‘Veep’ trailer, Orson Welles project, ‘Legion’ renewed and more
The March 2017 entertainment calendar delivered the usual mix of renewals, trailers, and rediscoveries. HBO, FX, and Spike TV all made moves while a handful of films and documentaries carved out fresh space on the schedule. Some of those stories have since played out to completion, and a few have circled back into the conversation years later.
HBO renews Pete Holmes’ Crashing
Pete Holmes and Judd Apatow celebrated the renewal of Crashing for a second season in March 2017. The season premiered in January 2018. The series ultimately ran three seasons before HBO ended it in 2019. At the time, critics noted the show’s modest ratings and its appeal to a niche audience, yet the full run gave Holmes room to develop the material beyond the familiar stand-up template.
Top SXSW film festival prize winners announced
The Los Angeles Times covered the 2017 SXSW winners, with Most Beautiful Island and The Work taking the top prizes. The piece highlighted the festival’s continuing mix of homespun and offbeat projects even as its profile grew larger each year.
Leah Remini will keep flogging that Scientology horse for a second season
Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath received a second-season renewal in 2017. Season two premiered that August, and the series continued through a third season before concluding with a two-hour special on August 26, 2019. The run cemented Remini’s post-sitcom profile as an investigative voice on the subject.
Heathens unite! The Devils finally gets streaming release
Ken Russell’s banned 1971 shocker The Devils landed on Shudder in 2017 after years of limited access. The film has remained available periodically on the platform since then. In June 2026 a 4K restoration teaser surfaced ahead of a planned theatrical re-release, giving new audiences a chance to encounter its notorious imagery under restored conditions.
Jennifer Kent The Babadook behind next project: an Aussie revenge thriller
Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to The Babadook was reported in 2017 as an Australian-set revenge thriller. That project became The Nightingale, released in 2018. In 2026 Kent moved into development on a science-fiction adaptation of The Girl Who Was Plugged In, scheduled to shoot in Australia with Sophie Thatcher attached.
Hidden Figures legacy and cultural impact updates
Hidden Figures (2016) spotlighted Katherine Johnson and the Black women mathematicians who supported NASA’s early space missions. The film’s visibility helped launch initiatives such as the Hidden No More exchange program and the 2017 Lego Women of NASA set. In 2025 and 2026 the picture continued to surface in STEM-diversity roundups and Black History Month programming, keeping its core story in circulation long after awards season.
Recent 2026 entertainment news highlights
July 2026 brought new streaming titles to Netflix, including Enola Holmes 3 and a slate of catalog titles. Theatrical releases slated for the year included Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. On the series side, Prime Video premiered Elle in July, adding another entry to the month’s crowded release calendar.
Orson Welles’ unfinished final movie picked up by Netflix
Reports in 2017 suggested Netflix had acquired Orson Welles’ long-unfinished final project for completion. No confirmed version of that film has reached Netflix or any other platform as of July 2026, leaving the status of the footage unchanged from the original announcement period.
HBO drops new Veep trailer
HBO released a trailer for the sixth season of Veep in March 2017, showing Selina Meyer navigating life after the White House. The season aired that spring, and the series concluded in 2019 after seven seasons total.
Spike TV announces new Heath Ledger doc
Spike TV greenlit the documentary I Am Heath Ledger in 2017. The film premiered theatrically in limited release before airing on the network in May of that year, offering a portrait of the actor’s career and the projects left unfinished at his death.
FX renews Legion for second season
FX renewed Legion for a second season in March 2017. The series ultimately ran three seasons and concluded in 2019, giving creator Noah Hawley time to close out the story of David Haller and the mutant world surrounding him.
Nick Cave’s baffling Gladiator 2 script unearthed for your reading pleasure
The Telegraph published excerpts of Nick Cave’s unproduced Gladiator 2 script in 2017. The draft, written at Russell Crowe’s request, remains unfilmed with no further movement reported since its initial surfacing.
The Devils 2026 restoration and re-release
Alongside its periodic streaming windows, The Devils received fresh attention in 2026 when a 4K restoration teaser appeared in June. The work prepares the film for a wider theatrical return, extending the conversation around Russell’s most divisive title beyond its original cult audience.
Jennifer Kent career trajectory since The Babadook
After The Babadook, Kent directed the 2018 period revenge film The Nightingale. Her next announced project shifts genres: a 2026 science-fiction adaptation of The Girl Who Was Plugged In slated to shoot in Australia. The move marks a deliberate expansion of her range after nearly a decade between features.
