Netflix on April 23 released Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, a 10-episode animated spin-off set between seasons two and three of the hit series. All episodes arrived on the platform simultaneously. Developed by showrunner Eric Robles with the Duffer Brothers as executive producers, the series returns the core child characters to a snowy January 1985 Hawkins, Indiana, with a new voice cast and a more family-friendly, Saturday-morning cartoon aesthetic. Early reviews are mixed: critics and fans praise the polished animation, period design and a new character, Nikki (Odessa A’zion), but many fault the show for low stakes, repetitive plotting and thin storytelling that feel constrained by remaining canonical to the live-action timeline. Aggregate scores are positive but based on a limited sample; outlets including The Guardian and The Los Angeles Times offered warmer takes while The Hollywood Reporter, NME and others were more critical. Netflix and partners have already rolled out commercial tie-ins and merchandising; showrunner Robles has signalled possible future adventures or alternate-story directions depending on audience response.

Comedian and actor Russell Brand said on U.S. broadcaster Megyn Kelly’s podcast that he had consensual sex with a 16-year-old when he was 30, describing the encounter as “exploitative” and calling his past sexual conduct selfish. The 50-year-old made the comments while promoting a new book and amid ongoing criminal proceedings in the United Kingdom. Brand faces seven criminal charges — including three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault — brought by six women with alleged incidents dating from 1999 to 2009. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts. Detectives began an investigation after a 2023 joint inquiry by The Sunday Times and Channel 4, and Brand’s trial at Southwark Crown Court has been scheduled to start on Oct. 12, 2026, having been delayed from earlier dates. The admission has reignited scrutiny of his past behaviour, prompted media and platform responses and coincides with separate civil allegations and professional fallout, including the loss of representation and removal or demonetisation of some content on major platforms.

Darrell “The Gambler” Sheets, a longtime cast member of A&E’s reality series Storage Wars, was found dead at his Lake Havasu City, Arizona, home on April 22, 2026. He was 67. Lake Havasu City police said officers responding around 2 a.m. located a man who had suffered what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound; the body was identified as Sheets and transferred to the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s office. Sheets, who appeared across about 15 seasons and roughly 160 episodes of the show, retired in 2023 and ran an antiques shop, Havasu Show Me Your Junk. A&E issued a statement expressing sorrow and offered condolences to his family, which includes his son Brandon, who also appeared on the series. Several former co-stars paid tribute, and René Nezhoda has alleged Sheets had been subject to intense online harassment; police say they are aware of those claims and the death remains under investigation. Authorities have asked anyone with information to contact the Lake Havasu City Police Department.

Michael Tilson Thomas, the influential American conductor, composer and educator who led the San Francisco Symphony for 25 years, died on April 23, 2026, at his home in San Francisco. He was 81. His publicist said the cause was glioblastoma; Thomas had surgery for a brain tumor in 2021 and disclosed the disease’s return in February 2025, giving his final concert in April 2025. A prodigious musician and charismatic presence on the podium, he won 12 Grammy awards, received the National Medal of Arts and was a 2019 Kennedy Center honoree. Thomas cofounded the New World Symphony in 1987, served as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and held guest posts across the United States and Europe. He was also a composer (notably From the Diary of Anne Frank) and a champion of American repertoire and Mahler. His longtime partner and husband, Joshua Robison, died in February 2026; the two had been partners for nearly five decades.

California’s Film & TV Tax Credit Program allocated roughly $193 million in conditional tax credits on April 23 to 38 feature productions, marking the first time animated features are eligible under the state’s expanded incentive program. The awards include $21.9 million to 20th Century Studios’ The Simpsons Movie 2, $24.7 million to an untitled DreamWorks Animation feature, $25.9 million to an untitled Paramount crime thriller, $3.5 million to Disney’s Phineas and Ferb film and $10.9 million to Netflix’s 13 Going on 30 reboot. The round is expected to generate nearly $800 million in statewide economic activity, more than 1,019 shoot days, employment for over 5,300 cast and crew plus roughly 20,800 background actors, and more than 45% of shoot days outside Southern California. The Legislature last year expanded the program — boosting annual capacity to $750 million and explicitly adding animated projects — as state officials seek to recapture production business lured overseas by foreign incentives.