
Stephen Root in ‘Widow’s Bay’ (Apple TV)
As Widow’s Bay gears up for another tourist season, creator Katie Dippold reflected on the show’s evolution at San Diego Comic-Con.
During Apple TV‘s Hall H panel on Saturday, Dippold revealed that Stephen Root‘s Wyck was not originally part of the pilot script, which she has previously said started as a spec for Parks and Recreation during her time in the NBC sitcom’s writers room from 2009 to 2012.
“So the first version was a spec for Parks and Rec, but it started off that everyone knew it was a haunted town. There was no Wyck in that version,” explained Dippold, before joking: “Burn every copy.”
Root assured her, “I love you.”
Following the first season’s smash success and seven Emmy nominations—including Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series for Root—Dippold expressed her disbelief over appearing at her first Comic-Con.

Stephen Root in ‘Widow’s Bay’ (Apple TV)
“It’s fun,” Dippold said. “I would always predict, ‘Will this show get made?’ We were taking it out. We didn’t know that anyone was going to buy it. But then we got this amazing group. But I would never predict it that we’d be at Comic Con.
In Widow’s Bay, a New England mayor (Rhys) tries to boost tourism to his tiny island as strange events unfold, unleashing a centuries-old curse.
Dippold inked an overall deal with Apple TV as the streamer renewed Widow’s Bay for Season 2, ahead of the Season 1 finale, which is now available to stream.
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Family Guy‘s Halloween and Holiday specials are returning exclusively to Hulu for a third straight year in 2026. Series executive producer and showrunner Rich Appel made the announcement at Family Guy‘s Comic-Con panel Saturday, while also sharing a first look at Kieran Culkin (Succession), who will guest star in the Halloween special as the Devil. Appel was joined on the panel by Family Guy stars Alex Borstein, Arif Zahir, Jennifer Tilly and co-executive producer & supervising director Peter Shin.
The Simpsons and Family Guy have been producing episodes exclusively for Disney+ and Hulu, where their libraries are housed, respectively, for the past couple of years. This year, they are joined for the first time by Bob’s Burgers, which will release a holiday short exclusively on Hulu. All three series are produced by Fox Television Animation.
In the Family Guy Halloween special, “Happy Hell-o-ween,” Brian and Stewie find themselves in Hell — not an annoying day, the actual underworld — paying for 24 seasons’ worth of bad behavior. When they manage to annoy even the Devil (Culkin) himself, they end up in charge.
In the Holiday special, “The Peter Clause,” it’s Christmas in Quahog, and Peter and the guys compete to become the town’s official Santa. Peter loses, and he can either process his disappointment in a mature manner, or give fans a memorable episode of Family Guy. Thankfully, he chooses option number two.
The specials will also exclusively stream internationally on Disney+ in most markets.
Season 25 of Family Guy returns to Fox in midseason 2027, and will stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S.
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Christopher Nolan has directed everything from sci-fi thrillers such as Interstellar, Tenet and Inception to historical dramas like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer, mysteries like The Prestige and Memento and superhero films with his Dark Knight trilogy. But there’s one genre the Oscar-winning filmmaker said he’d be “terrified” to tackle: romantic comedies.
During his first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Thursday, Nolan discussed the lengths he went to shoot his adaptation of Homer’s Greek epic The Odyssey on 70mm IMAX cameras, making it the first feature film to do so. Fallon jokingly asked the director if he ever thinks about doing an “easy” next film, specifically asking, “How about a Christopher Nolan rom-com?”
“I think doing a rom-com would be incredibly difficult,” Nolan replied. “I love watching those movies. But, no, I think people who direct comedy, people who do comedy, I think that’s one of the hardest things in the world to make people laugh that way.”
“Particularly the risk they take,” he continued. “When you make a film … you know, if I show a film to people and maybe they don’t respond to bits of it, I’m like, ‘Ah, they don’t get it. Whatever.’ There’s no hiding behind that when you do comedy.”
When it comes to the genre, Nolan admitted, “I would be terrified of doing anything like that.”
While romantic comedies aren’t on his radar, horror is another story. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan was asked whether The Odyssey had whet his appetite for directing a horror film, given that it features several horror-like sequences.
“It very much whets my appetite for more,” he responded.
“But I’ve always believed that horror as a genre has to be approached very carefully from a conceptual point of view. In other words, you have to have an amazing idea,” Nolan added. “When you go see a film like Obsession, that’s an amazing idea. That movie works like a motherfucker. It’s not about the technical side. It’s not about what technical itches I would have to scratch. It’s about story. So I’m always looking.”
The Odyssey is now playing in theaters, starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway and more. (See THR’s cast guide to all the stars and who they’re playing here.)
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Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill are working together again, according to a viral clip of a YouTuber crashing their Venice Beach set.
In a video posted Friday by Yung Mooch, the vlogger ran up to Rogen and Hill while they were sitting on scooters, filming a scene from an upcoming project.
“No! We’re working,” Rogen can be heard telling Mooch in the video as he walks up to introduce himself, fist-bumping Hill.
As Rogen continues trying to shoo him away, Mooch asks Hill, “Any advice you got to anybody trying to make it in LA?”
“Just enjoy your life, be a kind person,” Hill tells him as Rogen grows agitated and a crewmember tries to intervene.
Mooch then tries at ask Rogen the same question as a friend takes a selfie with Hill. “I would say, don’t fuck with people while they’re trying to make their show. That’s probably not a good idea,” Rogen tells him.
Still not reading the situation, Mooch continues to press Rogen for advice. “Be yourself,” Rogen reluctantly told him.
“Look at this, y’all,” said Mooch into the camera, finally walking away. “We just caught a mid-movie production. This is Los Angeles right here.”
While Rogen has recently been filming Season 2 of Apple TV’s The Studio, and his Apple series Platonic was renewed for Season 3 in December, it’s unclear what he was filming with Hill. Deadline has reached out to Apple.
After first starring together in 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, the pair has starred together in Knocked Up (2007), Superbad (2007) and This Is The End (2013). The last project they both appeared in was 2016’s adult animated comedy Sausage Party.
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