HBO Asia Original Series ‘The Head’ Premieres June 12 on HBO GO and HBO

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WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks recently announced the premiere date and released the trailer of the brand-new HBO Asia Original, The Head, produced in association with Hulu Japan and THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO. 

The series will premiere on 12 June at 9pm on HBO GO and HBO.

The Head is a survival thriller set in the Polaris VI international polar station in Antarctica during its long, dark Antarctic months, engulfed by the cold, the wind and the vast expanses of ice. A select group of scientists from different countries are in charge of maintaining the base operational during the long polar nights. But in the midst of winter, the station suddenly stops communicating with the outside world. With dialogues in English and Danish, the suspenseful storyline develops over six hour-long episodes and is directed by Jorge Dorado (“The Pier”, “Mindscape”).

The Head’s international cast include Tomohisa Yamashita (“Code Blue”), John Lynch (“The Terror”), Katherine O'Donnelly (“Mary Queen of Scots”), Alexandre Willaume (“Below the Surface”, “Tomb Raider”), Laura Bach (“Sprinter Galore”), Sandra Andreis (“The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”), Amelia Hoy (“Killing Eve”) , Chris Reilly (“Allied”, “Everest”), Richard Sammel (“Inglorious Bastards”) and Tom Lawrence (“The King”, “The Crown”), in addition to the special collaboration

The series was shot in a two-thousand-square-meter studio in Tenerife, Spain, where the purpose-built set of the Polaris VI research station where most of the action takes place was erected, reproduced to actual scale, based on information about the layout and operation of this type of scientific facility, which enabled the show-runners to film long shots of the characters wandering around inside the station with complete authenticity. The production crew also travelled to the rugged landscapes of Iceland to shoot the series' exteriors, although most of the story is set inside the polar station, which provides a particular feel of encapsulation.

The Head was presented in a forum session at Series Mania in 2017, a prestigious international festival in France, and garnered enormous interest among representatives from the media and entertainment industry.

SYNOPSIS

Winter has fallen on the South Pole. The sun will soon disappear for the next six months. A small team of scientists, known as the Winterers, will remain at the Polaris VI Antarctic Research Station to continue their innovative research. 

Their work is crucial in the fight against climate change and they are under the command of renowned biologist Arthur Wilde (John Lynch). But when spring comes, summer commander Johan Berg (Alexander Willaume) returns to the station only to find most of the team dead or missing. 

A killer is on the loose and Annika (Laura Bach), Johan's wife, is missing too. If he wants to find her alive, he will have to trust Maggie (Katherine O’Donnelly), the young doctor who is profoundly shaken and apparently the sole survivor from the group… or, is there someone else who survived?

TECHNICAL SPECS

An HBO Asia Original production, in association with A THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO and HULU JAPAN / Creators: Àlex Pastor & David Pastor / Directed by: Jorge Dorado / Screenwriters: Àlex Pastor & David Pastor and Isaac Sastre / Production Director: Anna Vilella / Production Design: Alain Bainée / Cinematography by: David Acereto / Original Score by: Federico Judid / Executive Producers: Laura Fdez. Espeso, Javier Méndez, Ran Tellem, Bernat Elías, Mariano Baselga, Kazufumi Nagasawa, Jorge Dorado, Àlex Pastor & David Pastor

The Head will premiere on HBO and HBO Go onJune 12, 2020.

HBO, HBO Family, Cartoon Network and Boomerang to air Sesame Street: Elmo's playdate special

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A half-hour special Sesame Street: Elmo’s Playdate is set to entertain kids and families on HBO, HBO Family, Cartoon Network and Boomerang – as well as the regional streaming service HBO GO. Part of Sesame Workshop’s Caring for Each Other initiative, the special is aimed at helping kids and families around the world feel connected in this time of uncertainty and features everyone’s favourite “Sesame Street” friends. 

Celebrity guests include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anne Hathaway and Tracee Ellis Ross.

Sesame Street: Elmo’s Playdate will premiere at the same time across HBO GO (where it will be available until mid-June), HBO, HBO Family and HBO On Demand* on Friday, 24 April at 8.30am. It will also air on Sunday, 26 April at 6.45am on Cartoon Network and 8.30am on Boomerang.

The half-hour special follows Elmo, Grover, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, and a few famous friends as they find new ways to play and learn together. Celebrating everything from the EMTs, doctors, and other everyday heroes who are helping families through the health crisis to the simple pleasures of baking cookies at home, the playdate takes the form of a cosy video conference that will feel very familiar to today’s viewers. 

Celebrities and Sesame Street friends will sing songs, play games, and take silly dance breaks. Tracee Ellis Ross plays a game of “Elmo Says,” Lin-Manuel Miranda pops in for a few rounds of “Old McDonald Had a Farm,” Anne Hathaway and Elmo get moving with “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” and more. Kids will love getting a visit from their Sesame Street friends, and caregivers will appreciate how the special models playful learning opportunities they can use at home.

Sesame Workshop is committed to supporting families through this unprecedented time of uncertainty with the new Caring for Each Other initiative. As the situation evolves, SesameStreet.org/caring will be updated to meet the changing needs of caregivers and young children.

Caring for Each Other resources are designed to help parents provide comfort and manage anxiety, create routines, foster playful learning at home, and keep kids physically and mentally healthy. Additionally, over 110 Sesame Street ebooks are available for free on all major ebook platforms.

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About Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, the pioneering television show that has been reaching and teaching children since 1969. Today, Sesame Workshop is an innovative force for change, with a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. We’re present in more than 150 countries, serving vulnerable children through a wide range of media, formal education, and philanthropically-funded social impact programs, each grounded in rigorous research and tailored to the needs and cultures of the communities we serve. For more information, please visit www.sesameworkshop.org.

About WarnerMedia

WarnerMedia is a leading media and entertainment company that creates and distributes premium and popular content from a diverse array of talented storytellers and journalists to global audiences through its consumer brands including: HBO, HBO Now, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others. WarnerMedia is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T).

New Drama Series Westworld Premieres on Monday, Oct 3, at 9am, Same Time as the U.S.

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Set in the wild west, the sci-fi blockbuster is expected to be the HBO's next smash hit in a long line of popular programs.

WESTWORLD is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged. 

The brand-new one-hour drama series WESTWORLD and starring an ensemble cast including Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden, kicks off its ten-episode season premiere on Monday, Oct 3, at 9am, exclusively on HBO, with same day primetime encore at 9pm. New episodes premiere on subsequent Mondays at the same time.

Based on a 1973 film of the same name, WESTWORLD will also be available on HBO GO.

Created for television by Jonathan Nolan (“Interstellar,” “The Dark Knight,” “Person of Interest”) and Lisa Joy (“Pushing Daisies,” “Burn Notice”), both of whom are executive producing and writing, with Nolan also directing, the series was inspired by the 1973 motion picture “Westworld,” written and directed by Michael Crichton.

Co-creator Nolan explains, “Building on the incredibly evocative concept of the original film, we wanted to pose the question: If you could be completely immersed in a fantasy, one in which you could do whatever you wanted, would you discover things about yourself that you didn’t want to know?”

Co-creator Joy adds, “We also wanted to explore what it means to be human from the outside in – through the eyes of the ‘hosts’: the lifelike AI characters that are the main attractions of the park. It’s a meditation on consciousness – the blessing and the burden of it – beautifully portrayed by our remarkable cast.”

WESTWORLD’S exceptional ensemble of cast members: 

Anthony Hopkins (Academy Award® winner for “The Silence of the Lambs”; Academy Award® nominee for “Remains of the Day,” “Nixon,” “Amistad”)

Ed Harris (Golden Globe winner and Emmy® nominee for HBO’s “Game Change”; Academy Award® nominee for “Pollock,” “Apollo 13”)

Evan Rachel Wood (Golden Globe nominee for “Thirteen”; Emmy® and Golden Globe nominee for HBO’s “Mildred Pierce”)

James Marsden (the “X-Men” films)

Thandie Newton (“Mission: Impossible II”)

Jeffrey Wright (HBO’s “Confirmation”; Emmy® and Golden Globe winner for HBO’s “Angels in America”)

The series also stars : 

Tessa Thompson (“Creed”)

Sidse Babett Knudsen (“Borgen”)

Jimmi Simpson (HBO’s “The Newsroom”)

Rodrigo Santoro (“Focus,” “The 33”)

Shannon Woodward (“Raising Hope”)

Ingrid Bolsø Berdal(“Chernobyl Diaries”)

Ben Barnes (“The Chronicles of Narnia” films)

Simon Quarterman (“The Devil Inside”)

Angela Sarafyan (“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn”)

Luke Hemsworth (“Infini”)

Clifton Collins, Jr. (“Star Trek”)

In the WESTWORLD universe

Among WESTWORLD’s main players are: 

Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), the brilliant, taciturn and complicated creative director, chief programmer and founder of Westworld, who has an uncompromising creative vision for the park.

The Man in Black (Ed Harris) is the distillation of pure villainy into one man. 

Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) is a provincial, beautiful and kind rancher’s daughter, who begins to discover that her entire idyllic existence is an elaborately constructed lie.

Teddy Flood (James Marsden), a new arrival to a small frontier town, quickly proves both his charm and talent with a revolver. 

Beautiful, razor-sharp madam Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) has a genius for reading people and a knack for survival, but her seen-it-all-before worldview is about to be challenged. 

Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) is the brilliant and quixotic head of the park’s Programming Division, whose keen observation of human nature provides him with boundless inspiration for his life’s work: creating artificial people.

Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) is a mysterious and savvy provocateur with a unique perspective on Westworld. 

Theresa Cullen (Sidse Babett Knudsen), Westworld’s head of Quality Assurance, is responsible for keeping the park from sliding into unscripted chaos. 

A first-time visitor, William (Jimmi Simpson) is initially wary of the park’s more lascivious attractions, but slowly uncovers a deeper meaning.

Hector Escaton (Rodrigo Santoro), Westworld’s perennial “most wanted” bandit, subscribes to the theory that the West is a wild place, and the only way to survive is to embrace the role of predator. 

Elsie Hughes (Shannon Woodward), a sardonic rising star in the Behaviour Department, is charged with diagnosing the odd quirks of behaviour in the park’s hosts. 

Armistice (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) is a savage fighter and brutal bandit, whose ruthlessness is surpassed only by her abiding loyalty to her fellow outlaws.

Logan (Ben Barnes) is a veteran guest whose hedonistic romp through the park is equally motivated by self-indulgence and a desire to help his friend, William. 

Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) is the head of Narrative, whose storylines tantalise the guests, while his temperament grates on his colleagues. 

Clementine Pennyfeather (Angela Sarafyan), one of Westworld’s most popular attractions, is perfectly beguiling, by design.

Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) is the no-nonsense head of Security, charged with monitoring host and human interactions and ensuring the safety of the guests. 

Lawrence (Clifton Collins, Jr.), a charming but lethal outlaw, has a knack for manoeuvring and negotiating the various criminal elements of Westworld.

Here are the video interviews with the cast and crew of Westworld: 

Anthony Hopkins

Ed Harris

Evan Rachel Wood

James Marsden

Executive Producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy

Thandie Newton