Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly return for season 2 of Blake Crouch’s hit sci-fi series, Dark Matter. Following the events of season 1, Dark Matter follows physicist Jason (Edgerton), his wife Daniela (Connelly), and their son Charlie (Oakes Fegley) as they travel the Multiverse in search of a new world to live in.
In an interview with Digital Trends, Edgerton and Connelly discussed working together again on Dark Matter. They also broke down what fans can expect for the show’s second season and what new challenges their characters will face.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: What was it like returning to the series for season 2 and working together again?
Connelly: Fantastic. It was great. I was very happy to come back and work with Joel and have more time actually with the couple. The original version of the couple who, in season one, you meet them, and they have a couple scenes together, and then they’re apart until the very end, where they have this very fraught reunion. So it was really fun to have time with that couple of them [and to] get to know who they were and who they’d become.
Digital Trends: Yeah, they go through a lot together, and there’s a new season, and it looks like that their relationship has a lot of challenges. They’re traveling the multiverse together, and they’re trying to hide from all these different forces closing in on them. Do you ever expect Jason and Daniela to find happiness somewhere in some other universe?
Apple TV / Apple TV
Edgerton: You know, it’s funny, I look at them and go, “I think you guys just get to Chicago, try and get on an airplane. Go to Tahiti. Greece. So I would like to shoot that episode. Look, I think they’re going to find a place.
What’s great about the challenge for Blake of writing the episodes is every time they go to a new world, there’s like a checklist for things [they] are going to do.
It’s like: Find out not only is there’s another version of Jason, [if] there’s another version of Daniela there or Charlie. Can they avoid that? How do they get into that world with identification, and how do they find money? All these complications. How do they find work? How [do] they find a house?
So there’s sort of these hoops [that] they got to jump through. And all the while they’re going to be kind to each other. I feel like Jason is constantly dealing with his guilt. He’s like, “I got us into this mess, sort of.” So I have hope that they’ll find that.
There’s a place we find in season 2 that’s kind of cool, and I don’t give spoilers away that there’s a couple of worlds they find. Some are not good, but one of them particularly seems to be okay. I’m not going to spoil it.
Digital Trends: All right. So what was the most exciting part about filming this season? Was there anything particularly challenging about it as well?
Connelly: There are things that are more challenging, practically, or more uncomfortable, like that tornado world we went to. Rain machines and wind machines. And then there are things like, I had the experience of the season of working with myself, which is super peculiar. That’s something I’d never done before. Nothing unexpected happens. It’s so weird.
Digital Trends: Overall, what can fans of this show expect from season 2? And in your opinion, how is it compared to season 1?
Apple TV / Apple TV
Edgerton: There’s a sort of a beautiful chaos to season 2. Sort of this world and endless possibilities, with a number of characters, and kind of following these journeys of different characters, and literally this multitude of possibilities for each of them.
So there’s a certain chaos that is harnessed in season 2 that makes sense of the technology. And in a way, the whole purpose of season 2 is to also underline that, on one hand, the new technology creates a sense of chaos and demands that human beings really intentionally choose how they will use something.
And in the case of us, as a family…do we use it to escape? Do we use it to find it a home and then shut it down? So, I think fans can hope for a real deeper explanation, exploration, rather, of the characters that they met in season 1. The same wild spectacle, but a pinch of extra madness and chaos.
Connelly: Yeah, I always said the same. I think things are just amplified. All the elements that were in the show in season 1 are amplified here. So I think that the world exploration is even more spectacular.
I think that the show always had really entertaining, playful elements, and I think there’s even more playfulness in those aspects. And then there was also always this sort of domestic drama. I think that aspect goes even deeper here in season 2. So, yeah, I think everything’s just a little extra.
Digital Trends: Yeah, I’ll say. So do you see yourself working together on a third season of this series?
Apple TV / Apple TV
Edgerton: No, not there anymore, man.
Digital Trends: Really?
Edgerton: Well, look, you know, the thing about television is…the fans love it, then there’ll be more, and it means that we feel appreciated. We certainly all enjoy working with each other. It’s a really great atmosphere, and…I don’t feel like there’s squeaky wheels on Dark Matter too.
Everybody rolls this, leaves up, and pitches in and works really hard and appreciates and looks after each other. So the feeling amongst the group is that we’re a big family and we enjoy that work experience. Then it’s over to you guys. It’s over to the fans, and if the fans love it and they call for more, then we’ll probably deliver it.
Digital Trends: Amazing. So is there anything else that you’d like to say to the fans?
Connelly: I hope that fans enjoy it and have a great time. Yeah, we love making the show, and I had a great time working on it and collaborating with everyone, and we hope that the fans enjoy it. It’s always good to know. I think some of the feedback from fans in season 1 was really special, and I know Blake is very smart to be receptive to the response.
Edgerton: And sometimes that means fans…they’ll let you know what they expect of certain characters. And I think it’s Blake’s job to kind of help deliver the expectations, but also surprise an audience. So these prize fans can often help activate the shaping of a show themselves with their own feedback.
Dark Matter season 2 premieres on Apple TV on August 28.
There’s so much to love about Widow’s Bay, including but not limited to its excellently unique characters. Everyone living on the cursed island is a little bit weird, and the people who work with Mayor Tom Loftis at the Widow’s Bay town hall are outstanding examples. We all love Patricia, and season one anticipated this, giving her two standout episodesof her own. But what about cult-favorite side characters Dale and Rosemary? We need more!
Widow’s Bay creator, showrunner, and executive producer Katie Dippold is right there with us. If she didn’t know ahead of time that odd-couple besties Dale (played by Jeff Hiller) and Rosemary (played by Dale Dickey) would click with audiences, she surely knows now.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter ahead of the Widow’s Bay season one finale, Dippold outlined some of her hopes for the show’s recently announced second season.
“A big part of the fun in the writers room was that we thought a lot about the history of the island and what’s been going on since the founder up until today,” she said. “There was a lot of stuff that we couldn’t do or just decided to not do yet. Between that and characters that we have, there’s a lot. I would love to do a Rosemary episode for Dale Dickey, a Dale episode with Jeff Hiller.”
And she’s not going to stop there. “There’s so many characters to get to know more. I always wanted it to feel like there’s a lot to explore in the island. Little nooks and crannies full of terror that you haven’t seen yet,” Dippold said. “And I really want to get more into [Bechir], Kevin Carroll’s character. There would be a lot more to do.”
We’ve loved Carroll ever since The Leftovers, so we say a big yes to that idea too. The Widow’s Bay season one finale officially arrives tomorrow (technically tonight, thanks to the whims of streaming scheduling) on Apple TV.
Cursed islands are a well-worn horror trope, but you’ve never been to one quite like the setting of Apple TV’s new series Widow’s Bay. The locals know there’s a darkness hanging over them—it’s just another part of life in this quaint village located 40 miles off the coast of New England.
Here, there’s no wi-fi, but there are plenty of strange creatures, odd weather patterns, and legends that hew far closer to actual history than to folklore. That becomes a problem when the town’s ambitious mayor, Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), launches his plan to turn Widow’s Bay into a bougie tourist destination at the exact moment the island starts “waking up” in all sorts of supernatural ways.
Across 10 episodes, Widow’s Bay mixes offbeat humor with freaky scares. Ahead of the show’s premiere next week, io9 talked to creator, showrunner, and executive producer Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation, The Heat, Ghostbusters: Answer the Call) and director and executive producer Hiro Murai (Atlanta, Station Eleven) to learn more.
This interview has been slightly edited and condensed.
Cheryl Eddy, io9: Apple TV is such a destination for sci-fi, but we haven’t seen it do too many horror shows. What does it mean to you to be one of the first horror shows on the streamer?
Katie Dippold: It’s exciting. I mean, I have to give Apple credit. In the pitch, we didn’t necessarily say “horror show,” but we said we wanted to do both horror and comedy and that we didn’t really have a direct [comparison] for it. And so to Apple’s credit—that’s nerve-wracking for a studio to hear.
io9: Widow’s Bay has some obvious influences—including John Carpenter’s The Fog and Halloween,Jaws, and H.P. Lovecraft. What was the genesis of the Widow’s Bay story, and how did you decide to incorporate those inspirations?
Dippold: I would say the inspiration was trying to capture a certain feeling that I’ve always wanted. As a kid in New Jersey in the ‘80s, there was a haunted house that I would always go to with my family. It’s terrifying. I was way too young for it. But I loved that I would go, and it was terrifying, and I would scream, but we would also laugh, and it’s very communal. And so I’ve wanted to capture that feeling. And I’ve always wanted a place like this to actually exist. Like, I want to go to this island. I want to go to the weird inn, and I want to go to the Salty Whale. Just to feel like there’s these nooks and crannies you can discover is very exciting to me.
[As for the inspirations], you’re absolutely correct. We especially talked about Jaws a lot, and I think it was important for us to feel like [we weren’t doing] a parody of it or doing it exactly—but just [feeling] the spirit of it.
Murai: I also think this island [is] remote and it’s kind of disconnected from time, and they don’t have modern technology, and there’s something kind of inherently nostalgic about it. I think when we’re touching on things like Jaws and The Fog, to us it was conjuring the nostalgia of being kids and watching those movies at the same time. That was something that we were trying to harness, the feeling of watching those movies more than the movies themselves maybe.
io9: Widow’s Bay has an offbeat tone that shifts between deadpan humor and dark horror. How did you go about getting that balance just right?
Dippold: We tried to make sure the horror never felt too bleak. The show goes to dark places, but I think the balancing act of horror and comedy—it kind of wants to feel in the same spirit of joy, even if it’s just truly scary. Another important thing is that the scary thing isn’t usually funny. That was important to us, to really take it seriously and not let the comedy undercut the horror. So to be honest, we were constantly molding and finding things and discovering things that worked and didn’t work. And it was a very organic, creative journey.
Murai: Yeah. Sometimes we would film things, we’d do a take, and then we’d just look at each other like, “That didn’t feel good. And we don’t know why.” And so we would change the way it was staged or the performances. It was very much a discovery process.
io9: The character of Tom has to be a guy you root for even as he’s doing things he knows he shouldn’t. How did you know Matthew Rhys was the right choice?
Dippold: Not until we met him, because we had been thinking about it for a long time. Casting was one of the hardest parts, because it’s like—there’s so many people that are so funny that would be a dream to work with, but then it just doesn’t feel right for the tone of the show, and you wouldn’t necessarily buy them living on this island. And then if that’s the case, then you wouldn’t really feel the tension. Matthew [is] an amazing dramatic actor; we were both big fans. We met with him on Zoom, and he was just so funny and just so lovely, and we just had a great meeting. When Hiro and I got on the phone afterwards, [we were] like, “This feels good!”
io9: The lore of the island is so detailed. Did you come up with a huge list beforehand of stuff you wanted to include, or did it come up organically while the episodes were being written?
Dippold: It was a lot of trial and error. There were so many different things that I just wanted to see and just wanted to do, and sometimes we know we would brainstorm that in [the writers’] room, and it just didn’t feel right for the show, and then some stuff did feel right for the show. Also, a key component was making sure we’re using the horror tropes to also explore the characters. A lot of the horrors of being a human being are really the most important, and just using that sort of as a way to explore it.
io9: I loved the weirdly sinister board games that Tom finds at the inn. It’s definitely a “pause and look twice” moment.
Dippold: One of the things I love about the way that [Hiro] shot it is, like, just [moving the camera past a game called] She Shouldn’t Have Said That. And it’s never explained, which is my favorite kind of humor, where you’re not saying, “Here is the joke.” I think Hiro is especially awesome at [that]: “Oh, did you catch it? Okay. Well, maybe not, but keep moving.” And so that did tickle me.
io9: Without spoiling any plot points, when we get to the end of the season, it feels like there could be additional chapters to this story. Did you envision it as a contained, single season, or is there a possibility to do more?
Dippold: I like a season ending where you feel satisfied but also could continue. So there’s definitely much more that could be done.
Widow’s Bay stars Matthew Rhys (who’s also an executive producer) along with Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root, Kingston Rumi Southwick, Kevin Carroll, Dale Dickey, K Callan, and Jeff Hiller. It premieres April 29 on Apple TV.
Using Spotify on Apple TV might be a smoother experience going forward. Spotify has released an entirely new “experience” that integrates many of its mobile features to Apple TV, including managing your queue and viewing lyrics.
The updated Spotify for Apple TV app also includes remote control via Connect — hopefully there won’t be any future issues with changing the volume. You can also use Spotify DJ, the AI-powered guide for choosing what to listen to next.
If you’re a big video person then there’s another update for you. Apple TV will now be able to show podcast videos and let you adjust playback speed on any videos. It’s good timing as Spotify recently announced that some of its podcast videos will come to Netflix in early 2026.
The update also brings one of Spotify’s newer ventures to Apple TV: music videos. Any Premium subscribers in one of the 97 beta markets with the feature can choose “switch to video” on any song that has a music video. It works just like the tool for Podcasts.
All of these updates come with an entirely new interface that Spotify has created specifically for tvOS, redesigned Spotify for Apple TV should roll out for everyone by mid-November.
There’s yet another streaming bundle in town, and it will be ideal for fans of Ted Lasso and The Office. Apple and NBC have teamed up to provide both of their streaming services together in a bundle starting at $15 per month. The new Apple TV + Peacock bundle is officially available now for $15 monthly for the ad-supported tier.
This is a mighty fine deal, given that Apple TV recently changed both its name and price. The platform costs $13 per month now on its own. Peacock starts at $11 per month. In other words, this is a discount of around $9 each month. In this economy, we’ll take any savings we can get.
As mentioned previously, the only caveat is that the base tier includes ads. The subscription shoots up to $20 per month for an ad-free version. However, a standalone subscription to ad-free Peacock is $17 on its own. Additionally, Apple One subscribers will get a 35 percent discount on Peacock Premium Plus plans. It’s always nice when two lonely corporations find friendship, isn’t it?
For the uninitiated, Apple TV is the company’s big-wig streaming platform. It’s primarily known for sci-fi like Severance, For All Mankind and the upcoming Pluribus. The platform is also host to plenty of comedy, like The Studio, Shrinking and Ted Lasso.
Peacock is NBC’s streaming service. It streams old-school network programming like The Office, Grimm and Superstore. The service features a stable of original programming like Poker Face, Twisted Metal and the underrated Mrs. Davis. The platform also recently premiered a little show called The Paper, which is a spinoff of The Office. Against all odds, this is actually a great little sitcom and a worthy successor to the original.
When it comes to originals, Netflix and Amazon have the deepest libraries of prestige movies. But ever since CODAwon the Best Picture Oscar, it’s become clear that some of the best movies are on Apple TV+.
As with any streaming service, not every film on the roster is a winner, but from the Billie Eilish documentary to Sundance darlings, Apple’s streaming service is building up a strong catalog to run alongside its growing slate of beloved TV shows.
Below are WIRED’s picks for flicks you should prioritize in your queue. Once you’re done, hop over to our list of the best movies on Netflix and the best movies on Disney+. If you’re feeling a little more episodic, our guide for the best shows on Amazon might be just the ticket.
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Fly Me to the Moon
So, you know that conspiracy theory about Stanley Kubrick faking the Apollo 11 moon landing? If you don’t, you really should go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole on that one. When you’re done, watch this Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum comedy about a marketing whiz (Johansson) who gets hired to film a mocked-up version of Neil Armstrong’s famous giant leap for mankind on the off chance the mission didn’t go off as planned. Wild stuff, but no less wild than looking for clues to Kubrick’s secret involvement with NASA in The Shining.
Blitz
Written and directed by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Blitz shows World War II through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy named George (Elliott Heffernan). Sent by his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) to the safety of the English countryside, George escapes in an attempt to be reunited with his mom and grandfather in East London. What ensues is George’s harrowing quest to be reunited with his mom, but this is a McQueen film, so that’s only part of the story.
The Last of the Sea Women
On the coast of South Korea’s Jeju Island, women rule the sea. They’re called haenyeo, and for centuries they have gone diving to harvest seafood. Sue Kim’s new documentary follows these women—often referred to as real-life mermaids—as they struggle to keep their way of life in the face of societal and environmental changes. Emboldened by a new generation that wants to amplify haenyeo on social media, they may find a path after all. Produced by Malala Yousafzai, it’s a journey into cross-generational unity and the value of tradition.
Wolfs
If you heard anything about Wolfs, it probably wasn’t about its plot. Stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt were in the news a lot around its September release, but mostly because of their salaries and their goofing off in Venice. But if you want to know what Wolfs is about, the short version is that Clooney and Pitt play the kind of guys who make problems go away, and when they’re both called in for the same job, they get to bicker with each other about who is losing their edge more. Might be light on substance, but it’s still a pretty good time. The movie hits theaters on September 20, and lands on Apple TV+ a week later.
The World’s a Little Blurry
When it originally came out in 2021, The World’s a Little Blurry proved to be an unprecedented look into the life of pop phenom Billie Eilish as the then-teenager recorded her debut LP When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Director R. J. Cutler got amazing access for the film, which chronicles everything from Eilish’s songwriting process with her brother Finneas to her frank talk about her Tourette’s. It also was only a small chapter of the singer’s life. Now that she’s won multiple Grammys and Oscars, started singing about eating girls for lunch, and performed at the Olympics Closing Ceremony, watching Blurry feels like opening a time capsule—in all the best ways. It’s the kind of music documentary that redefines the music documentary.
The Velvet Underground
You may think that director Todd Haynes only makes intense dramas like Carol and May December, but for this film he went deep into the art scene in New York City in the 1960s to unearth what happened when the Velvet Underground exploded a lot of people’s ideas of music. Piecing together new interviews with archive footage and even old Andy Warhol films, it captures a moment in music history that changed things forever.
Fancy Dance
Set on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma, Fancy Dance follows the journey of Jax (Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone), a woman who has been caring for her niece Roki ever since her sister, Roki’s mother, went missing. After the authorities deem Jax unfit to care for her niece, Roki is sent to live with her grandfather. Looking for answers, Jax takes Roki on the road to try to find her mother and ends up trying to escape the same authorities, who aren’t putting the same effort into finding her missing sister as they are in trying to find her. An examination of life on colonized land, Fancy Dance is also a thoughtful look at protecting community.
Girls State
Do you remember the 2020 documentary Boys State, about a group of young men in Texas who attend a summer program where the are challenged to form their own government? Girls State is similar—it even comes from the same filmmaking team of Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine—but it follows a group of people who have never seen someone of their gender hold the office of US president. It’s also set in Missouri, not Texas. Expect all the same wild ambition and hearbreak—and more than a few life lessons learned.
Napoleon
OK, so Napoleon didn’t exactly get critics’ pens flying, but sometimes you’re just in the mood for a big, prestige-y Ridley Scott historical drama, you know? This one stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character, following his quest to conquer, well, as much as he possibly can. Rather than being a sprint to the Battle of Waterloo, however, this pic gives attention to the French emperor’s emotionally rocky relationship with his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). What happens when a man can conquer most of Europe but not his own feelings? Watch and find out.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese’s epic film is based on David Grann’s 2017 book about a member of the Osage Nation, Mollie Burkhart, who sought to get to the bottom of the deaths in her family. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, a time when many Osage were being killed for the money made from oil on their land, Scorsese’s film follows the relationship between Mollie (played by Lily Gladstone, who won a Golden Globe for her performance) and Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) and what happens when the FBI comes to investigate the Osage deaths. When WIRED named it one of 2023’s best movies, we called it “a feel-bad masterpiece,” and we stand by that.
Fingernails
Can technology determine whether you’ve found The One? Probably not, but in the latest from writer-director Christos Nikou, an institute run by Duncan (Luke Wilson) claims that it has found the formula for true love anyway—and Anna (Jessie Buckley) wants to figure out if it’s real. The institute, you see, has determined that Anna and her boyfriend Ryan (Jeremy Allen White) are a match, but has doubts. While working at the institute, though, she meets Amir (Riz Ahmed) and finds someone who actually might be her match.
Flora and Son
Remember Sing Street, that charming indie about a kid in Dublin who starts a band as an escape from his complicated home life? What about Once, that charming indie about a pair that spends a week in Dublin writing songs about their love? If you enjoyed either of those—or if they just sound like something you might enjoy—let us suggest Flora and Son, a charming indie about a mother in Dublin trying to connect with her son through song. Like Sing Street and Once, Flora and Son comes from director John Carney and has all of his signature moves, plus something else: Eve Hewson, who plays the movie’s titular mom. She’s a force, and she hits all of her musician notes perfectly. Makes sense; she’s Bono’s daughter.
Stephen Curry: Underrated
Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry might be one of the most beloved players in American basketball—and he is definitely one of the best players, if not the best player, in the league. He has been named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player twice and has won four championship rings. He also has more career three-pointers than anyone in the league. But in the late aughts, he was a kid at a small school, Davidson College, just trying to live up to the potential his coaches saw in him. Underrated, directed by Peter Nicks (Homeroom), chronicles that journey, showing how Curry bested the predictions of his own NBA draft (many said he didn’t have the size necessary for the league) to become one of the greatest to ever play the game. For basketball fans, it’s a must-watch.
Beastie Boys Story
One of the pioneering groups in hip-hop, the Beastie Boys have a story like no other. For this “live documentary,” filmmaker Spike Jonze filmed Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) as they told a crowd at Brooklyn’s Kings Theater about their rise to stardom. Complete with old footage, photos, and stories from the group’s decades-long career, the doc captures just how influential the Beasties have been since they started playing music together as kids in New York City in the late ’70s and early ’80s. It also features some wonderful memories of their third member, Adam “MCA” Yauch, who died in 2012 following a battle with cancer.
CODA
This is the one that put Apple TV+ on the map. The movie’s title is an acronym for “child of deaf adults.” It’s the story of Ruby, the only hearing person in a family that includes two deaf parents and one deaf sibling. When Ruby discovers a love of music, she’s forced to reconcile her own aspirations with those of her family, who run a small fishing business and often need her to help communicate. Warm and gripping, CODA is the kind of movie that will have you cheering and crying at the same time.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
In 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of Hollywood’s biggest names as the star of a hit TV show (Family Ties) and the year’s highest-grossing movie (Back to the Future). Just a few years later, at the age of 29, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In Still, Oscar-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim offers a poignant portrait of Fox’s personal and professional life and his journey from teen idol to advocate for a cure.
Swan Song
Mahershala Ali stars alongside, well, Mahershala Ali in this romantic-sci-fi-drama. Yes, it’s all of those things. Cameron (Ali) is a loving husband (to Naomie Harris) and father who, after learning he has a terminal illness, must decide just how far he’ll go to protect his family from having to know the truth, or deal with the devastating aftermath.
Sharper
Sharper is one of those movies where the less you know about it going in, the better. Just know that no one is what they seem or who they say they are in this neo-noir starring Julianne Moore, Sebastian Stan, Justice Smith, and John Lithgow. This twisty little thriller flew largely under the radar when it was released in theaters for a half-second in early 2023.
Cha Cha Real Smooth
“Sundance hit starring Dakota Johnson”s are almost a dime a dozen, but this one, about a young bar/bat mitzvah party-starter is the, ahem, real deal. It also proves that Cooper Raiff—who writes, directs, and stars in the movie—is one to keep your eye on.
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Yes, most people already know the story of Macbeth—Scottish lord with an eye toward ruling his country—but not everyone has seen it through the eyes of director Joel Coen. Shot entirely in black and white and starring Denzel Washington as Macbeth and Frances McDormand as his powerful wife, the film was nominated for three Oscars and brought a very new twist onto a classic Shakespearean tale.
Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues
Above all else, Louis Armstrong is known as one of the most famous jazz musicians of all time. But he was also a figure in the struggle for equality in America—albeit a complicated one. As director Sacha Jenkins illustrates in this documentary, while Armstrong broke racial barriers in entertainment he also faced accusations that he didn’t stand up as much for civil rights as other performers of his era. Jenkins got access to scores of photographs, clippings, and even recordings Armstrong made of his own conversations for this documentary, and that access provides a much fuller picture of the legendary musician than the world has ever had.
Tetris
One of the most popular video games of all time, Tetris was a phenomenon for Nintendo Game Boy owners in the 1980s. But Tetris (the movie) is the story of the people who made the game and brought it from the then-Soviet Union to the rest of the world. Part historical dramedy, part espionage flick, the movie doesn’t always hit its marks, but if you’ve never heard the story of how Tetris got out from behind the Iron Curtain, it’s worth a watch.
Causeway
Causeway kind of came and went when it was released in 2022, but that’s also the sort of movie it is. Focused on a soldier (Jennifer Lawrence) who returns home after suffering a brain injury in Afghanistan, the film from director Lila Neugebauer is about trauma and how people lean on each other to get through it. A worthy watch for the times when you have your own stuff to work through.
Sidney
Sidney Poitier died in 2022, the same year Apple TV+ released this documentary looking at the actor’s long-running career—In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner—and impact on American culture and politics. With interviews ranging from Spike Lee and Morgan Freeman to Harry Belafonte, the film goes beyond his time in Hollywood, starting with his upbringing in the Bahamas and ending with his massive impact on the civil rights movement and elsewhere.
The upcoming tvOS 18.2 update adds a rotation of Snoopy screen savers to 2021 and newer Apple TV models, but it seems that an additional “TV and Movies” category of screen savers has been canceled, or at least postponed. These screen savers were expected to be based on various Apple TV+ series and movies.
As spotted by the Dutch blog iCulture, Apple removed all references to the “TV and Movies” screen savers on its website in mid-November, including a preview of a new screen saver based on the Apple TV+ series “Foundation.”
Apple also updated fine print on its website, although only in the U.S. for now. Apple often takes longer to update its regional websites for other countries.
The previous fine print:
Snoopy and TV and Movies screen savers coming late 2024.
The current fine print:
Snoopy screen saver coming late 2024.
Snoopy is technically Apple TV+ content now, but it looks like additional Apple TV+ screen savers will not be coming any time soon.
We expect tvOS 18.2 to be released to the public in December. The rotating Snoopy screen saver is already available in the third beta version of the update.
Other screen saver categories on the Apple TV include Aerials and Memories, along with a Portraits option with clocks added in tvOS 18.0.
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in early December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple’s AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as…
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch for 10 more months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
An imaginative iPhone 17 Pro concept based on rumors
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models so far:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro …
We’ve been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link…
The Information’s Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu today published an in-depth report about the “iPhone 17 Air,” revealing several new details about the device.
The report said prototypes of the device have a thickness of between 5mm and 6mm, which would make it the thinnest iPhone ever. In comparison, iPhone 16 models are 7.8mm thick and iPhone 16 Pro models are 8.25mm thick.
Due to this…
Black Friday 2024 is tomorrow, and as always this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals. Right now, this includes big savings on popular Apple products like AirPods, Apple Watch, MacBook Air, iPad, and more.
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Apple’s fall 2024 Mac announcements have included new iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro models, all of which debuted with variants of Apple’s M4 chip. Apple intends to update the rest of its Mac lineup with M4 series processors over the next 12 months, which will make it the first time that Apple has used the same chip generation across all of its Macs.
This means we can expect new M4…
It may be hard to remember, but George Clooney and Brad Pitt co-starred in a movie, “Wolfs,” that Apple released just two months ago.
On Friday, the film’s writer and director Jon Watts said Friday that a sequel is no longer happening; in a follow-up interview with Deadline, he explained that he “no longer trusted [Apple] as a creative partner.”
The company is reportedly scaling back its movie strategy. “Wolfs,” for example, was supposed to get a big theatrical release, but instead, it played in a limited number of theaters for just one week before launching on Apple TV+.
Watts, who also created the new Star Wars show “Skeleton Crew,” said Apple’s shift “was a total surprise and made without any explanation or discussion.”
“I was completely shocked and asked them to please not include the news that I was writing a sequel,” Watts said. “They ignored my request and announced it in their press release anyway, seemingly to create a positive spin to their streaming pivot.”
As a result, Watts said he “quietly returned the money they gave me for the sequel” and canceled the project.
Between around 2009 and 2011, it was repeatedlyrumored that Apple would be releasing a TV, but that obviously never happened.
Now, a decade-and-a-half later, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman says the idea is back on the table.
In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman briefly mentioned that Apple has been “evaluating” the “idea of making an Apple-branded TV set.” He did not provide any further details about the TV, but he said it could be one of several new smart home devices that Apple releases if its rumored wall-mounted smart home hub is successful.
It sounds like Apple is still in the very early stages of considering a TV, so it is likely years away from launching, if it ever comes to fruition. Nevertheless, it reignites the exciting possibility of Apple competing in the TV-set industry in a more direct way. Currently, the company only sells the Apple TV box that connects to a TV for streaming.
It remains to be seen how Apple would compete with other TV brands in terms of display specifications, features, and pricing. A wide range of TV sets from brands like LG, Samsung, and Vizio already offer AirPlay, HomeKit, and Apple TV+, but an Apple-branded TV could have even deeper integration with the Apple ecosystem of devices. Apple’s TV would almost certainly offer a very premium design as well.
The TV-set industry is known to be very competitive with low profit margins, but perhaps Apple could release a high-end TV.
Steve Jobs told his biographer Walter Isaacson that he planned to reinvent the TV before he sadly passed away, saying that he had “finally cracked it.” He added that it would have had “the simplest user interface you could imagine.”
In 2010, however, Apple’s then-COO, now-CEO Tim Cook said the company had “no interest in being in the TV market.” Of course, it has been a long time since he made that comment, and things can always change. We shall see.
