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Exclusive: Rose Matafeo is returning home for Sky New Zealand’s Small Town Scandal, as she is cast opposite British star Felicity Kendal.

Matafeo will play Toby’s cousin Carol in the TV adaptation of the hit podcast, while Kendal is Toby’s mother Sue.

Filming has now wrapped on the adaptation of Tom Sainsbury’s iHeartRadio Nz true-crime parody podcast of the same name. Set to premiere in 2026, Small Town Scandal follows Toby (Sainsbury), a disgraced journalist turned podcast host, who returns to his rural hometown to investigate the bizarre death of his millionaire uncle – killed, suspiciously, by an automatic lawnmower. As Toby dives deeper into the case, he finds himself surrounded by a cast of quirky, eccentric townsfolk – all with secrets of their own.

Emmy winner Morgana O’Reilly, another New Zealander, has already been announced in the show opposite Alexander England.

Matafeo, who was born in Auckland, is...

Discovery+ Latest To Spotlight Kim Kardashian Heist

Discovery+ UK has become the latest player to turn its attention to the Kim Kardashian diamond heist. Fresh off the back of the announcement of a BBC series, which has already been bought by Warner Bros. Discovery outside the UK, Discovery+ is making The Kim Kardashian Heist. The show will delve into the chain of events surrounding the robbery of Kardashian’s diamonds, which saw $6M worth of jewelry stolen during her stay at the exclusive ‘No Address Hotel’ for Paris Fashion Week. With access to the accused, their defence, the police investigators and exclusive access to the concierge, Mr Ouatiki, who was held at gunpoint with Kardashian that night, the show follows the French trial and unravels the complex layers of the crime. Wall to Wall Media will produce. The show features on a Wbd UK slate including Guz Khan’s Custom Cars,...

Galvanized by pre-sales to France, Germany and Spain on awaited Icelandic crime series “Reykjavik Fusion,” Erik Barmack’s ahead of the game L.A-based Wild Sheep Content has boarded “Good Bones,” a New Zealand murder mystery series.

Wild Sheep by Barmack, a former Netflix head of international originals with oversight over “The Witcher,” “Casa de Papel,” “Kingdom” and “Sacred Games,” will co-produce “Good Bones,” with Luminous Beast.

One of New Zealand most in-demand new production companies Luminous Beast burst on the scene with Sky Originals series “INSiDE,” a 2021 International Emmy winner, and then “After the Party,” picked up by the U.K.’s Channel 4, and whose lead performance by Robyn Malcom was hailed by The Guardian as “among the best television portrayals in years, from anywhere in the world.”

Backed by The Mediapro Studio, Wild Sheep will also handle international distribution.

“Good Bones” is now funded by Sky New Zealand and Wild Sheep Content.

Quick Links Thráin Declared War Against the Orcs Greed Led Thráin to a Cruel Fate The Films Fleshed Out Thráin's Relationship with Gandalf Thráin was the son of King Thrór and the father of Thorin Oakenshield from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Thráin went to war against Azog and the other Orcs. Thráin inherited Thrór's Ring of Power, which drew Sauron's attention.

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit novel, Thráin II played a small yet important role. He was the son of Thrór, the King of Durin's Folk, and the father of Thorin II Oakenshield. He was essential to the plot, as he provided Gandalf with a map of Erebor and the key to the Lonely Mountain's secret door, items that Thorin and his Company of Dwarves needed to fulfill their mission. Despite this, he never appeared in person, and after the first chapter, characters rarely...

"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" isn't the first time trolls have tried to break up a fellowship, and it isn't the first time we've heard the name Isildur, either. With its sprawling cast, it could be easy to lose track of names and faces in the series, including who is new and who we've already seen in the Peter Jackson live-action adaptations: The "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" movie trilogies, adapted from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. In the third and latest "Rings of Power" episode, "Adar," there are two important new/old faces that pop up: Isildur and his father Elendil, while the name of Isildur's brother Anárion also receives a mention.

So who exactly are these guys? Well, let's backtrack to 2001, when Peter Jackson's first "Lord of the Rings" movie thundered into theaters. If you remember the prologue to "The Fellowship of the Ring,...

There is no other place where fact and fiction become more indistinguishable from one another than at the cinema. What you see isn’t always what you get: a manufactured image might feel genuine, while an image that feels inauthentic might be the real thing. The finest stories can often be found somewhere in the middle. As Pablo Picasso once said, “Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.”

Kate Plays Christine, the latest film from Actress and Fake It So Real director Robert Greene, caught a great deal of attention at Sundance — we gave it the highest grade at the festival — and is now in limited release. It’s a documentary that follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil (House of Cards) as she prepares for the role of Christine Chubbuck, a real-life news reporter who committed suicide via handgun on live television in 1974, and the...