Is this HBO’s first ever sequel series?

Back in 2018, Warner Brothers had a massive hit on its hands with the romcom Crazy Rich Asians. $239 million at the box office off a $30 million budget to me sounds like exactly the sort of movie that should have a sequel in cinemas by 2020.

If everyone was doing their jobs right, the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians should have been one of those Project Popcorn movies, a film with a cinema release challenged by COVID. Instead, it just never got made.

A busy cast and creatives, a global pandemic, and other issues meant that the sequel just never happened. An HBO Max original series sequel went into development in early 2025 and today we got news that the series is moving ahead.

But maybe with a twist.

The film was celebrated as an Asian romcom produced by a western studio, but this new TV series, which will debut as an HBO original (and not an HBO Max series, for whatever that distinction is worth to you), is being billed as more of a straight drama.

My guess is that the eight-episode TV show will play out more like a soap than as a romcom, but it will be interesting to see how Crazy Rich Asians adapts to meet the challenge of evolving into a new format.

Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Ronny Chieng are back for the new show, with Michelle Yeoh recurring. Indiewire says that the new series will pick up right after the events of the movie, which poses a pretty major question: Will the TV series spend time dealing with COVID? Or, is it possible that the film was never explicit about when it was set, meaning it could well have been set post-pandemic?

(Or, is it perhaps also possible that the pandemic does play a role in this and it is related to why Michelle Yeoh is only billed as ‘recurring’…?)

I believe this is also the first time that we have seen a sequel at HBO. It has done shows connected with movies throughout the years, going back as far as the mid 80s animated The Neverending Story, but all of the shows were either fresh adaptations or prequels. Even spin-offs from its own TV shows (the various Game of Thrones shows) have all been prequels. Does the fictional Seinfeld sequel special featured in Curb Your Enthusiasm count?

• Great news for David Zaslav fans – the former Warner Bros Discovery CEO is walking away from the Skydance deal with another $600 million in his pocket. Read: Deadline

• Netflix has ordered a Bridgerton limited series prequel, in the vein of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Read: The Hollywood Reporter

• Dan Fogelman‘s NFL drama The Land will premiere on Hulu on February 15, just hours after the Super Bowl. It stars Christopher Meloni, Mandy Moore, and William H. Macy. Read: Variety

• Marvel Television isn’t dead, with the announcement of new spy thriller Zodiac, planned for 2028. Read: Deadline

• Prime Video has ordered a drama series about Karen Read, starring and executive produced by Elizabeth Banks and inspired by the podcast Karen. Read: Deadline

• HBO’s Lanterns finale drew 10.5 million global viewers in its first three days, a series high, with the season averaging 19.3 million viewers and a second-season renewal reportedly pending. Read: Deadline

• Apple TV has picked up the six-part Australian crime drama Dustfall, starring Anna Torv as a detective whose sexual assault investigation turns darker when a key suspect is found dead, ahead of its ABC premiere on October 11. It launches globally on Apple TV in 2027, excluding Australia, the UK, and Germany. Read: C21Media

• Turner Classic Movies will be housed within Skydance Motion Picture Group, led by co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein. This is the wrong move for TCM, which should be treated with less reverence and more as a vital business opportunity. Embrace the Letterboxd ‘love for movies’ momentum of the current moment. Read: Deadline

• Speaking of Letterboxd, an investor consortium led by Madison Wells CEO Gigi Pritzker has joined the race for Letterboxd – it is reportedly seen as the favorite among suitors that also include A24 and Sony as it would preserve the platforms independence. Read: TheWrap

• Joe Rogan has signed another multi-year extension with Spotify – it could could earn the former Newsradio star an estimated US$250 million. Read: Deadline

• Apple will hold a “Welcome home” launch event in New York on October 13, where it’s rumored to unveil a new Apple TV box. Finally – I plan to send my 2015 box out to sea in a viking funeral. Read: The Verge

• ABC has ordered a pilot for Rabbit, an American remake of the BBC hit Ludwig from Mythic Quest‘s Megan Ganz and Humphrey Ker. Read: The Hollywood Reporter

• Slow Horses producer See-Saw Films and Miraculous Corp are developing a live-action series based on the animated show Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. Read: Variety

• Scott Bakula will star in and executive produce a high-concept Los Angeles detective procedural in early development at CBS from Dean Devlin‘s Electric Entertainment. Read: Deadline

• Roseanne Barr has quietly wrapped Meemaw, a privately financed eight-episode family comedy shot in Austin, Texas, co-starring Randy Quaid, Drea de Matteo, Omar Gooding, and Doug Jones. Sounds like the sort of nonsense that will land on Ben Shapiro’s streaming network. Read: Page Six

• Colin Jost and Danny Chun have made 6 Bed 1 Bath, a comedy about five twentysomething roommates sharing an apartment with a man who’s lived there since 1982. Read: Deadline

• Rockstar says Grand Theft Auto VI will have its biggest in-game radio lineup yet, with at least six stations and, for the first time in the series, on-demand podcasts. Read: The Verge

• Hacker group Cyberleek has released a nearly 25-minute leaked Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay video, much of which features main character Jason entirely nude. Read: Polygon

• Xbox has launched XP, a new division covering film and TV, consumer products, partnerships, and live experiences built on franchises like Minecraft, Call of Duty, Halo, and Fallout. Read: Variety

The Altruists debuts on Netflix on Nov 19.

Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle star as Caroline Ellison and Sam Bankman-Fried in this eight-part limited series about the young idealists behind the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, who were accused of stealing US$8 billion.

Stick returns for season 2 on Apple TV on Nov 4.

The Assassin returns for season 2 on Stan on Nov 6.

Grey’s Anatomy returns for season 23 on ABC on Oct 15, then Hulu the next day.

A Course Called Ireland premieres on Paramount+ on Oct 25.

Bill Murray and author Tom Coyne play their way across some of Ireland’s most legendary golf courses in this six-part docuseries, joined by members of the Murray family and friends including Chris O’Dowd, Joanne McNally, and Jason Kelce.

City of God: The Fight Rages On returns for season 2 on HBO Latino and HBO Max on Nov 8.

Murder in Galicia debuts on Netflix on Nov 13.

When a woman is brutally attacked during an apparent robbery in a quiet Galician village, a Civil Guard sergeant becomes convinced her husband is to blame in this three-part Spanish drama based on a true crime story.

Doctor X: Mafia in White debuts on Netflix on Oct 9.

In a hospital ruled by ego and corruption, an enigmatic but brilliant surgeon takes on seemingly impossible cases amid fierce opposition in this Korean medical drama.

Leonard and Hungry Paul is streaming now on Wonder Project via Prime Video.

Two quiet friends find joy in the little things in this warm, gentle series narrated by Julia Roberts.

Storm debuts on Prime Video on Jan 15, 2027. On Christmas night 1999, a blind teenager who sneaks out to a party ends up trapped with the most popular boy in school as the storm of the century devastates France, in this French young adult disaster romance.

That’s the newsletter for the today.

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