TV Watchlist: Idris Elba Gets His Own '24', John Krasinski's 'Jack Ryan' Returns and Henry Cavill's Final 'Witcher' Ride

Plus Netflix's long-awaited "Nimona" debuts and "The Bachelorette" is back 🌹 Week of June 24 – 30 Talk about a muscular week of television! Idris Elba stars in a new thriller for Apple TV+ (“Hijack”), Netflix has a documentary series about “American Gladiators” (“Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators”), the end of “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal” and new episodes of “The Witcher” (the last episodes featuring Henry Cavill) and “Jack Ryan” (the last episodes ever). And if you want something a little more in touch with emotion, there’s a terrific Netflix animated feature (“Nimona”) and a new season of “The Bachelorette” (among others). On with the television! Hijack Wednesday, June 28, Apple TV+ Source: Apple TV+ Just when you thought it was safe to fly commercial. Idris Elba stars in this real-time thriller that unfolds over seven hours/seven episodes. (You know, like “24” but shorter.) Elba plays a business negotiator who puts his skills to the ultimate test when his flight to London is hijacked. (If the terrorists’ weakness is roguish handsomeness, they are sunk.) Archie Panjabi plays an actual counterterrorism officer who is attempting to help the situation from terra firma. "Hijack” looks like the kind of big-budget, white-knuckle thrill ride you usually find in the theaters during the summer but can instead watch from the comfort of your own home. This British co-production comes from George Kay and Jim Field Smith (Netflix’s “Criminal”) and the first two episodes stream today. [[TRAILER](] Unicorn: Warriors Eternal Friday, June 30 at midnight, Adult Swim on Cartoon Network Source: Adult Swim The year’s very best animated series sadly comes to an end. And if you haven’t watched “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal” yet, time to catch up now. The series followed a group of spirits who travel throughout history and inhabit the bodies of contemporary people. This initial season of the show follows a group of warriors in a steampunk-y Victorian London, who are forced to deal with an evil that none of them are actually equipped to handle. Creator Genndy Tartakovsky, who made “Samurai Jack” and the Emmy-winning “Primal” (among many other things), elegantly combines disparate influences – old-timey designs and animation principles buttress up against go-for-broke action with flourishes informed by hard science fiction and horror. It’s an absolute delight. Let’s just hope that these warriors return. [[INTERVIEW](] Nimona Friday, June 30, Netflix Source: Netflix If the name “Nimona” rings a bell, it’s probably because you’ve read about the tortured production history of the movie. The movie was originally a production of Blue Sky Studios, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based animation studio behind the “Ice Age” and “Rio” movies, based on the web comic by ND Stevenson. But when Disney acquired Blue Sky’s parent company, 20th Century, shut down the animation studio and discarded the finished “Nimona” material. (Apparently, Disney balked at the movie’s LGBTQ+ themes.) It was later improbably resurrected by Annapurna Pictures and Netflix. And here it is! Original stars Chloë Grace Moretz, as a wily shape-shifting creature, and Riz Ahmed, as a disgraced, one-armed night framed for a royal murder, return for this new version of the movie. And the world the movie conjures, a futuristic medieval society known as the Kingdom, is memorable and unique, as fully realized and intricate as any fantastic Pixar utopia. It’s a story about outsiders who join forces and wind up finding understanding in their surroundings and in each other. And the movie’s queer themes, which made Disney so nervous, are touching and deeply felt. In short: “Nimona” was worth the wait. And all the heartache. [[TRAILER](] Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators Wednesday, June 28, Netflix Source: Netflix Remember “American Gladiators,” the so-cheesy-it-was-actually-brilliant syndicated competition series from the late 1980s and early 1990s? Well, as it turns out, there was a ton of drama behind the scenes and even some tragedy, which pairs well with the big hair, big muscles and big egos that you saw on the show. And what makes “Muscles & Mayhem” so great is that it forges those personal connections to the stars on the show, who were battling their own personal demons while running away from somebody with a jousting stick, charting their rise and fall along with the ebb and flow of the franchise. (The brief, hilarious bit about an “American Gladiators”-themed dinner show in Orlando is perhaps the perfect grace note to the whole saga.) Directed by Jared Hess (Netflix’s similarly amazing “Murder Amongst the Mormons”) and Tony Vainuku, “Muscles & Mayhem” is a total blast. Even if it makes you feel a little sad. [[TRAILER](] Infinity Pool Hulu Source: Neon The diseased apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Brandon Cronenberg, the son of Canadian body-horror auteur David Cronenberg, is back with his third film as a director. In “Infinity Pool” Alexander Skarsgård plays a down-on-his-luck novelist who travels with his well-off wife (Cleopatra Coleman) to the fictional seaside country of Li Tolqa. After a drunk driving accident leaves a local dead, the vacationers are introduced to a unique aspect of Li Tolqa – if you engage in a big enough crime, you can pay an exorbitant fee to have a clone executed in your place. Soon enough, Skarsgård has fallen in with a gang of marauding foreigners led by Mia Goth (in another standout performance), who are putting the already elastic rules of Li Tolqa’s justice system to the test. This movie is wild. And while the NC-17-version of the movie hasn’t been released yet, the R-rated version (now streaming) is still pretty insane. Cronenberg’s previous movies were intense. And so is ”Infinity Pool.” But it’s also slyly funny and very interesting visually. If you think you can handle it, you should definitely dive into “Infinity Pool.” [[WATCH](] Source: ABC “The Gold” Sunday, June 25, Paramount+ This based-on-a-true-story British drama (arriving stateside via Paramount+) centers around what was, at the time, the largest robbery in history. The target was a large warehouse near Heathrow Airport in England, full of precious jewels, gold and cash. Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper, Jack Lowden, Charlotte Spencer and Tom Cullen star. What more do you need to know? [[TRAILER](] “The Bachelorette” Monday, June 26 at 9 p.m., ABC For the 20th (!) season of “The Bachelorette,” the young lady looking for love is Charity Lawson, a child and family therapist from Columbus, Georgia. Among the 25 men vying for her affection Caleb Balgaard, Guinness World Record holder Chris Spell and Sean McLaughlin, son of right-wing New York politician Steven McLaughlin. Who will walk away with a rose and who will go home empty-handed? Only one way to find out … [[TRAILER](] “Run Rabbit Run” Wednesday, June 28, Netflix Yes, we are still mourning the loss of “Succession.” But at least we have a new Sarah Snook movie to look forward to. The actress formerly known as Shiv Roy stars in this horror movie made in her native Australia, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The official Netflix synopsis reads: “A single mother grows increasingly unsettled by her young daughter's claims to have memories of another life, stirring up their family's painful past.” That is a pretty intriguing premise and the notices out of Sundance single out the script by Australian novelist Hannah Kent and the direction by Daina Reid for its knowing mixture of genre tropes, freshened up for modern audiences. We’re just excited to see Snook in front of the camera. And the 100-minute running time means it’s only a few minutes longer than that epic “Succession” finale. [[TRAILER](] “The Witcher” Thursday, June 29, Netflix Ready to say goodbye to Geralt of Rivia … or at least Henry Cavill’s version of the character? The third season of “The Witcher” will also be the last to feature Cavill as the titular monster hunter. Going forward, the role will be taken over by Liam Hemsworth. Like “Stranger Things” before it, this season of “The Witcher” will be split into two. Today the first five episodes will be streaming and then, on July 27, the remaining two episodes will air. At least that will prolong the farewell to Cavill. Toss a coin to him one last time. [[TRAILER](] “Jack Ryan” Friday, June 30, Prime Video This is it. The beginning of the end for Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan.” The final, six-episode season of the Prime Video series starts June 30, with John Krasinski joining Alec {NAME}, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine in the pantheon of actors who have played CIA analyst Jack Ryan. But don’t worry – there is a spin-off in development with Michael Pena (as Ryanverse character Domingo "Ding" Chavez) and a sequel to Michael B. Jordan’s “Without Remorse” that we can imagine introducing a new Jack Ryan. [[TRAILER](] 2034 Armacost Ave. | Los Angeles, CA 90025 [Unsubscribe](