Entertainment
The Phantom Menace’s Podracing Sequence Is Prequels at Their Best
IndieWire’s desks are arranged as part of an open-plan office, and sometimes our fine colleagues at [redacted non-entertainment PMC brand] like to talk to each other about movies. I don’t think they realize that Ben Travers, Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire video producer Trevor Wallace, and I are in earshot. We’re exactly as quiet and nerdy and awkward as you’d expect IndieWire writers to be, and we have yet to intervene as they debate the merits of 70mm IMAX (“So what, do you just see more trees?”) or the forces of industry consolidation and changing models of distribution that funnel so many script ideas into limited series as opposed to features (“I feel like there’s only three good movies a year and I’ve already seen them”).
The other day, though, they were talking about the “Star Wars” prequels and one of these non-entertainment sorts said something very perceptive: that “The Phantom Menace” was worth it because the Nintendo 64 podracing game, 1999’s “Star Wars Episode I: Racer,” rules. Which is true. That game rules.
Bear with me here.
Sequels, in so many respects, have the luxury of getting to be open worlds. They are set in familiar landscapes with characters that we love, yes, but their forward trajectory is unwritten. Characters can wind up anywhere, from a different town to a different universe to prison. They have saved the world, perhaps, but it always needs saving again — if not always from the same person, as “Star Wars” itself would do well to remember. Maybe they have worked out some emotional Gordian Knot through the extraordinary circumstances of the first film, but that’s not how life works. Someone from their past can always step back in, upend that settled life, and make them late for the airport.
There’s something that comes with open worlds that bad sequels always fumble, and that can take the gas right out of ailing franchises. Because the narrative can be anything, and go anywhere, there is a tendency for character arcs to echo the previous films, if they’re present at all. For Tony Stark or John McClane to learn the same lesson about needing to let the people they love more fully into their lives. For Chris Pratt to… tame more dinosaurs, I guess? The exception that proves the rule is, perhaps, how Dom Torretto never re-learns the lesson that La Familia is what livin’ life one quarter mile at a time is all about, but he demonstrates it again and again by crashing cars at increasingly high speeds from increasingly improbable heights.
Which is all to say that too much emotional repetition, too many beats of trying to mine the same old character dynamics and too many instances of stuffing in references for the Rick Dalton Pointing Meme, and it doesn’t matter how open a world is at all. It feels stale.
Prequels have the opposite problem. Dramatic irony hangs low and menacing as a storm cloud over stories when we know where the characters are going to end up, and whether what they’re struggling with will ultimately matter. The existing plot is an enemy that must be combated head-on, and it doesn’t matter how much of a Chosen One story it is. The original will always have the high ground, Anakin. Bad prequels do the same thing as bad sequels: they try and emotionally echo what’s come before. They lean so far into the Lore™ they end up in the lava.
Put another way, if you have, say, a couple of detectives bustling around the “Titanic,” it’s kinda neat that we’re ambiently aware of the fact that there’s a finite clock for them to being able to solve a murder mystery. But if they’re being like, “I do believe we are sailing too fast!” or “Hmm, I’m not sure the steel plates of the hull wouldn’t buckle under pressure!” that also wrecks our suspension of disbelief. The more a story engages with its original, the less allows us to relate to the story and the characters on their own terms. But also it has to engage with its original, and if it’s using original characters, their emotional trajectory has also been set.
Good prequels, and they are out there, get around this in ways that sequels can learn from, too. There is a Tony Gilroy quote about how entering an established fictional universe is like jumping into a sandbox. As a fan, you are excited to play with the toys that are already in there. But as a storyteller, your job is to leave more new toys in the sandbox when you’re done than were there when you started. To appropriate a phrase, this is podracing.
More importantly, this is “Duel of the Fates.” This is the Aldhani heist in “Andor” and the Fury Road in “Furiosa.” It’s Kim Wexler and her indomitable ponytail in “Better Call Saul.” It’s Adonis Creed having 21st century traumas he needs to punch his way through, as opposed to Rocky Balboa’s very ‘70s-coded angst. It’s Joe Manganiello dancing to “I Want It That Way.” New characters, new tones, new kinds of conflicts: they can all exist within the same (fictional) historical timeline. These are how you bring new toys to the sandbox.
And the thing about cool new toys, as the little prequel montage inside of “Up” teaches us, is that if they matter to us, then the things the characters care about are going to matter, and the adventures they go on will matter, and it will make the original story matter more, too. Introducing a terrifying KGB agent or constructing the lushest cinematography around Robert De Niro is how prequels get around the problem of a closed world. But it’s also how the best sequels keep theirs open.
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Everyone grab your webshooters because it’s undoubtedly Spidey season.
During a Saturday panel at D23 expo, a group of presenters that include Marvel studio’s president Kevin Feige, Spider-Man: Brand New Day actor Jacob Batalon and Disney+’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man showrunner Jeff Trammell hit the stage to celebrate 65 years of Spider-Man.
Though Peter doesn’t look a day older than his perpetual mid-teens to late 20s, the iconic webslinger has certainly earned his 401k pension and retirement plan these past six decades.
Reflecting on Spider-Man’s ever growing popularity which has now expanded more than ever across the forms of an entire Spider-Verse, several highest grossing films, TV shows, video games and more comics, Feige and Batalon discussed the superhero’s legacy.
“There is so much story to tell, that even after 65 years, we’re just starting,” said Feige.
After ribbing Feige about getting his “own show,” Batalon added, “Truly just, wherever the story takes us, we’re willing to follow. I feel like we all work with amazing people who make great things and just want to be a part of something you all love.”
Although Tom Holland wasn’t present, he graced attendees with a video message. “Playing Peter Parker is my dream, and getting to live that dream has been one of the greatest privileges of my career,” he said.
Surprises revealed today on the Premiere stage included the announcement of an interview between Spider-Man: Brand New Day‘s Tom Holland and Destin Daniel Cretton which will be featured in the upcoming milestone comic Amazing Spider-Man #1000. The several story issue, coming out in September, will follow Spider-Man as he faces his first new fear-inducing and formidable villain in decades named Ravage. It will also mark Noah Hawley’s debut comic
Disney+’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season 2, dropping January 2027, teased the introduction Eddie Brock, working for the Daily Bugle, as Doc Oc attacks a gala and kidnaps Harry Osborn after a brief fight with Spidey, who is exposed to Venom’s symbiote.
Alyssa Sapire, head of Disney Jr. Original Programming confirmed a Season 7 renewal of Spidey and His Amazing Friends alongside debuting a first-look at Spidey and the Avengers: Halloween Team-Up and casting announcement of guest star musicians Este Haim and Patrick Stump as villains Hallows Eve and Jack O’Latern respectively.
In 1996, Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee (sans other co-creator Steve Ditko) told the Chicago Tribune why the character meant so much to him, as well as the rest of the world: “He’s the most famous. He’s the one who’s most like me – nothing ever turns out 100% OK; he’s got a lot of problems, he does things wrong, and I can relate to that… he’s got that feeling of the average guy who turned into a hero and still has problems.”
And it seems like with great power and great responsibility that Spider-Man will be enduring plenty more.
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Lindsay Hubbard, one of the stars of Bravo’s Summer House, was doing an on-camera interview for a different reality show when shocking news broke that two of her Summer House castmates had gotten together.
At the end of March, Amanda Batula, who was still married to Kyle Cooke, and West Wilson, who had previously dated Batula’s close friend Ciara Miller, released a statement about their budding relationship.
Carl Radke, fellow Summer House star, told Deadline that he saw the pair’s statement when he landed in Los Angeles and realized that Hubbard was in the middle of shooting confessionals for Summer House spinoff In the City.
This required a quick pivot from producers, as they revealed during a conversation featuring Hubbard, fellow castmate Carl Radke, executive producer Jamie Jakimo and showrunner Trish Gold for Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees Studio.
Watch the conversation below and scroll down for more photos from the event.
Jakimo, executive producer and SVP Programming at Summer House producer Truly Original, said, “When some news was put on the internet, we happened to have Lindsay in the studio with us. This is real. We follow what’s real, so we knew we had to camera up. We were on a green screen for a different show. This is happening now. Get the cameras. When something is newsworthy, noteworthy and affecting these cast members, we’re going to capture it.”
The only problem was that the show was already in post and the reunion was coming up.
“As producers, we’re learning things in real time, much like cast members,” Jakimo added. “We’ve become very nimble over the years where when we see things happening, when we get a call from somebody like Lindsay.”
The scandal dominated the internet and continues to do so, and helped Summer House land its first-ever Emmy nomination after 10 seasons. The show is competing against the likes of Love on the Spectrum, America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked and Welcome to Wrexham in the Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program category.
Hubbard told Deadline that she was “overwhelmed with excitement” about the nomination and joked that it was “overdue.” “Being recognized after 10 seasons is incredible,” Radke added. “We really are real friends, which of course provides a lot of ups and downs.”
While the scandal involving Batula, Wilson and Miller may have got the headlines for Season 10, there were other storylines, including Hubbard and Radke becoming friends again after previously being together.
“I was just excited and glad that [Lindsay] and I could continue to kind of grow the friendship, get some closure from the past, kind of try to move on with respect and try to build a new chapter of a friendship. You saw pieces of that like the conversation her and I had at the Labor Day party,” Radke said. “Watching it back was really meaningful and touching. She’s been just cool with me.”
“We’re cooler than ever,” added Hubbard.
Carl Radke and Lindsay Hubbard
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
Lindsay Hubbard
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
L-R: Carl Radke; Jamie Jakimo and Trish Gold
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
L-R: Lindsay Hubbard, Jamie Jakimo, Trish Gold and Carl Radke
Anthony Avellano for Deadline
“We really tell these people’s stories,” added Gold. “It’s less about trying to make sure we get every little bit, but really rounding out everybody’s stories and being able to tell a complete story. How do we help move through this when relationships are fractured? One of the things that’s so pivotal is when Summer House is repairing relationships, because they are friends, and I think that’s unique to our show versus some of the other shows that are out there.”
The cast is currently filming Season 11 in a new house as well as a crossover with Below Deck Mediterranean. Wilson and Batula are no longer on the show, but Hubbard, Radke, Cooke, Miller, Jesse Solomon, Bailey Taylor, KJ Dillard and Mia Calabrese are.
“It feels good to be back. We’re like the little show that could. I feel like we have finally hit our stride. But now, it’s a new chapter,” said Radke. “It’s normal and natural for it to evolve with maybe some new faces or some people graduate or do whatever. It’s a totally new summer, but we have a new house.”
Hubbard said that the whole situation “took a lot out of us.” She said, “We spent a lot of time on it, emotionally, mentally, physically. We were all ready to put it behind us and just celebrate a fresh start and a new house with a fun summer.”
They’re all single now, as well, Hubbard stressed. “That makes for a fun summer.”
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EXCLUSIVE: Cue the “Nobody cares, Sean” memes — Scott Foley is coming back to Scrubs. He will reprise his fan-favorite character Sean Kelly on the upcoming second season of the ABC revival.
Foley’s return is being announced today at D23’s “Scrubs: Scrubbing Back” panel moderated by Foley and featuring series stars/executive producers Zach Braff (John “J.D.” Dorian), Donald Faison (Christopher Turk) and Sarah Chalke (Elliot Reid), along with showrunner/executive producer Aseem Batra.
Deadline can reveal that Foley will be recurring and, in a full-circle moment, Sean will go back to where his journey on the show started, dating Elliot (Chalke).
The duo will be rekindling their romance just as J.D. is embarking on a relationship with Charlie (Rachel Bilson), who was introduced in the Season 1 finale.
“Scott Foley’s back to be love interest for Sarah, and Rachel has been mine; the dynamic with us all together is just hilarious, and we’re having so much fun,” Braff told Deadline.
Added Chalke, “The writers were like, how do we bring back Elliot’s neurosis, and they thought that Scott would be a good way to do that.”
Foley made his Scrubs debut at the end of Season 1, when Sean, a marine biologist and animal trainer at SeaWorld, was admitted to Sacred Heart with Elliot as his doctor. The two had a brief fling before she dumped him.
Sean and Elliot reconnected again in Season 3 and dated for awhile, taking their relationship long-distance when Sean went to New Zealand. Elliot broke things off shortly after Sean returned as her romance with J.D. started to heat up, news Sean did not take well. He eventually moved on with J.D.’s baby mama Kim Briggs (Elizabeth Banks).
Foley had been on Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence’s wish list for the revival for awhile.
“I really want to have Scott Foley back, I want to have him back on the show just so Zach can say ‘Nobody cares, Sean,’” Lawrence said at PaleyFest in April, referring to the famous dismissive line J.D. uses in conversations with Sean on the original show. The catchphrase took on a life of its own and, two decades later, it continues to haunt Foley, with fans using it to respond to any post he puts up on social media.
In a January interview, Foley revealed that Braff had asked him to return in Season 1 of the new Scrubs and that he had been scheduled for an episode but the schedule could not be worked out.
“I’m sure we’ll find the time,” Foley said at the time as he was promoting his Prime Video series It’s Not Like That. The streamer ended up canceling the well received family drama after one season, and Foley’s two-season arc on Will Trent came to an end in May, rendering the Felicity and Scandal alum available.
In Season 2 of Scrubs, J.D., Turk and Elliot have leveled up from interns to icons at Sacred Heart. Now, the respected doctors inspire the next generation while balancing the ups and downs of working in a hospital. Together with characters new and old, they are navigating this next chapter with laughter, heart and some surprises along the way. Foley’s return certainly qualifies as one of the surprises.
In addition to Braff, Faison and Chalke, the Season 2 series regular cast includes Ava Bunn as intern Sam Tosh.
The original series’ creator Bill Lawrence serves as executive producer on the revival via his Doozer Productions alongside the company’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer as well as showrunner Aseem Batra and stars Braff, Faison and Chalke. Scrubs is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios. The series will return to ABC Sept. 30 with a two-episode premiere, airing Wednesday and streaming next day on Hulu.
In addition to Scrubs, Foley has done three other Bill Lawrence series, Cougar Town, Undateable and Whiskey Cavalier. His upcoming movies include Keep Coming Back and August. He is repped by Gersh and Atlas Artists.
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