Latest in The First

More than three years after Bill O’Reilly was fired from Fox News amid sexual-harassment allegations, the No Spinster is returning to television. Upstart OTT network The First will run his show starting tonight. No Spin News, the show that has been running on O’Reilly website and on YouTube, now will air weeknights at…

Hulu SVP Originals Craig Erwich today at TCA addressed the reasons behind the streamer’s decision to cancel its Sarah Silverman talk show I Love You, America and mission-to-Mars drama The First, created by House of Cards‘ Beau Willimon and starring Oscar winner Sean Penn. I Love You, America‘s cancellation came after…

There will be no second season for Beau Willimon’s Hulu series The First, starring Sean Penn. Deadline has confirmed that the streaming service has opted not to renew the drama, which it picked up straight to series in 2017. Written by Willimon and executive produced by Willimon and his producing partner Jordan…

While writing the script for Mary Queen of Scots, Beau Willimon spent a lot of time with two fascinating historical figures—Queen Elizabeth I, and her cousin, Mary Stuart—coming to identify personally with these women, for they ways in which they were devalued and misunderstood. For Willimon, as with these rulers, one…

Endeavor Content is lining up more non-English language premium dramas to expand on Damien Chazelle's Netflix series The Eddy after a "phenomenal" Mipcom. The company, which is run by Co-Presidents Chris Rice and Graham Taylor, is currently working on the eight-part musical series, which is being shot in French…

On NBC’s Today Show this morning, Sean Penn waded, literally barefoot, into the #MeToo floodwaters, and if he’s not in over his head he’s certainly standing on tiptoes. “It’s too black and white,” Penn said of the movement, describing #MeToo as a “receptacle of the salacious.” What’s more, Penn seems to appoint…

From Sean Penn's TV series debut and onwards, there are a fair number of firsts in The First, but the September 14-launching Hulu series about a mission to Mars is not a leading drama. Created by ex-House of Cards showrunner Beau Willimon, this lackluster eight-episode misfire often comes across more like the inverse…

It will be a star-studded Telluride Film Festival this year as awards hopefuls Robert Redford, Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Emma Stone, Melissa McCarthy and Ryan Gosling make the trek to the Colorado Rockies for the 45th edition of the Labor Day weekend fest that has increasingly…

Following a first-look teaser last month, Hulu has released the official trailer for its upcoming original drama series The First starring Oscar winner Sean Penn in his first major TV role, from House of Cards creator Beau Willimon. In The First, Penn leads an ensemble cast in the near-future drama about a crew of…

“Any time people venture into the unknown, there is a cost.” We’re getting the first look at Oscar winner Sean Penn in his first major TV role, leading the ensemble cast of The First, House of Cards creator Beau Willimon's straight-to-series space drama set to premiere on Hulu in September. The near-future drama, a…

Hulu has slotted Friday, September 14 for the premiere of Beau Willimon's straight-to-series drama The First, starring Natascha McElhone and Sean Penn. The premium streaming service also released first-look photos of the series, some of which can be seen above and below. Written by Willimon and executive produced by…

"We don't want to produce, that's not our goal," says Chris Rice, co-president of Endeavor Content. The content division of talent agency WME-IMG does, however, want to disrupt the mechanics behind production as well as find business where it historically does not exist. Rice oversees the company's global TV and film…