It's Halloween night in 2004—flip phones and AIM reign supreme while the war in Iraq rages on in the background and President George W. Bush fights for reelection. And, in a small Northeastern town, a group of Catholic school girls is about to make a pact with the devil.

This is the setting for The Body, Netflix's new psychological thriller/teen drama that follows what happens when a school dance team initiation goes wrong. After the team celebrates their newest member, Grace (Sofia Wylie), by taking ecstasy at a Halloween party, Grace gets a fever and suffers a seizure, leaving her unconscious and—for a moment—dead. Team Captain Anya (Kristina Bogic), who supplied the drugs, panics and makes an unlikely alliance with Lisbeth (Geena Meszaros), an outsider desperate for a spot on the dance team. What begins as a cover-up soon turns into a mysterious and spiritual event when Grace is found unconscious—and still breathing.

Things on The Body only get more complex, sexy, and spiritual from there. To help you keep track of all the twists and turns, we've put together a guide on the Lions (the dance team), their foes, and their potential saviors. With the series out on November 11, read on to learn more about the cast and characters of The Body.

What to Know About the Cast and Characters of 'The Body,' Netflix's Twisty Teen Thriller

Kristina Bogic as Anya Butler

As team captain, Anya is the queen bee of the Lions and of St. Marks School. A senior with rich parents, a boyfriend on the swim team, and a best friend who never leaves her side, Anya is living the teenage dream. At least, that's what people think, but behind closed doors Anya is struggling to square her sexual desires with the rigid Catholic faith.

Kristina Bogic is an Australian actress and singer who previously starred in the Australian series, Playing Gracie Darling. The Body is her first time doing an American accent on camera and her first major Hollywood break.

Kristina Bogic's Instagram: @___dawwn___

Geena Meszaros as Lisbeth Anderson

Lisbeth would do anything to be a Lion, so when she sees Grace unconscious at the Halloween party and Anya freaking out, she knows this is her chance. Desperate to be accepted and welcomed into Anya's world, Lisbeth tries to be one of the girls, but her complicated past and religious extremist mother threaten to ruin her shot at popularity.

Geena Meszaros is no stranger to Netflix. She previously appeared in Wayward, another psychological thriller about girlhood. Fans might also recognize her from Prime Video's High School, the show based on Tegan and Sarah Quin's memoir.

Geena Meszaros' Instagram: @geena_meszaros

Sofia Wylie as Grace Franklin

As the priest's niece, Grace is known at St. Marks as a devout Catholic who plays by the rules, which is what makes her decision to try out for the Lions all the more shocking. After earning a spot on the team, she is forced to take a walk on the wild side as part of her initiation, but what stars as an innocent night of fun might just be her end.

Unlike many of her co-stars, actor and singer Sofia Wylie has a long list of credits on her IMDB page. As a teenager, she starred as Gina on Disney's High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and fans might also recognize her from Netflix's magical teen drama, The School of Good and Evil. Most recently, she starred alongside KJ Apa and Madelyn Cline in The Map that Leads to You and was featured in Adéla's “Machine Girl” music video.

Sofia Wylie's Instagram: @sofiawylie

Jackson Kelly as Leo Anderson

Leo is Lisbeth's soft-spoken brother. When Lisbeth is aggressive and proactive, Leo is meek and observant. He's a bit of a loner, happy to be alone drawing instead of socializing—except when it comes to his study partner Grace. Leo is obsessed with Grace, and when strange things start happening around him, his faith in his crush takes over.

Playing in the world of horror is not new for Jackson Kelly, who previously appeared on the tv show Chucky. He has appeared in a string of TV shows, from The Righteous Gemstones to Imperfect Women, but is probably best known for his role in season one of The Pitt, playing David Saunders, a troubled teen with rage issues.

Jackson Kelly's Instagram: @jacksonreidkelly

Sara Boustany as Elise Zakaria

Elise is Anya's best friend and her right hand with the Lions. When Grace falls into a coma, Elise, who pushed her to do drugs, takes the blame, causing friction in the group. Her relationship with Anya is further strained by Lisbeth's constant presence and Elise's maybe not-so-platonic feelings towards her BFF.

The Body marks Sara Boustany's first leading role. The actress made her TV debut playing Miranda in two episodes of PEN15 back in 2019, and most recently appeared in the film Hello Beautiful.

Sara Boustany's Instagram: @saraboustanyy

Shirley Chen as Maddie

After a broken foot and an eating disorder sidelines kindhearted Maddie for a major dance competition, the Lions are forced to hold auditions to fill her spot, and Maddie jumps at the chance to get her friend Grace in the group.

Shirley Chen has been working in Hollywood for over a decade, starting with background parts in Parenthood and Speechless, as well as short films. More recently, she's appeared in major movies, playing a young Sandra Oh in Quiz Lady and co-starring in Didi, the acclaimed Asian American indie film. This year, she starred in Slanted, a body horror movie about an Asian American girl who undergoes a procedure to become white.

Shirley Chen's Instagram: @shirleylchen

Orlando Norman as Steven Maxwell

Steven is Anya's boyfriend. A swimming star, Steven is the most popular guy on campus, but while Grace has a crush on him, he's too busy worrying about how to please Anya in the bedroom to notice.

Orlando Norman's credits only go back to 2020, but fans might recognize him from his supporting roles in Prime Video films The Map That Leads to You and Your Fault: London.

Orlando Norman's Instagram: @orlandonorman__

Nnamdi Asomugha as Father Franklin

Father Franklin, or as the Lions like to call him, “Daddy Franklin,” is the head of St. Marks. As a man of God and a concerned uncle, he's determined to find out what happened to his niece Grace, be it medical...or spiritual.

Nnamdi Asomugha is a former NFL player turned actor. As a professional football player, he played for the Oakland Raiders, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the San Francisco 49ers before retiring in 2013. He then shifted his career to Hollywood, with a few guest spots on shows like The Game and Friday Night Lights as well as a producing career. As an actor, he's best known for his leading role opposite Tessa Thompson in Sylvie's Love, and for being married to Kerry Washington.

Gabby Windey as Coach Shauna Miller

Coach Shauna is the Lions' well-meaning, but completely oblivious coach. As a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy, there's not a lot of dancing she can do, but she does make sure to follow the girls around with a camera so she can get all their rehearsals on video.

Gabby Windey is a former Bachelorette lead. Though she did not, ultimately, find love on the ABC reality show, she did manage to turn reality TV stardom into a successful career as an influencer, podcast host, and TV personality. In the past two years, she won season 3 of The Traitors and hosted the dating show Love Overboard.

Gabby Windey's Instagram: @gabby.windey

Louisa Krause as Catherine Anderson

Leo and Lisbeth's mother, Catherine Anderson, is incredibly religious and spends her days watching old tapes of her dead husband's preaching. When Grace falls into a coma, Catherine becomes convinced that she's been possessed by the devil and she'll do everything to save her kids from this evil presence.

Louisa Krause is an American actress best known for her roles on The Girlfriend Experience and the acclaimed drama Billions. Last year, she appeared as Sapphire Stagg in a cameo role in Superman.

Louisa Krause's Instagram: @lounkrause

The Body, Netflix’s Y2K-set Catholic-horror teen drama, looks a whole lot like creator Quinn Shephard’s Tumblr. Moody photos of teenage girls in school uniforms, stills from Brian De Palma’s Carrie, and witchy ephemera are all on the showrunner’s old blog, crystallized in the early 2010s, as well as the lifeblood of her new show.

The showrunner enthusiastically logged into Tumblr for the first time in years and shared her screen while speaking to Marie Claire over Zoom ahead of The Body’s November 11 premiere. “People who knew me as a teenager will definitely see The Body and be like, ‘She is exactly the same,’” jokes Shephard, 31. “I am making the show for the Tumblr Era girls. Rise up.”

Shephard (who helmed the dark comedy Not Okay and the true-crime series Under the Bridge) actually wrote the first iteration of The Body—which follows a Catholic school dance team raptured by mass hysteria when a ritual coincides with one girl winding up in the hospital—nine years ago. That wasn’t long before she was an artsy teenager who reblogged images that would become her reference points and was so “committed to the aesthetic” that she even wrote a rosary and thrifted school uniform daily, despite attending public school.

Her digital and IRL curation clearly wasn’t for nothing, considering the extensive mood boarding she did for The Body. The must-watch show feels like teen divine intervention, where knotty female friendship, secrets, and shame are among the key sacraments—and because it’s set in 2004, Juicy Couture and AIM are, too. Some of Shephard’s favorite media from her own adolescence, clerical art, and more filled Pinterest pages and cork boards when she finally revisited the concept and brought it to Netflix.

But as campy as the queer coming-of-age psychological thriller is, it also explores how easily and harmfully exploited the human compulsion to believe in something can be. Shephard says, “The culture of 2004 is quite similar to now—politically and socially—the beauty standards, fashion trends, edge-lord slang, and the re-election of a president who was widely contested. We're making a show that's intended to be fun and hopefully seeds some things to make you think.”

She adds, “It's been incredibly freeing and healing to make the show; it has allowed me to laugh about so many things that used to feel so serious to me.”

Below, Shephard uncovers the references that flooded her mood boards for The Body, from the theater and erotic thrillers that spoke to her as a teen to outdated magazine advice columns.

Religious Paintings and Dance Team Photos

"The most influential image for me that was really inspiring from the very beginning—because I used to keep this on my wall—was these paintings of biblical women all lying together, [Édouard Debat-Ponsan's The Daughter of Jephthah]. I hung it with this image of a dance team lying together. I have a lot of that in my mood boarding, where I would take Catholic or religious painting tableaux of groups of women and then juxtapose them with images of dance teams."

'The Crucible,' 'Equus,' and Other Faith-Inspired Texts

"I was a theater nerd and did a production of The Crucible when I was 15, and got hyper-fixated on it. That play felt very tied to my coming of age. It was the first adult role I had ever played. That led me to a lot of self-discovery and discovery of themes that were fascinating to me.

I always had a complex relationship with religion because, growing up, one side of my family was quite religious; the other side of my family was raised Catholic, not practicing anymore. Religion was something I was involved in when I was really little, and it shifted as I got older, but I always had a curiosity around spirituality. So the discovery of literature and film not just about religion, but about religious hysteria [and] groupthink was incredibly fascinating to me as a teenager and still is.

Most of my teenagehood, religion represented a lot of shame. I associated it with the oppression of the queer community and politics that didn't align with my own. I gravitated towards stories and plays like Equus that are about somebody forming their own religion that is then incredibly frowned upon, but for this character, it means so much. To me, these stories were a perfect metaphor for the queer experience that I didn't realize yet—that the mixture of shame and ecstasy that would come out of religious experience was very much tied to themes of queerness and coming of age as a young woman."

Iconic Movie Dance Scenes

"I love dance and film, everything from Suspiria to Bring It On. The two very influential scenes for me as a filmmaker were “Sparkle Motion” in Donnie Darko and the cheerleading sequence from American Beauty. Every time I watched [the Donnie Darko] scene, I was like, “This is everything I want to be as a filmmaker." It’s absurd. It's camp. The dancing's silly, but then the scene is intercut with so much tension. [American Beauty], I can't really rewatch it now, but I loved how the dance and this realism were a bit funny, a bit sad, a bit serious, and it brought you inside the worlds of the characters.

For something that’s about groupthink, dance, and how a body is one and how everyone has to move in synchronicity was such a perfect metaphor. In a lot of ways, the show is about femininity and girlhood as religion. For me, [when I was writing] if I were to be like, If I'm Elizabeth, who's the head priest of girlhood? It's definitely the captain of the dance team."

Beloved 2000s Movies

"Initially, I was going to set it when I was in high school [in the 2010s], and then I ended up deep-diving with my co-showrunner Gina [Gammell] on so many films and references from the early 2000s. We would watch Mean Girls or Legally Blonde and be like, ‘What if you just took an element from one of these scenes that is this playful and the actor, the cinematographer, everyone treated it like they were in a drama and incredibly high stakes?’ That was so much fun for us, and unlocked so much in the writers's room. We loved bringing in that iconic, stylized playfulness that was in—as they used to call them—chick flicks of that era. They’re not necessarily at the root of what inspired the show, but they were the icing. Bringing that fun to a dark concept was everything I wanted and more."

Erotic Thrillers

"[The erotic thriller] was the first representation I saw of women being obsessed with other women. I was like, ‘Let them do murder. It's fine.’ In this show, something I really like doing is take a setting or trope of an erotic thriller and try to approach it from a character-driven or grounded lens to get there.

Episode 7 is a great example of, We're doing Wild Things, but I also wanted to understand the stakes and how everyone got here and the tragedy of Anya trying to justify her queerness. I loved getting to go back into scenes [from movies like Single White Female, Cruel Intentions, and Wild Things] that I watched a billion times when I was younger and then get to go, What is that from a real perspective? There's an irony to a lot of what we like to do in the show—wanting to do things that feel like you can take them quite seriously, but there's always a little wink to the audience, and a lot of the film references are a way to do that."

Vintage Y2K-Era Teen Magazines

"Everyone had a million vintage magazines—Cosmo Girl, Seventeen, Teen Vogue. We filled the writers's room, the art department, and wardrobe. We had a million Pinterests. Cosmo was extremely useful because there were a lot of articles like "How to Talk to Your Boyfriend About How You Really Want to Kiss Your Friends at Parties." Really good material for us. There was a great one: “Why Women Need Men.”I cut it out, put it on the wall in the writers's room. We were always trolling each other, putting the most ridiculous articles we found on the walls, but it did help."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Another year of Love Is Blind has come and gone, leaving fans a bit shell-shocked. Season 11's Boston couples had similar trajectories to season 10's Ohio bunch, with enraging villain arcs, major offscreen developments, and a married couple split up by the reunion. Netflix's biggest dating show has been on a dour trajectory for a while, but with just eight couples still together after 11 seasons, it's clear its promise of "love sight unseen" has been statistically unfulfilled.

Despite this, it seems Love Is Blind still isn't ending anytime soon. Netflix keeps putting out international spinoffs—Love Is Blind: Canada and Love Is Blind: South Africa are the latest on the way—and fans still can't stop watching the flagship program. Below, read on for everything we know about Love Is Blind season 12 so far.

What to Know About 'Love Is Blind' Season 12, From the Spring Release Date to the Possible Locations

Has 'Love Is Blind' been renewed for season 12?

Not yet. Netflix hasn't given any official word on the fate of Love Is Blind, but it's impossible to imagine the streaming giant dropping its landmark reality show. Netflix didn't renew season 11 until two months after season 10 aired, so fans should expect a season 12 announcement in the next several weeks.

When would 'Love Is Blind' season 12 come out?

New installments of Love Is Blind release like clockwork, so it's easy to guess when another one will arrive. Since February 2022, Netflix has tried to release a season in mid-February and another in September or the first week of October. Unless something major changes, season 12 will likely arrive around Valentine's Day 2027.

Where is the 'Love Is Blind' season 12 location?

Love Is Blind's ubiquity also means it's gotten harder and harder to keep future locations secret. The reigning fan theory for season 12 is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after production was spotted filming in the area last March.

As for possible locations, the show's producers have posted casting notices for cities including Detroit, Michigan; Miami and Tampa, Florida; Austin, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Charleston, South Carolina.

Love Is Blind may change its location strategy for 2028 and beyond. Last July, producers put out a new set of casting notices, led by the biggest metropolitan area the series has floated so far: N.Y.C. (We'll see how their "no actors or influencers" rule holds up.) The July post also includes its first notices for Las Vegas and Orlando; its second notice for Phoenix (the first was shared back in 2024); and new statewide flyers for Georgia and Tennessee.

The latest season of the Netflix hit Love Is Blind has come and gone, leaving another batch of couples (and countless viewers) reeling in the wake of the show's failed experiment. Though six Bostonian couples got engaged in the Love Is Blind season 11 pods, viewers spent more time counting the many red flags onscreen than rooting for any of the pairs to make it to the altar. The November 4 finale ended with its last standing couple trading "I do"s... before a shocking reunion trailer hinted that the pair's happiness didn't last long.

Below, read on for everything you need to know about the upcoming Love Is Blind season 11 reunion and the drama set to unfurl.

How to Watch the 'Love Is Blind' Season 11 Reunion

When will the 'Love is Blind' season 11 reunion air?

Netflix has confirmed that the Love Is Blind season 11 reunion will hit the streaming giant on Sunday, November 8, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. Based on previous installments, the pre-filmed special is expected to run for one hour and 30 minutes of revelations, crash-outs, and (hopefully minimal) tears.

Netflix will also host a Love is Blind Season 11: Exclusive Reunion Watch Party, where eager fans can watch the special a day early on Saturday, November 7 at 1 p.m. PT. In addition to the reunion, the streaming event will include a live chat, interactive games, and never-before-seen bonus footage from the season.

Is there a trailer for the 'Love is Blind' season 11 reunion?

Netflix's teaser for the Love Is Blind season 11 reunion teases the opposite of a Happily Ever After for its only successful wedding. The clip that auto-played after season 11's finale shows host Nick Lachey asking an unseen man, point blank, "Did you cheat on your wife?" Though season 11's only husband, John, isn't shown onscreen, it teases a brief glimpse of what appears to be a crying Sarah as she's comforted by the other cast members.

Most of the pre-reunion discourse has been, understandably, focused on Sarah and John's post-filming split. However, the trailer shows that all five of the season's remaining couples attended the reunion. So viewers can also expect updates on Michaella and Rob's offscreen breakup, whether Aneha and Cam stayed together after that awkward wedding, and whether Jax and Stew were actually the season's most compatible pair all along.

What do we know about the 'Love Is Blind' season 11 reunion so far?

The biggest news of the Love Is Blind season 11 reunion became public the day after the finale, when TMZ reported that Sarah had filed for divorce from John earlier this year. According to the outlet, Sarah and John had been living separately since mid-April, a little over a year into their marriage. The official news was preceded by a post from reality TV insider Rikkii Wise, who revealed in a spoiler-filled breakdown that John had been caught sexting an escort that he met on a night out with Rob.

According to Wise, John got very emotional about the split during the reunion's taping, though it's unknown how much of the footage will make it to air. Wise also claimed that there was a moment where John's father yelled at Sarah for "going out every night," despite Sarah being clear throughout the season that she has a second job working at a bar.

Wise also spoiled some big news about Michaella's love life following filming. According to the influencer, Michaella ended up reconnecting with her other connection from the pods, beekeeper Matt. Wise claims the pair dated, but it did not end well, and that Michaella and Matt went "back and forth" about it during the reunion's taping. Fans will have to wait and see whether their conversation makes the final cut.

The popular Netflix spy thriller Black Doves returned for its second season on November 5, 2026—and if you’ve already binged the six new episodes, you may be eager to see what follows its gripping cliffhanger. The series stars Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw as undercover British spies, Helen and Sam, who are paired together after Helen’s secret lover is assassinated. In season 2, the political stakes of Helen's double life get even higher when her husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan) ascends to Prime Minister.

If you're eager for answers to what comes after the cliffhanger, we're breaking down everything we know about Black Doves season 3 so far.

Everything We Know About 'Black Doves' Season 3

Is 'Black Doves' renewed for season 3?

Netflix hasn’t officially renewed the spy thriller for a third season, but showrunner Joe Barton is already hopeful for a potential renewal. On the "Pilot TV" podcast, Barton confirmed that a writers’s room is already open and that the streamer has expressed enthusiasm for more. “Netflix are really behind it; they’ve said that thing, ‘We’d love to re-commission it'…I’m like, 'No one’s stopping you, you can!' We have a writers room for it,” he said on the podcast. “They’ve been really supportive; I think everyone’s at the whims of market forces, etc. So we hope so.”

While Netflix had already ordered a second season a few months before Black Doves’s December 2024 premiere, they may be waiting to see season 2's viewership numbers before greenlighting a third. The regime change at Netflix may also play a role, as Chief Content Officer Bela Bejaria ordered seasons 1 and 2. The company let her go and replaced her with Peter Rice in October. But if the show's popularity is any indication, more Black Doves is likely in our future.

When would 'Black Doves' season 3 come out?

Despite the early renewal for season 2, it took two years for it to hit Netflix, which could indicate the production cadence for the series. That said, once season 2 went into production in November 2025, the new episodes turned around within a year for the November 2026 release. If we consider that timeline and the series is renewed quickly, we expect the new episodes to arrive in fall 2028.

Who in the 'Black Doves' cast would return for season 3?

The show’s main trio is Keira Knightley as Helen, Ben Whishaw as Sam, and Sarah Lancashire as Reed, so we’d expect them to continue leading the spy series. Andrew Buchan as Helen's husband Wallace will surely play a role in season 3 as her secret life unravels.

Fellow Black Doves Williams (Ella Lily Hyland) and Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy) will likely return in a future installment— both as spies and as lovers. Dani (Agnes O'Casey), on the other hand, won't, since she was discovered to be a traitor and killed in the finale.

Neve Campbell (Cecile Mason), Ambika Mod (Laila Joshi), Babou Ceesay (Mr. Conteh), and Sam Riley (Patrick) joined the cast in season 2, and all except Campbell’s Cecile survive the explosive finale. So they could return going forward. The same can't be said for Sylvia Hoeks's Katia Chernov and Molly Chesworth's Molly, as they died in the season 2 finale showdown.

Even without the official renewal, Barton is already considering who might populate season 3. He told Esquire that he’d love Tom Hanks and Elliot Page to make cameos in the potential next season. “He sent me an email saying he liked the show after series 1," Barton said of Page. "So Elliot would be amazing, and I've worked with him before.”

What would 'Black Doves' season 3 be about?

Season 2 ends on a cliffhanger for Helen’s marriage. Worried her children are in danger, Helen tells her husband Wallace that she hasn’t been honest about her past or who she’s been in their relationship. She doesn’t give him the full details, but her admission that there’s more to her story will be crucial in season 3—including how Wallace reacts.

Sam and Helen also say a difficult goodbye, as Sam looks to live a quieter life in Italy. But if Black Doves gets picked up for season 3, we can assume some emergency will pull him out of his idyllic villa life and back into the gritty spy world in London.

Hulu's highly anticipated K-drama The Remarried Empress is finally here to delight fantasy-romance fans. Based on the global-hit web novel and WEBTOON of the same name, the series follows the titular ruler of a magical kingdom (played by Shin Min-a) as she finds new love with a foreign prince after her husband, the emperor, leaves her for a runaway slave (Lee Se-young).

At the center of this soapy love square are two women determined to take control of their destinies, with the fate of two realms on the line. Ahead of the series's premiere on November 3, actresses Shin Min-a and Lee Se-young sat down with Marie Claire in Seoul, South Korea, to tease their roles.

Shin Min-a is beloved among K-drama fans for leading rom-coms like Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and No Gain No Love, playing strong women who hide their vulnerability behind ambition and charm. Shin tells Marie Claire that her new titular role, Empress Navier, is no different.

"I found her range very appealing," she says. "She really is the most composed and the most careful character, and holding her emotions in was difficult. But Navier also shows a very human side later in the series, so I had some hope that the character could come across as multifaceted."

Meanwhile, Lee Se-young is stepping into the role of a villainess, though she's best known for playing a strong-willed queen herself in The Red Sleeve. "The web novel portrayed her so well as someone who expresses her desires so purely, someone so infuriating and yet impossible to hate," Lee says of Rashta, the runaway slave that catches the eye of the emperor. "I developed the desire to bring that conflict to life through myself—to create tension in the work and to portray her in a really compelling way."

Ready to dive into this breathtaking world? Read on for everything to know about the main cast and characters of The Remarried Empress.

Everything to Know About the Cast of Hulu's 'The Remarried Empress'

Shin Min-a as Empress Navier

Navier Ellie Trovi is the beloved empress of the Eastern Empire, who has helped her husband Sovieshu lead the kingdom to prosperity. Despite being renowned as wise and benevolent, Navier has been unable to give the emperor an heir. When Sovieshu asks to take a mistress out of the blue, Navier remains poised and elegant in public as she explores a mysterious new romance behind the scenes.

Shin Min-a, 42, is one of Korea's most famous actresses. Since her 2000 debut, she has starred in beloved K-dramas and movies including A Love to Kill, Lucifer, Gyeongju, Oh My Venus, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Diva, Our Blues, and No Gain No Love. Last year, she and her longtime partner, actor Kim Woo-bin, married after 10 years of dating.

Shin Min-a's Instagram: @illusomina

Ju Ji-hoon as Emperor Sovieshu

Several years into Sovieshu's reign as emperor, he seems to be a faithful husband, though he is troubled by his lack of an heir. But everything changes when he comes across a beautiful maiden in the woods. Soon after, Sovieshu shocks the palace by instilling his new love as a mistress, with plans to have a child with her.

Ju Ji-hoon, 44, became an international star with his lead role in another manhwa adaptation, the 2006 rom-com Princess Hours. He has since appeared in acclaimed dramas like Kingdom, Hyena, Light Shop, and Trauma Code: Heroes on Call, as well as the blockbuster film duology Along With the Gods.

Ju Ji-hoon's Instagram: @_jujihoon

Lee Se-young as Rashta

Runaway slave Rashta was fleeing the household of her sadistic owner, Viscount Lotteshu (Park Ho-san), when Sovieshu rescued her. Though she appears naive and helpless, Rashta

Lee Se-young, 33, has starred in acclaimed historical K-dramas since 2003, when she drew praise in Dae Jang Geum (also known as Jewel in the Palace) for her role as a child actress. Since then, she's appeared in The Gentlemen of Wolgyesu Tailor Shop, A Korean Odyssey, The Crowned Clown, The Law Cafe, The Story of Park's Marriage Contract, and The Red Sleeve.

Lee Se-young's Instagram: @seyoung_10

Lee Jong-suk as Crown Prince Heinrey

Crown Prince Heinrey of the Western Empire is a talented swordsman and a known playboy. He also has the ability to transform into an enchanted bird, which he uses to strike up a flirtation with Navier. (She believes she's exchanging notes with the bird's anonymous owner.)

Lee Jong-suk, 37, worked as a model (and briefly trained as a K-pop idol) before his breakout roles in the dramas School 2013 and I Can Hear Your Voice. Since then, he has starred in hit shows like Doctor Stranger, Pinocchio, W, While You Were Sleeping, Romance Is a Bonus Book, and Law In the City. He was previously in a four-year relationship with fellow actress IU.

Lee Jong-suk's Instagram: @jongsuk0206

It's tiiiime! Halloween has passed, and the 2026 holiday season is officially upon us. If you thought it would take a couple of weeks for the festive cheer to set in, think again: Netflix's holiday releases begin rolling out as early as this first week of November.

This year, the streaming service has teased a varied selection of new original movies joining its library of Christmas classics and wintertime watches. Below, we're rounding up every Christmas movie and TV special arriving on Netflix in November and December for the 2026 holiday season, from a star-studded baking special to adaptations of BookTok's favorite holiday romances.

Every Holiday Movie Coming to Netflix in 2026

'A Dog's Perfect Christmas'

Release date: November 4

Starring: Dennis Quaid, Milo Ventimiglia, Brooke Lena Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, Jennifer Tilly, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Ethan Loomis, and Thomas Haden Church

The holiday story: Move over Santa—this adaptation from the author of A Dog's Purpose follows a canine companion's mission to save a family's holiday. Basset hound Winston (voiced by Thomas Haden Church) teams up with Corgi pup Ruby to bring Christmas cheer to a grandfather (Dennis Quaid) and granddaughter (Brooke Lena Johnson).

WATCH IT

'Tyler Perry's The Gospel of Christmas'

Release date: November 11

Starring: Tank, Fantasia Barrino, Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond, Smokie Norful, Ann Nesby, Pastor Shirley Caesar, Hezekiah Walker, Jacky Clark Chisholm, Twinkie Clark, Dorinda Clark, Karen Clark Sheard, CeCe Winans, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong

The holiday story: Tyler Perry's latest Netflix release is an inspiring church story for the holiday season. When a struggling preacher (Tank) inherits an N.Y.C. church headed towards foreclosure, he and his wife (Fantasia Barrino) find it will take a miracle (and a cast full of gospel legends) to regain his faith and save the community.

WATCH THE TRAILER

'The Christmas Switch'

Release date: November 12

Starring: Felice Jankell, Happy Jankell, Christian Fandango, Celie Sparre, and Anastasios Soulis

The holiday story: If you've rewatched The Holiday or The Princess Switch one too many times, this Swedish film offers a new take on the Christmas life-swap story. When sisters Mathilda and Freddie (played by real-life sisters Felice and Happy Jankell) are forced to swap lives for the holidays, each "finds love where they least expect it," per Netflix's description.

WATCH THE TEASER

'Guarding Stars'

Release date: November 18

Starring: Leighton Meester, Jared Padalecki, Andie MacDowell, Walker Hayes, Noah LaLonde, Toby Sandeman, Rachael Ancheril, Phil Brooks, Ava Max, and Shaun Johnston

The holiday story: Netflix is gifting us a Christmas-ified adaptation of Katherine Center's bestselling novel. Jack Stapleton (Jared Padalecki) is a movie star. Hannah Brooks (Leighton Meester) is his new bodyguard. When Hannah's assigned to protect Jack over the holidays, she's recruited for her toughest mission yet: fake-dating.

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'In a Holidaze'

Release date: November 18

Starring: Maddie Ziegler, Rob Lowe, Graham Phillips, Elias Kacavas, Jackie Sandler, and Patton Oswalt

The holiday story: BookTok can't get enough of Christina Lauren—A.K.A. the combined pen name of writers Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings—and their holiday romance is coming to life this year. Maddie Ziegler stars as Mae, who gets stuck reliving the same family Christmas until she solves her love triangle between two brothers.

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Every Holiday Special Coming to Netflix in 2026

'The Great British Baking Show: Holidays'

Release date: November 23

Starring: Alison Hammond, Noel Fielding, ​​Paul Hollywood, and Prue Leith

The holiday story: Every year, a new batch of holiday-themed Great British Baking Show episodes arrive in the U.S. to ring in the season. This installment—the last with former judge Prue Leith—welcomes beloved British celebrities (including Oscar winner Olivia Colman!) and fan-favorite alumni back into the tent.

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'Salish's 12 Games of Christmas'

Release date: November 28

Starring: Salish Matter, Jordan Matter, Angelo Bahu, Payton Delu Myler, Txunamy Ortiz, Giovanni Siciliano, Elliana Walmsley, Markell Washington, and Nidal Wonder

The holiday story: Popular teen YouTuber Salish Matter landed a creative partnership with Netflix earlier this year, and, after launching her lifestyle series with her dad (Salish & Jordan Matter), she's sharing a holiday special. The four-episode series leans into the challenge aspect of many of her videos, as she and seven friends compete in Christmas-themed games while one of them hides as a bit of a Scrooge, stealing gifts and meddling in the challenges, in a Traitors-like twist.

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Peacock’s American version of The Traitors became a runaway hit thanks to its expert casting method—assembling teams of familiar faces from reality TV and pop culture. As it turns out, fans are excited to tune in when they recognize the contestants. Now, Hulu is following suit with its own celebrity-starring competition show, The Mob.

Indie film icon and White Lotus alum Parker Posey hosts the new reality series, which premieres on October 26, 2026, and the streamer describes as being “built around power, loyalty, and survival.” Each episode, contestants compete in challenges inspired by jobs from classic mob movies, with the cast deciding who gets to stay in “The Family” of The Mob. The cast includes faces you’ll recognize from the Bravoverse and hit franchises like The Bachelor, as well as scripted series. Ahead, we break down the stars vying for the cash prize and bragging rights to the ultimate Don in The Mob season 1.

Aida Turturro, 64

Instagram: @turturroaida

Where you know her from: Turturro is best known for playing Tony Soprano’s sister, Janice, on the acclaimed series The Sopranos. She has also appeared in episodes of Nurse Jackie, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Blue Bloods, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

What to know about her: Turturro is no stranger to complicated mob families from her role on The Sopranos. She also comes from a family of actors, including her cousins John and Nicholas Turturro.

Bella Palk, 22

Instagram: @belluhlou

Where you know her from: Palk starred on Hulu's Love Overboard and made waves when she decided to exit the show after realizing she didn’t have a connection with any of the male contestants.

What to know about her: Palk is from Kansas City, Missouri, and worked as a line dance instructor and bottle service server before being cast on Love Overboard. In addition to being a digital creator and reality star, Palk works as a creative marketing specialist.

Bruno Tonioli, 70

Instagram: @brunotonioliofficial

Where you know him from: Tonioli has been a professional dancer on Dancing With the Stars since 2005. He also competed on the 2008 series Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, with Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba.

What to know about him: Tonioli was born in Italy and has lived in London since 1975. In 1980, he competed in a U.K. competition to select an entry for the Eurovision Song Contest with his group “Duke and the Aces.”

Chelsea Lazkani, 33

Instagram: @chelsealazkani

Where you know her from: Lazkani has been a cast member of Netflix's real estate series Selling Sunset since season 5, though she is rumored to not return for season 10.

What to know about her: Lazkani is British-Nigerian and learned the ropes of real estate from her architect father. She had an explosive beef on Selling Sunset with co-star Bre Tiesi that peaked in season 8.

Debi Mazar, 62

Instagram: @debimazar

Where you know her from: Mazar has been acting since the early 1990s, appearing in a supporting role in Goodfellas, Malcolm X, and Batman Forever. She is best known for her roles on Entourage and Younger.

What to know about her: Mazar is a N.Y.C. native and was a dancer who appeared in many Madonna music videos, including “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Music.” She was also a B-girl and appeared on the short-lived hip-hop TV show Graffiti Rock in 1984.

Demi Engemann, 32

Instagram: @demilucymay

Where you know her from: Engemann rose to prominence via MomTok and was a cast member on The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives before exiting the series at the end of season 4. She then appeared on Vanderpump Villa and the Unwell Winter Games.

What to know about her: Engemann has been a digital creator since the early days of blogging in 2012, and she has been open about fertility struggles and endometriosis. She uses her platform to advocate for female reproductive health advancement.

Harry Jowsey, 29

Instagram: @harryjowsey

Where you know him from: Jowsey has made a name for himself by competing on various dating reality series. He first started on the New Zealand series Heartbreak Island before winning the first season of Too Hot to Handle. Later, he appeared on Perfect Match and recently starred in his own Bachelor-style show called Let’s Marry Harry. (He lived up to the show’s name and got married, but the marriage did not last.)

What to know about him: Jowsey is Australian and has largely been known for his public romances. Though he’s primarily appeared on reality TV, Jowsey seems to be shifting his career focus towards scripted acting. He starred in the 2025 romantic comedy film The Wrong Paris and is set to appear in forthcoming films like Horrified and Billy Knight, the latter of which will also star Al Pacino.

Joe Gorga, 52

Instagram: @joeygorga

Where you know him from: Joey Gorga rose to prominence by appearing on The Real Housewives of New Jersey alongside his wife, Melissa Gorga.

What to know about him: Gorga told Good Morning America that the show's mob theme felt personal. “I grew up this way,” he told GMA, mentioning that his “uncles, cousins” are somehow mafia-connected.

Maria Georgas, 32

Instagram: @maria.georgas

Where you know her from: Georgas was on Joey Graziadei’s season of The Bachelor and was eliminated in week 8. She then appeared on Vanderpump Villa. But Georgas’s first on-screen performance was almost 20 years before in the 2005 Vin Diesel film The Pacifier, where she appeared as “Firefly #1.”

What to know about her: According to her Bachelor Nation wiki, she has a black belt in Taekwondo, loves spaghetti, and is “obsessed” with watching horror movies.

Shane Parton, 29

Instagram: @shane_parton

Where you know him from: Parton was slated to appear on the highly publicized canceled season of The Bachelorette, which would have centered on Taylor Frankie Paul.

What to know about him: According to Bachelor Nation, Parton is a private wealth planner from Georgia. He describes himself as a “massive Uno enthusiast” and is extremely close with his family.

Willam Belli, 44

Instagram: @willam

Where you know her from: Willam is a drag queen who competed on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 4. She was the first queen disqualified from the competition after production alleged she broke the show’s sequester rules.

What to know about her: Outside of her drag career, Belli has acted in series like Nip/Tuck and the 2018 film A Star Is Born. She's also found viral success with comedy music, with her 2015 solo comedy album Shartistry in Motion debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart.

Romeo Miller, 37

Instagram: @romeomiller

Where you know him from: Miller is a musician, rapper, and occasional actor. He gained prominence as a young rapper with the 2001 hit “My Baby” and later appeared on his own eponymous Nickelodeon show, Romeo!. Miller has also appeared in films like Jumping the Broom and Madea’s Witness Protection.

What to know about him: Miller played basketball on scholarship at the University of Southern California from 2007 to 2010. He is the son of rappers Master P and Sonya C, and the nephew of rappers C-Murder and Silkk the Shocker.

When it comes to bringing #BookTok-beloved romance novels to life, Prime Video has been on a truly impressive tear. After its The Summer I Turned Pretty series took pop culture by storm in recent years, 2026 alone has seen the debut of the first seasons of Off Campus, based on Elle Kennedy’s best-selling series, and Every Year After, adapting Carley Fortune’s Every Summer After, as well as a movie version of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis. Meanwhile, page-to-screen takes on Rebecca Yarros's Empyrean series and Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute sapphic soccer rom-com, plus a sequel film to 2023’s Red, White & Royal Blue are still to come.

But wait, there’s more! Prime Video is adapting Lucy Score’s Knockemout series into a TV series: Things We Never Got Over, named for the first book in the trilogy. While we count down the minutes until the release, here’s a refresher on the book series and a roundup of everything we know so far about the on-screen adaptation.

Everything We Know About Prime Video's 'Things We Never Got Over' TV Series Adaptation

What is 'Things We Never Got Over' by Lucy Score about?

Small towns, evil twins, and grumpy-but-secretly-sweet love interests, oh my! This 2022 book, the first in a three-book series, is full of delicious drama and steamy romance. It centers on Naomi, who abandons her wedding to return to her hometown of Knockemout, Virginia, at the request of her estranged twin sister Tina. Soon enough, Tina skips town—with her sister’s car, phone, and purse in hand—leaving Naomi stranded, homeless, and responsible for the 11-year-old niece she only just met.

That’s (of course) when she meets gruff bad boy Knox, who reluctantly steps in to help after witnessing the implosion of Naomi’s life. Their connection makes for a very sexy enemies-to-lovers slow-burn romance that grows deeper as Naomi and Knox face some of the trouble Tina was running away from.

The next two books in Score’s Knockemout series follow other pairs from around the rough-around-the-edges town, to similarly spicy effect. Things We Hide From the Light follows police chief Nash (Knox’s brother) and his flirty new neighbor Lina, while Things We Left Behind delves into the love story between ruthless businessman Lucian and local librarian Sloane.

Who is in the cast of the 'Things We Never Got Over' TV show?

The show’s first casting announcements arrived in September 2026, with Deadline reporting that Molly Griggs will play the dual role of Naomi and Tina, while Matthew Noszka and Tommy Martinez will play brothers Knox and Nash, respectively.

Griggs, 32, has starred in shows including The Residence, Dr. Death, and Servant. She made her Broadway debut in Hello, Dolly! in 2018 and also appeared in John Proctor is the Villain in 2025. Noszka, 33, got his start as a model and has since scored main roles in Star and All’s Fair, while Martinez, 34, recently appeared in Disclosure Day and in shows like Laid and Good Trouble.

A month later, Deadline announced another flood of casting announcements. Rounding out the three couples are Lili Simmons (Power Book IV: Force, Ray Donovan) as Lina, British actor Sean Teale (Skins, Doctor Odyssey) as Lucian, and Sarah Jeffery (Charmed, the Descendants franchise) as his love interest, Sloane. Building out Naomi and Nash’s circles, meanwhile, are Megan Stott (Little Fires Everywhere, Penelope) as Tina’s daughter Waylay, Anthony Keyvan (XO, Kitty, Love, Victor) as Naomi’s longtime best friend Stef, and JoBeth Williams (Poltergeist, Kramer vs. Kramer) as Nash and Knox’s grandmother, Liza J.

Who is involved behind the scenes of the 'Things We Never Got Over' TV show?

Eric Charmelo and Nicole Snyder are serving as showrunners and executive producers of Things We Never Got Over. They previously co-wrote the 2018 psychological horror film The Perfection and co-created the CW series Ringer in the early 2010s. (Interestingly, Ringer also starred one actress, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played estranged twin sisters!)

“Things We Never Got Over has everything we love in great television: an irresistible enemies-to-lovers romance, quirk, comedy, and a community you never want to leave,” Charmelo and Snyder said in June 2026. “Lucy Score built a wildly passionate fanbase around these characters, and we’re excited to introduce the world of Knockemout to Prime Video audiences everywhere.”

Gina Girolamo, whose executive producer credits include You, Gossip Girl, and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, will also serve as an EP on the new show, as will Lucy Score herself. Actress/director Jennifer Morrison—who you may recognize from House and Once Upon a Time—has also joined as an executive producer and is set to direct the first two episodes of the series.

When will the 'Things We Never Got Over' TV series be released?

No official release date has been set, but Prime Video gave the show a series order in June 2026, and production was underway when the first cast announcements came out in September 2026. Filming reportedly kicked off in Vancouver that month, with plans to wrap in mid-December, per the Vancouver Sun.

Time for some girl math: If we consider Off Campus' production-to-release schedule as an example similar to Things We Never Got Over, the show’s first season filmed in Vancouver from July to October 2025 and hit Prime Video the following May. By that logic, we can likely expect Things We Never Got Over to reach our TV screens in mid- to late summer 2027.

What has Lucy Score said about the 'Things We Never Got Over' TV series?

Score has shown enthusiastic support for the adaptation since the beginning. In 2024, shortly after the initial announcement (which included a different showrunner), the author expressed excitement in a Deadline interview, calling it “another one of those pinch me moments.”

When asked about page-to-screen adaptations in general, she said, “I’m really excited about it because I’m a storyteller at heart, so I’m always fascinated with how other people and how other mediums can tell a story. For me to sit down and write a book, it’s me alone in a room, voices in my head, of course, and I tell a story. There are very few layers that get added to that story. I have editors who will look at it and make suggestions. But other than that, that’s pretty much it. If it goes to TV or movie, you are adding so many layers to each story. You have cast, you have the director, you have wardrobe, music, location, there’s just so many ways to subtly add to the story, and I cannot wait to see someone else’s vision for the characters that I created.”

Score also weighed in on some of her own "wish list" items for the show. Though she didn’t offer up any dream cast members—saying that she just wanted "people who can make the characters feel real"—she did say that she’d “melt into a puddle” if any songs by The Killers made it onto the soundtrack.

The writer added that the core thing she’s hoping to see make it from the page to the screen is the banter. “I want it to be lot of funny banter back and forth, especially between the brothers,” she said. “I just want the characters to connect in a similar way that they did on the page, and I want viewers to connect to the story the way readers connected to it. That’s my wish list.”

Her hair might be a bit less frizzy since becoming Second Lady, but Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is back, and statecraft has never been so chaotic. The Diplomat season 4 premiered on Netflix on October 15, and it had everything—an assassination plot, a fiery resignation, and a political upheaval so shocking, it’ll have you begging for a season 5. Before we get into what the end of The Diplomat season 4 means, we have to review where The Diplomat season 3 left off.

After a brief separation, Kate and Hal (Rufus Sewell) are officially back together, with Kate determined to work on their marriage despite her job as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. and his job as the Vice President of the United States. Unfortunately, the couple could barely bask in the glow of their renewed relationship when, in the season 3 finale, Kate discovered that Hal had conspired with President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) to steal the Poseidon, a nuclear weapon made by the Russians and found off the coast of the U.K. They did this without telling their closest ally, who thinks the weapon is still there and believes that the U.S. will work with them to bury it at the bottom of the ocean. When season 4 picks back up, Kate—who went above and beyond to get the capricious Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) to agree to work with the US on the Poseidon—is still reeling from the betrayal. More than that, she’s struggling to figure out how to keep her husband's actions from the U.K. government and the Russians, who are determined to recoup their deadly technology.

As Kate’s increasingly ruthless political instincts and loyalty to Hal continue to butt up against her morality, she regularly turns to her ever-reliable deputy, Stuart Heyford (Ato Essandoh), and the London CIA office chief, Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), for guidance. But when President Penn becomes erratic in the wake of trauma, Kate finds herself on the precipice of potentially overthrowing the Penn administration. Desperate for all the details? Read on to find out how The Diplomat season 4 ends, and what it means for a potential season 5.

A Thorough Recap of 'The Diplomat' Season 4, From the Surprise Cast Shake-Ups to the Ending Cliffhanger

Who shot the President in 'The Diplomat' season 4?

When President Penn was shot at the end of episode 1, “Windsor,” it was unclear whether this rogue act of terrorism was motivated by the death of the British soldiers in season 1—a tragedy put into motion by the American government—or by the President’s decision to steal Russian nuclear technology from right under the U.K. Prime Minister’s nose. And while it turned out to be the former—U.K. intelligence informs the President that she was shot by a rogue soldier who was later found dead—the resolution of this particular plot point feels suspiciously thin. Although it may be that her shooting was the act of a lone wolf, it feels a bit anticlimactic.

What happened to Austin Dennison in 'The Diplomat' season 4?

In a shocking turn of events, Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), the U.K. Foreign Secretary, was killed off in season 4 of The Diplomat. He died in a helicopter crash while working for the Trowbridge administration, and the loss hits Kate hard. Not only did the two have a flirty relationship in seasons 1 and 2, but Dennison was often the only person Kate could trust to keep Trowbridge from doing something reckless, like, say, outing the fact that the U.S. government had betrayed the U.K. again.

What happened to Nicol Trowbridge in 'The Diplomat' season 4?

After three seasons of watching the U.K. Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge bluster his way through diplomacy with the U.S., The Diplomat finally said goodbye to the character. Trowbridge stepped down midseason in dramatic fashion, not-so-subtly calling out President Penn and the U.S. as dangerous to the U.K. in his resignation speech. He left his post after a particularly harsh move from Kate, who reminded him that they had footage of him attempting to strangle Margaret Roylin in front of the new Foreign Secretary. The threat was an effort to keep him quiet about the Poseidon nuclear weapon, which Hal previously revealed the U.S. had stolen.

Who is the new Prime Minister in 'The Diplomat' season 4?

Doctor Who and Broadchurch alum Jodie Whittaker made her debut on The Diplomat season 4 playing Bethan Vaughan, the new no-nonsense (and non-Nazi) Prime Minister of the U.K. Though Kate originally hopes that Bethan will be an enthusiastic partner with the U.S., she very quickly learns that Bethan has no interest in partnering with the Americans. She knows that they took the Poseidon, leaving the U.K. vulnerable to potential retaliation from Russia, which she believes will blame the U.K. for their missing nuclear weapon. So, she decides to let Russian forces into U.K. waters to “collect their dead”. She hopes that, when they realize their nuke is gone, they’ll have the good sense to realize that the U.K. had nothing to do with it; otherwise, the country never would have invited the Russians in.

Is Kate still the Ambassador to the U.K. in 'The Diplomat' season 4?

As if Kate didn’t have enough on her plate this season, she’s been given a new job: Babysitter to the First Gentleman. Unhappy with his marriage and desperate for a change, Todd Penn (Bradley Whitford) decides to join Kate in London as a Special Envoy. Kate originally hopes to use Todd Penn to her advantage with the President, but Todd is loyal to his wife when President Penn tells Kate to inform Prime Minister Vaughan that, should she not rescind her invitation to the Russians, the US is prepared to send in warships to protect the Russian submarine.

After confiding in Stuart and Eidra, Kate decides to try some diplomacy instead and offers Vaughan an alternative: Collect the dead and deliver them to the Russians, taking away their excuse to come poking around. She also neglects to tell Vaughan about the President’s threat. Unfortunately, PM Vaughan is not convinced, and when the President discovers Kate went against her orders, she fires her and unofficially replaces her with Todd, making it clear that this will be Kate’s final week as the Ambassador.

What happened to Stuart in 'The Diplomat' season 4?

The Diplomat season 4 ends with Kate leading an apparent revolt against President Penn, but it’s Stuart who actually inspires the charge. Before the G7, Kate looped Stuart in on what President Penn had done with the Poseidon. When it looked like Penn wasn’t backing down from her plan to send U.S. warships into allied territory, he drafted and sent a dissent channel cable, hoping to at least get his opposition to the idea on the record. After getting wind of the dissent cable, Penn has Stuart reassigned—an act of retaliation that could end Stuart’s career and his relationship with Eidra.

What happened at the end of 'The Diplomat' season 4?

After Todd delivers the President’s threat, PM Vaughan goes on the attack at the G7 Summit, preparing to move to strip the U.S. of its position. She informs Kate she will offer Russia a British military escort, and notes that, should U.S. warships fire on U.K. forces, it will cause a domino effect that could lead to the U.S. losing its world standing—not to mention the risk of sparking WWIII.

Vaughan plans to expose Penn at the G7, but before she can take the floor, Penn beats her to it. She tells the G7 that the U.S. has come into possession of the Poseidon and would be sending warships to the U.K., framing it as a gift of protection to the allied nation—and making it clear that the U.S. would fire upon allied ships, should they try to get past them. This is the final straw for Kate, who walks out of the meeting, leaving her badge, and potentially her career and marriage, behind.

The Diplomat season 4 ends on a massive cliffhanger, with Kate—followed by Chief of Staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah), Secretary of State Miguel Ganon (Miguel Sandoval), and Hal—publicly resigning from the Penn administration and walking out of the G7. Reporters gathered at the gate outside the event as Kate set the stage for Hal to deliver a message from “the Vice President of the United States.”

Are Kate and Hal still together after 'The Diplomat' season 4?

Throughout season 4, Kate assures Hal that she is committed to working on their marriage, but her decision to go against the President leaves Hal shaken, especially after she uses his guilt over their strained marriage to convince him to pitch her idea of retrieving Russia’s dead to President Penn. This manipulation is a bridge too far for Hal, and he makes it clear that, after this G7 Summit, their marriage might be done for good. Before Kate’s dramatic resignation, she kisses Hal and tells him she loves him, clearly hoping that her actions won’t hurt his position as Vice President and seemingly accepting the end of their marriage. Hal, of course, ends up following her lead, which could mean there’s hope for the couple after all.

Will there be a season 5 of 'The Diplomat?'

The Diplomat has yet to be officially renewed for season 5, but given the cliffhanger ending, it seems unlikely the show will end here.

A potential season 5 would certainly have a lot to work with. Though it’s unclear what Hal and Kate’s next move is, I’m guessing it has something to do with the 25th Amendment—something that has often been discussed during the Trump Presidency.

If invoked with the support of a majority of the Cabinet, the 25th Amendment gives the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet the right to transfer the powers of the President to the Vice President. Given that Hal already has the support of Ganon, and the hints dropped previously in the season that the rest of the Cabinet has been uneasy with President Penn, it seems likely that this is what they have in mind. Not only would this be brand new territory for the show and the fictional United States, it would also present a whole new set of challenges for Kate and Hal moving forward. If President Penn is impeached or, essentially, dismissed from the presidency, does Hal become president? Can Kate be the First Lady and an ambassador, or will The Diplomat get a makeover for the yet-to-be-confirmed season 5?

Spoilers for the first 8 episodes of Love Is Blind season 11 ahead. 11 seasons in, Love Is Blind has proven that its case for "love sight unseen" rarely survives little physical chemistry. Unfortunately, season 11 couple Jacqueline "Jax" Guelli and Scott "Stew" Stewart are the latest pair to crash and burn following their reveal, despite spending their time in the pods imagining their perfect preppy life together. Even though Jax ghosted Stew upon meeting him in person, the second batch of episodes that dropped on Netflix on October 21 began with the pair reuniting to discuss their short-lived romance. Read on for a recap of their journey and whether they got back together after their experience on the reality dating show.

A breakdown of Jax and Stew's 'Love Is Blind' dating timeline—including whether they're still together

What happens in the pods between Jax and Stew on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

31-year-old skincare founder Jax Guelli and 34-year-old product design engineer Scott Stewart quickly hit it off in the pods. It's unsurprising to the audience, as their confessionals show they have aligning views on things like money and style (both are important). Stew may remind viewers of Leo from season 7, with his mentions of his Connecticut roots and claim that the other pod men quickly nicknamed him Kennedy. (I'm stopping myself from psychoanalyzing his admiration of Gaston.) Though Jax says she may be "too edgy" for him, she admits she enjoys the finer things and that it's a bit scary she can only present her personality while her looks remain hidden.

However, the pair finds creative workarounds for the "blind" element of Love Is Blind. Their first date includes trading stories about being known for their great smiles in high school and college. They also share their interior-design hot takes and drop terms like "brutalist" and "Moncler." It's basically a WASP wet dream, and by the end, Jax tells Stew that he may soon be a dog-dad to her "design-worthy" Italian Greyhound. (That dog definitely has a better wardrobe than me.)

Everything's smooth sailing for the pair's pod journey. Their themed date takes place in an Irish pub, and Stew shares the story of his mother's ancestors getting married the day after meeting at an Amherst, Massachusetts ball. Jax literally moans as he plans out his "Golden Era Hollywood elegance" wedding. Stew also sets himself up by saying he looks better than Jude Law in The Talented Mr. Ripley, but Jax is shocked when he describes her ideal emerald-cut wedding ring with a white-gold band. (Platinum patinas, and you can't polish it.)

Unfortunately, things get real late in episode 3, when the pair really start to open up about themselves. Jax admits she went all-in on Stew early on and knew that he was someone she'd actually date. However, she's thrown for a loop when Stew admits he's never been in love before. She immediately jumps to commitment issues, and he's honest, admitting that he's never said, "I love you," even though he's been in "passionate" relationships before. He shares he probably wouldn't say, "I love you," on proposal day, but he could get there by the marriage. Back in the lounge, Jax tells the women that everything was "perfect" until that moment.

Despite her reservations, Jax continues seeing him, and by their next date they're planning out a Saturday together back in Boston. They get engaged in episode 4, and Stew's speech includes a lot of "I" and not much "you" or "we." He recaps how he came to want a committed relationship before the pods, and how he now wants the imagined future that he's built with Jax in the pods. He then has some fun drawing out the big question, comparing it to a cat toying with a captured mouse. Even after she says, "Let's get this over with," he keeps drawing it out, asking if she wants to take the next step with "one of the most handsome men to have ever existed." Once he does pop the question, Jax responds, "Yeah, sure, why not?" True love does exist.

What happens after Jax and Stew's reveal on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

Jax and Stew's reveal closes out episode 4, and it does not go well, to put it mildly. Jax is shaky and visibly nervous, but Stew looks solid and proud. Stew brings up his Kennedy nickname, and Jax responds, "More like Mitt Romney," as she gulps down her drink. Their confessionals tell the full story. Stew is on top of the world and marveling at his luck. But when it's Jax's turn, she says she doesn't "want to be mean" before revealing that the vibe doesn't feel romantic for her. Fast-forward to episode 5, and she adds, "I can't be with him."

In a brutal move, Love Is Blind shows a producer calling Stew back in to let him know that Jax has gone home. They tell him that they offered her the chance to talk to him before leaving, but she declined. Stew asks whether they're still engaged, and the producer adds that she told them not to give him her number. "I guess the feelings were not mutual," Stew responds.

Since season 11 premiered on Netflix, Jax has opened up to several outlets about the ghosting. In an interview with Netflix's Tudum, she recalled that Stew's admission that he had never been in love was a "red flag" and "alarming." The proposal also threw her off; she said it felt like a "superficial checklist" that he didn't spend much time on. "I was bummed, and I couldn’t comprehend it at the time, because you want to be happy," she added.

The Stew that Jax met at the reveal was not what she expected, and she recalled that he felt "douchey" and that the moment was "not romantic at all." She explained, "What I felt was real at that time. The good and unfortunately the bad was real too, and it had nothing to do with him or his looks. It was the moment, and it was way too much for me.'"

Speaking to Glamour, Jax—who was fresh out of a "three-year on-and-off relationship" when she applied for the show—added that she has regrets about going into flight mode after the reveal. "I do think I handled it immaturely in a way," she told the outlet. "I regret that, and he deserved better. He deserved to have a conversation."

What happens when Jax and Stew meet up in Boston on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

Over 11 seasons, it's become common for couples who left things on an ambiguous note in the pods to film another scene in the real world. Stew and Jax's reunion kicks off the second batch of season 11's episodes—seemingly about a week after she ghosted.

Jax revealed she contacted Stew to ensure the meet-up happened. She told Glamour, "When I got my phone back, the first person I reached out to was him. I said, 'I’m so sorry. I would love to talk to you back in Boston.' We just wanted to meet and clear the air. Now that I had some time to think about things and get back to real life and organize my thoughts, I could talk to him like a normal person."

When they debrief, the two discussed what unfolded in the pods. Jax admits she declined to speak to him when producers gave her the chance, and that she shouldn't have ghosted him. She also revealed that her parents, sister, and friends have been texting her, telling her that they still wanted to meet Stew and that she should "make this work." (Apparently her friends have never given that kind of encouragement about "anyone she ever dated.")

When Stew admits that he hasn't written off the possibility of him and Jax working out, Jax begins nervous-laughing at the idea of him kissing her, which isn't a great sign. Jax says that they'll "figure it out," but Stew points out that she wasn't really making an effort to meet up after her initial reach-out DM. Jax reveals she only sees him as a friend before they abruptly leave the restaurant (which could have been an awkward edit). It doesn't seem like much in terms of closure, but neither of them appears in the preview clips for the pod-reunion party. So, it looks like their story in season 11 is over.

Do Jax and Stew from 'Love Is Blind' season 11 get back together?

Fans will have to wait until the season 11 reunion special on Sunday, November 8, to see where things stand between Jax and Stew a year after filming. If anything, they're at least on good terms.

According to The Tab, the pair follow each other on Instagram, and Jax has liked and commented on some of Stew's posts since the show was filmed back in March 2025. Maybe the wannabe Kennedy found his Jackie after all.

When I was 24, I thought I was dying.

I had just gotten home from a waitressing shift when the sharpest needle-like pain I’ve ever felt in my life pierced my heart. I could barely breathe, let alone walk. As I slowly fell to the floor, with the heaviness of what felt like death weighing down on me, I army-crawled to my phone and called my friend Tai, who lived across the street. By the time I had finished saying whatever it was I said to her, I blacked out. Tai ran over as quickly as she could, and within what felt like seconds, I was on a gurney being lifted into an ambulance.

I was at the hospital for hours. Test after test after test. Nothing. Then, like a ghostly apparition, a young woman who couldn’t have been much older than me appeared in my room, holding my medical file.

She closed the door before speaking softly, almost as if we were sharing a secret, "You’ve been to this hospital before.”

I stared at her blankly.

Before.

Seven months earlier, I went on a date with a guy who sexually assaulted me. That night I also got pregnant.

Eight weeks after the assault, I felt like death. I could barely stay awake. Everything ached. I remember lying on my roommate Fabiola's bed saying things like, "What the fuck is wrong with me? Do I have cancer?" I complained morbidly to anyone who would listen, “I’m dyyyyying!” until finally my other roommate Kate called her doctor and handed me the phone.

“Are you sure you’re not pregnant?” I laughed at the doctor's question.

“Lady, there's no way I'm knocked up. Unless I’m, like, Mary and the baby is Jesus.”

I had completely blocked out the night in question... the doctor said nothing. Her silence was deafening.

The term for this, I’ve since learned, is dissociative amnesia.

Dissociative amnesia is a body's visceral response to trauma. It's basically a giant "Fuck Off" button that takes alllllllll the bright and shiny horrors you've experienced and zaps them away. Making all the saucy sad triggers dormant and invisible. Poof!

After my assault, I carried on business as usual. "Bad dates happen, right?!” I told myself after taking an HIV test. I threw myself into my writing at school, went on a couple bad dates with guys who were weirded out when I’d randomly sob for no fucking reason, and casually deleted an email from my rapist telling me if I ever tried to contact him again, he’d kill me. Yup. Business as usual. That’s how disassociated I was.

By the time I found myself back at the hospital where I had my abortion at several months earlier, my body was attacking itself. The pain was unbearable. I felt like I was having a heart attack.

That evening, I left the hospital with nothing but a giant medical bill that took me five years to pay off. There is no medicine that can treat the worst night of your life. The only thing that would heal me in the end was time and acceptance (and lots of weed and therapy).

I'm also a comedy writer who has been paid to write dookie jokes for a living. I’m not precious when it comes to anything sad. Funny people know that sadness and humor go hand-in-hand. A good laugh and a good cry both lead to the same salty-ass tears.

As a TV writer and playwright, I'm drawn to stories that can make you laugh while asking you to sit through something equally uncomfortable. For me, humor is a way into those harder truths. It disarms the audience, challenges their expectations, and hopefully in the end, stays with them.

The Peterson Show is a play I started writing in 2017. Around that same time was the 20th anniversary of Martin’s series finale, where Tisha Campbell's sexual harassment lawsuit against her co-star Martin Lawrence resurfaced (an accusation that Lawrence has denied to this day). That, and the then-ongoing Cosby trial became food for thought. After examining other Black sitcom scandals and setting them all inside one TV family, the play finally had its legs.

On the surface, The Peterson Show is a comedy about five former child actors and their sitcom mother returning to the TV show that made them famous. But underneath, it's a memory play about the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive the trauma we cannot yet face. In my play, each character has built a different relationship to the past: one has buried it, one has rewritten it, one has romanticized it, one has turned it into performance, and one has spent years trying to preserve it. But as patient as memory can be, it's also a weapon that lurks in the dark…waiting to pull the trigger.

I wrote The Peterson Show because I know what it's like for the body to remember before the mind is willing to. I also wrote it because our stories of abuse are often overlooked. And they’re overlooked by men in power.

A few days after debuting The Peterson Show, the only white male critic who reviewed it (the rest were women or people of color) flattened a Black character’s abuse story into something he could dismiss. Because entitled men still think they can decide what our stories are worth.

When the man who raped me threatened to hurt me if I ever questioned him again, I deleted his number. I backed off and shut away the memory for my own sanity and survival. It wasn’t until many years later that I came to terms with that night and what happened.

Now, I survive as a storyteller, mother, and advocate for women by standing firm to my belief that our stories as women matter, our voices endure, and no one defines our worth.

Spoilers for the first 11 episodes of Love Is Blind season 11 ahead. Love Is Blind tests many dating theories: Can you fall in love without ever seeing someone in real life? Do opposites really attract? Do first impressions matter? One couple from the Netflix reality hit’s season 11 tests that last question—as one party described the other as a “dud” early in their courtship before falling in love and getting engaged. Below, we’re breaking down that pair—Michaella and Rob—and their Love Is Blind journey, as well as what we know about the current status of their relationship.

A breakdown of Michaella and Rob's 'Love Is Blind' dating timeline—including whether they're still together

What happens in the pods between Michaella and Rob on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

It isn’t necessarily love at first conversation for 40-year-old AI account executive Rob Feeley and 35-year-old go-getter retail VP Michaella Giorgio. While the couple enjoys their dates—doing activities like painting and talking about their first celebrity crushes—their connection initially doesn’t seem to have much depth. Rob reveals he was recently engaged and that all his friends are married with children, and that has only solidified his desire to find his person. Michaella tells him she’s been seeing a life coach for the past five years, which has helped her reunite with some family members she wasn’t on speaking terms with. She also calls herself high maintenance, but clarifies that it applies to her standards for herself and how she presents herself, not a relationship—she’d be as happy to go out as she would to sit at home and eat “roast beef sandwiches.”

Rob was deciding between two relationships but ultimately chose to double down on Michaella because he felt a stronger connection, despite revealing that he had initially called her a “dud” in his notes after their first conversation. She doesn’t take offense, owning the fact that she’s a slow burn. He admits he was a little insecure about her career accomplishments, while she says she was also insecure because she led with those details instead of letting him get to know her personality.

From there, both roast beef and “dud” become inside jokes. She says she’s “all in” on Rob, and he says that “everything hits” with her. He feels like they’re very similar, and he’s always wanted someone who accepts him and his flaws, while she says he makes her want to be a better person.

Rob gifts Michaella a bracelet that belonged to his late father, and she gives him a box of items that signify their future: a jaw for laughter, seeds for growth, and a rose quartz crystal to symbolize love. Michaella tells Rob that before she left for the show, she and her friends tried to guess details about her future partner, and he matches a lot of their guesses to a T. (We can’t wait until they meet her friends IRL to see if this is true.)

Soon, Rob gets down on one knee, saying he loves everything about her and wants to continue this journey with her. She accepts and says she can’t wait to become his family. At the reveal, they’re both so shocked that they keep saying “hi” and “hello” as a nervous tic, and he almost forgets to propose. But their body language and kissing indicate that they’re not disappointed by what they see.

When they get to Mexico in the final moments of episode 5, they’re still all over each other and complimenting each other. Things are going well for Michaella and Rob for now, but the real test is only just beginning.

What happens when Rob and Michaella leave the pods on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

In the second batch of episodes, Rob and Michaella quickly become one of the most stable couples in the series. In Mexico, they often communicate about how comfortable they feel with each other and that they feel like they’ve been together much longer than in the pods. They clearly enjoy each other’s company and make each other laugh, whether it’s Rob telling a story about getting Proactiv for his acne at the mall or Michaella bringing up some of their inside jokes from the pods.

When all of the couples get together in Mexico, Rob and Michaella’s connection is apparent to everyone. Multiple people comment on how they complement each other and how Michaella can handle Rob’s bombastic personality. Michaella doubles down on her love for him, acknowledging that he can be a lot but that he’s perfect for her.

They also continue having deep conversations about their future and are in lockstep about where they see their lives in five years. They both want kids, and she sees Christmas Eve being “their” holiday with friends and family. Neither seems concerned about what the people in their lives will think, with Rob calling Michaella a “plug and play” in his friend group.

He says he can’t picture any obstacles for them yet, while her only concern is that she’s never lived with a man before. As they’re packing, Rob shares how important it is to him that Michaella feels comfortable around him, and she reassures him that she does. Michaella and Rob leave Mexico feeling like what they built in the pods has only continued into this “honeymoon.”

When they get back to Boston, they seamlessly glide into living together, and their first meeting with his family goes as well as it could. Michaella was nervous about meeting his mom, knowing how close Rob is with her, but she’s extremely supportive of their relationship. His mom admits she binged Love is Blind to understand the show more, and while she is still skeptical about whether it works, she gives them her blessing. She also reveals that she wore her wedding ring to the meeting so Rob’s late father could be there to meet Michaella as well.

Rob’s mom also comments on the fact that they are still living in a bubble, even though Rob and Michaella both say they don’t feel forced into the engagement or the impending marriage. Later, Michaella admits she doesn’t feel like they’re in a bubble—which Rob disagrees with, pointing out that they haven’t fully integrated their lives or truly witnessed each other’s daily routines and antics.

Michaella and Rob’s status as one of the strongest couples in season 11 quickly deteriorates as they continue to live together in Boston in episodes 9 to 11. Things begin fine: The couple meets Michaella’s parents, who are immediately on board. Her parents are happy she found a match, and note that they seem on the same page about their future.

Then Michaella finally meets Rob’s friends, whom his family had warned her about. The meeting is fine enough—she fields their somewhat inappropriate questions with quick wit and seems to win them over. But when the bar and/or Netflix (it’s unclear who makes this decision) cuts off more drinks, Rob finally shows the side of his personality Michaella was warned about.

Rob goes full Boston—telling production he’s “done with it,” demanding the cameras be turned off. When he doesn’t get his way, he turns on Michaella and brings up a previous fight that she says she already apologized for. He claims she says certain things when the mics are on, while she reminds him they’ve already talked about that and apologizes again, reassuring him that they can talk more if he’s still unsatisfied. The whole scene is a big “yikes,” made worse by Michaella’s later confessional, which reveals that a drunk Rob, off-camera, accused her of being on the show for professional gain rather than trying to find true love.

Things go from bad to worse at the Pod Squad reunion party, where Rob yet again has too much to drink and makes a scene. He continuously tells everyone to “fuck off” and makes off-color jokes (like suggesting everyone play naked Twister, or that everyone has gathered for a “wife swap”). His antics are clearly on Michaella’s nerves, but she does her best to remain supportive.

Michaella talks to beekeeper Matt from the pods, whom she connected with, which clearly irks Rob. Rob’s other connection, Diana, asks to talk to Rob, and Michaella gives her blessing, but Rob retaliates by moving the chairs so their backs face the group, suggesting inappropriate behavior even though nothing unsavory occurred.

At a point, Michaella has had enough, and she goes to the bathroom to cry. When Rob finds out, he thinks she’s “creating drama” about the Diana situation—when really Michaella is fed up with his entire shtick. They finally go home together, but Michaella later reveals that after they got back to their apartment, Rob packed his things and went home to Rhode Island. She heard from him the next day and claims he acted normal, only apologizing and taking accountability a few days later.

When production finally sits down with Rob, he says he’s “shellshocked” and blames a few tragic events from the past two years for his behavior. Rob says he has kept a lot of his grief to himself because “that’s what a man has to do sometimes,” indicating that he needed therapy more than he needed Love Is Blind. He also says his family had extreme anxiety about him being on the show, he “wasn’t 1000 percent sure” about marrying Michaella, and that ultimately his appearance on the show “wasn’t indicative” of who he is. Both Rob and Michaella express sadness, but part ways by the end of episode 11.

Are Michaella and Rob from 'Love is Blind' season 11 still together?

Early in the season, eagle-eyed fans noticed that Rob followed Michaella on Instagram, but she didn’t follow him back. While it can be hard to read into what that might mean in the world of Netflix reality shows and their tight NDAs, there was something to read into it after all, and now we know why. It’s safe to say these two aren’t together, and if we were to judge Michaella’s lack of interaction with Rob, we’d guess she’s officially closed the door on him in her life.

Spoilers for all episodes of Love Is Blind season 11 ahead. They say opposites attract, but one couple in Love Is Blind season 11 will put that adage to the test. Sarah Williams and John Shannon had a slow burn in the pods, and they overcame a lot—including a hot-mic mishap and extremely different views on vaccines and abortion—during the initial dating stage, but still got engaged within the first batch of episodes that dropped on Netflix on October 14. Ahead, we recap their journey and whether they have stayed together after their experience on the reality dating show.

A breakdown of Sarah and John's 'Love Is Blind' dating timeline—including whether they're still together

What happens in the pods between Sarah and John on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

Coming into the pods, 33-year-old account executive John Shannon was most nervous about letting someone into his reality: He was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Luckily, he meets and bonds with Sarah Williams, a 34-year-old health care program manager, who immediately assuages his fears and tells him his diagnosis isn't a dealbreaker or a burden. She likens this to her brother-in-law who went blind, and leans on her healthcare background to convey that she’d be a supportive partner through ups and downs.

The pair initially bond over Harry Potter and music, and things seem to go well during the initial pod dating phase until Sarah overhears him telling another contestant that she was one of his “bottom two.” She’s confused, since he was one of her top prospects, and she decides to take the mature route of having another conversation with him. At first, he acts ignorant about the comment, but soon he apologizes for what he said and for not closing the door on his way out of the pod. He also tries to explain himself, saying he couldn’t tell if she was into him, but talking to her after that made him excited.

As time goes on, John opens up to Sarah about his insecurities, including his glasses and the MS diagnosis. Sarah is clear that these superficial aspects don’t faze her, which reassures John. But his diagnosis also opens a larger conversation about the healthcare system, which John feels is a capitalist enterprise. He also says he was skeptical about the push for COVID-19 vaccines, walking right up to the anti-vax line but not explicitly crossing it.

Sarah leans on her healthcare background to explain the benefits of vaccines to John, citing her postgraduate studies on the subject and telling him she thinks they need to trust the experts and get vaccinated. The vaccine conversation then shifts to abortion, where John cites a right-wing talking point about women opting for abortions when they’re six months pregnant. Patience is a virtue, and Sarah has it in spades: She calmly explains that this example is exceedingly rare and happens only in extreme circumstances. To his credit, John isn’t combative during these conversations, and he tells Sarah he’s looking for a partner who will hear his POV but also challenge him on his way of thinking.

Soon, John is down on one knee after giving Sarah a stuffed lemur, signifying his desire to travel with her. She says yes immediately, and before the reveal, she says she’s never been more sure of anything in her life. When they finally see each other. he says she’s beautiful, and she compliments his suit and glasses, saying she sees “Clark Kent,” calling back to a conversation they had in the pods about his glasses. They’re a bit awkward with physical touch and kissing, but that might be because of the cameras.

At the end of episode 5, the engaged couples head to Mexico. Sarah mentions that while she’s normally someone who waits before sleeping with someone, since they’re engaged, she might be more willing to speed up that timeline.

What happens when Sarah and John leave the pods on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

When Sarah and John arrive in Mexico, their chemistry seems strong. John shares in his confessional that the first night “went swimmingly” and feels like it can only go up from here, while Sarah is clearly turned on by his muscular physique. He comments that he feels delusional for not worrying about anything with her, while Sarah says she’s worried she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Their deep conversations continue, and Sarah asks whether he’s fearful of his MS diagnosis, and John says that while he’s afraid of MS regression, he still wants to live life to the fullest. Sarah, meanwhile, admits that she’s afraid that his religious parents won’t accept her for not being Christian. John reassures her that his family will support their union after seeing how happy she makes him and how in love with her he is.

When they meet the rest of the couples, the girls immediately ask how Sarah feels about John’s conservatism. Sarah conveys she’s happy they can have conversations about it and that he’s open to learning. Still, she doubles down on her belief in modern medicine, which feels somewhat contradictory to John’s beliefs; in addition to his views on vaccines and abortion, he also drinks raw milk.

As a health professional, Sarah seems entirely unbothered by John’s somewhat MAHA-leaning viewpoints. But what grinds her gears is that he leaves his chest hair in the sink. She tells the girls he was sassy when she pointed it out and that he defended himself by saying he’s used to being single and not cleaning up for others. But thankfully, he makes a point to clean up after himself the next day.

When they get back to Boston and begin living together in earnest, Sarah overhears John lose his cool over a mishap with his energy bill. She calmly tells him that she doesn’t tolerate yelling, and he gets defensive, saying he can’t remember the last time he yelled. Sarah points out a moment of aggression when the airline lost their luggage. Again, he defends his actions, noting how it’s the airline’s job to keep track of those things.

This opens the door to a larger conversation about whether John is presenting a version of himself to Sarah, who is rightfully worried that she’s not getting the full picture. She tells him that she’d rather be single than end up with someone who will switch up his behavior in a few years once he is no longer trying to impress her.

They meet Sarah’s friends and John’s family, and both conversations go exceedingly well. Sarah’s friends don’t press on any of his conservative talking points, while John’s family doesn’t bring up religion at all and seems to welcome her into the family. However, in the preview for next week’s episodes, it seems like the same can’t be said about Sarah’s family, who have some questions about their potential future son-in-law’s political stances and values.

In episodes 9-11, Sarah’s fears about John’s cleanliness get put into overdrive when she visits his apartment. She keeps her cool on the surface, but can’t help but notice dishes in the sink from before filming began, stains in the refrigerator, mold in the shower, and, of course, hair clippings in the sink. To his credit, John does feel guilty and embarrassed about the state of his apartment.

Sarah again uses this as a teaching moment, pointing out that there is often an unequal share of responsibility between men and women when it comes to the mental load of housekeeping, and she’d want her partner to be proactive rather than reactive about cleanliness. As always, John agrees and reassures her that he’ll change, but one has to wonder how much education she’s willing to do in this relationship.

Later, Sarah takes John to meet her family. While the preview for this meeting teased a showdown between Sarah’s parents and John over his political stances, it turns out that was just good old-fashioned Netflix editing. John is indeed registered to vote, and gives a passing answer when asked about his views on women’s healthcare (he calls abortion a “nuanced topic” but says it should not be illegal. Progress!).

His MS diagnosis, of course, comes up and the entire family is supportive, citing the vows “in sickness and in health.” Sarah’s mom and her twin sister both give John the stamp of approval. Her mom wants to make sure he’s in favor of women’s rights and views her as an equal, while her sister says she wants someone who sees Sarah and likes her for who she is. Both leave the meeting feeling good about the introduction. They also meet Sarah’s dad and stepmom off-camera; in a selfie video, Sarah and John confirm it also went well and that John received her dad’s blessing.

Not much drama occurs at the Pod Squad party for this couple, especially because Sarah’s other match, Morrey, doesn’t attend. Most of their screen time is focused on Sarah’s reaction to the unfolding disaster between Michaella and Rob.

One small wrinkle for the wedding is that John’s dad was admitted to the hospital for a collapsed lung, and it seemed like his family would no longer be able to attend. (John’s dad was slated to be his best man.) John credits Sarah for being there for him during that anxiety-inducing moment, and notes that it’s nice to have someone to navigate those things with.

Do Sarah and John get married on 'Love Is Blind' season 11?

The season finale begins with the cast’s bachelor and bachelorette parties. Sarah tells her friends that she hasn’t given much thought to this being her last night as a single woman because she’s so ready to marry John.

John seems to feel the same way. Thankfully, his father’s health scare passes, so he can join the wedding—which John’s family sees as a good omen for their marriage. John sees Sarah as his best friend and tells them he doesn’t have “a shred of doubt” about their union.

However, Sarah’s friends and family have a few concerns about her impending nuptials. Sarah defends their relationship, saying they’ve had conversations about politics and how they’d raise their kids. Her mom asks directly about his reaction during the COVID-19 pandemic (especially because Sarah and her twin sister Samantha were on the front lines as medical professionals), and Sarah again defends his viewpoint by saying he’s one of many Americans who are distrustful of the medical system.

Sarah says she’d rather have someone who cares and wants to talk through things than someone who avoids the conversation altogether. However, she reveals that John doesn’t like her interest in politics and would want to come home and discuss current events. Even more troubling, she says that one of their biggest disagreements stemmed from John’s belief that women who are single over 30 are “problematic.” Unfortunately, Sarah doesn’t explain why he said that to her or whether his views have changed.

While her mom applauds them for having hard conversations, one of Sarah’s friends reminds her that it’s okay to change her mind and that she shouldn’t say yes just to preserve his feelings.

Despite everything, Sarah says “yes” to John at the altar, and they end the season as a married couple.

Are Sarah and John from 'Love Is Blind' season 11 still together?

No. Shortly after the season 11 finale aired, PEOPLE reported that Sarah and Jone filed for divorce on June 4, 2026. They were married for just over a year; according to the outlet, they said "I do" on March 27, 2025, and lived together until April 15, 2026. Per PEOPLE, the divorce filing cites an "irretrievable breakdown" of their union.

Even before news of their separation broke, many speculated the couple called it quits in the past year. The reunion preview that followed the finale included a moment when host Vanessa Lachey asked a cast member whether they were unfaithful to their wife. John’s cheating was also corroborated by reality TV insider Rikkii Wise, who shared a spoiler-filled video revealing that he got caught sexting an escort while out with fellow castmate Rob.

The season 11 reunion began with John admitting that, yes, he crossed a boundary with a woman he met on a boys's night. (When Nick Lachey asks if John had an emotional affair, he answered, "Perhaps, yeah.") Meanwhile, Sarah revealed that the cheating wasn't the only reason for the split. She said that their year of marriage—which John had described as "wonderful"—had been hard on her, and that John would speak to her in a way that was "painful." Sarah began crying too much to say more, but Michaella chimed in and said that Sarah's fear that she would have to take on all the household labor ultimately came true.

"I lost myself a lot in this relationship," Sarah added through tears. "I do love John. Things can both be true, but I lost myself a lot. He's not ready. He has the capacity to be wonderful. It's not going to be with me."

To his credit, John took complete ownership for how he messed up, but the same can't be said for the men around him. John's dad speaks up from the audience to admonish the other LIB men for not defending John, and also says he's disappointed in his son for not standing up for himself. "Sometimes guys go out, they get drunk, and they do stupid things," he says.

Then, John's friend Scott (who was also in the pods and got engaged offscreen) chimes in, saying that John is a good man who prayed over the men at breakfast before they got engaged. Scott even chides Sarah, saying, "No one talks about how she goes out three nights a week." Thankfully, Morrey steps in to defend Sarah, but the conversation becomes heated before Scott is finally shut down. (If you look back to episode 1, Scott had a similar negative reaction to Sarah's bartending job when they talked in the pods.)

Despite all the drama, John and Sarah are now on good terms, and she says that she forgives him. Even before the reunion, it was clear John and Sarah had tried to make it work and find understanding in each other for a time. Sarah, for instance, spoke to US Weekly and said she wished their full conversations about politics made it into the final cut because they had "a wonderful" exchange. "That's why we kept moving forward," she explained.

John also clarified his views on Instagram shortly after the first batch of episodes dropped. According to US Weekly, he wrote, "Just to clarify a couple of things: I believe in a woman’s right to choose. I tried to communicate during our conversation that I don’t believe abortion should be illegal."

He added that he's "not anti-vax" and pointed out how he was recently vaccinated before starting MS treatments.

The reality star took the time to shed light on his feelings towards Sarah. "I love that so many of you recognize how wonderful Sarah is. We had an hour-long conversation about these topics that was condensed into about 45 seconds," said John.

At least fans can rest easy that Sarah is no longer in this lopsided relationship.

Spoilers for the entirety of Love Is Blind season 11 ahead. Love Is Blind has returned for its second installment of the year, bringing another round of dating-show chaos to avid reality TV fans. The pods have opened yet again to singles hoping to find love "sight unseen," and willing to go through the LIB gauntlet on Netflix.

For season 11, Love Is Blind recruited 30 men and women hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, between the ages of 28 and 40, per Tudum. After six couples got engaged (with five making it through the reveal to continue the "experiment"), only two couples made it to the altar, where they decided whether to say "I do" or "I don't."

Read on to meet the singles looking for love in the Love is Blind season 11 cast.

Everything to Know About the Cast of 'Love Is Blind' Season 11

The Women of 'Love Is Blind' Season 11

Aneha, 28

Instagram: @anehahaha

Occupation: Principal engineer

Astrological Sign: Aquarius

Background: "'Tall guys who have sort of mom-related trauma' have dominated Aneha’s dating history, but after two years of being single, she’s in the market for something new."

Looking For: "Though she’s deeply independent, Aneha is looking for a 'gentleman' who also indulges her girlie side with romantic gestures and elaborate dates."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Cam.

Gets Married? No, Aneha says no at the altar.

Benita, 31

Instagram: @benitapalo

Occupation: Insurance agent

Astrological Sign: Taurus

Background: "Born in Kosovo, Benita immigrated to the United States in 1999. 'We’re war refugees, and came here with nothing,' she says. As a result, she’s incredibly close with her family."

Ideal Sign: "'I mostly get along with and attract Capricorns, but I always look at the whole birth chart,' she says."

Gets Engaged? No, but she dated Blake and Morrey.

Brittany, 34

Instagram: @britt_catalina

Occupation: Attorney

Astrological Sign: Aquarius

Background: "As a practicing attorney, Brittany is determined to keep working when she hopefully one day becomes a mom. 'I’m proud of my career,' she says. 'It’s important to be educated, have independence, and never rely on a man.'"

Biggest Ick: "'If your apartment is messy, it gives off the vibe that your life is messy in general,' she says."

Gets Engaged? Yes, she and Scott got engaged offscreen. They broke up after they weren't chosen to continue with the "experiment."

Diana, 29

Instagram: @diananicolep

Occupation: Nanny

Astrological Sign: Sagittarius

Background: "'I come from a big Sicilian family, and we love really, really hard,' she says. 'It’s very much shown. I’ll scream "my man, my man, my man" all day.'"

Looking For: "Diana wants to lock down an 'alpha' man who’s the leader of his pack. 'That’s who I am in my group,' she says. 'I make the decisions, but I don’t want to be doing that all the time.'"

Gets Engaged? No, but she dated Rob.

Erika, 37

Instagram: @erikamarieellis

Occupation: Marketing director

Astrological Sign: Cancer

Background: "After her first marriage ended, she moved across the country and bought a place of her own...She hopes her future partner will be down for dinners every Sunday."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Blake.

Gets Married? No, she and Blake break up before the wedding.

Jax, 31

Instagram: @jacquelineguelli

Occupation: Entrepreneur

Astrological Sign: Taurus

Background: "Jax owns a successful skin-care company and only has time for men who don’t dull her glow. 'I’m really proud of my business. It’s a huge part of me, so I need my partner to support that,' she says."

Looking For: "Jax is typically drawn to 'successful, older' men who can provide stability: Her biggest fear when it comes to love is having the rug pulled out from under her. To maintain her footing in the pods, she plans to sidestep men who don’t know what they want."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Stew...but she ghosts him right after the reveal.

Jenn, 39

Instagram: @jennmouser

Occupation: Master hairstylist

Astrological Sign: Pisces

Background: "As a single mom, Jenn always puts the needs of her 7-year-old son ahead of her own, especially when it comes to dating. 'I’m very selective now,' she says. 'The biggest red flag will be if he’s not open to kids.'"

Biggest Ick: "Defeated by the dating apps, she’s entering the experiment in order to find a guy who’s also in touch with his softer side. 'Someone who’s not able to emotionally regulate gives me the absolute ick,' she says."

Gets Engaged? No.

Kara, 32

Instagram: @karagrumoli

Occupation: Strategic account manager

Astrological Sign: Virgo

Looking For: "Calm, cool, and collected Kara wants a partner who’s easygoing. 'I’m looking for someone who can make the small moments a little more fun and the bad moments a little more bearable,' she says."

Biggest Ick: "When it comes to dating, she’s not a fan of cliques or clicks, because men who are too active on social media give her the ick. So if you want a like from Kara, maybe think twice before posting that gym selfie."

Gets Engaged? No.

Kerry, 37

Instagram: @kerryc2

Occupation: Athletic director

Astrological Sign: Scorpio

Background: "Dark clouds, steer clear of Kerry. This eternal optimist has the ability to find the silver lining in any situation. 'I genuinely enjoy life, and I hope that’s something that my future partner appreciates about me,' she says."

Looking For: "As an Enneagram 7, she’s an extroverted ball of energy, so she needs someone who can bounce around with her. 'I want to be able to ebb and flow between deep and meaningful conversations about our hopes and dreams, then switch right into being playful and silly and stupid,' she says."

Gets Engaged? No.

Liz, 34

Instagram: @liz.rounds

Occupation: NICU nurse

Astrological Sign: Aries

Background: "Her co-workers often turn to her for a funny story: 'I’m a night shift nurse, and everybody always comes to me at 3 a.m., like, "Liz, we need a hit of energy to get us to 7 a.m."'"

Looking For: "Given her demanding schedule, Liz is looking for a generous and committed partner who can join her for Sundays spent binge-watching entire TV series. And if he’s an ex-athlete with some tattoos, that wouldn’t hurt either."

Gets Engaged? No.

Malanie, 33

Instagram: @melinmotionxo

Occupation: Senior portfolio analyst

Astrological Sign: Pisces

Looking For: "'My biggest fear when it comes to love is being with someone who is attracted to me but doesn’t really like who I am as a person,' she shares. 'I want to be able to fully express myself, be vulnerable with my partner, and still feel loved.'"

Gets Engaged? No, she left the pods early after dating Cam and Wilson.

Michaella, 35

Instagram: @michaellagiorgio

Occupation: Retail consultant

Astrological Sign: Virgo

Background: "Fashionista Michaella is strutting into the pods ready to turn looks and trust her gut. 'From the beginning of any relationship, I always have "a knowing" within me,' she says."

Biggest Ick: "One red flag she won’t be ignoring is a lack of goals. She’d rather fly solo than be with someone who is 'winging it' through life."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Rob.

Gets Married? No, she breaks up with Rob before the wedding.

Rachel, 32

Instagram: @thatsaukward

Occupation: Academic advisor

Astrological Sign: Cancer

Looking For: "I am looking for someone who is a strong leader. I really love the idea of submitting to my man. It makes me feel really protected and feminine. I want to be led, but led in the right direction."

Gets Engaged? No.

Sahar, 34

Instagram: @saharm11

Occupation: Orthodontist

Astrological Sign: Scorpio

Background: "Having moved to the U.S. at age 10, Sahar has already overcome many obstacles. 'I didn’t speak the language or know anybody, and I had to watch my parents navigate a very difficult immigration journey. Through it all, I think I still have a really positive outlook on the world.'"

Gets Engaged? Yes, she and Tucker got engaged offscreen. They are still together one and a half years later.

Sarah, 34

Instagram: @swillyyyy

Occupation: Health-care program manager

Astrological Sign: Libra

Looking For: "Her future husband will need to be humble, kind, considerate, and silly. 'I like people who can keep things fun, but I’m also more into the quiet guys,' she shares."

Biggest Ick: "'My biggest red flag is any sign of anger or the inability to regulate emotions. Like, road rage? Hate that,' [she says]."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to John.

Wilnie, 33

Instagram: @wilnie_

Occupation: Mental health counselor

Astrological Sign: Aries

Background: "Wilnie’s favorite tradition is celebrating Haitian Independence Day with her family. She hopes to be ringing in the new year with a ring on her finger and a well-rounded man on her arm. 'We drink soup joumou at midnight, and I think that would be really exciting to do with my husband,' she says."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Wilson.

Gets Married? No, she and Wilson break up before the wedding.

The Men of 'Love Is Blind' Season 11

Blake, 38

Instagram: @tropicanacoyote

Occupation: Yacht captain

Astrological Sign: Cancer

Background: "Blake knows he’s single because his lifestyle makes dating difficult, so he’s now taking a more 'intentional approach' to find his romantic anchor. But he’s not willing to give up adventuring entirely. 'She doesn’t have to know how to sail—I can teach her—but she should probably know how to swim,' he says."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Erika.

Gets Married? No, he and Erika break up before the wedding.

Cam, 29

Instagram: @cameronhalloran

Occupation: HR generalist

Astrological Sign: Scorpio

Why He Joined LIB: "He doesn’t totally vibe with the 'monotonous' Boston scene. 'Everybody goes to the same bars,' he explains. 'Sometimes all the women are dressed the same, and you’re like, ‘I’ve had this conversation before.'"

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Aneha.

Gets Married? No, Aneha says no at the altar.

Iman, 34

Instagram: @aggamenawon

Occupation: Software engineer

Astrological Sign: Pisces

Background: "Iman believes he’s still single because he’d rather spend his time playing video games than the game of love. 'I’m a geek at heart, who really wasn’t built for the "streets" of single life,' he says."

Gets Engaged? No.

Jay, 36

Instagram: @jrobb__

Occupation: Director of sales

Astrological Sign: Capricorn

Background: "Having worked in professional sports for more than 10 years, Jay is comfortable with competition....But in the game of love, Jay has yet to score, as his busy schedule leaves little time for dating."

Gets Engaged? No.

John, 33

Instagram: @johnshannon_

Occupation: Account executive

Astrological Sign: Gemini

Looking For: "John is searching for a lifelong partner who thinks deeply and critically about the world around her. 'My ideal person would be someone who has strong convictions, really knows what she believes, and stands for it,' he says."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Sarah.

Mark, 37

Instagram: @markacolantonio

Occupation: Wine sales consultant

Astrological Sign: Taurus

Background: "Mark knows he hasn’t always chosen the right partners, and fears he might repeat history in the experiment. But he’s putting those concerns aside to let his heart do the talking with Michael Jordan’s mantra in mind: 'Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.'"

Gets Engaged? No.

Matt, 37

Instagram: @mattsmenu14

Occupation: Beekeeper

Astrological Sign: Capricorn

Background: "Matt is a cancer survivor, whose friends and family describe him as 'resilient,' a characteristic he’d like to carry into his love life."

Looking For: "Only someone trustworthy, affectionate, and playful will [become his queen bee]. Plus, she’ll need to love his 8-year-old son. 'He’s the greatest thing in my life, so that’s going to be a big consideration in who I decide to date in the pods,' this proud father says."

Gets Engaged? No.

Michael, 35

Instagram: @m_arisco

Occupation: Account executive

Astrological Sign: Leo

Why He Joined LIB: "The pods, where 'vulnerability is universally embraced,' could be the perfect place for Michael, who’s tired of the lack of 'genuine connection' in modern dating, to find a soulmate."

Gets Engaged? No.

Morrey, 32

Instagram: @morrey__

Occupation: Entrepreneur

Astrological Sign: Libra

Background: "Morrey is a boxer, who also works part-time as a bouncer at Southie’s busiest bar. 'Everybody from Boston’s got kind of an attitude, but I’ve got one too,' he says."

Looking For: "He’s looking for an ambitious woman who also lets him pick up the check, and he’ll do that with the cash he’s scored from his cornhole entertainment company."

Gets Engaged? No, he left the pods early after dating Sarah, Erika, and Benita.

Rob, 40

Instagram: @feels_3310

Occupation: AI infrastructure sales

Astrological Sign: Aquarius

Looking For: "Rob is searching for a loving woman with traditional family values, who would one day make a great mother herself. She’s also got to have a good sense of humor. 'I like to joke around a lot, so it would be hard for me to be with someone who takes themselves too seriously,' he says."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Michaella.

Gets Married? No, Michaella breaks up with him before the wedding.

Scott, 38

Instagram: @scottshuman9

Occupation: Retired pro-baseball player

Astrological Sign: Aries

Looking For: "'The biggest struggle dating in Boston is finding a conservative woman,' he says. But Scott, who is Christian, still hasn’t lost faith. He hopes that his future wife will be 'non-confrontational, sweet, and humble,' and value his leadership skills, which he’s honed as a baseball coach."

Gets Engaged? Yes, he and Brittany got engaged offscreen. They broke up after they weren't chosen to continue with the "experiment."

Scott "Stew," 34

Instagram: @scooterstew

Occupation: Director of engineering

Astrological Sign: Gemini

Background: "Stew values his independence and doesn’t think he’d be able to give that up completely for his partner. 'There are always going to be times when you need to get away, you need to spend time by yourself, you need to be with your friends,' he says. 'I think that’s important for the longevity of a relationship.'"

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Jax...but she ghosts him right after the reveal.

Tucker, 35

Instagram: N/A

Occupation: Senior solutions consultant

Astrological Sign: Aries

Background: "A self-described know-it-all, he admittedly struggles to put others’ feelings before his love of Wikipedia rabbit holes. 'It’s gotten me in trouble in the past, so I’m trying to work on it,' he says."

Gets Engaged? Yes, he and Sahar got engaged offscreen. They are still together one and a half years later.

Wilson, 35

Instagram: @willymilll

Occupation: Senior compliance manager

Astrological Sign: Gemini

Background: "Wilson may not have gotten a chance to play in the NBA, but he still lives out his basketball dreams with his rec league. In the pods, he hopes to shoot his shot with a woman who’s game to root for him all season long. 'They better bring a sign that says my name in large letters,' he jokes."

Gets Engaged? Yes, to Wilnie.

Gets Married? No, he and Wilnie break up before the wedding.

The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is almost back for another fabulous year. Three years into its revamp, the live event stands as a spectacle of opulent looks, star models (with a focus on inclusive casting), and can't-miss performances from music's biggest stars.

Heads up: If you've faithfully tuned in over the past two years, VSFW 2026 has a new time slot (thankfully on the weekend), a new streaming platform, and a new host city. This year's show will move coasts to L.A., welcoming longtime Angels (Adriana Lima, Gigi Hadid, Joan Smalls, and Liu Wen) and returning stars (Alex Consani, Anok Yai, Ashley Graham, and Paloma Elsesser). The musical guests also gracing the stage are Megan Thee Stallion, Katseye, Tate McRae, and Megan Moroney.

With this year's show just days away, read on for everything you need to know about how to watch the 2026 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Everything to Know About How to Watch the 2026 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

When is the 2026 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show?

The 2026 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show will be held on Sunday, October 18, 2026—marking the production's first time in L.A. since 2007. The third installment of the brand's revamped show shifts the festivities to the weekend, arriving a year and three days after last year's event.

How to watch the 2026 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show:

The official broadcast of the 2026 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show begins Sunday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. ET and streams on the official Victoria's Secret YouTube channel. The live special will also stream across Victoria's Secret's social media accounts, including Instagram and TikTok.

Fans can also tune in early to the Pink Carpet at 7 pm ET to watch the pre-show special hosted by journalists Scott Evans and Zanna Rassi.

YouTube is the fashion extravaganza's newest partner, after the show was previously streamed on Amazon Live in 2024 and 2025. Like its predecessor, YouTube will enhance the viewing experience with behind-the-scenes content and shopping links so viewers can shop the runway. Fashion fans can also tune into the docuseries Angels Among Us, which follows a nationwide search for Victoria's Secret's next Angel.

YouTube is free for all users. Those who want to tune in to the 2026 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show can either search for the term on YouTube or head to the brand's official channel.

This story contains spoilers for Carrie, including the ending. 20 minutes into the second episode of Prime Video’s Carrie adaptation, it does something entirely new with the iconic teen-scream story: It gives the teachers the spotlight. A group of Ewen High School educators, led by first-year gym teacher Rita Desjardin (Amber Midthunder), convene at a bar for happy-hour margaritas—and to discuss Carrie White’s bloody locker-room freakout earlier that day. After her veteran colleagues promise not to be judgmental, Rita admits her candid thoughts: “I spent most of the day wanting to smack her.”

Those familiar with the angelic-ally version of the character that Betty Buckley played in the 1976 Brian De Palma film may be surprised to see a spikier Ms. Desjardin. Her harshness hews closer to Stephen King’s source novel—she actually does slap a hysterical Carrie—but book fans will still meet a new rendition in Mike Flanagan’s contemporary take on the horror tale about a telepathic teen. This “Ms. D,” as actress Amber Midthunder calls her, is more than a flawed authority figure. Through her, viewers see Carrie (Summer H. Howell) through the eyes of a 20-something enduring the trial by fire that is being a teacher.

The 29-year-old Prey star immediately connected with the role. “I personally have a friend of mine who is a former professional athlete turned high school gym teacher, so it was very close to home,” Midthunder tells Marie Claire. “And my grandma's a school teacher. It was really special to be able to bring this element of life to light, because teachers are a very deeply underappreciated, underserved, understaffed, underpaid group of people. The best teachers are the ones who are selfless and kind and invest so much of their heart into that.”

To expand Carrie into an eight-episode series, creator Flanagan (known for horror hits like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass) combined his skill at crafting well-rounded characters with an exploration of the many nightmares that make up modern education. Metal detectors, active-shooter drills, and mean-girl antics archived by iPhone cameras are among them—and that’s just in the first two episodes. As the semester goes on, Ms. D is drawn into a townwide cyberbullying scandal that impacts her secret romance with fellow teacher Seth Peist (Rahul Kohli).

Midthunder signed on to Carrie as a big fan of both King and Flanagan—she counts the “underloved” Revival among her favorite King books. But as the show premieres, the actress is especially proud to be part of a project that's not just about young people today, but took the time to listen to them. She points out that the writers’ room even met with real high-school students to get their “perspective [on] the dangers and threats that they face in the world around them.”

“I think it's very rare that you meet somebody who has the humility to say, 'There are people who understand X, Y, Z better than I do. Why don't we listen to them?'” she says. “As actors, really our job is just what happens between action and cut. But if we can give kids something to feel seen by, or feel like they have a voice, then we've hopefully done our jobs well.”

Below, Midthunder chats with Marie Claire about going through horror exposure therapy, the period in-between childhood and adulthood, and her character’s tragic ending.

Marie Claire: Were you a big horror fan or Stephen King fan growing up?

Amber Midthunder: I am notoriously afraid amongst this cast. I really struggle with horror, so it has been quite an exposure therapy experience hanging out with this crowd. That said, I am a King fan. What I love about horror is the ability to transcend the genre. You can really explore a lot of interesting concepts and social commentaries, and that is what Mike [Flanagan] and King in particular are really great at. I think what we do with Carrie very much falls into that category.

MC: What early conversations did you have with Mike about how he wanted to approach Ms. Desjardin?

AM: [Carrie] actually came to me in a crazy way. I was meant to be filming something else, and that project, as they often do, pushed a year. It was a 48-hour time period from when that movie pushed to when I was signed onto the show. I was able to read all eight episodes before even meeting with Mike, which is wildly unheard of.

Mike had a really beautiful and brilliant take on this. I think if you come to Carrie as a fan—whether you've read the book or you love the De Palma film—or if our show is your first introduction to Carrie, there is something to love. Mike has expanded the story over eight episodes, so you live in such a deep complexity with these characters that you think you're familiar with, and you learn them in a much more human and complicated way. You have the big set pieces, you have prom, and you have the locker room scene and all these things, but then you also are delivered something very new, and that is quite emotional and grounded.

MC: How would you describe the complicated sympathy that Ms. D has towards Carrie?

AM: I've noticed people have really held onto [the scene in episode 2], where she says, 'Not long ago, I would've been one of those girls in that locker room tormenting Carrie White.’ It's a very important moment of being able to be self-aware and hold yourself accountable to doing better. I think that she's able to make that reflection because she's no longer that person. She looks at Carrie and sees that this is a young, vulnerable, hopeful person who is in danger from the world around them. It's a sad instinct to look at somebody like Carrie and go, Oh, we must change her, instead of examining what is wrong with us and the world around us that we can’t adapt to the qualities that she has. Ms. D's instinct to say, Oh, I want to make her tougher, is out of protection.

Ms. D’s also the youngest of the staff, so she's the most contemporary to the students of any of the faculty. She's able to see everybody from a firsthand outsider perspective, almost. There's no hiding from Ms. D, so she can see who Chris is and that she struggles. She can look at Sue and see that Sue knows better, and she looks at Carrie and understands her vulnerability. Ms. D really wants to level with these girls and be able to be a resource, safe place, or helping hand for them. But what do you do when you either are shut out by the kids themselves, or held back by the rules of the institution that you belong to as a teacher? You can only interfere so much.

MC: Did you reflect on your own high school days as you were working on this project about what high school is like now?

AM: That's also a part of [Ms. D’s] journey. If you have any young people in your world that you care for, you understand how quickly social media and the internet is moving. As an adult, you want to feel like you're a safe place, and it's really difficult to keep up with being that pillar when you also are playing catch up with the world. I was homeschooled for much of high school, but I like that element of Ms. D because I think she is in the middle. Even with the cast, [between] the adults and the kids, it was often like, Where do I go? I think everybody has that time in life.

This is a story of a group of people who are, for the most part, doing their best. Each character that makes their choices—whether you agree with them or not—you understand exactly why they make those choices. You get to watch the complexity of those decisions.

MC: Ms. D is one of the prom-night casualties who dies in this show. What were your thoughts on this tragic ending for the character?

AM: I'm proud that Ms. D is one of the few characters who stays consistently good for Carrie. I think she always holds her stance of, I want to be there for this girl, and I want to protect this girl. It's sad that she ultimately fails, and it really speaks to the moment that Carrie is in. Were she in her right mind and fully in control of her powers, I don't think that that would be the choice that she makes. I thought it was a really beautiful and heartbreaking end to Ms. D’s journey. She's new to this town and this job, with a lot of high hopes and ambition, and you watch that be taken away from her with what happens with Rahul's character. She builds herself back up into this place of [rediscovering] her worth and hope, and then it gets taken away from her.

While they were writing the show, Mike invited a group of high schoolers into the writers’ room to talk with them about what they view are the dangers and threats that they face in the world around them. One of those things was adults like Rahul's character. Mike is not afraid of having an honest conversation about our world, and that's where that storyline came from. So yeah, Ms. D's story is tragic in many ways, and I think it's quite important that we acknowledge that.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Have we seen the last of Carrie White?

Prime Video has unleashed its new TV adaptation of Carrie, with an October premiere perfectly timed for spooky season. While series creator Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) maintains many of the elements that made Stephen King’s 1974 novel and Brian De Palma’s famed 1976 film version unforgettable—the telekinetic teen, her fanatical mother, cruel classmates, and the prom-night massacre—he also made some significant changes, among them changing the setting to the present day. Those updates also include a big twist that leaves the door open to continuing Carrie into another season.

Flanagan has said he wants the series to continue. But if it does, where does Carrie’s story go from here? Read on for everything we know so far.

Everything to Know About 'Carrie' Season 2 So Far

Has 'Carrie' been renewed for season 2?

Showrunner Mike Flanagan initially teased that he envisioned Carrie running for three seasons—and that very well might happen. In late October, Prime Video officially renewed Carrie for season 2, per Deadline.

Flanagan and author Stephen King both shared statements to celebrate. "For 50 years, audiences have known and gravitated to Carrie White’s story. From the beginning, we imagined a story that goes far beyond the prom, and I’m incredibly grateful for Stephen’s trust and support in exploring what comes next," the filmmaker said.

Added the prolific author, "I can’t wait for audiences to get to see what’s down the road for Carrie White...Mike Flanagan and I are excited about what comes next. It’s bound to be thrilling."

Given the show's popularity—it became the No. 1 most-watched show on the streamer in 105 countries—and its acclaim, the renewal makes sense. But what's more exciting is that the show's return also seems to hinge on Flanagan's new spin on the story. In King’s novel, after unleashing her telekinetic powers at prom, Carrie dies after being stabbed by her mother (but not before she uses her abilities to stop her mother’s heart). In the 1976 movie, after killing her mother, Carrie makes their entire house collapse around them before she perishes.

In Flanagan’s adaptation, Carrie (Summer H. Howell) still gets pig's blood dumped on her at prom, exacts vengeance on her classmates—though this, too, unfolds differently on screen—and is attacked by her mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). But crucially, Carrie survives that fateful night. The season ends with her escaping the now-decimated town of Chamberlain, Maine, with new friend Emaline (Thalia Dudek), another young woman with supernatural abilities—in her case, astral projection.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan emphasized that he wanted this eight-episode arc to be satisfying on its own, regardless of renewal—but he knows where the show's going. "Having done so many limited series, I want to make sure that when it ends, it’s perfectly satisfying no matter what happens, whether you’re moving on or not,” he explained. “But, yeah, part of the fun of this was diving into that expansive world that could potentially continue.”

What will 'Carrie' season 2 be about?

It’s a great question, since season 1 follows King’s original novel. From here, we’re just like Carrie and Emaline in that car: heading into uncharted territory.

There are clues we can look to, though. Throughout the series, Flanagan took care to contextualize Carrie’s story within a wider world of women with supernatural abilities. There are others out there just like her—even her own mother, who manifested powers as a child and uses them again to survive the house collapse. (Apparently, telekinesis is genetic.)

This also ties into the three mysterious women spotted in the gym on prom night. They seem to be part of the same mysterious group led by Adelaide (Kate Siegel). Initially, it seems like she’s either a documentarian or detective, interviewing Chamberlain survivors about what happened on prom night. Twist: She’s neither. She has powers of her own and uses them to make classmate Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) forget what she saw in the gym before stopping Margaret’s heart with her voice.

This group might also include Emaline—at the very least, Adelaide is definitely aware of who she is. So it’s probably not a stretch to consider that a Carrie season 2 could follow this group of women who seek out and protect others like them.

What book will 'Carrie' season 2 be based on?

Again, the events of the novel Carrie have already been covered in season 1. So it’s fair to say anything that comes next won’t come from that source material—but the thing about Stephen King is, he’s written a lot of books. In fact, during Adelaide’s interview with Margaret, she mentions people who have “the shine,” a term for psychic and supernatural abilities that's referenced across King’s oeuvre.

So, could other King stories or characters find their way into Carrie? That’s between Flanagan, the author, and Prime Video, but it doesn’t seem impossible.

“I think any kind of true Stephen King fan knows how all of these worlds are connected, whether you can see the path of the beam or not, you know?” he told EW. “It’s been really fun to imagine Carrie’s place within the potential larger universe.”

Who in the 'Carrie' cast will be back for season 2?

As Carrie continues, obviously the titular character will return. In addition to Summer H. Howell as Carrie White, we’d presumably get more time with Emaline (Thalia Dudek), Adelaide (Kate Siegel), and the other women in her mysterious organization (played by actresses including Ruth Todd and Delainey Hayles). Sue Snell (Siena Agudong), the surviving classmate who felt guilty about how cruelly Carrie was treated, could also factor into the plot—though after her interview with Adelaide, it’s unclear if or how she might recover her memories of that night.

When will 'Carrie' season 2 come out?

Unless you have psychic powers, it’s unknown when Carrie season 2 will premiere. (And if you do have psychic powers, Adelaide might be looking for you.)

With the show renewed quickly after its release and Flanagan already having an idea of where to take it next, the team needs to move into preproduction and film the new episodes. Season 1 was reportedly shot throughout summer and early fall 2025, before arriving on streaming a year later. So, if production resumes in early 2027, we could see new episodes by early 2028. (That is, unless Prime Video decides to coincide the release schedule with another spooky season.)

When I was around 5, my mother met a man from America who would become my father—Soo Lim Yee. They met at a dinner party while he was visiting Hong Kong on a business trip. He was smitten. They began a long-distance relationship, writing flowery love letters to each other. They would meet up for dinners whenever he flew to Hong Kong. After a couple of years of courtship, he helped sponsor our move to the United States.

One morning, when I was about 7, my mother woke Jun and me up early and said we were going out. That was it. No details on where we were headed. Next thing I know, we were getting onto an airplane. Never having been on a plane or visited the airport before, I thought, Ohh, this is fun! Soon after takeoff, my mother told me we were moving to America. “What? What’s America?” I asked her.

Once we were there, life opened up in surprising ways. When we first arrived, we stayed in Brooklyn with my stepfather’s friends. There were so many new sights and sounds that I was overwhelmed, but I adapted as quickly as I could. What helped to ease me into America’s way of life? Pizza. One of my favorite new foods was New York pizza. We’d never had cheese before, and, in fact, my mom still doesn’t like cheese, with the exception of having it on a slice of New York pizza. Go figure. What is it about the magic of a good New York slice? It’s a universal comfort food!

We stayed in Astoria for about three years before moving to Pittsburgh to be with my stepfather and join him in running his restaurant, the Chinatown Inn. At first, we lived above the restaurant, and then my parents bought a small house in Mount Lebanon where I enrolled at Jefferson Junior High School for sixth grade. I went from a big city where I had friends, an urban lifestyle, and the diversity of New York City to . . . well, white suburbia. I imported all my New York attitude and energy in my 4'11" body. Being one of, if not the only, Asian people at that school with a very Chinese name, I attracted some unfriendly sorts who made fun of me for how I looked or what my name sounded like. I was bullied. But I was a tough New Yorker, so I responded with a threat: “You want to settle this? I’ll meet you after school!” Those innocent, sheltered suburban kids would give me a confused look and ask, “What do you mean? Meet you where?” I’m sure I wasn’t very intimidating with my baby face and small self, but no one met me after school, either. (Perhaps that was my first inspiration for Mulan, Agent May, and all the other tough warrior women roles I would go on to portray in my acting career!) But we eventually settled into our life in Pittsburgh—my mother started to work in the restaurant, and the Chinatown Inn became a second home to me, as well as my part-time job. That place shaped my youth.

Even now, I can close my eyes and return to the bustle of that kitchen—the controlled chaos, the clatter of dishes, the constant hum of diners. The red-and-green pagoda entrance. The blinking neon sign. The clang of the cash register. The bustling bar. The pristine white tablecloths, which were always stained with a bit of soy sauce or stray grains of rice before they were swapped out for fresh ones. And always, at the end of the meal: a fortune cookie. The quintessential symbol of the Chinese American restaurant experience. American diners mostly ordered the classics: chow mein, fried rice, General Tso’s chicken, shrimp with lobster sauce, our massive (not skimpy!) egg rolls. And our famous wonton soup. We made the stock fresh every morning using high-quality chicken and neck bones, simmering everything into a rich, clear, amber broth. My dad always said: Good ingredients make good food. Good food keeps the customers coming back, which is why I believe the Chinatown Inn is the only remaining business from the original Chinatown in downtown Pittsburgh. Our success story and longevity started with the basics. I’ve found that to be true in life, too—what you put in is what you get out.

The first time that I became interested in acting was in an Easter play in the third grade while we were still in New York. I was one of the bunny rabbits. My English was still a work in progress, and being a bunny rabbit (I played “Stumpy”) meant I probably had the fewest lines. I remember coming on stage and tripping because I had big bunny feet, and people laughed. Instead of being embarrassed, I loved the reaction that I got, and I thought, I want to do this forever! The acting bug bit me.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, the theater was a safe haven for me—I got to be with people of like minds, who were just the funniest, most intelligent, creative, and passionate people. We had a great training program at Mount Lebanon High School, and to this day, it's still incredible.

During my senior year of high school, I applied to Carnegie Mellon University because it had a great drama program and was in Pittsburgh, which made things easier. I knew I would go to New York City for the theater scene after college, so I figured this was a way I could spend four more years near my parents before pursuing my dreams to make it on Broadway. I didn’t know I actually had to audition to be accepted into the drama program. I went into the audition thinking they just wanted to see where my skill levels were. I did my monologues. I did improv scenes. I was having a great time! I found out later that all my classmates were terribly nervous during the audition process. It wasn’t until I got an acceptance letter saying “Congratulations. We loved your audition. We've accepted you into the freshman program” that it hit me. I didn’t apply to any other colleges, so it was a good thing that I did well enough to be accepted!

Excerpted from HAVE YOU EATEN YET? Copyright © 2026, Ming-Na, Wen. Reproduced by permission of Simon Element, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved.

This story contains extensive spoilers for East of Eden. Netflix’s East of Eden miniseries opens with a striking proclamation from Florence Pugh’s Cathy Ames: “I believe there are monsters born in this world to human parents.”

Readers will recognize this from John Steinbeck’s novel as the line that introduces Cathy, one of American literature’s most notorious antagonists. The book’s narrator, a fictionalized version of Steinbeck, doesn’t hide his derision of Cathy, going so far as to remark that “there was a time when a girl like Cathy would have been said to be possessed by the devil.” Steinbeck’s frontier-era epic retells the Bible’s Book of Genesis, making Cathy function as a living embodiment of original sin.

Yet from the beginning of Zoe Kazan’s new adaptation, it’s clear that this Cathy won’t be depicted only as monstrous, an alluring snake lurking at the edges of this familial epic’s version of Eden. This time, she is its focal driving force. Kazan places Steinbeck’s words in Cathy’s own mouth, spoken in voiceover as she drags her beaten, bloodied body to the Trask family’s doorstep. Her arrival further divides brothers Adam (Christopher Abbott) and Charles (Mike Faist), whose ongoing family turmoil forms the backbone of the novel’s sweeping explorations of generational inheritance and self-determination. Ironically, the backlash to Kazan expanding Cathy’s character says more about the black-and-white moralization audiences have come to expect of modern storytelling than East of Eden itself.

For all Netflix’s attempts to market Cathy as an “indelible antihero,” her actions thankfully aren’t watered down or justified. She still murders her own parents (Simon Maiden and Elizabeth Ames), shoots her husband, and kills brothel owner Faye (Martha Plimpton) to run it ruthlessly in her place. Cathy rejects and downright sneers at the novel’s central theme, “timshel”: the idea that everyone has the capacity to be good to themselves and to others, regardless of the circumstances they’re born into.

Kazan and co. devote multiple episodes to her character, dwelling on moments that shaped her own relationship to “timshel.” That’s not to say all of these moments are elegantly done; a flashback in which Cathy’s father proclaims she’s his property and a later monologue in which she lays out the financial freedom she attains through sex work are overly on the nose and clash with the series’ naturalistic, period-accurate dialogue. But even if Cathy is a sociopathic character with no sense of morality, as Steinbeck considers, her worldview is nonetheless one informed by the misogynistic violence that came with being a woman at the turn of the 20th century.

“I think [Cathy’s] viewpoint that the world is bad, that the world is fully evil and folly makes her isolate herself more and more,” Kazan recently told WWD. “She never gains trust in any other person. I think that, for me, was the key to unlocking how an insistence on self-determination can become toxic to herself.”

Cathy’s disinterest in motherhood, too, is framed through a distinctly modern perspective. Sure, her rejection of her sons ultimately unleashes another instance of Cain-and-Abel-like strife within the next generation of Trask brothers. Wisely, though, Netflix’s East of Eden doesn’t cast her lack of desire for motherhood in a positive or negative light. Unlike in 1952, when Steinbeck’s novel was published, being an unfit or ambivalent mother isn’t an instant sign of evil, but much more complicated. In another scene pulled straight from the book, in which a doctor threatens to prosecute Cathy after she nearly bleeds out from a botched abortion attempt, her actions aren’t presented as devilish—if anything, they’re devastatingly relevant.

Predictably, as soon as promotional materials for the Netflix adaptation debuted with Cathy front and center, discourse quickly followed. I sympathized with some—I also hoped that, by centering Cathy, this East of Eden wouldn’t try to redeem her or diminish her actions to make her “likable.” But others took issue with the show’s decision to focus on Cathy, period.

“Cathy is a sociopath who ruins the lives of everyone around her,” one person commented on the show’s teaser trailer. “She is NOT the main character, and to make her ‘misunderstood’ or sympathetic is against everything Steinbeck wrote.”

After East of Eden’s release, some viewers have walked away with competing takes: that in making Cathy sympathetic in any way, the series is wrongfully making people assume she isn’t a villain; or that because Cathy is an assault survivor and a woman who couldn’t access an abortion, she isn’t a monster but a victim of her surroundings.

Paradoxically, refusing to acknowledge the nuances of Cathy’s character disregards “timshel,” which is predicated on choice. (Even East of Eden’s narrator, who initially describes Cathy as evil from birth, later admits that he isn’t positive she is a monster, adding, “It is easy to say she was bad, but there is little meaning unless we know why.”) East of Eden draws inspiration from the Biblical tale of Cain and Abel, but it is hardly a straightforward moral fable. As villainous as Cathy can be, Steinbeck understood that people are too complicated to be defined as simply good or evil—a reality that the Netflix adaptation builds upon.

Of course, conversations about the ethics of enjoying media are nothing new. Whether cultural anxieties over reemergent conservatism and misinformation are stoking fear that media literacy is dead, or audiences are really struggling to dissect complexities more than ever, the issue remains: Too many of us expect fictional stories to have clear heroes and villains whose actions are cleanly rewarded or punished by the end. Within this black-and-white binary, any central character must be the hero, and the writers must endorse their actions. This year alone, some have assumed that Yesteryear author Caro Claire Burke shares the views of her novel’s unreliable tradwife protagonist, that we’re meant to feel sorry for Obsession’s Bear because he’s the lead character, and that Primetime director Lance Oppenheim is sympathetic to child predators because he criticized To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen’s complicity in a subject’s death by suicide. It’s no wonder that an iconic villain like Cathy is so emblematic of audiences’ inability to contend with more complicated themes.

Although East of Eden’s musings on human nature are universal, its existence as an American reimagining of the Bible befits a country whose culture has never fully disentangled itself from its Puritanical roots. It’s uncomfortable to face the fact that some modern viewers are as afraid to acknowledge the nuance of Cathy and other multi-dimensional female villains as many readers were when the book was first released. It’s a shame that this rigid sense of morality still keeps audiences from engaging with the richness of a story like East of Eden. They’d do well to take one of its most famous quotes to heart: “Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

Before we start shooting, a Disney exec calls Shia and me over for a huddle.

“Okay, everyone, we have the upfronts coming up. If you haven’t been, it’s a yearly media event in New York where journalists can ask questions, and we’ll show clips and teasers of the show. Since it’s our first season, I need you guys on your A game, got it? We’ll be setting up press training ASAP.”

I know this is our chance to get the media excited about the show before it airs to the public so that we get coverage and hopefully enough of an audience to get us to a second season. I can’t make decisions like executives, but I can just enjoy the ride and hit my marks and memorize my lines. I just want to do exactly what Disney says, and if I do that, I’m sure they will take care of me.

“What happens during press training?” I ask.

“You’ll get a rundown of Disney rules and codes of conduct, things you can and cannot say. Things like that,” the executive says.

Oh, great. What if I say the wrong thing? Will I be fired? I don’t ask this; I just keep my mouth shut and listen.

“It’s such an exciting time for the channel,” the Disney executive says. He looks right at me and Shia. “You kids are our big, new stars. So get out there and wow ’em, okay?”

“Sure thing!” I say, as peppy as Ren would have said it. I can feel Shia rolling his eyes as the words come out of my mouth.

We can’t say anything “racy.” No cussing. No talking negatively about other Disney shows or people, even though the executives sometimes seem to pit the actors against one another by mentioning how well someone else’s show is doing. Because of this, Mom is always telling me that Hilary Duff is my competition. Mom gets so focused on how popular Lizzie McGuire is getting and how much the Disney star machine is pushing Hilary to be the next big thing. Now she thinks it’ll be good for my career to get to know Hilary.

We’ve been instructed to be upbeat and happy. To “keep it positive.” Disney is big on “synergy,” playing up how things are happening as they’re supposed to and how one good show leads to another. Even Stevens—and the network more generally—is for tweens, kids between 9 and 12, but Disney is still owned by the Disney family and shareholders, and they want all-American values, wholesome dress codes, and no funny business. Now Mom is always talking about synergy too and how we will say yes to anything Disney asks me to do to promote the show. “Say yes to everything, and they’ll love you for it. Be easy to work with, and they’ll put you in more shows and even movies,” she always says.

The first day of upfronts is a blur. Shia and I put on our best “we love each other” act for the press, since we have to “keep it positive.” I answer every single question with a smile and talk about how much I love Ren and how great it is working with the whole cast, Shia especially. I talk about how wonderful it is to be part of the Disney family, but all I’m thinking about is hanging out with my friends later. Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful to be on the show, thrilled to be on TV, to be on the Disney Channel. But I still just want to be a normal high school kid sometimes.

Four hours straight of answering questions about playing Ren, working with Shia, and being a perfect girl, and I’m exhausted. Everyone was telling us we’re the “next big Disney stars” and that the show will just keep getting more popular, especially because of the Ren-Louis dynamic. I listened and put on my best “America’s sweetheart” smile, acted polite and upbeat, and did all the things they advised us to do in the media training. Shia was funny but off the walls like he always is. Almost all the reporters asked us how we get along and if we fight like Ren and Louis do on-screen, and we did our best to convince them that it’s one happy family on camera and off, blah blah blah. It’s not that I hate Shia. I just don’t really know the guy.

After the interviews, I meet my friends Carrie and Sybil in the lobby, and Carrie immediately zeroes in on Peter, another actor who’s here to promote his own Disney show. I promise I’ll introduce her to him later, and we head up to the room to change.

Carrie and Sybil start mixing vodka and cranberry juice from the minifridge. Carrie hands me a glass, and I take a small sip.

“Cheers!”

“Let’s hit the hotel lounge,” Carrie says. “I want to find that Peter guy.”

I’m half hoping Peter isn’t there because I just want to hang out with my friends and not have any drama, but there he is, sitting with Shia and some people from his show. Peter looks at us and waves us over.

“Hey, Christy,” he says. “Who’re your friends?”

“I’m Carrie, and this is Sybil. We went to school with Christy before Disney stole her away.”

Carrie is buzzed, so she’s flirting with Peter like crazy. Sybil and I are a little buzzed too, and hanging out with them makes me realize how much I’ve missed them, how much I loved just being a normal high school kid.

“Where’s Carrie?” Sybil asks.

I look around and can’t find her—or Peter—anywhere. “She worked fast,” Sybil says. “I bet she’s with Peter somewhere. Should we look for her?”

“Nah, let’s go back to the room,” I say.

Carrie and Sybil only took two mini bottles, and the drinks had so much ice. Hopefully Disney doesn’t notice those on my checkout tab.

I’m so tired, I feel like I’m sleepwalking, and I have a whole new round of interviews in the morning. I pass out immediately but wake up later when the door opens. I glance at the hotel clock. It’s past three in the morning.

“Carrie?”

“Sorry,” she says, shutting the door and tiptoeing in. “I’ve been with Peter. Don’t get mad!”

“I’m not mad,” I say. I mean, it wasn’t me who went to his room. “How was it? Did you have sex with him?!”

“Almost, but no. It was awesome, though. He’s an amazing kisser. It’s too bad he lives in L.A.”

“Well, maybe that’s a good reason for you to visit me,” I say. “I miss you guys.”

Carrie and Sybil leave early in the morning, so I get ready and meet Mom for breakfast before the interviews start again. The first two go well, but when we’re about to start our third, our press executive walks in, looking serious.

“Christy, can I speak to you alone?”

Crap. Did I say the wrong thing? Did I not look or act “Disney” enough?

I follow her into the hall. It’s never good when an executive pulls you aside like this.

“So, it seems a friend of yours went into the hotel room of one of the actors last night. How old is she?”

My throat feels like it’s about to close up, and my stomach churns. I can’t lie, but I don’t want to get Carrie or Peter in trouble.

“Um, she’s 16. Like me.”

“You know he’s 22-years-old?”

Shit. I am about to lose my job, be kicked off the show, and get sent home forever.

“I, um, thought he was a little younger than that.” It’s true, but I don’t think that will save me. “She went home this morning. She seems fine and isn’t mad at him or anything.”

“You need to watch it, Christy,” she says. “Disney is very specific about how you kids behave. You know this.”

“I’m so, so sorry. It’ll never happen again, ever. I promise.”

“Just think about your reputation, okay? I know it wasn’t you, but still. Guilty by association, right?”

“Right,” I say, even though inside I want to scream, WRONG! Why is this always the girl’s fault? It’s bullshit.

“I totally understand. I’m so, so sorry.”

As soon as the words come out of my mouth, I feel like a fake, but I don’t want to lose this job. Plus I’m used to this. Ever since I was little, I’ve been under a microscope, judged by adults in a way that most normal kids don’t have to deal with, but that’s part of being a kid actor. You have to just suck it up and be professional. And I’m not a kid anymore anyway, even though they are treating me like one.

“Thanks, Christy,” she says before I head back to the day’s interviews. “Oh, one more thing.”

“Yes?”

She glances down at my stomach and squinches up her forehead in a disapproving way. “I can see your belly button. You gotta make sure we can’t see your belly button.”

For the last month, all the Disney executives keep talking about is how Hilary Duff is the “next big thing.”

They want me and Hilary to make a movie together during my Even Stevens hiatus. It’s called Cadet Kelly, and I would play Hilary’s rival at a military school. The executives keep saying we’ll be “perfect rivals” because we’re so opposite. Of course the blond girl is the sweet, fun one, and the brunette (me) is the bad, unlikable one.

I must be getting bolder with age, because I decide to tell the Cadet Kelly director that I don’t want my character to just be some villainous person. It’ll be more interesting if she changes in the end and if she and Kelly become friends. I don’t want to play just a one-dimensional mean girl. I’ve been in this business long enough; I can’t be afraid to speak up anymore.

At breakfast with the director, I explain my idea and tell him why it would appeal to girls more to see me and Hilary coming together in the end, like a form of female empowerment. I’m shocked when he says he’ll talk to the writers and change the script a bit. I want to give her a backstory and make her feel real. I want to play a strong person, someone girls can maybe be inspired by. If I’m being honest, I also just don’t want to be disliked. I know Cadet Kelly isn’t like Shakespeare, and Shia probably thinks it’s a dumb movie, but whatever. By the end of our first Even Stevens season, he’s gone from annoying me to filling me with anger. When we’re in the same room, the tension is palpable. I need this break.

Having the director and writers rework the script is a huge win for me. I don’t have to be just the good little Disney girl. I get to have an opinion. Finally.

Excerpted from ONCE UPON A TRAINWRECK. Copyright © 2026, Christy Carlson Romano. Reproduced by permission of Simon Element, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved.

This article contains major spoilers for East of Eden. Since East of Eden was published in 1952, John Steinbeck’s sweeping tale of intergenerational conflict and good versus evil has become widely regarded as a great American novel. A retelling of the Bible’s Book of Genesis, set in California’s Salinas Valley, it spans over 600 pages. In other words, faithfully bringing it to the screen is a tall order. Netflix is the latest to adapt Steinbeck’s magnum opus.

Its new East of Eden miniseries is helmed by Zoe Kazan, whose grandfather, Elia Kazan, previously turned the novel into a film starring James Dean. Although the Netflix show follows many of the book’s plot points closely, it also makes some adaptive changes to condense East of Eden’s familial epic into seven episodes. Read on as we break down the major differences between Netflix’s East of Eden and the original novel.

How does Cathy's role change in Netflix's 'East of Eden?'

East of Eden’s central female character, Cathy Ames (played by Florence Pugh), is known as one of American literature’s most infamous antagonists. The book’s narrator even says early on, "There was a time when a girl like Cathy would have been said to be possessed by the devil."

However, from the beginning of the adaptation process, Kazan has been clear about her desire to explore Cathy more deeply, as Steinbeck wrote her to embody the Biblical idea of original sin. Rather than painting Cathy simply as a monster, the show centers multiple episodes around her, exploring what led her to make the dark decisions that she makes throughout the story.

“[Zoe] didn’t want to berate [Cathy],” Pugh recently told Vulture. “We were aware that we were going to have to do so much thinking to make this person watchable, and that was just a beautiful ode to this woman in that era who wasn’t really given much forgiveness.”

The show doesn’t shy away from Cathy’s misdeeds, which include murdering her own parents, as well as Salinas Valley brothel owner Faye (Martha Plimpton), whose business she takes over. Yet it also acknowledges that her worldview is shaped by surviving misogynistic sexual and domestic violence, and by the harsh realities of being a woman at the turn of the 20th century. For instance, she is unable to obtain a safe abortion upon discovering she is pregnant and nearly bleeds out from trying to perform the procedure herself.

“I think her viewpoint that the world is bad, that the world is fully evil and folly makes her isolate herself more and more,” Kazan said during an interview with WWD. “She never gains trust in any other person. I think that, for me, was the key to unlocking how an insistence on self-determination can become toxic to herself.”

How does the Hamilton family's role change in Netflix's 'East of Eden?'

The original East of Eden novel follows two interconnected families: the Irish-American Hamiltons, who are based on the maternal side of Steinbeck’s own family; and the Trasks, whose intergenerational conflicts mirror the Biblical story of Cain and Abel.

Although the Hamilton family patriarch, Samuel Hamilton (Ciarán Hinds), remains a key figure in the Netflix series, his wife Liza and their nine children only appear briefly as minor characters. Their own backstories and relationships are not expanded upon. During an interview with The Independent, Kazan explained that these parts of the novel were omitted to condense its sprawling story into seven episodes.

“There’s so much treasure in [the book] that you couldn’t possibly put it all into seven hours,” she said. “There are things I had to leave behind that hurt my heart—there’s so much of the Hamiltons’ storyline that’s not in there, and the Hamiltons are some of my favorite characters in the book.”

Do we see more of Lee's Story in Netflix's 'East of Eden?'

Yes. Lee (Hoon Lee), a Chinese-American man who Adam hires as a servant soon after moving to Salinas Valley, becomes the novel’s moral and philosophical center alongside Samuel Hamilton. He becomes a key member of the Trask family, acting as a second father to Adam’s twin sons, Cal (Joseph Zada) and Aron (Joe Anders).

At one point in East of Eden, Lee briefly leaves the Trask household and moves to San Francisco with plans to open his own bookstore. In both the show and the novel, he returns shortly afterward, telling Adam he missed home. The show expands upon Lee’s trip to San Francisco, following him as he reconnects with his uncle and struggles to rent a storefront from discriminatory white businessmen. When Lee returns to the Trask home, Adam agrees to listen and lets him run the household as a family member.

Speaking to Vulture, Kazan compared Lee’s time away from the Trasks to “a Wong Kar-wai movie.”

“I thought, ‘This character is so private.' I felt like he was even keeping secrets from Steinbeck,” she said. “I wanted to get to know him better.”

Does John Steinbeck appear in Netflix's 'East of Eden?'

No. Because the Hamiltons are based on Steinbeck’s family, a fictionalized version of the author as a child appears briefly in East of Eden. But because the Hamilton family’s storyline has largely been cut from the Netflix adaptation, he does not make a cameo.

Does Charles haunt Netflix's 'East of Eden?'

Like in Steinbeck’s novel, Adam’s younger half-brother Charles’ (Mike Faist) presence in the Netflix show can be felt long after he dies offscreen. In both cases, Charles haunts Cathy towards the end of her life. Earlier in the story, the two have a complicated relationship; Charles distrusts Cathy, but he sleeps with her—and is therefore potentially the father of her twins.

In the book, Cathy begins to sense Charles around her when she becomes paranoid that Ethel (Amelia Reynolds), a former sex worker at her brothel, will turn her in for Faye’s murder (“On this night, she felt that she was not alone,” Steinbeck writes, “Charles seemed to walk to the side and behind her”). The show takes things a step forward, with Cathy hallucinating entire conversations with Charles’ ghost shortly before her death.

“This is a story about these people who are dealing with their own inner demons and trying to keep them at bay, and some do a better job of that than others throughout the story,” Faist said of the scene while speaking to Netflix’s Tudum.

A Different World is more than a TV show. Since its 1987 debut, the HBCU-set comedy has expanded countless viewers' minds by depicting a Black student body that isn't a monolith.

It was even part of reboot star Maleah Joi Moon’s origin story—unbeknownst to her until she auditioned for the sequel series. She learned that her mother grew up watching the show from her home in Belize; A Different World and other hits from the golden age of ‘80s and ‘90s Black sitcoms inspired her to move to N.Y.C. for college—where she would eventually meet Moon’s father.

“It was inspiring for her to see these young, Black, successful Americans on such a well-represented campus becoming and finding themselves,” Moon tells Marie Claire. “It's so amazing to me that she was miles away and she had the same experience that a lot of Black Americans did, and that I also had growing up, once I started having access to the show.”

The New Jersey native has spent the past three years jumping between two whirlwind moments. As a teen, she briefly attended Pace University before leaving to originate a character based on Alicia Keys in the singer’s semi-autobiographical jukebox musical Hell’s Kitchen. The role netted Moon a Tony and a Grammy by the time she turned 23. Her breakout performance also caught the attention of A Different World mastermind Debbie Allen. She and the sequel series’ creator, Felicia Pride, tapped Moon to play Deborah, the daughter of the original ensemble’s iconic lead couple, Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison).

Despite her rapid ascension, the 24-year-old appears centered while speaking with Marie Claire over Zoom—joking that fan expectations and the social media frenzy around the show’s premiere are “not [her] business.” She says that she’s been following a kernel of wisdom passed down from one generation of Waynes to the next: “Hold yourself”—or do what you need to do to keep your mind right as you embark on an industry (and a world) that is not always kind to Black artists.

Moon recalls that Hardison and Guy have offered different suggestions for how to do so. Her TV dad encourages her to fill her cup outside of the series. Meanwhile, Guy advised her to have boundaries on when to engage with social media. “She was like, ‘You deserve your own joy and safety within your space.’”

“I care so much about this show,” says Moon, who believes it’s important for her and the contemporary cast to carry on the franchise’s legacy of “creating a safe place for conversation about stigmatized topics.”

So as fans wait with bated breath for news of a possible season 2, the star is right there with them, cherishing its magic and this moment. “It's my responsibility to put my health first so that I can be there for the people who really end up loving it, and I can experience the joy just like they do,” she adds.

Below, Moon chats with Marie Claire about living out an HBCU experience on set, imbuing her own life experiences into Deborah Wayne, and combating the Black community’s stigma against neurodivergence.

MC: The series hired HBCU students as on-set consultants. Did you have any thoughts during filming of What would life have been like if I went to an HBCU?

MJM: I'm a very spiritual person, not even just in the biblical sense, but in the energetic sense. So when I was on set at Atlanta University Center, I was breathing in the campus and getting acquainted with my surroundings. There's a historical energy about walking around that place and the Morehouse MLK statue. Almost 60 percent of the extras were HBCU students and alumni. I was already being embraced by the culture in that way from my job, but then also just being in the atmosphere of it, after not having that experience at Pace. It didn't make me want to change my college experience because, had I went to any other university, I would not have ended up here in this dream. So that part of it is like, Man, I get to do this now. That is my gift.

It's crazy how Deborah and I are very similar, and I think that is why Debbie Allen saw me and thought, Come here for this dream. Deborah has a line in the first episode where she's talking to Dr. Hawthorne, and she's like, 'I was supposed to go to Tisch.' It was a really deep moment for me when I got to share that experience with Deborah as a young Black artist in musical theater. That feeling of, Yeah, there might be college experiences that will make me feel more seen, and still feeling like I had to choose to go to a predominantly white university in order to be successful. I grew up in Franklin Township, New Jersey. It was a very urban, multicultural, hood-adjacent suburban community. When I looked up and I was in the hallways, I saw mainly Black people. Getting to relive my college experience through this show is just so healing for that high school person in me that wanted that type of representation once I got to my PWI.

MC: How much of Deborah’s backstory and traits were on the page when you were auditioning? How much inspiration did writers take from your own real-life experiences?

MJM: They were trying to keep everything as under wraps as possible. I did not have a lot to work with, not because there wasn't good stuff on the page, but because they kept it so small to see what you would do with it. I think that was intentional because of the chemistry that we ended up having once they pulled us all together. The six of us just absolutely fell in love with each other at the chemistry read. Cree Summers calls it “lightning in a bottle.”

It is such a gift when you're given a role where you can be self-indulgent and mix a lot of your own experiences with your character. [Showrunner Felicia Pride] and the writers' room invited me to L.A. in December 2025, as they did with all six of us in the contemporary cast. I got to go in by myself and rap about a lot of my own experiences that I thought would be helpful in creating the character. We talked about my childhood, my experience at high school versus college, authenticity, all the things. I definitely felt a lot of myself in what was on the page, and then it was my job to take it further and use my truth to create hers.

MC: Deborah’s journey with ADHD was a highlight of the series for me. It felt rare to see her work through the cultural stigma and accept that she’s neurodivergent. What was it like performing that arc over the season?

MJM: I have my own relationship with psychiatry. As I started navigating the industry, it became more and more important for me to have resources. As my job needs more from me, I need more of myself, and I'm still kind of in that moment. It's a scary word for the Black community, because there is so much sociopolitical, economic pressure on us to be 10 steps ahead of everything just so we can be given opportunities that everybody deserves in this country. We always have to be ahead of it just to be where we're supposed to be. So when it comes to things like diagnoses about health, mental health, or anything that we feel in a stigmatized view could hold us back, it is very hard, from my own experience, to come into acceptance with that.

I'm so, so, so happy that this show has given me a chance to bring up that conversation, using my own experience and put it into Deborah. In a world where we deal with Black disembodiment, disenfranchisement, the stripping of our rights and our safeties, even on HBCU campuses—this place that, in a utopic view, is supposed to be the wealth of Black safety and cultivation—we're still not safe. If any marginalized culture or race or anything needs and deserves more support there, it would be us. But there are a lot of different nuances that go into how we process that. I get to play a character whose privilege is kind of being stripped away in an authentic environment, and she has to come into herself and really learn who she is beyond what people have told her who she's supposed to be.

We have that moment [in episode 4] where her tutor, Ellington, is guiding her towards, Hey, you deserve more support if these are things that you struggle with and make you feel unsteady as far as the ADHD conversation. We get a vulnerable moment of her being embarrassed, shameful, and angry that he would even bring that up because that means that she’s less than, and that's not true. It's so wonderful and healing for me that I'll get to be part of that safe example for young Black women of This is hard, but you deserve support. It means more to me than I can ever even articulate.

MC: What are your hopes for Deborah heading into a possible season 2?

MJM: I pray that she is, yes, still embarking on finding herself, but also that we see her become more secure little by little. That would be so healing. I keep using that word because it's what this show does. It would be cathartic for people to see that we endure chaos, but we get to take from our experiences and feel good about the fact that we learned.

So often, especially as a young Black artist, I constantly feel the need to push forward. What's next? What's the next audition? Am I going to go back to Broadway? Am I making an album? It even parallels my own experience with this project. It was insane, because it's so well anticipated and there's a lot of energy coming into it, but now I get to sit here and be like, I did that. I don't know what happens in season 2 yet, if we get that, but within the time from [the season 1 finale] to season 2, hopefully Deborah will have gotten to sit and be like, I was a bad bitch and I was crazy and I was chaotic and I still am, but I did that and I get to move forward knowing that that's in my bag now. That freshman year, I put that in the bag. It was crazy and it's done. Now I get to be a sophomore. I get to grow more.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The unspoken contract of being a Black woman on reality TV usually goes something like this: Be yourself but not too much. For a handful of Black women occupying space on the predominantly white shows of Bravo TV, the feeling of having to shrink is commonplace—some might even say it’s their job. While they may carry it with grace, seemingly meshing well with friend groups and doing so with a smile most of the time, those of us who understand the complexities of being Black women know there is always more happening beneath the surface.

For me, that awareness came early. I was 5 years old and one of only two Black girls in my kindergarten class when I first realized what it meant to be seen as different. And while at the time I couldn’t have begun to comprehend what that feeling of incongruousness would mean for the rest of my life, it was palpable.

To understand the experience of having that feeling play out for millions of viewers every week, I sat down with four of Bravo’s most prominent Black cast members on a late June afternoon in Brooklyn: Lake Rucker of Southern Hospitality, Jasmine Goode of The Valley, Venita Aspen of Southern Charm, and Mia Calabrese of Summer House. Together, we unpacked what it means to exist so publicly in a universe that rarely includes or uplifts Black women. For the first time ever, they said out loud what they’ve only ever said in private.

Marie Claire: Do you feel like you’ve been given the space to be messy, angry, vulnerable, all of it, on reality TV?

Mia Calabrese: I mean, we can do it, but we just know the backlash is going to be very different than our white counterparts.

Venita Aspen: At the end of the day, the backlash doesn’t feel worth it. You know, you sit with that for however long the show’s on. So say it’s like three months—every week for the next three months, someone’s going to tell you that you shouldn’t act like that. “You acted like this” or “You’re looking bad for the community” or “Of course the Black girl’s acting like this; of course the Black girl’s angry.”

Jasmine Goode: The other cast members, they’re allowed to act that way. They can act up, get loud, do this and that—everyone will still listen to them. But the moment I show some emotion, it’s looked at like, “Oh, you’re doing too much. You need to calm down.” That’s frustrating.

Lake Rucker: Growing up, especially growing up in the South, my parents always taught me that I have to work 10 times as hard as the white people around me because I went to PWIs [predominantly white institutions]. So it was always hard, having to navigate that. Not being able to fully express my emotions because you’re either deemed as aggressive or overly emotional, and sometimes you just want to be vulnerable and be yourself.

MC: How have you all been received by the Black community as Black women on these predominantly white shows?

JG: I’ve been getting a lot of “Get new friends, you don’t need to be on this show.” And it’s like, But this is literally my life. I’ve been in this friend group. These are my friends; I can’t leave my friends because you think I need to have only Black friends. So I’m getting some support, but then it’s these people always saying, “Why are you in this group? This is your fault, you did it to yourself.”

VA: Or like when you post a picture with them and they’re always like, “Oh my God, do you not have Black friends?”

MC: Lake, your mom’s advice about not involving non-Black people in Black people’s business went viral this season. Do you wish you’d listened sooner?

LR: Oh, 100 percent. I love my mom’s advice, that’s why I speak to her about it. She’s always giving me the best advice with counseling me, being there for me, helping me be the amazing woman that she is raising me to be. I feel like I made so many mistakes this past season, but I’m also growing and learning. I joined this business when I was 21 years old. I’m 23, and I’m allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. Going back to the Black community, responding back to those mistakes, it’s been a struggle because seeing the feedback and the backlash from this past season, it’s been kind of hurtful. But, you know, it’s only making me stronger and want to learn from those mistakes and come out on top.

MC: Do you feel pressure to defend your castmates when they say something that the Black community takes issue with?

VA: They make it very hard not to see it. And when it’s happening, like when the whole Emmy [Sharrett], Leva [Bonaparte], Brad [Carter] situation was happening, the amount of messages I received on Threads being like, “You should speak up, you should say this, you should say that.” And at the end of the day, do I have my thoughts? Yes. But I’m not going to put myself in a crossfire when I’m not the main one in it. Why do I have to do it? Why can’t Madison [LeCroy] speak up about it? Madison and Leva are also friends. Why can’t Austen [Kroll] speak up? Why can’t anyone else do it? Why does it have to be me?

LR: I had several conversations with Emmy, telling her that what she said was wrong. I made it very clear to her my feelings on it, and I made it clear to Brad. I made it clear to Leva as well. Leva is a very strong businesswoman, and she can hold her own. And when it comes to Emmy, it was just very disheartening to see how long it took her to realize what she had done was wrong. As someone who has viewed her as my closest friend on the cast, when your closest friends are Black, it’s kind of like, Well, how do you see me if you saw Brad this way?

MC: Mia, you were called aggressive at the Summer House reunion. What was that like?

MC: Yes, after the reunion, someone called me aggressive. I won’t say his name. But I was asking maybe uncomfortable questions, direct questions. But being direct, does it make someone aggressive? That makes me sure of myself. We cannot confuse those two. It’s okay to ask hard questions, because those questions need to be asked and answered.

JG: The fact that you were even called that is crazy to me, because I feel like other people on your cast have been reckless and no one’s ever calling them aggressive.

MC: Even when we’re looking at the reunion, I typically don’t raise my voice, and there’s not an aggressive bone in my body. I’m not aggressive. It was actually like one of the first times I’ve been called that, and, of course, it’s by a white man. I found that fascinating because I’m watching this and I’m like, Okay, well, let me watch this back. And I’m watching my white friends onstage, who to me were a lot more aggressive than I was, and those words never came out of his mouth about them.

MC: In which ways have you all censored yourself for the show?

VA: I kept myself kind of cookie-cutter, in a box. I had to be the perfect Black girl, if you will. But even Mia knows, I cut up. I think that this is the first year I’m allowing myself to fully be who I am and not care what my castmates have to say about it on the other end of it, when they see it back in a few months. I can’t worry about how they feel because it is true, I haven’t been fully myself. And now I’m just like, you either like it or not, take it or leave it.

JG: I’ve always been tiptoeing and being careful with what I say around the group. Sometimes I’m worried they’re going to perceive me this way if I say something, so it’s like, Okay, don’t act that way, Jasmine, because the world is going to look at you crazy. So it’s been a struggle. Hopefully one day, I’ll get there, where I don’t give a shit. I think I’m starting to get there slowly. Like, this season, I’m starting to have those tough conversations and letting people know, “Look, this is how I’m feeling.” But in the beginning, it was really hard to be my true self. I was always nervous that somebody was going to be judging me.

VA: They’ll judge us regardless.

MC: It’s also kind of like a push and pull constantly, being a Black woman. It’s like, how far can I really go without being called aggressive? It’s like, how far can I push this?

JG: And then you see other cast members doing something, and I’m like, I act that way too, right? Because they’re doing it. But I’m like, No, you can’t do it. It’s not the same for you.

MC: What has your experience of dating on TV been like as Black women— and, for Jasmine and Lake, queer women?

LR: You know, I’m Gen Z so it’s a lot more lax when it comes to sexuality, fluidity, and dating outside of your race. But I’ve always just dated who I vibe with.

JG: Me and Melissa, we were dating before the show even was a thing. So it’s like, yeah, this is my relationship. We live in L.A., thank God, in a state that’s accepting. So I think it’s been great that we can show representation.

VA: I think I’m in a place in my life where I truly don’t care about what people think, because who I fall in love with doesn’t have shit to do with you. When I’m dating somebody, that’s who I’m with. My mom never raised me to be like, “Oh, you can only take one type of man.”

MC: My relationship was not typical, right? We were in a long-distance relationship. In the beginning, it worked—until it didn’t. People were like, “You should do this.” And I hear everything you’re saying, but I care about how someone treats me. Are you kind to me? Are you respectful to me? Do you listen to me? It’s not the perfect relationship; whose relationship is perfect? But if the foundation is there, that’s what matters to me. I think that’s not always shown, Summer House is not a show about my romantic life. So that part was not shown. I was getting a lot of blowback about that, and while everyone’s entitled to their opinion, it doesn’t mean I have to listen to it.

MC: Do you think reality TV has a problem with not addressing racially charged moments when they happen?

MC: Yes, and I also think we don’t always know how to have those conversations with our white counterparts. Like, we can sit here right now and have this conversation for hours and hours and hours and hours. But if this was a mixed group, I don’t know. Would we be able to have the conversation so comfortably? And also, would they be receptive towards it? When we had our conversation, me, KJ, and Ciara, last summer, what I took from that was, Wow, they sat there and listened to us. Nobody was interrupting. Nobody was saying, “Well, it’s actually not like that.” Which, in my past when I’ve tried to have those conversations with white friends, that’s kind of where the conversation goes.

JG: And like you said, I think especially for me this season, the fact that they’re airing the tough conversations I’m having with my friends is, like, a big deal for me. I’m like, Thank you, because that’s what I want. I feel like a lot of my cast members love everything being out there and open. I think that’s really big. And you know, it’s hard.

MC: Would you say it’s worth it, being a Black woman on Bravo?

JG: I think we talked about that last night—about how, with all the struggles and the things that we deal with, the trolls and comments, it’s still worth it.

MC: It’s also representation. It is so important for little kids or young women or young men, whomever, to look at what we’re doing and say, “That person looks like me, that person has gone through similar life experiences that I’ve gone through.” And that, to me, makes it all worth it. I get a percentage of viewers that don’t like me, but the larger percentage that does, that sees me, that’s what matters.

MC: What have you learned about yourself through this journey?

MC: When I was given this opportunity, I said I wanted to be 100 percent myself, no matter what that looked like. My lesson is that I just have to continue to be me. And if people don’t like you, that’s okay, but at least you’re being true to yourself.

VA: The greatest lesson I’ve learned about myself is that even on my worst days, I’m still showing up better than my counterparts.

LR: I feel like I’m learning a lesson every single day; I feel like I’m growing every single day. I’m so young, and I have so much more life and lessons to live. But what I tell myself every day is, It’s okay.

JG: I’m so proud of all of us. I think being a Black woman on TV is hard. I’ve been on a couple shows. It’s not easy. So I’m just proud of all of us being proud of ourselves.

Stylist Cassy Meier | Goode's hairstylist Anari LaBoard | Goode's makeup artist Billie Gene | Rucker's hairstylist Nika Pearl-Edwards | Rucker's makeup artist Renee Garnes | Calabrese's hairstylist Ester Rojas | Calabrese's makeup artist Renee Sanganoo | Aspen's hairstylist Karen Miller | Aspen's makeup artist Brittany Whitfield

This piece originally appeared in Marie Claire's 2026 Legends issue.

Watching Physical: 100 can often be a bittersweet experience for female viewers. Netflix's international reality franchise has amazed a passionate global fanbase, with its jaw-dropping athletic challenges and heartwarming depictions of determination and sportsmanship. Each season includes several female athletes who become inspiring fan-favorites, but—whether due to challenge design or being disadvantaged in team rounds—these women often fall short of reaching the finale. That is, until Physical 100: Mexico.

The survival show's first North American installment, which debuted on September 16, found an early standout in Mariana Khalil, a CrossFit athlete who was both a fierce competitor in the individual matches and an essential teammate in the group rounds. The first seven episodes ended with a literal cliffhanger during the Gate to the Underworld challenge, as Khalil and Iván Guerrera hung on bars suspended four meters above water pits.

Eventually, Khalil stayed hanging the longest and became the first-ever woman to make it to the finale in a Physical: 100 individual season. (This doesn't include Physical: Asia, which had entirely team challenges, or Physical 100: Italy, which is still airing through October 2.) Though she didn't ultimately win Physical 100: Mexico's prize of 3 million pesos (about $175,000 USD), Khalil represented the women of the show and proved that she was a tough opponent to beat.

Read on to learn more about Mariana Khalil, from the personal tragedy that left her with a scarred arm to her biggest supporter throughout the competition.

Mariana Khalil has won some of the toughest competitions in modern-day sports.

Mariana Khalil is a athlete and fitness coach who does CrossFit, HYROX, kabaddi, and yoga. Per The Cinemaholic, Khalil spent 13 years training as a jazz dancer before discovering CrossFit in college. The sport became a core part of her life, with Khalil even meeting her husband at a competition. She ranked among the top 30 female CrossFit athletes in Mexico across four years, since her competitive debut in 2017.

Khalil is a co-founder and Head Coach of the gym CrossFit Voltage in Aguascalientes, where she coaches and specializes in pregnancy and postpartum fitness. She also has TV experience outside of Netflix. She appeared on the Mexican reality TV show Exatlón in 2021 and earlier this year, competing under the nickname "Voltage."

Mariana Khalil is an outspoken women's-rights activist and burn survivor.

During the Gate to the Underworld challenge in episode 7, Khalil shared the origin of the scars covering her entire left arm and part of her right arm, midriff, and legs. When she was 7-years-old, a gas leak triggered an explosion that left her, her sister, and her mother with severe burns.

"I love my scars," she said in an interview. "I think they make me a very unique person, and they remind me that there's no greater challenge that I've been through."

When she's not sharing fitness tips or personal updates, Khalil also uses her Instagram to speak out about social causes. Earlier this year, she partnered with Telemundo's Mujeres Imparables. The athlete called on women to cultivate their physical and mental strength, saying, "Society has done a lot of harm by making us believe that strength and femininity are contrary."

Mariana Khalil welcomed her first child in 2024.

Khalil has been married to her husband, Rodrigo Guerra, for nine years. On the show, she shared her husband's reaction to seeing her for the first time during a competition. "Why is she standing there so confidently despite her scars, and wearing shorts and a top? I mean, I have to meet her," she recalls him saying to a mutual friend.

Today, the couple work together as coaches at CrossFit Voltage. They welcomed their first child, a son, in early 2024.

In the Physical 100: Mexico finale, Khalil revealed that she worried her relationship to sports would change after she became a mother. When asked if she had seen herself making it to the end of the competition, she said, "Honestly, since my baby was born, I thought there was no room for sports left in my life."

"At some point I said, 'Okay. I'll focus on being a mom. I won't be able to perform at that level," she continued. "[But] I think that as I completed the challenges, I was, like, 'Mariana the athlete still has so much to give.

Lizzie Borden’s life was never the same after she was accused of murdering her father and stepmother in 1892, and Borden lived a mostly private life in the aftermath of the trial in which she was acquitted of the charges. In that time, she became close friends with stage actress Nance O’Neil—a friendship that, among other details of Borden’s life, has been fictionalized in the latest iteration of Ryan Murphy’s Monster anthology series on Netflix.

Ella Beatty and Jessica Barden play Borden and O’Neil in the crime series, respectively, and Beatty has acknowledged some of the exaggerations of the Netflix creation. “I could take all the source material about the real person’s life and translate that into the very fictionalized version of the woman that we created for the show. I was exploring a person that we were imagining and creating using details from the real person’s life to animate and fill in the blanks,” she told Netflix’s Tudum.

The “source material” of Borden’s life includes a real friendship with O’Neil, which was rumored to have been romantic (though Monster does not portray it as such). Ahead, we break down who O'Neil was and what her real relationship with Borden might have been like.

What to Know About Nance O'Neil—And Her Relationship with Lizzie Borden

Borden and O'Neil met in 1904 after one of O'Neil’s performances in Boston.

After her acquittal, public sentiment toward Borden was unfavorable, and she often traveled to cities like Boston and New York to escape the cruelty of her hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts. On one of these fateful trips to Boston, Borden met O’Neil after attending one of her plays. Borden allegedly sent a note backstage asking O’Neil to meet with her, and O’Neil obliged. The two became extremely close following that meeting.

Many believed Borden and O’Neil were romantically involved.

They soon began spending a large amount of time together, fueling rumors of a lesbian relationship. Like Borden’s rumored relationship with her family’s maid Bridget Sullivan, this relationship was never confirmed by Borden, O’Neil, or anyone in their circles. However, their closeness only increased speculation about Borden’s perceived motives for the accused murders, as many believed her parents may have caught her with another woman.

After Borden died in 1927, O’Neil gave an interview with the New Bedford Standard, calling her friend "distinctively attractive" though a “frail, little gentlewoman,” and describing their relationship as “ships that pass in the night and speak [to] each other in passing.” While there’s no outward admission in those words, it could be read as a romantic description of their friendship. But as neither Borden nor O’Neil left behind any diaries, love letters, or other artifacts that would confirm a romantic relationship, this part of Borden’s life remains speculative.

Borden and O'Neil's friendship might have led to Borden's estrangement from her sister, Emma.

Lizzie and Emma Borden (played by Billie Lourd in Monster) used their inheritance from their murdered father to buy a house in Maplewood, Massachusetts, and it’s believed that the parties thrown there for O’Neil’s theater group were the root cause of the sisters’ definitive fight. Many years later, Emma confirmed that something happened at their house, though she never provided details. “The happenings in the French Street house that caused me to leave, I must refuse to talk about,” she said in a 1913 interview with The Boston Post. The sisters never spoke again.

Some thought Borden's wealth was the basis of their friendship.

As Borden spent more time with O’Neil and her artistic circle, she began hosting parties at her Maplewood residence for O’Neil’s theater troupe (though O’Neil later refuted this after Borden’s death, claiming she never visited her home). Borden reportedly also lent money to O’Neil and her friends for various debts.

A San Francisco Call article from the time also suggested that O’Neil and Borden were creative collaborators, with Borden allegedly penning a play for O’Neil, but this never came to fruition. When Borden and O’Neil’s friendship later ended, some believed it was because O’Neil refused to pay back.

Borden and O'Neil were also estranged at the end of Borden's

Money very well could have caused their estrangement, but it's equally likely that their life circumstances did. O’Neil’s career eventually expanded beyond the Boston area, and the women naturally spent less time together; staying in touch was decidedly different from today.

O’Neil later married actor Alfred Hickman in 1916. In her interview with the New Bedford Standard after Lizzie died in 1927, she confirmed that they never spoke about the murders and that their correspondence stopped after their friendship drifted apart.

Calling all Traitors fans—our favorite game of social deception is back early! As we wait for the next star-studded celebrity season, NBC has tapped into the franchise's British roots with the first American non-celebrity season, titled The Traitors: New Blood.

The new spinoff—once again hosted by Alan Cumming and airing through November 19—tests its cast's capacity for bargaining and backstabbing through several exciting twists, including new civilian Accomplices(!) for the Traitors. The lucky contestants vying for up to $250,000 range from everyday healthcare workers, teachers, and realtors to semi-famous podcasters and content creators. Wherever you land on the debate over whether someone with 1 million IG followers counts as a "normie," you can't deny this cast has some great potential for a good Traitors season.

Read on for everything you need to know about the inaugural cast of The Traitors: New Blood, from their game plans for the castle to their initial assignments of Traitor or Faithful.

Abbey Benjamin

Instagram: @abbeybenj

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 37

Hometown: Mangham, Louisiana

Occupation: Nurse

Game Plan: "I love people, and I think that in the game of Traitors, where trust is currency, my biggest strategy is to be myself and to gain as much trust as possible with the Traitors and the Faithful so I'm able to stay until the very end."

Abby Lee

Instagram: @abbylee_.7

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 29

Hometown: St. Paul, Minnesota

Occupation: Astrophysicist

Game Plan: "My role model is Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones, and I would love to play like him. There's a lot of strategies I want to adopt."

Arisa Thomas

Instagram: @arisathegroomer

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 36

Hometown: Los Angeles, California

Occupation: Dog groomer

Game Plan: "I think me working with animals will make people naturally trust me, and that's what I'm banking on. They wouldn't suspect someone like me, who has golden retriever energy, to be a naughty little chihuahua."

Ben McDonnell

Instagram: @mcdonnellben

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 34

Hometown: Granbury, Texas

Occupation: Barrel racer, actor, and podcaster

Game Plan: "I'm gonna go in and probably be the girls' gay best friend, and they're gonna love me. And then the guys, they're gonna see me as an asset. I mean, I'm a 6'3" Sasquatch. So just because I might have designer shoes, I'm ranch-y as shit. So I can go out there...I think I'll be an asset to both sides."

Clyde Moser

Instagram: @astoldbyclyde

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 32

Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina

Occupation: Teacher

Game Plan: "My strategy going into this is to be as likable and as friendly as possible, because you want to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

Jay Vinnedge

Instagram: @wellroundedphysician

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 36

Hometown: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Occupation: Physician

Game Plan: "I'm willing to do what it takes to get to the end. I find that when I'm watching other programs, people sometimes don't prioritize winning the way they should, and as somebody who loves things like this show, I can't have that."

Joe Vanella

Instagram: @thejoevanella

Affiliation: Traitor

Age: 44

Hometown: Wantagh, New York

Occupation: Funeral director

Game Plan: "I'm everybody's friend until I don't need them. And then that's it. I'm not going to say I don't care about them, but in the show, I'm going to be friendly to everybody...I'll be on their side until the game dictates otherwise."

Katie Fites

Instagram: @katie.fites

Affiliation: Accomplice

Age: 32

Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida

Occupation: Marketing manager

Game Plan: "I'm going to give them hell. I am ready to do what feels natural. I'm going to trust my gut going into this, and I think that I have the potential to make a really fun environment while also reading people, connecting with people, and then, if necessary, backstabbing people if it saves me."

Kim Daly

Instagram: @iamkimdaily

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 37

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Occupation: Lawyer

Game Plan: "This is a game that requires massive amounts of adaptability. Adaptability is my strength. Adaptability is my skill. Once I get to know people, what their motivations are, what drives them, what their reasons are, I want to help them with their reasons as long as it helps me with mine."

Kriste Lewis

Instagram: @kr1ste

Affiliation: Faithful

Age: 52