'Popular' was filmed with a piano accompanist.

Chu told The New York Times that given that "Wicked's" vocals were recorded live, the production filmed "Popular" with a pianist on set.

Having a live accompanist meant that Grande could play with tempo in her performance, rather than having to adhere to a pre-recorded instrumental track.

Erivo did her own stunts.

Elphaba loops around in the sky during "Defying Gravity" — and Erivo did so herself on set, flying through the air on wires while in costume.

"How can you hire an actor that does their own stunts, amazing acting, sings, and then you integrate all three of those things together and land it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again?" Chu said in a behind-the-scenes video.

Grande also did stunts in 'Wicked.'

In "Popular," there's a moment where Grande swings around on a chandelier. On "The Tonight Show," she shared footage of her doing the stunt with Erivo and a stunt coordinator.

"One of our stunt coordinators was standing in the room just to make sure that I didn't break all of my limbs," Grande said. "He was standing in the corner really stoically and bravely, and my foot just kind of almost breaks his face."

Cynthia Erivo chose to be painted green rather than using CGI.

In a video uploaded to the "Wicked" Instagram account, Erivo said that she was given the choice to either be painted green, or have the color applied in post-production.

"I wanted to look back at a reflection and see a green woman in front of me. I really wanted for her skin to feel textured. When you look at it, there's freckles, and there's tone, and shade, just like skin should be. She has these green eyes that come from the genetic makeup of who she is, and it isn't just on her, it's in her," Erivo said.

Erivo also wore fake ears on set to cover her piercings.

Erivo has multiple piercings in her ears. Rather than cover them up individually, the production team just opted to give her new ears entirely.

"I have a million piercings, so they brought in a prosthetic artist, who created basically a shell for my ears — those aren't my ears!" she told Elle.

Grande and Erivo spent five hours together when they first met.

The actors told Deadline that they wanted to deliberately build their friendship and "take care of each other," as Grande said.

"The first time we met was at my house," Erivo said. "We sat and chatted for a good few hours — five — and I think we just saw each other immediately. It was really easy. We didn't have to think about it, we were just there and that has continued."

Grande and Erivo both had COVID the week before their respective biggest numbers.

The actors told The New York Times that they each got COVID once on set. For Grande, it was the week before "Popular," Glinda's biggest, mostly solo number. Erivo had it the week before she shot "Defying Gravity," the climax of the first film.

Grande and Erivo got matching tattoos.

The stars got multiple "Wicked"-themed tattoos, including matching "For Good" tattoos on their palms, poppies on their hands, and hearts on their legs. Each actor also has individual tattoos, such as a broom and hat for Erivo.

The pair gave a tour of their matching tattoos on "The Kelly Clarkson Show."

The 'tornado wheel' in 'Dancing Through Life' was almost deemed too dangerous.

The wheel setpiece has three different rotating pieces, each with a ladder cutting across the middle. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chu called the set "very dangerous" — to the extent that the production's insurance was not keen on allowing it.

"I wasn't sure they were gonna allow Jonathan Bailey in the tornado wheel because of safety. Which makes sense, because this is, he needs to carry on. We can't injure our Fiyero," choreographer Christopher Scott told EW.

Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth said they changed their character descriptions.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Chenoweth and Menzel — the original Glinda and Elphaba — spoke about how they were asked to be in the film.

"We both texted, and she said, 'Have you seen the description of us in the movie?' And it was like, it didn't say 'old, decrepit,'" Chenoweth said. "It said something like that. But then we changed it and we said, 'No, we're not going to be those wise men.'"

"Can't we just be beautiful fairy goddesses?" Menzel said.

"We might have had that one part changed," Chenoweth said. "Just that one."

Kristin Chenoweth got Ariana Grande matching Glinda jackets.

Chenoweth posted several photos of herself and Grande wearing the matching painted pink jackets on Instagram.

"Leading my babygirl down the yellow brick road," she captioned the post. "I surprised @arianagrande with these jackets on set at @wickedmovie… a little physical memento of our 'passing of the wand.'"

"Wicked" is now playing in theaters.

• HBO is expanding the "Game of Thrones" universe with another prequel.
• "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" takes place between the main series and "House of the Dragon."
• It's based on George R. R. Martin's novellas and follows a knight and his squire.

"House of the Dragon" season three probably won't air until 2026, but "Game of Thrones" fans have another prequel to look forward to in the meantime: "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms."

Although the "Game of Thrones" ending disappointed many fans in 2019, HBO recognized that the world of Westeros is a lucrative property. And there's plenty of material to use considering all the spinoff stories and novellas that George R. R. Martin has written.

The network is also working on other "GOT" prequel shows, including "Nine Voyages," "Ten Thousand Voyages," and "The Golden Empire."

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is set about 70 years after "House of the Dragon" and 100 years before "Game of Thrones," as the network fills in the huge timeline of the fantasy franchise.

The story follows Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire, Egg. Here's what you need to know about "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms."

'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' is about Dunk and Egg

The first season is based on Martin's first novella in the "Tales of Dunk and Egg" series, which is called "The Hedge Knight."

It introduces Ser Duncan the Tall, a knight who roams the country offering his services. At a tournament to prove his knightly skill, Duncan meets a boy with a shaved head called Egg.

Egg's real name is Aegon Targaryen, a distant member of the feared rulers of Westeros.

The series depicts his youth away from the centers of power — but later in his life, he bypasses many in the line of succession to be crowned Aegon V and take the Iron Throne.

After "The Hedge Knight," the unlikely duo's adventures continue in "The Sworn Sword" and "The Mystery Knight."

In May 2023, HBO executive Francesca Orsi told Deadline that the network plans to adapt each of the three novellas into a six-episode season.

But, as with the source material for "Game of Thrones," Martin has not finished Dunk and Egg's story. In a 2015 blog post, the writer said he plans to write more Dunk and Egg stories, with tentative titles including: "The She-Wolves of Winterfell," "The Village Hero," "The Sellsword," "The Champion," "The Kingsguard," and "The Lord Commander."

Should Martin release these in the future, HBO could easily turn "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" into a longer-running series.

'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' will premiere in late 2025

In March 2024, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav confirmed to investors that "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" would start streaming on Max in "late 2025," IGN reported.

Warner Bros. Discovery's head of global streaming and games, JB Perrette, said that the "late 2025" launch was still a go, Variety reported in December. The publication indicated that, according to its sources, the series would likely premiere in the fourth quarter of 2025 — i.e. sometime in October, November, or December.

The 'Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' cast is led by Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" stars Peter Claffey ("Bad Sisters") as Ser Duncan the Tall, and Dexter Sol Ansell ("The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes") as Egg, his young squire.

In June 2024, HBO announced that five other actors had joined the cast, per Deadline. "True Detective: Night Country" star Finn Bennett will play Prince Aerion Targaryen, "The Gentlemen" actor Daniel Ings will play Ser Lyonel Baratheon," and "Fargo" season five star Sam Spruell will play Aerion's father, Maekar Targaryen.

Additionally, "The Crown" alum Bertie Cavel will play Maekar's brother, Baelor Targaryen, and Tanzyn Crawford will play Dunk's love interest, Tanselle.

In August, Entertainment Weekly reported several more actors had joined the cast of the prequel, including "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder" star Henry Ashton as Daeron Targaryen.

He isn't the same Daeron who gets mentioned in "House of the Dragon," because "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is set 100 years later — the Targaryens often reuse names.

Ashton will be joined by Edward Ashley as Ser Steffon Fossoway, Daniel Monks as Ser Manfred Dondarrion, Youssef Kerkour as Steely Pate, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer, Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway, and Danny Webb as Ser Arlan of Pennytree

The first trailer for 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' showcased Dunk and Egg

HBO released the first teaser for "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" as part of a 2024-2025 preview trailer in August 2024, alongside footage from other highly anticipated shows including "The Penguin," "IT: Welcome to Derry," and "The Last of Us" season two.

The footage sees Dunk introduce himself as Ser Duncan the Tall while also giving a brief look at Egg. There are a few quick shots of Dunk training with his sword and a moment where he punches someone during a fight.

• Charles Yu adapted his 2020 novel, "Interior Chinatown," into a Hulu series starring Jimmy O. Yang.
• Yu had a long career as a lawyer, during which he published several works of fiction.
• He pivoted to writing full time after getting staffed on the HBO series "Westworld."

Charles Yu's "first love" was literature, but before he became a novelist and showrunner, pragmatism led him down another path.

As an undergraduate, Yu pursued a pre-med track with a minor in creative writing at the University of California, Berkeley. After he failed to get into medical school, Yu flirted with a job in finance. Eventually, he settled on a career in law — practical, but something that played to his literary sensibilities.

The Columbia Law School grad worked as a lawyer for the next 13 years with stints at the top firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and the electronics company Belkin. All the while, he stayed creatively busy, publishing three books he'd written in his downtime.

"I didn't have to worry about where the mortgage payment was coming from, so I could just write when I got to write," Yu told Business Insider.

For more than a decade, Yu balanced his career and his passion. By 2014, he came to a crossroads when a major opportunity came his way: He was offered a staff writer position on the hit HBO sci-fi series "Westworld." He had to make a decision.

Yu's choice led him to where he is now, a decade later, as the showrunner of the Hulu series "Interior Chinatown" — based on the book of the same name that Yu, incidentally, also wrote. The high-concept comedy, which boasts Taika Waititi as an executive producer, follows Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), a background character in a police procedural who desperately wants to become something more.

Yu spoke with BI about what convinced him to take that leap from law to TV and how he built up his writing career while maintaining a high-demand full-time job.

Before you got staffed on "Westworld," you had a pretty lengthy law career. How did you balance writing with working?

It changed every day.

My then fiancée, now wife, was very understanding and patient and knew that I had this passion. So before we had kids, especially, there was enough time to write. It got trickier after.

But it was a demanding job. The thing about it, though, especially with writing, is that I wasn't trying to be a film director. I wasn't a saxophonist. I could practice my thing in the car, in a café for 30 minutes, lunch even. Scribbling a few things down, it felt like a good refuge.

How did you conceptualize the two kinds of work? Was it like, "I have a vocation, and I have a career?"

Yeah, I liked the way you framed it. I mean, it was a vocation. I had a career, and that was my livelihood. I did not think of writing as a viable livelihood up until literally the moment it became my job through TV.

I think it's easy in hindsight to sort of make the path seem smoother or more deliberate than it was. Honestly, there were moments where I had doubts about both sides of it: "How can I get out of this law career, 'cause I'll never really know what I can do?" and the other side just like, "Am I wasting my time?"

I struggled with that a lot, because a lot of days, nothing productive came out. That feels terrible, you know?

When you got staffed on "Westworld," were you deliberately trying to move away from law and into TV at the time?

It came about over the course of a few years. I had a book agent already. He's not my current agent, but he hooked me up with a film and TV rights agent at United Talent Agency. They, at first, represented me for just rights to my fiction.

But I think, maybe partly because I live in LA and partly because I showed some interest, I got to meet executives and producers and see if there was anything in addition to my books and short stories that I might want to pitch to them — or just to develop a relationship.

Over the course of a couple of years, I got a little bit more comfortable with that, and I started to think about writing scripts. I actually wrote a terrible pilot based on one of my own ideas. I mean, it's truly terrible. My agents were probably really — I mean, I'm sure they'd seen it before, but they were like, "Yeah, we maybe don't send that out."

But they did send it out. They sent it to a couple of people, I think, that were very kind and patient. And I started to think about maybe doing that. I didn't think about staffing on someone else's show, which is ultimately how I got that call and got staffed on an HBO show.

I threw my hat in the ring, and over the course of two, three years, I somehow found my way onto a list and was able to get a job interview.

What made it feel like a viable career move at the time?

Two things. One, health insurance. That was very important to my wife, especially at the time. We still have two kids. We had just moved into a new house, and we'd moved a little bit out of LA to Orange County, but we had a mortgage, and we needed health insurance. So it was like, "Can you get that?" And I could, thanks to the Writers' Guild.

And two, it felt like the kind of thing you would take a leap for. It was a sold series, so I knew I would have at least six months of guaranteed employment at this show. I definitely didn't take for granted that I would get another job after that.

Quite honestly, I'm pretty risk-averse. But I think it was just the nature of this opportunity, a real decision point. I couldn't do both, obviously. I couldn't be in a writers' room and be practicing law. So that was when I finally took the leap.

I did keep my bar license active for a few years after.

How did your writing experience eventually inform "Interior Chinatown"?

I think I wanted to write something a bit more personal, not that I'd shied away from it before. It just felt like there was something in me that wanted to talk about this story, about this family, in a more direct way than I had.

Willis is not me, but I think there was an internal pressure to want to write about this family as a kind of fantasy or alternate-reality version of how my parents talked about their lives and people in their community.

Was it always a novel to you, or was there ever a point where you thought, "Maybe this is a television pilot?" When it started to become a television series, did you feel strongly about becoming its showrunner?

I didn't think of it as anything other than a novel. I actually thought it would be pretty hard to film, and it turned out it was!

So when they did approach me, I was amazed, but I sort of immediately had this feeling of like: "Oh, how am I going to do this? This is going to be tricky." And they knew, too; Hulu understood the challenge.

I think despite that on the surface-level it looks like a script, that it is a script, the trick would be figuring out how to translate it.

"Interior Chinatown" is now streaming on Hulu.

• Emma Canning plays young Tula Harkonnen in "Dune: Prophecy."
• The third episode dives into the Harkonnen sisters' backstory and the pivotal choices they've made.
• In an interview with BI, Canning broke down the major reveal about Tula's past with the Atreides.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Dune: Prophecy" season 1, episode 3.

After a fatal series premiere, "Dune: Prophecy" has claimed more lives — but rather than burning up from the inside, these victims died quietly.

Episode three, "Sisterhood Above All," dives back into the Harkonnen sisters' childhood. Before they were Reverend Mothers, Valya and Tula grew up on the cold-weather planet Lankiveil when House Harkonnen was scraping by. Their brother, Griffin, is killed, and Valya, who believes Vorian Atreides to be responsible, swears vengeance against the family that engineered the Harkonnen family's fall from grace.

It's not Valya who exacts that price, however. It's her younger sister Tula, played by Emma Canning as a young woman and Olivia Williams as an adult. To carry out her and Valya's revenge, Tula seduces (and falls in love with) Orry Atreides. In turn, she poisons him and almost his entire family on a hunting trip the night that he proposes to her.

Williams broke down the Atreides massacre with Business Insider, including Tula's decision to kill her fiancé — and her choice to let the youngest Atreides live.

Tula seems to be wrestling with how to address Orry after she's already set the Atreides massacre in motion. How did you approach that tension and her motivation after he proposes to her?

In that sequence, from the moment she hands over that bucket of poison at the fire, it really was about having a plan, being faced with an obstacle, and having to change your plan. I think she walks up to the house — he should go down, join them, smear himself with poison, they'll go to bed, and so he'll be with them.

He's had a really tough day, he had to put down the horse, and that wasn't something she predicted. So then it becomes a thing of, "Okay, well, he's not going to leave the hut. What can I do to keep him in the hut? How can I stop him from going outside?"

I think then that's what the game plan becomes. She opens up to him, she says yes to his proposal. All of those things, I think the undercurrent is, "I can't have you leave right now."

As a viewer, there's a sense of resolve but also reluctance on Tula's part. How did you approach those more difficult, almost contradictory emotional beats?

Contradiction is really helpful as an actor. Richard Lewis, our director, and Alison Schapker, our showrunner, had given me this huge contradiction in really being very clear that this is a love story: She's in love with Orry, and she is falling deeper and deeper in love with him. So I have this major pull between my love for family and my loyalty, and then my growing love for him and my growing loyalty to him. So the complexity of the push and pull is line by line.

It really is dependent on how Milo Callaghan, who was playing Orry, would deliver certain lines. We were really lucky in prep that we got to know each other. We had to do horseback riding. We had about two weeks of that, so we were good pals by then, which was really lovely.

We shot this sequence very isolated from the rest of the scenes that I played, so Milo and I kept being like, 'Are we doing a short film with Richard?' It felt so intimate. It felt so small. I think we had to keep reminding ourselves, "No, this is 'Dune.'" But that was really lovely in that it really took the pressure off. They're just really good scenes and really high stakes.

Tula eventually does kill Orry, but she decides to let Albert, Archie Barnes' character, live. How did you rationalize her decision at that moment?

We had done this scene where she gets to kind of see herself in him. He is the youngest member of the Atreides. He is passed over, brushed into the corner, and develops a relationship with Tula that I think echoes her relationship with Lila later on, in Tula being the older sister that she always wanted and didn't get. I think by the end of the massacre, when Albert appears, she's forgotten that he's there.

To be honest, I think that the decision to inject Orry is one of self-protection and survival. I think she's very fearful of her own safety once he sees what she's done. And I think Albert doesn't pose a threat. It's kind of, "So long as I survive, you don't hurt me, you can go."

When Tula goes back to the Harkonnens after this, they won't even let her take accountability for it because they blame Valya. How did that sort of impulse for them to frame Tula as the "good" sister affect how you approached her?

I do think the sisters are constantly being contrasted. I think they are very different, I think they both like their differences. I think they are both proud of their differences and also really envy the other's differences.

Tula being the good sister — I heard a phrase when I was prepping of like, "The youngest child raises themselves," and that's kind of what I brought through. I didn't see her so much as being good, but I just thought she was never causing any friction. She did her own thing, glided through.

Something I held onto was when Valya and Tula are discussing the acolytes earlier in the season, and Valya describes Lila as a little lamb lost in the woods, Tula really resonates with it. She's like, "I was like that." And that was an image that I knew was important. I knew I had to try and embody that, because Tula needs to be able to recognize that in herself later. I also had in mind "a wolf in sheep's clothing," so I wanted to braid that through.

I know that you and Olivia Williams didn't film together at all — what did preparing to play a younger Tula look like on your end?

I had about two months' prep before stepping on set. I'm Irish, so I'm not speaking in my own accent, whereas Olivia is, so I started there in terms of just specifying intonation and really listening to her podcast, being kind of sneaky and sly. I didn't tell her that I'd done that, though.

Then I got to Budapest, and Olivia really kindly carved time out of her crazy schedule, and we met and talked about Tula. She'd already begun work at that stage. I think once you begin playing a character, the sense of knowing them becomes much stronger. It feels a bit more innate because you're living within them.

But even still, she was incredibly generous having already been working on this character. She didn't stake a claim on Tula in a way that I am just really thankful for.

When we were talking, it was almost like Tula was sitting on the table in front of us and we were both chipping in. She obviously had to do such a huge amount of imaginative work. She doesn't play the younger Tula scenes, whereas I get to live through them and react within them. She has to also track what that does to a person, and how to they process that.

"Dune: Prophecy" airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on HBO, and is streaming on Max.

• "Wicked" adapts the first act of the 2003 Broadway musical.
• The film, which stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, references that show and "The Wizard of Oz."
• Here are details, references, and easter eggs you may have missed in the movie.

The "Wicked" movie is a revelation — and it's full of references to "The Wizard of Oz" and the original "Wicked" Broadway show that came before it.

The film, directed by Jon M. Chu, adapts the first act of the 2003 musical written by Winnie Holzman with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. That show, which itself is an adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel imagining a backstory for the Wicked Witch of the West, follows the magically inclined, green-skinned Elphaba and her school enemy-turned-best friend Glinda. Those roles were originated by Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth on Broadway, and in the film, they're played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

The impressive "Wicked" box office numbers prove it's hitting with multiple generations of fans who love all those adaptations. In its opening weekend, the film earned an estimated $164.2 million worldwide.

The film has plenty of easter eggs for fans of the "Wicked" Broadway musical (you'll hear some familiar act two musical cues) and those with only a surface-level understanding of Oz. We've rounded up some details and references that you may have missed in the film.

There are multiple rainbows in the film, nodding to 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'

"Wicked" pays its thematic due to the most iconic song from "The Wizard of Oz," invoking rainbows multiple times. You can see one in an early shot, in the pattern of the tulips that the Munchkin children run through heralding Elphaba's death, and again during Elphaba's run through a field in "The Wizard and I."

The title card is a reference to 'The Wizard of Oz'

There's been some controversy on social media over bad movie theater etiquette after people started taking photos of the "Wicked" title card in theaters. The whimsical, curly font is a reference to the original title card for "The Wizard of Oz."

The film includes multiple musical cues that reference 'For Good'

"Wicked" basically uses the opening notes of "For Good," an Elphaba and Glinda duet in act two of the musical, as shorthand for their developing relationship throughout the film.

There's a great example of this on the "Wicked" soundtrack, at the 0:06 minute mark of "Dear Old Shiz" after someone asks Glinda if she and Elphaba were friends.

Nessarose's silver slippers have tornado heels

Elphaba and Nessarose's father presents Nessa with a pair of silver heels. The shoes, which eventually pass to Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," are silver as they were originally in L. Frank Baum's novel. However, they're presented in a ruby case — similar to the 1939 movie.

The heels also have a swirling tornado pattern at the heel, referencing Nessa's eventual demise when Dorothy's house falls on her after getting picked up in a cyclone.

There's another pair of red slippers in the film, though

During "Popular," Glinda pulls out a pair of shining, ruby-red slippers, a reference to the ones Dorothy wears in "The Wizard of Oz."

Glinda is backlit with a halo during 'What Is This Feeling'

When Glinda sings the lyric, "These things are sent to try us," she stands in front of a door with a circular window. When she centers her head in front of it, the light coming through the window turns golden.

Jonathan Bailey rides a familiar horse in 'Wicked'

Bailey apparently got to make one casting request for "Wicked": he wanted to bring along his favorite horse.

"I knew there was only one man for the job, and that was Jack the horse that I worked with in 'Bridgerton,'" Bailey said on "Late Night with Seth Meyers."

One shot of Elphaba resembles the original Broadway poster

When Elphaba puts on her black hat at the Oz Dust Ballroom, it briefly shadows her eyes and obscures part of her face. The shot mimics the original poster for the Broadway musical, in which the top half of Elphaba's face is covered.

Unlike the poster, however, Erivo's Elphaba isn't smiling in the moment.

Fiyero being unaffected by Elphaba's poppies is foreshadowing

Big spoilers for part two if you're not up to date on the original musical, but through a series of unfortunate events, Fiyero eventually turns into the Scarecrow.

Like the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz," Fiyero does not succumb to the sleep-inducing effects of the poppies. Instead, he helps Elphaba spirit away the lion cub from their classroom.

As a bonus — that lion cub will eventually grow up to be the Cowardly Lion from "The Wizard of Oz."

Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth aren't the only Emerald City cameos

It'd be extremely difficult to miss Menzel and Chenoweth's meaty cameos during the "Wiz-O-Mania" sequence that takes place in the Emerald City. There are two others you may have missed, however: writer Winnie Holzman and composer Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the Broadway musical. Schwartz also has an iconic line during the sequence: "The Wizard will see you now."

"It took a lot of convincing to get them into this movie because they resisted it," director Jon M. Chu told Entertainment Weekly. "I was like, 'You guys have to be in this.' We didn't know where, and then once Stephen wrote that section to Wiz-O-Mania, it became very clear that Stephen had to do, 'The Wizard will see you now.'"

Also, Idina Menzel does her iconic 'Defying Gravity'

If you're even a surface-level "Wicked" fan, you probably didn't miss this one. In case you did, you can hear her do it at about the 4:00 minute mark of "One Short Day" on the film's soundtrack.

The Wizard hologram says 'Omaha' because, canonically, he's from Nebraska

During the "Wiz-O-Mania" presentation in the Emerald City, a hologram of the Wizard pretends to read the Grimmerie, the magical text of Oz. To do so, he just says the word "Omaha" a few times.

He is indeed referencing Omaha, Nebraska — because that's where the Wizard is from.

There are crates and posters nodding to the Wizard's old life

In the attic set used in "Defying Gravity," there are posters referencing the "Wise and Magnificent Oscar Diggs." In the above behind-the-scenes shot, you can see crates with the same text, and others that say, "Omaha, NE."

That is the Wizard's real name — and back in Nebraska, he was a magician.

There's a lyric change in 'Defying Gravity'

In the Broadway musical, the chorus sings, "Look at her, she's wicked — get her!"

But in the movie, things are more grave. The chorus sings, "Look at her, she's wicked — kill her!"

"Wicked" is now in theaters.

• Netflix's "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" put the Menendez brothers back in the spotlight.
• Lyle and Erik Menendez received consecutive life sentences in 1996 after killing their parents.
• Lyle Menendez is now married to Rebecca Sneed, though a post indicated that they had split.

"Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" thrust the brothers, who were found guilty of first-degree murder in 1996, back into the spotlight after it premiered on Netflix in September.

Both Menendez brothers are serving life sentences after admitting that they killed their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. During their trial, they alleged a history of abuse by their parents led them to murder.

Despite bringing renewed attention to the case, Erik and their extended family have criticized "Monsters," calling it a "gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare."

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón (who lost his reelection bid in November) said in October that he would review new evidence and recommend resentencing the brothers. The brothers are now awaiting a resentencing hearing, which was rescheduled to January on Monday to allow time for the new DA to review the case.

Despite being in prison, both Erik and Lyle have gotten married. Erik married his wife Tammi Menendez in 1999 while he was in prison. Lyle, in addition to a correspondence-based friendship with a woman called Norma Novelli, who recorded and later sold phone conversations with him, has been married twice.

Here's what we know about Lyle's two marriages.

Lyle Menendez was first married to Anna Eriksson

The Los Angeles Times reported that Lyle and Eriksson, a former model, met by mail after Lyle and Erik's arrest in 1990. Lyle declared his love for Eriksson in a "20/20" interview with Barbara Walters, and the pair attempted to have a Judge Nancy Brown marry them in her courtroom a day before Lyle and Erik's sentencing. However, court and jail officials prevented the ceremony.

The two were secretly married via telephone conference call that day, The New York Times reported. Lyle and Erik, who served as his best man, phoned into the wedding, and defense lawyer Leslie Abramson placed the ring on Eriksson's finger for Lyle. Eriksson was present the next day when the brothers were sentenced to consecutive life sentences, the Times reported.

The California Department of Corrections, however, did not consider the marriage to be legal, The Los Angeles Times reported in October 1997.

People reported that Eriksson filed for divorce in 2001 after she discovered that Lyle had been unfaithful and sent letters to other women.

Lyle Menendez then married Rebecca Sneed

Lyle married Rebecca Sneed two years later, in 2003, when he was 35 and she was 33. They were married in a ceremony at Mule Creek State Prison, witnessed by friends and family, The Los Angeles Times reported. A spokesperson for the prison told the publication that Lyle and Sneed had known each other for ten years at the time.

People reported in 2017 that Sneed lived near Mule Creek State Prison and worked as an attorney. In an interview with the publication that year, Lyle said that he and Sneed attempted to speak with each other at least once a day. California state law prohibits conjugal visits for those serving life sentences.

"Our interaction tends to be very free of distractions and we probably have more intimate conversations than most married spouses do, who are distracted by life's events," he said.

He told People that he felt guilt for the judgment that Sneed faced as his wife.

"But she has the courage to deal with the obstacles," he said. "It would be easier to leave, but I'm profoundly grateful that she doesn't."

Lyle Menendez and Rebecca Sneed have reportedly split

A November 21 Facebook post made to the Lyle Menendez page, which People and Today reported that Sneed runs, said that the couple had split. Amid recent unconfirmed reports that Lyle is now romantically involved with a 21-year-old college student, the post also said that Lyle had not cheated on Sneed.

"This is NOT a cheating scandal," the post reads. "Lyle and I have been separated for a while now but remain best friends and family. I continue to run his Facebook pages, with input from him, and I am forever committed to the enduring fight for Lyle and Erik's freedom, as has been so evident over the years."

Lyle Menendez's attorney did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

• Bill Nighy's career surged after starring in the 2003 film "Love Actually."
• Nighy said that his compensation increased, and he no longer had to audition for projects.
• He now stars in the Netflix film "Joy," about the first IVF baby.

Acclaimed actor Bill Nighy says that his moderately successful career blew up — in a good way — after he starred in the 2003 Christmas film "Love Actually."

Nighy starred in the Richard Curtis film as Billy Mack, a legendary rock and roll artist trying to get a No. 1 single on Christmas. "Love Actually" was a smash hit, and though Nighy was over 30 years into his acting career, the film revitalized it.

"The biggest developments were that what I was paid for a job quintupled and I never had to audition again," he told British newspaper The i. "If you asked any actor what their top five things to wish for, one of them would be, 'Please don't let me have to audition any more.'"

Nighy had starred in two other successful projects that year: "Underworld," a monster film in which he played a vampire, and "State of Play," a BBC One drama. He was "doing alright" career-wise at the time, he told The i, but 2003 proved to be a turning point. Suddenly, the balance of power had shifted in his meetings for potential roles.

"They were trying to get me to do the job," he told The i. "I didn't have to sing for my supper."

These days, Nighy is starring in the Netflix film "Joy," which tells the story of the first IVF baby, Louise Brown. He plays Patrick Steptoe, the director of the Centre for Human Reproduction and part of the team that developed IVF treatment.

And while the success of "Love Actually" changed his working prospects, Nighy says that it hasn't drastically disrupted his day-to-day life.

"I'm not mobbed or anything. There's no great heat attached. I'm not Hugh Grant, or Tom Cruise," he told The i. "It takes 30 seconds and people are kind. They often want to talk about that film that I did, even though they can't always remember it."

• "Gladiator II" and "Wicked" are both in theaters.
• While "Glicked" isn't as much of a viral double feature as "Barbenheimer," it would be pretty fun.
• If you have time for only one, though, see "Wicked."

"Gladiator II" and "Wicked" are facing off at the box office this weekend.

"Glicked," a portmanteau of the dueling releases, may not live up to the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon of 2023 — the two films would need to make over $2 billion at the box office to pull that off. But they're both positioned for success as blockbusters.

"Gladiator II," directed by Ridley Scott, is the sequel to his 2000 film starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Its protagonist is Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal), a long-lost Roman heir sent away for his own safety by his mother, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), after the events of the first film.

"Wicked" is an adaptation of one of the longest-running Broadway musicals. Directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, this film covers only the first act of the musical, which serves as an origin story for the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz." (The second part is coming in 2025.)

Having screened both of them, I can say it's absolutely worth seeing both movies eventually, ideally in theaters. The double feature would be a good time, and far less existentially depressing than "Barbenheimer."

But if you've got the time, money, and energy for only one movie this weekend, you should see "Wicked."

'Wicked' vs. 'Gladiator II,' by the numbers

Both movies have been well received so far and are certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but critics and audiences generally seem to like "Wicked" a bit more.

If time is of the essence, there's no tie-breaker — they're nearly the same length.

If you want something you can see with the whole family, "Wicked" is more kid-friendly.

Now on to the more subjective stuff.

'Wicked' is a better movie than 'Gladiator II'

The witches have it, folks. To briefly summarize my "Wicked" review:

• Erivo and Grande are extraordinary as Elphaba and Glinda. It's not unlikely that Grande will pick up an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress (despite some hubbub over whether she belongs in that category) — and frankly, everyone should watch Erivo sing "The Wizard and I."
• "Wicked" does make some frustrating choices and feels a bit self-indulgent.
• It's still one of the best movie musicals in recent memory and makes a convincing argument for why it needed to be a two-part film.

"Gladiator II" is fun — but not quite as good, and narratively messy.

• It has trouble juggling its large cast and many contentious relationships. That results in an irritating underutilization of Pedro Pascal, who is otherwise just as heartstring-tugging as usual.
• But the action sequences are pretty fun, as long as you're not too pedantic about historical accuracy. (Colosseum sharks.)
• Denzel Washington is great, even if his character, Macrinus, is a little inscrutable.

'Gladiator II' has more Paul Mescal in it, though

Can't argue with that. Mescal is bloody, feral, leading-man material in "Gladiator II."

Be warned that people might start singing at 'Wicked'

Universal Pictures has scheduled sing-along screenings of "Wicked" that start on December 25. They can't really come soon enough, though. The New York Times reported on audience members' frustrations with their compatriots belting out songs — and that was just at early-access screenings.

Let's be clear: You should definitely not start singing along at "Wicked" unless it is a designated sing-along screening. It's rude and disrupts other people's enjoyment of the film. Do what the rest of us have done since we were children and strain your voice by belting "Defying Gravity" in the comfort of your own living room.

Ultimately, follow your own taste

"Wicked" and "Gladiator II" are both worth the price of admission (and maybe even of a popcorn and soda). Ultimately, it boils down to whether you have a strong preference for or against musicals.

If you're thirsting for blood, go see "Gladiator II." If you're craving off-the-charts theater-kid energy, obviously go see "Wicked."

• "Gladiator II" is a sequel to Ridley Scott's 2000 film "Gladiator" starring Russell Crowe.
• The new movie doesn't work very well as a historical epic — or, frankly, a drama.
• If you want to see Paul Mescal go feral, or some sharks in the Colosseum, you'll have a great time.

"Gladiator II" is a messy sequel to Ridley Scott's Roman epic — but what it lacks in narrative connective tissue, it makes up for in spectacle.

After all, aren't we here to be entertained? With a cast led by Paul Mescal in his first blockbuster leading role, "Gladiator II" delivers on the action, and should definitely be seen on the biggest screen you can find. Just don't worry too much about the narrative — or the historical details.

The sequel, directed by Scott, picks up approximately a decade and a half after the death of Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), the Roman emperor who dreamed of a better empire before being killed by his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Commodus was eventually taken down by Roman general-cum-gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe), who also died of his wounds in the battle at the end of the original 2000 film.

By the time "Gladiator II" picks up, not much has changed. Rome is ever-expanding, characterized by the hunger and decadence of its twin rulers, Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger). General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal) has just conquered the African territory Numidia — unknowingly, he brings an unwilling (and initially unknown) prodigal son back with him.

That's Lucius (Mescal), the son of Marcus Aurelius' daughter Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, reprising her role from the first film), and Maximus himself, who has been living a quiet life in hiding since his mother spirited him away from Rome. Despite growing up in Rome, Lucius has little desire to return. Unfortunately, like his father, he's been taken as a slave following the death of his wife, picked up by the calculating Macrinus (Denzel Washington) as a fighter under a false name, and given the chance to slay his way to freedom in the Colosseum.

"Gladiator II" does its best to juggle its many contentious relationships, and the broader conflicts that they represent in the film, to middling success. Lucius chafes against Rome's carnivorous nature represented in Acacius, the depravity modeled by its twin emperors, and its social order embodied in Macrinus, a former slave who has clawed his way into power. Pascal's character, in particular, feels half-baked both as a person and as a symbol for the Rome Lucius must come to love and defeat — it's the actor's performance that drives any buy-in.

Some important dynamics, like the one between Lucius and his mother Lucilla, suffer amid rapid pacing. And Washington's Macrinus, though carried by the actor's intensely captivating presence, can be difficult to parse. Some of that is certainly by design, and Washington draws out Macrinus' calculating, jovial, and menacing facets with equal aplomb. However, it makes it difficult to buy into Macrinus' entire ethos.

What does work well are the fights, and rest assured that there are plenty of them.

"Gladiator II" is big, bloody, and vicious in its combat, and rarely holds back when it can cut deeper. Scott brings his sensibility for scale to gigantic battles, like the naval conflict that kicks off the film's action. "Gladiator II" shines best, though, in tightly choreographed sequences, like the battle between Acacius and Lucius teased in trailers, or more bombastic ones, like Lucius matching a feral monkey's freak in hand-to-paw combat. Leave your historical pedantry at the door for the much-decried Colosseum sharks.

Sillier combat experiences aside, the film derives most of its levity from Quinn and Hechinger's obscene twin emperors and Dundus, Caracalla's pet monkey. In particular, "Gladiator II" should serve as an excellent argument to keep casting Quinn — previously best known as "Stranger Things" breakout heartthrob Eddie Munson — in the most unhinged roles humanly possible, because he steals every single scene.

The biggest winner is Mescal, who proves with more than a few brooding glances and swings of the sword that he has the chops to carry a blockbuster. "Gladiator II" isn't shy about drawing blatant parallels between Lucius and Maximus' journeys. Mescal's performance, however, is grounded and more vindictive than Crowe's in the first film, and tips the balance toward Lucius feeling more like a successor to Maximus' mission than a carbon copy.

Ultimately, "Gladiator II" works better as an action flick than a focused historical drama. If you're here to watch Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal just absolutely go at it in the ring — or Denzel Washington gossip and plot his way through Roman court — you're in the right place. Just don't read too much into the broader narrative, and you'll be fine.

"Gladiator II" is now in theaters.

• "Wicked," the movie, is based on "Wicked," the hit 2003 Broadway musical.
• Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande play Elphaba and Glinda, roles originated by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.
• Here's what you need to know about how the movie pays homage to the musical.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Wicked" the movie.

Jon M. Chu's "Wicked" film is a reboot of one of the longest-running Broadway shows of all time — and it pays its respects to that history through a long-rumored cameo.

"Wicked," the musical, is a loose adaptation of Gregory Maguire's novel that imagines a backstory for the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The show premiered on Broadway in October 2003 starring Idina Menzel as Elphaba, the green-skinned woman who would become the Wicked Witch, and Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, her roommate and future Good Witch.

Though "Wicked" has cycled through many Elphabas and Glindas over its extensive theatrical run, Menzel and Chenoweth remain iconic as members of the original cast. Now, they're passing the mantle to the film's Elphaba and Glinda — Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth have a significant cameo in the Emerald City

The cameo, which probably made Broadway fans squeal, happens once Elphaba and Glinda make their way to the Emerald City.

After sorcerer Madame Morrible recognizes Elphaba's immense magical talent, Elphaba enrolls at Shiz University to be her pupil. She ends up rooming with Glinda, her conceited classmate, and the two strike up a rivalry. Eventually, they become friends, and when Elphaba is summoned to meet with the Wizard in the Emerald City, she brings Glinda with her.

Once they reach the city, the pair take in the sights, including a play about the history of Oz and the Wizard. Menzel and Chenoweth appear as two of the show's principal players, and they're both credited on IMDb as "Wiz-O-Mania Super Star."

This isn't just a throwaway moment either. As far as cameo appearances go, this is a pretty meaty one: Menzel and Chenoweth have significant singing roles — Menzel even does her original "Defying Gravity" end riff.

The most satisfying part of their appearance, however, is their interaction with Grande and Erivo on-screen. There's one significant moment where Menzel and Erivo, and Chenoweth and Grande — the Elphabas and Glindas, respectively — stand face to face. Cheekily, Chenoweth places her mouth over Grande's mouth to prevent her from vocalizing and stealing the spotlight.

Both Menzel and Chenoweth have been champions of the film and supported it at its Los Angeles premiere. Both told Entertainment Tonight that they didn't think Erivo and Grande needed their advice — only their congratulations.

"Kristin and I are just so proud that we were a part of creating this beautiful legacy," Menzel said.

"You always hope they do a movie, especially when it's a juggernaut like this was, but you never know," Chenoweth said.

"Wicked" is now in theaters.

• Paul Mescal plays Lucius Verus in "Gladiator II."
• The film revealed in a trailer — and makes it clear in the movie — that Lucius is Maximus' son.
• In "Gladiator," Lucius is just a child — here's what you need to know about him.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Gladiator II."

In "Gladiator II," Paul Mescal's Lucius is a vengeful heir to the throne who's out for blood — but in the first "Gladiator" film, his character is just an innocent child who mucks up his parents' coup d'état.

"Gladiator II" picks up a few decades after Ridley Scott's 2000 film, which starred Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. Long after general-turned-gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius (Crowe) and Emperor Commodus (Phoenix) killed each other in battle, long-lost heir Lucius returns to Rome as a gladiator after the empire conquers his new home, Numidia.

Compared to his appearance in the first film, Lucius is a bit difficult to recognize. For one, he's no longer a child. More importantly, however, his time away from Rome has fostered a deep resentment toward the empire — and a desire to turn away from his lineage as the son of Empress Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, who reprises her role in the new film).

Here's what you need to know about Lucius, and how Mescal's storyline in "Gladiator II" connects to the first film.

Lucius is a child in the 2000 film 'Gladiator'

In the first "Gladiator," Rome falls to chaos after emperor Marcus Aurelius appoints Maximus, one of his generals, as his successor instead of his son, Commodus. In turn, Commodus kills his father, and does the same to Maximus' family when the general refuses to swear loyalty to him. Maximus ends up enslaved and eventually winds up fighting for his freedom at the Colosseum as a gladiator.

While in Rome, Maximus learns that his former soldiers are still loyal to him. Working with Lucilla, Commodus' sister, they attempt to plan a coup to remove Commodus from power. Unfortunately, Commodus finds out about it (more on that later), quashes the plan, and challenges Maximus to a duel. Despite Commodus stabbing Maximus before the fight, Maximus defeats him but succumbs to his wounds.

In the first film, Lucius (played by Spencer Treat Clark) is introduced as Lucilla's young son and the heir to the throne. He and Maximus briefly meet: Lucius gleefully inquires about Maximus' combat abilities, and tells Maximus that he'll cheer for him in the games. Lucius also tells Maximus that he was named after his father, who is dead.

Later in the film, however, Lucius playfully spars with his uncle Commodus and pretends to be "Maximus, the savior of Rome." The epithet clues Commodus into Maximus and Lucilla's plan, and after stopping Maximus' escape, he threatens Lucilla with Lucius' life so that she will provide him with an heir of his own.

At the end of the film, when Maximus is on the edge of death, he tells Lucilla that Lucius is safe, presumably from Commodus. Lucius looks on as Maximus dies.

'Gladiator II' clarifies Lucius' backstory

"Gladiator II" takes Lucius from boy to haggard man, filling in the gaps in his life after the events of the first film.

As the sequel recounts, Lucilla sent Lucius out of the city after Maximus and Commodus' deaths to keep him safe. Eventually, he found a home in the North African kingdom of Numidia, where he settled in with a wife and took a new name. After Rome conquers the kingdom under the command of General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Lucius gets taken back as a slave. Eventually, Macrinus (Denzel Washington) acquires him as a gladiator.

Once he arrives in Rome — and crucially, after he crosses paths with his mother Lucilla — Lucius gradually begins to accept his royal heritage again. He also learns that his true father was Maximus, the legendary gladiator who fought in the same ring.

"Gladiator II" includes a few glimpses of the original film, including Spencer Treat Clark as young Lucius, to hammer down the connection. By the end of the film, Lucius has donned Maximus' armor and acknowledged his birthright as an heir to Rome. He proclaims his intent to reclaim it for the people, similar to Maximus' mission to turn the empire into a republic in the first film.

"Gladiator II" is now in theaters.

• Sebastian Stan plays a young Donald Trump in "The Apprentice," a movie about his life in the 1970s.
• Stan said other actors wouldn't discuss Trump, and the film, with him for Variety's "Actors on Actors."
• Trump slammed the film and sent a cease-and-desist to the filmmakers after its Cannes premiere.

You won't see Sebastian Stan doing an "Actors on Actors" interview about his new Donald Trump movie "The Apprentice," because, according to the actor, no one would talk to him about it.

Stan plays Trump in the new Ali Abbasi film, which was released in October. It follows the president's ascendance into real-estate fame in the 1970s and 1980s and features other familiar faces like lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) and Trump's first wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova). It's not a particularly flattering portrayal, and Trump has made his disapproval of the film clear through social media posts and a cease-and-desist letter to Abbasi and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman.

At a post-screening Q&A on Tuesday, which was recorded and uploaded to X (formerly Twitter), Stan said that he wasn't able to participate in Variety's "Actors on Actors" series because other actors' teams were hesitant to allow them to speak about Trump.

"I had an offer to do Variety 'Actor on Actor' this Friday, and I couldn't find another actor to do it with me because they were too afraid to go and talk about this movie, so I couldn't do it," Stan said.

"And it doesn't matter, that's OK, that's not to point a finger at anybody," he continued. "We couldn't get past the publicists or the people representing them, because it was too afraid to talk about this movie."

Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh told IndieWire in a statement that Stan's remarks were "accurate."

"We invited him to participate in 'Actors on Actors,' the biggest franchise of awards season, but other actors didn't want to pair with him because they didn't want to talk about Donald Trump," Setoodeh said.

Representatives for Sebastian Stan and Penske Media Corporation, which owns Variety, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This isn't the first roadblock that "The Apprentice" has experienced when it comes to promotion and distribution.

After the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Abbasi and Sherman received the cease-and-desist from Trump's team, and it went public shortly after. The film struggled to find a distributor until Briarcliff Entertainment picked it up and set an October premiere date just weeks before the United States election.

Before Trump won that election, and shortly after the film's release, he called the movie "FAKE and CLASSLESS" in a post on his social-media company Truth Social. He said it was "put out right before the 2024 Presidential Election, to try and hurt the Greatest Political Movement in the History of our Country."

Stan said during Tuesday's Q&A that he had received plenty of "love" from others in the industry about the movie, but he thought that it was still important to continue speaking about Trump.

"That's when I think we lose the situation, because if it really becomes that fear or that discomfort to talk about this, then we're really going to have a problem," he said.

• "Wicked," directed by Jon M. Chu, is a film adaptation of the iconic stage musical — well, just act one.
• Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's individual performances and chemistry carry the film.
• Though it can get bogged down in itself, for the most part, "Wicked" earns its lengthy runtime.

"Wicked" is expansive, indulgent, and a few minutes too long. It's also extraordinarily, immersively good.

Directed by Jon M. Chu ("Crazy Rich Asians") and starring Broadway and pop music's biggest legends — Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, respectively — "Wicked" is a stunning act of adaptation. The stage musical version is also an adaptation, the looser kind, of Gregory Maguire's novel of the same name. In 1995, the Wicked Witch of the West was turned into a tragic heroine named Elphaba.

If the novel reinterpreted the "Oz" canon, outlining what happened years before Dorothy's house fell from the sky, and the stage musical transformed it into something new, Chu's musical film also makes it feel novel.

The film follows the same beats as the musical's first act: Elphaba, a young woman who grew up marginalized due to the green color of her skin, enrolls at Shiz University by virtue of her prodigious, natural magical ability. She rooms with future Good Witch Glinda and uncovers a conspiracy that threatens some of Oz's most vulnerable. Challenging it, however, turns her into a villain in the eyes of the people.

Chu and "Wicked's" screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox benefit from the relative freedom of time and resources of a blockbuster film. While the film's runtime looks absurd on paper — it sits at two hours and 41 minutes long and only manages to tackle the Broadway production's first act — it would be easier to call "Wicked" bloated if its most expansive choices didn't directly serve its central relationship: Elphaba and Glinda's.

We see brief flashes of playful, snarky dialogue and prolonged sequences, interjected into musical numbers, that capture every beat of their changing relationship.

'Wicked' is focused on Elphaba and Glinda. Erivo and Grande's chemistry sells it.

For the most part, "Wicked" doesn't get too dialogue-heavy and relies on its musical numbers to advance the story. When it decides to stretch those numbers out, it's usually for a good reason.

Those interjections range from a sly extra two bars to help a lyric sync to morphing already-long songs like "Dancing Through Life" into extended turning points in Elphaba and Glinda's friendship.

As in the stage musical, Glinda lends Elphaba the ugliest hat in her closet for a party. She's ridiculed upon arrival, but after she starts dancing alone, Glinda joins her, and the two become friends. "Wicked" takes its sweet time with that dance sequence — and, in turn, gives it the narrative weight it deserves.

That relationship wouldn't work without Erivo and Grande's individual performances. Grande disappears into Glinda, and only a few times will you hear a well-earned vocal styling reminiscent of her personal discography. Vocally, she soars and delivers songs like "Popular" with giddy aplomb.

Her performance shines best, however, in her comedic sensibilities. She riffs easily off Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, who plays a Winkie prince that the two meet at school, or her classmate sycophants, played by Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James. This should be enough to make her a best supporting actress Oscar contender.

Erivo delivers the film's grounding performance, and she captures the vulnerability, naïveté, and girlishness underneath her character's bristling exterior. When you finally hear her sing on "The Wizard and I" — the film's standout number — it's far enough that you're waiting for it. Erivo, of course, smashes it, drawing on Elphaba's deep sense of joy and curiosity as she fantasizes about the Wizard curing her social ostracization.

The one problem with 'Wicked'

It's clear that both actors, from their ineffable chemistry on screen, are having the time of their lives in these roles — and that goes for the rest of the production as well. In turn, if there's one crime that "Wicked" commits, it's perhaps that it loves itself and its source material a little too much.

The film goes to great lengths to pay its respects to the original stage musical, including in one utterly euphoric cameo best left unspoiled for the true "Wicked" enthusiasts. In other instances, like its repeated invocation of the "For Good" theme from Act Two in the score, it can feel too self-referential.

"Wicked" also starts to get bogged down in its tone-shifting endgame. Most egregiously, it crushes its momentum during "Defying Gravity," in which Elphaba, now an enemy of the state after refusing to conspire with the Wizard, successfully gains the power of flight in order to escape.

Rather than letting Erivo's extraordinary vocal performance and the music drive the film's climax, "Wicked" bogs down Elphaba's ascendance with too many brief action sequences, dialogue exchanges, and additional musical interludes. Toward the end of the film — and in anticipation of Erivo's final notes — it's too much.

In the end, though, "Wicked" is one of the best musical adaptations recently put to screen. Chu renders his vision of Oz with clear passion and verve and makes storytelling decisions that successfully argue why this needed to be a two-part movie.

At the very least, I won't complain about getting another two (or more) hours like these ones.

"Wicked," also starring Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum, opens in theaters on Friday.