Fall 2023 preview: 14 burning questions about big TV shows, buzzy films—and the strikes

Anyone who claims to know how much longer it will be before guild writers and actors head back to work with a new contract in place either isn’t being truthful or doesn’t know what they’re talking about. What we do know for sure is that as of the publish date of this article, the WGA has been on strike for 121 days and SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for 48 days, with little progress on negotiations and no end in sight. We can’t even look to the past for insight, because the industry has changed so much since the last time there was a walkout, and some of the current issues, like the use of generative A.I. to replace writers and actors, weren’t even part of the discussion back then. We still have some upcoming projects to look forward to this fall, but the longer the stalemate goes on, the bleaker 2024 looks. In the meantime, we’ll continue to search for signs that the two sides are getting closer to a deal.

We’ve already seen a major shift for one of this fall’s most anticipated projects, Dune: Part Two, which was moved from its original November slot to March 15, 2024. Another film featuring Zendaya, Challengers, from director Luca Guadagnino, was also pushed back, from September to April 26, 2024. Studios count on big-name stars like Zendaya with massive social media followings for promotion, not to mention media interviews and flashy red-carpet premieres. None of that can happen as long as the actors are on strike. Also delayed to 2024: Kraven The Hunter, They Listen, and the follow-up to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. And there are still a few more prominent titles on the schedule that could be bumped, including Wonka, Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, The Color Purple, and Ferrari (which has already been moved once and could shift again).

In past years, events like the Toronto International Film Festival (also known as TIFF) and the Venice International Film Festival have given us a preview of some films that go on to be part of the awards conversation later in the year. Last year, these two festivals hosted the premieres of future Oscar nominees like Tár, The Whale, The Banshees Of Inisherin, The Fablemans, and Women Talking. Can we still count on them as bellwethers this year? Or will the strikes upend this tradition too? Most actors and writers involved in this year’s big films will not be present to support their movies at the festivals, including Bradley Cooper, who directed, co-wrote, and stars in the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro (a vehicle clearly designed to score Cooper some hardware). There will still be critics on hand to screen the films in contention, though, so there will be coverage of contenders like David Fincher’s The Killer, Michael Mann’s Ferrari, and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla. But the festivals, and the buzz, just won’t be as glamorous as usual. And as mentioned, the release dates of these films may not be set in stone.

In our not-quite-post-pandemic era, new and more contagious Covid strains are constantly emerging, so this question naturally comes up each fall in anticipation of another surge. Movie theaters, in which large groups of people are all seated together in a confined environment for long periods of time, happen to have ideal conditions for spreading viruses. And this summer hospitalizations have been rising, so it’s possible we’ll see a particularly nasty fall wave. While we don’t expect to go back to the dark days of the 2020 lockdown, there’s always the threat of new restrictions or recommendations to avoid public spaces for everyone’s health and safety. That could hit theaters hard, maybe enough to erase the gains they saw thanks to the summer’s big event films like Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Although the strikes have been shaking up release slates lately, there are other explanations for titles moving around. Take The Marvels, for instance, which had already been pushed a few times before the strikes even began. Marvel Studios hasn’t given an official justification, but there’s speculation more time was needed for the effects and to find the film a sweet spot away from the highly competitive summer season. It looks like its current November 10 premiere date will stick, and thanks to Dune: Part Two moving to the spring, The Marvels will have access to more IMAX screens than expected. Those premium ticket sales could provide a boost to its box office totals. Marvel’s recent track record has been spotty. While this summer’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 was a winner with critics and fans, the response to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in February was less positive, and its final gross reflected that. That’s more in line with what we’ve seen from Marvel lately. Will The Marvels live up to the potential of teaming up three very different superheroes for one super fun, intergalactic adventure? Or will it be yet another disappointment from the once reliable studio? That question would have been easier to answer a few years ago, but now we have to hedge our bets.

Delayed gratification is becoming a recurring theme here, but Killers Of The Flower Moon is another film finally coming out after years of anticipation (we even included it on our Way too early 2023 Oscars predictions, oops!). Martin Scorsese’s epic Western crime drama has all the elements of an award-worthy production—a riveting nonfiction book as its source material, a script by Scorsese and Eric Roth, and a stellar cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, and Jesse Plemons. Scorsese’s last film, 2019’s The Irishman, was critically acclaimed despite its low-key limited release and subsequent premiere on Netflix, though it didn’t win in any of the 10 categories it was nominated for at the Oscars. Prior to that, his 2016 film Silence was a box-office failure and was largely overlooked by the Academy. If the nine-minute standing ovation for Killers Of The Flower Moon at the Cannes Film Festival this year is any indication, it looks like the legendary filmmaker may be back at the top of his game.

It’s been eight years since The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 came out, and in case you’ve been thinking to yourself all this time, “Hey, I wonder what the story is with that President Snow guy?” well then November 17 is your lucky day. We’re not sure how many others out there share your curiosity, though. The final film in the book trilogy (which was adapted into a quadrilogy) fell short of expectations when it was released in theaters in 2015, an indication to anyone paying attention that perhaps fans were losing interest in the series. Hollywood’s answer, of course, was to just wait a few years and reboot the series with a prequel. So now we’ll have to see if The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes can lure fans back to Panem with the story of young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and his relationship with the District 12 tribute (Rachel Zegler) he’s assigned to mentor.

One of our burning questions last year was whether Disney could succeed with an animated film that wasn’t a sequel or a musical. The film we were talking about was Strange World, and the answer was a resounding “no.” Now we’ll find out whether the musical aspect makes any difference, or if audiences are just tired of the studio’s formulaic approach. Joining Disney animation staple Alan Tudyk in the cast is Oscar winner Ariana DeBose as Asha, a 17-year-old girl who makes a wish on a star with unexpected results. Chris Pine is also there as a villain, apparently. We’ll need to know a lot more about the film before we’re fully on board, but Disney hasn’t been forthcoming with many details. That was one of the problems with Strange World—it was poorly marketed and no one knew what it was really about—so you’d think the studio would have learned something. There’s still time before the film’s November 22 premiere, so maybe the picture will be clearer by then.

Not so long ago, America’s lack of interest in professional soccer (called football nearly everywhere else in the world) was something to joke about. Now, between the popularity of Ted Lasso, our fascination with Welcome To Wrexham, and the recent Women’s World Cup tournament scoring record ratings, that perception feels unfair and outdated. It’s the perfect time for a football-focused feature film from acclaimed director Taika Waititi. Based on an inspiring true story (the subject of a 2014 documentary of the same name), Next Goal Wins chronicles the rise of an underdog team from American Samoa. It’s always a treat when Waititi gets back to his indie roots, especially after playing in the Marvel sandbox. Honestly, as long as Waititi is involved, we’re sold, whatever the subject matter happens to be.

The streaming wars have only been going on since 2019, but you’d think by now someone would have figured out the model. Even Netflix, which had a head start on everyone else, seems to be tinkering with new ideas, like cutting down on password sharing. What other panic buttons will the platforms push to keep and grow their subscribers? The latest strategy is cross promotion of content between networks and streamers. This summer, Disney tried out the Disney+ superhero series Ms. Marvel in a Saturday timeslot on ABC, with mixed results. And this fall, CBS will air repeats of the hit series Yellowstone, which previously aired on Paramount Network. The experiment doesn’t just go one way, though. Max subscribers will soon be able to watch AMC shows like Fear the Walking Dead and Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire on the streaming platform. If these partnerships prove fruitful, it could change the TV viewing landscape all over again.

Speaking of signs that no one has figured out streaming yet, you may have noticed that the monthly fees you’ve been paying for your services keep going up and new ad-supported tiers are being added, while titles continue to disappear and the pace of new content is slowing to a crawl. Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and Peacock have all raised prices this year, and according to The Wall Street Journal, subscribers can expect them to rise by 25% more within the next year. At some point, consumers are bound to reach a breaking point. Where that point is we don’t yet know, but it’s coming, and maybe sooner than the companies behind these platforms think.

With the strike shutting down TV production across the industry, we didn’t have much hope for broadcast TV’s fall schedules. If you happen to love watching reality shows, and only reality shows, you’ll find plenty of entertainment. For the rest of us, though, the landscape is looking pretty desolate. Without WGA writers to deliver new scripts, the networks are leaning heavily on unscripted shows (which, for the record, still utilize writers, but for the most part they aren’t members of the WGA). ABC will have two simultaneous series from the producers of The Bachelor—The Golden Bachelor and Bachelor In Paradise—in addition to reality competitions and game shows. FOX, NBC, and CBS will also be relying on competition shows like Hell’s Kitchen, The Voice, Survivor, and Big Brother. Can network TV possibly sustain this many reality shows all at once? We’re about to find out.

Technically, Ahsoka premiered in the summer, but as it continues through the fall we’ll be interested to see if it finds an audience among Star Wars fans who aren’t as deeply invested in the lore as die-hard viewers of animated shows like The Clone Wars and especially Rebels. Disney has announced that the premiere got “14 million views,” as defined by Disney’s definition of what constitutes a “view.” A common theme in critical reviews of the show (including our recap of the two-episode premiere) has been that a prerequisite to enjoying it is a familiarity with the entirety of the Star Wars canon. Maybe so, but the bar for streaming success is low enough right now that those viewers may be all the show needs. There’s something to be said for finding a loyal niche audience and giving them exactly what they crave. For everyone else, there’s still Andor (which had a smaller viewership than Ahsoka has had so far).

It’s tempting to characterize The Walking Dead as a shambolic franchise that somehow manages to keep on going despite being devoid of any signs of life for some time now. But maybe that’s too easy. AMC seems to think it’s still a viable property, as it keeps renewing the continuing shows and green-lighting new ones. This fall we’ll be getting one of each. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, premiering September 10, will find Norman Reedus’ fan-favorite character heading to Paris, where the outbreak first began. Then, on October 22, Fear The Walking Dead returns for the second half of its eighth and final season. The various spin-offs have never quite found the success of the original in its heyday, but maybe there are enough devoted fans out there to sustain the franchise for a little while longer. At least long enough for one more miniseries featuring the return of Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes in 2024.