Sarah Snook is taking on a new series inspired by one of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic films.
The actress will star in a limited series adaptation of The Birds, ABC Audio has confirmed. The upcoming series is in pilot development at HBO. It will be inspired by both Hitchcock’s film and the Daphne du Maurier novella.
“Escaping a bitter custody battle, Myra Massey (Snook) returns home with her young daughter, secretly probing a childhood friend’s suspicious disappearance. With a killer on the loose and personal threats mounting, Myra fights to protect her daughter against a terrifying new menace: vicious, deadly bird attacks inexplicably tied to the crime,” according to the show’s official description.
This high-profile project brings many HBO creatives together. Snook is known for her role as Shiv Roy in HBO’s Succession. Tom Spezialy, who executive produced both Watchmen and The Leftovers for the network, is writing the pilot and serving as an executive producer. David Heyman also executive produces the show. He is currently executive producing the network’s Harry Potter series.
Universal Global Television, which is a division of Universal Studio Group, serves as a co-studio alongside HBO on the project. Its sibling movie studio Universal Pictures produced the 1963 Hitchcock film and owns the rights to it along with the du Maurier estate.
More members of the Wizarding World have been cast in HBO’s Harry Potter series.
The network has announced that Jasper Talbot, Hannah Chinn and Harry Gilby have joined the season 1 cast of the upcoming series.
Talbot will play James Potter, Chinn is taking on the role of Lily Potter and Gilby has been cast as Charlie Weasley.
“The magical family is growing,” HBO Max captioned a casting announcement Instagram post.
James and Lily Potter are the parents of the titular boy who lived. They are killed by the evil wizard Voldemort before the events of the Harry Potter books occur. Lily sacrificed herself to save baby Harry Potter’s life.
Charlie Weasley is the second eldest son of Molly Weasley and Arthur Weasley, and the older brother of Harry’s best friend, Ron Weasley.
The first season of the series, titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, will air on HBO and debut on HBO Max on Christmas Day 2026.
HBO renewed its Harry Potter series for season 2 on May 6, months ahead of the debut of the show’s first season.
Dominic McLaughlin leads the cast as Harry Potter. He stars alongside Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton, who play Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The show is described as a faithful adaptation of the books by J.K. Rowling, who serves as an executive producer.
Will Smith may have been in a Bad Boy in his latest movie, but in his new song, he’s a man of hope. “You Can Make It” sees him team with Fridayy and the Sunday Service Choir to provide inspiration to those trying to overcome hardships.
“Through some of my darkest moments, music has always been there for me – to lift me and help me grow,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s my humble wish that it can do the same for you and bring you all the joy and light you deserve.”
Available on digital platforms, “You Can Make It” marks Will’s first independent release. He’s set to debut the song on the BET Awards 2024 Sunday.
Megan Thee Stallion is not the only one with new releases this season. Here’s some of the latest and greatest to hit the culture:
JT told us she was “Okay,” but Jeezy apparently is too. He appears on the “Okay Remix,” on which the now divorced rapper raps he’s “single as a dollar bill.” The two dress in all black in the video directed by Gerald Victor.
“Higher” is where Burna Boy wishes for his hometown of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to be. In the video, he pays a visit to childhood home and hands out essential supplies with volunteers from The R.E.A.C.H. and his initiative Project PROTECT.
Offset teams with Gunna for “Style Rare” and directed the video alongside Joshua “Mid Jordan” Farias. “I got that s*** on now,” Set says of the song.
Lucky Daye may just dominate your Algorithm with his new album, released alongside the video for “Think Different.” “‘Algorithm’ is the continued exploration of my sound, leaning into more futuristic and alternative sounds,” he says.
Tinashe‘s following up her first Hot 100 hit with “Getting No Sleep,” which will appear on her upcoming album, Quantum Baby, arriving August 16.
Marsha Ambrosius is back with Casablanco, executive produced by Dr. Dre. She says, “Dr. Dre dared me to dream bigger and aim higher” with the project.
Latto gushes about her man in “Big Mama.” The video finds her and sister Brooklyn turning up in a Miami club, on a yacht and driving the streets in luxury cars.
Doechii‘s “Rocket,” released as part of Sprite’s Limelight series, is about a past situationship with no future. A video for the track is out now.
Tamar Braxton and Eric Benét‘s “Something in the Making” was “a long time in the making.” Both tell People the experience was a “fun” one.
T-Pain is years into his music career, but it seems he’s still not used to fans’ reaction to his fame and stardom. In an interview with GQ, he says he began experiencing fanfare “a little bit before that, kind of the ‘I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper)’ era” but that it made him ask questions like, “What’s the big deal?” and “Why do you think I’m important?”
His reaction has remained the same over the years. “Even still to this day. I’m a person like you. If we’re both in the same airport, on the same flight, there’s nothing special about what I’m doing. It’s not a big deal that you get to see me,” he says.
“It’s become a thing that people know about me. They know how I feel about pictures and videos and stuff like that. I installed in everybody like, Chill the f*** out,” T-Pain continues. “We’re all doing this together. I’m only as important as you make me. I get it, and I appreciate it, but we’re all supposed to be chilling together. I just get to be on the other side of the camera more than most people.”
While he notices “the appreciation is there and the love is there,” T-Pain says that “trying to make me more important than anyone else that’s also waiting on their flight…just doesn’t make sense to me.”
Blxst has new music on the way, and this time, it’s not an EP. He announced Thursday that he’s readying for the release of his debut album, which will be titled I’ll Always Come Find You.
The announcement came via an Instagram post featuring a teaser that sees him in a Buick Grand National with a “Birdie” license plate, taking a late-night drive through the city and eventually stopping at a chauffeur car service garage called Evgle & Son. He ends the video saying, “If you’re ever lost, I’ll always come find you,” and revealing the release date: July 19.
“This is the most confident I’ve ever felt in my music. What I had to overcome while making this album changed my entire creative process, and the fans deserve to see the growth from that,” Blxst said in a press release. “I would be doing a disservice to not reach the heights I dreamed of reaching when I first started as an artist. No better time than now.”
To kick off the album, Blxst has released the Anderson .Paak-featuring single, “Dance with the Devil,” and its video.
“I’ve been a fan of Anderson .Paak since his Malibu album. His approach as an artist and tone of voice inspired me while coming into my own artistry,” Blxst said. “Full circle moment, he organically reached out to me summer 2023 to collaborate with him and the group Free Nationals. I took it as an opportunity to shoot for the stars and asked for him to be a part of my debut album as well.”
“This song is a perfect blend of two artists from California and is sonically undeniable from first listen,” he added. He said the song’s about “the tug-of-war with temptation in love and relationships.”
