Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos gave his first interview since the company pulled out of their deal to acquire Warner Bros., saying contrary to the rumors, it wasn’t President Trump’s influence that killed the merger.
The entertainment exec called the competing offer from Paramount “irrational” and claimed he had no regrets about how it all played out. Sarandos said it came down to having a set price amount they weren’t willing to go beyond and being outbid by David Ellison’s rival offer.
“We had a very tight range that we’d be willing to pay and made that offer back when we closed this deal,” Sarandos told Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg in an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-27/how-netflix-forced-paramount-to-cough-up-more-for-warner-bros?cmpid=screentime&amp;utm_campaign=screentime&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=newsletter&amp;utm_term=260301&amp;embedded-checkout=true">interview</a> published Saturday. “I’m happy where we got in and happy where we got out.”
Rumors swirled that the Department of Justice may have influenced the breakdown, or that Trump himself may have had sway. But Sarandos said those narratives are false.
“I don’t know that there was growing political resistance,” the Netflix exec said. “It was a growing narrative of political resistance. But we were on a normal regulatory path. … This story has been fed out for everybody, but it’s just not accurate. We were not only involved with the DOJ, we were involved with 50 regulatory bodies around the world. These things have been going exactly the way they should.”
Sarandos told Shaw that Trump “stayed completely neutral on this.”
“The truth of it is, someone was going to lose it for a dollar,” Sarandos said of the deal. “And the quicker you accepted that, the better.”
Shaw described Paramount as being an “unusual other buyer,” which Sarandos agreed with.
“Unusual, yeah, unusual, irrational, whatever words you want to use in that,” he replied. “It’ll be fascinating to see the next steps. I have been on the record a lot in the last two weeks talking about what I think the future looks like. I’m confident in our future that we’re not impacted by all that. In fact, maybe it’s to our advantage. But I hope I’m wrong for the sake of the industry.”
Warner Bros. agreed in December to an $82.7 billion deal with Netflix. Paramount responded with several hostile takeover bids over the following months, culminating in a surprise twist as the streaming giant bowed out in February.
“&#8230;this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price,” Sarandos and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in a statement at the time, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netflix-backs-down-in-fight-for-warner-bros-leaving-paramount-inches-from-victory">reported</a>.

Ted Sarandos

Netflix CEO Sets Record Straight On Trump Rumors After Warner Bros. Deal Fizzles

Business

Entertainment

Hollywood

Netflix

Paramount

U.S.

Warner Bros

In a stunning twist in the months-long war between Netflix and Paramount over which company would purchase Warner Bros., the streaming giant has <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-backs-out-warners-deal-paramount-win-1236516763/">bowed out</a>.
After Warner Bros. released a statement on Thursday saying that the company’s board of directors viewed Paramount’s latest offer as a “<a href="https://ir.wbd.com/news-and-events/financial-news/financial-news-details/2026/Warner-Bros--Discovery-Board-of-Directors-Determines-Revised-Proposal-from-Paramount-Skydance-Constitutes-a-Company-Superior-Proposal/default.aspx">superior proposal</a>,” and that Netflix had four days to respond, the streamer backed out of the bidding war.
&#8220;Under the terms of the Netflix merger agreement, this notice triggers a four business day period during which Netflix has the right to propose revisions to the Netflix merger agreement so that the PSKY proposal would cease to constitute a &#8216;Company Superior Proposal,'&#8221; Warner Bros. stated in their <a href="https://ir.wbd.com/news-and-events/financial-news/financial-news-details/2026/Warner-Bros--Discovery-Board-of-Directors-Determines-Revised-Proposal-from-Paramount-Skydance-Constitutes-a-Company-Superior-Proposal/default.aspx">press release</a>.
Netflix Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters responded in a <a href="https://ir.netflix.net/investor-news-and-events/financial-releases/press-release-details/2026/Netflix-Declines-to-Raise-Offer-for-Warner-Bros-/default.aspx">statement</a> of their own.
“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid,” Sarandos and Peters said.
The company heads added that they believe Netflix would have taken good care of the Warner Bros. IP (intellectual property) and “strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S.”
“But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price,” they concluded.
Paramount’s most recent bid raised the per-share price to $31, and featured a ticking fee, which would have paid shareholders if the deal took too long to come to fruition. Additionally, the company offered a $7 billion breakup fee, which would be paid if the deal were to fall through due to regulatory issues, and a nearly $3 billion fee that Warner Bros. owes Netflix as a result of their prior deal not materializing.
Netflix’s last offer was valued at $82.7 billion, and was aimed at purchasing Warner Bros.’ film and streaming divisions (HBO Max), as well as DC Comics. Paramount, on the other hand, would be purchasing all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its linear and cable TV networks.
There has been much consternation in Hollywood, especially following the Disney-Fox acquisition, over the Warner Bros. bidding war, with many in the industry voicing concerns that further media consolidation would do irreparable damage to the movie and TV business, with lost jobs and fewer options for creatives.
Though neither company (Paramount or Netflix) were favored by those in the industry, Netflix was viewed with a particularly skeptical eye as some questioned the streaming giant’s commitment to the theatrical experience. Others view Paramount CEO David Ellison&#8217;s apparently close relationship with the Trump administration as a reason for pause.

There’s A Winner In The Netflix/Paramount Bidding War

Movies

Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy organization for women, is urging the Justice Department to block Netflix’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The organization shared a copy of the letter exclusively with The Daily Wire on Thursday morning. It raises concerns about Netflix’s transparency with families and a lack of clarity in how it applies age-based ratings and content disclosures to programs marketed to children.
The letter from CWA also argued that the proposed merger “threatened competition and the public interest.” 
It pointed out that television viewership has changed and said streaming platforms have enormous sway over the viewing public, but are at the same time less regulated.
“By absorbing Warner Brothers’ extensive content library and distribution assets, Netflix would surpass the 30% market share threshold, making it a presumptive monopoly, and giving it unprecedented dominance in the streaming ecosystem,” the letter says. “Allowing such consolidation would reduce competition, harm consumers, and create a structural imbalance that would be exceptionally difficult to reverse, especially in view of the absence of a dedicated regulatory authority for streaming.”
CWA President and CEO Penny Nance wrote in the letter that Netflix has been notoriously vague about content marketed to children. The organization cited a December study finding that one-third of all Netflix shows rated for children include LGBT characters, themes, or messaging, with that percentage jumping to 41% for TV-G and TV-Y7 categories, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/preschool-propaganda-study-finds-41-of-netflix-kids-shows-include-lgbt-themes">reported</a>.
Nance argued that if the Justice Department did not block the merger, it should, at a minimum, “secure concrete, enforceable commitments and publish clear public‑interest expectations for streaming platforms,” including third-party ratings, clearer content labels, including for LGBT material, enhanced child-protective settings, and frequent audits.
In a written statement to The Daily Wire, Nance said she does not believe a potential acquisition involving Paramount would raise the same concerns as the proposed Netflix deal.
&#8220;Our concerns with Netflix stem mainly from its lack of transparency around content ratings, given that children&#8217;s programming has a large amount of LGBTQ content that is not disclosed to parents,” Nance said. “Paramount does not wield the same market influence as Netflix. The DOJ must reject Netflix&#8217;s bid for Warner Bros.”
Warner Bros. agreed in December to an $82.7 billion deal with Netflix. Since then, Paramount has submitted several hostile takeover bids in an effort to block the agreement, though none have succeeded.
Warner Bros. Discovery is <a href="https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-board-directors-determines-revised-proposal-paramount-skydance-could">currently reviewing</a> Paramount Skydance&#8217;s latest offer: $31-per-share cash. It includes a $7 billion regulatory termination fee and coverage of their $2.8 billion breakup fee with Netflix.

Entertainment Industry Workers Vote To Strike, Threatening Hollywood Productions

Conservative Women Expose Netflix Kids Content – How The Trump Admin Could Step In

President Donald Trump on Saturday called for Netflix to fire former national security adviser Susan Rice from its board.
“Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences. She’s got no talent or skills — Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK. How much is she being paid, and for what???” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116111073840858395">posted</a> on Truth Social.
Trump’s post followed Rice’s appearance on a podcast hosted by former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. During the interview, Rice, a longtime Democrat operative, issued a warning to “elites” that “take a knee to Trump.” Rice said that when Democrats are back in power, companies, universities, and others who did not fight Trump would face Justice Department probes for potential illegality.
“When it comes to the elites, you know, the corporate interests, the law firms, the universities, the media, I agree with you, Preet. It is not going to end well for them, for those that decided that they would act in their perceived, very narrow self-interest – which I would underscore is very short-term self-interest – and, you know, take a knee to Trump,” <a href="https://x.com/WesternLensman/status/2024661247296172486">said</a> Rice.
“They are going to be caught with more than their pants down. They&#8217;re going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box,” she said.
Rice insisted that the retribution from Democrats on the entities that worked with Trump would come through legal means and be based on the unlawful conduct of those targeted. But she said Democrats would ditch the “old rules.”
“If these corporations think that the Democrats, when they come back in power, are going to, you know, play by the old rules and, you know, and say, ‘oh, never mind, we’ll forgive you for all the people you’ve fired, all the policies and principles you&#8217;ve violated, all the laws you’ve skirted’ – I think they&#8217;ve got another thing coming,” said Rice.
“Whether you’re a law firm, whether you’re a university, whether you’re a media entity, whether you’re a big corporation, whether you’re big tech … there will be an accountability agenda,” she continued. “They better be ready for subpoenas. If they&#8217;ve done something wrong, they&#8217;ll be held accountable. And if they haven&#8217;t broken the law, good for them. … That, also, will be noted and remembered.”
Trump’s push to oust Rice comes as Netflix attempts to navigate a major business deal by acquiring Warner’s movie and television studios and HBO Max. Netflix has offered to pay $72 billion for the acquisition. The Department of Justice has already <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/doj-probes-netflix-power-over-233132671.html">launched</a> a probe into whether the deal could violate antitrust laws.

Susan Rice

Trump Says Netflix Should Fire ‘Racist, Trump Deranged’ Susan Rice

Donald Trump

Five years after Disney+ fired Gina Carano from “The Mandalorian” for expressing her opinion via social media posts, the actress and former MMA fighter is coming back into the spotlight, literally.
Netflix <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/features/ronda-rousey-gina-carano-mma-live-on-netflix">announced on Monday</a> that Carano will face off against MMA competitor Ronda Rousey in a live, professionally sanctioned fight on Saturday, May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The event marks Netflix&#8217;s first-ever mixed martial arts event and is being co-promoted by Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the combat sports company co-founded by Jake Paul.
The fight will take place at featherweight, 145 lbs, inside a hexagon cage instead of the traditional UFC octagon. The format will be up to five 5-minute rounds under the Unified Rules of MMA.
Carano holds an MMA record of 7-1 with wins by submission, knockout, and decision, and her earlier Muay Thai record is 12-1-1. She has not competed since 2009. Rousey has a 12-2 record, but has not competed in the sport in a decade following a WWE career.
“Been waiting so long to announce this: Me and Gina Carano are gonna throw down in the biggest super fight in women’s combat sport history!” Rousey <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/gina-carano-ronda-rousey-netflix-mma-fight-the-mandalorian-1236507548/">said</a> in a statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. “And we’re partnering with the fighter-first promotion MVP as well as the biggest and baddest streamer on the planet Netflix. This is for all MMA fans past, present and future. More to come… much more.”
“Ronda came to me and said there is only one person she would make a comeback for and it has been her dream to make this fight happen between us,” Carano said. “She thanked me for opening up doors for her in her career and was respectful in asking for this fight to happen. This is an honor. I believe I will walk out of this fight with the win and I anticipate it will not come easy, which I welcome. This is as much for Ronda and me as it is for the fans and mixed martial arts community. What a time to be alive.”
This un-cancellation comes just a few short years after Carano was abruptly fired from “The Mandalorian” in February 2021 after Lucasfilm objected to her social media posts.
The firing was widely condemned by conservatives as a case of Hollywood cancel culture. Carano filed a lawsuit against Disney alleging she was wrongfully terminated for her political beliefs.
Shortly after the high-profile termination, Carano partnered with The Daily Wire for a movie deal that resulted in the feature film “Terror on the Prairie,” which premiered in June 2022.
The actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yes-im-smiling-disney-settles-lawsuit-with-gina-carano-over-mandalorian-firing?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Yes%2C+I%E2%80%99m+Smiling%E2%80%99%3A+Disney+Settles+Lawsuit+With+Gina+Carano+Over+%E2%80%98Mandalorian%E2%80%99+Firing">settled her case</a> against Disney in August 2025. &#8220;I am humbled and grateful to God for His love and grace in this outcome,” she wrote on social media at the time. “I’d like to thank you all for your unrelenting support throughout my life and career; you’ve been the heartbeat that has kept my story alive. I hope to make you proud… yes, I’m smiling.”

Gina Carano

Gina Carano Vs. Ronda Rousey: Netflix Announces First-Ever Live MMA Event

Fighters

Televison

Warner Bros Discovery is considering reopening sale talks with rival Hollywood studio Paramount Skydance after receiving its hostile suitor&#8217;s most recent amended offer, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Members of Warner Bros&#8217; board are discussing whether Paramount could offer the path to a superior deal, the Bloomberg report said, adding that the board has not decided how to respond and may stick to the current deal with Netflix.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Paramount, Warner Bros and Netflix did not respond to requests for comment.
Paramount had enhanced its Warner Bros bid last week by offering shareholders extra cash for each quarter the deal fails to close after this year. It also agreed to cover the breakup fee the HBO parent would owe Netflix if it walked away, even though the CBS owner did not raise its per-share offer.
Paramount said it has offered shareholders a 25-cent-per-share quarterly &#8220;ticking fee&#8221; (about $650 million) in cash starting in 2027 until closing and agreed to cover Warner Bros’ $2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix. However, it did not raise its $30-per-share offer, valuing the deal at $108.4 billion including debt.
Both Netflix and Paramount covet Warner Bros for its leading film and television studios, extensive content library and major franchises such as &#8220;Game of Thrones,&#8221; &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; and DC Comics superheroes Batman and Superman.
Activist investor Ancora Holdings, which has built a nearly $200 million stake, last week said it plans to oppose the Netflix deal, arguing the board did not sufficiently engage with Paramount over its rival bid, which includes cable assets like CNN and TNT.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)

In this photo illustration, the Warner Bros Discovery logo

Warner Bros Weighs Reopening Sale Talks With Paramount, Bloomberg Reports

Media

Cleveland-based wealth management firm Ancora Holdings, a company with a $200 million stake in Warner Bros, is reportedly urging the company to reconsider the acquisition offer from Paramount.
Warner Bros. accepted a massive deal from Netflix worth $82.7 billion, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/netflix-to-acquire-warner-bros-in-massive-billion-dollar-deal">reported</a> in December. Paramount has since submitted a hostile takeover bid in an effort to subvert the Netflix deal. That all-cash offer, the sixth made by the entertainment company, included the acquisition of the entire business at $30 per share.
Now Ancora Holdings is weighing in, saying Warner Bros. failed to properly evaluate and consider the Paramount Bid, per <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/activist-investor-pushes-warner-to-walk-away-from-netflix-deal-0bbe663e?mod=hp_lead_pos1">The Wall Street Journal</a>. The outlet noted that Ancora emailed Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav on Tuesday to say they were considering a proxy fight if the board failed to negotiate the best deal.
The WBD board “now has no choice but to deem Paramount’s amended offer as one that could reasonably be expected to result in a Superior Proposal, given Netflix’s presently inferior proposal and unaddressed regulatory issues. Once that happens, the Board could then engage in good faith with Paramount to maximize shareholder value, paving the way for WBD to secure an even higher offer. If the WBD Board refuses to do this, Ancora will vote “NO” on the inferior Netflix deal and seek to hold the WBD Board accountable,” the firm said in a <a href="https://ancora.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Ancora's+Case+for+Voting+%E2%80%9CNO%E2%80%9D+on+the+Currently+Proposed+Netflix-WBD+Merger.pdf">presentation</a>.
“The WBD Board opted to rush into a flawed deal with Netflix rather than earnestly pursue a superior offer from Paramount – in line with the directors’ fiduciary duties,” the presentation said.
While Ancora has less than 1% ownership, they are planning to continue buying shares and would potentially influence other shareholders.
“WBD’s experienced and independent Board and management team have a proven track record of acting in the best interests of the Company and shareholders – as evidenced by the extensive actions they have taken to unlock the full value of WBD’s unmatched portfolio of assets over the last year,” WBD said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We remain resolute in our commitment to maximize value for shareholders.”
Paramount revised its hostile offer this week to include paying the $2.8 billion termination fee Warner Bros. would owe Netflix if the deal were called off.
The original hostile takeover bid rejection was unanimous by the board, Warner Bros. previously stated.

Investor Urges Warner Bros. To Consider Paramount Deal, Reject Netflix

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos dispelled rumors that he would shorten theatrical release times after the streaming giant acquires Warner Bros.
The entertainment exec said as much during an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/business/media/ted-sarandos-netflix.html">interview</a> with The New York Times published Friday.
“When this deal closes, we will own a theatrical distribution engine that is phenomenal and produces billions of dollars of theatrical revenue that we don’t want to put at risk. We will run that business largely like it is today, with 45-day windows,” Sarandos told the outlet.
“I’m giving you a hard number. If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people — we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office,” he added.
Sarandos went on to say that “a lot of assumptions” that Netflix execs had about Warner Bros. weren’t true.
“The general economics of the theatrical business were more positive than we had seen and we had modeled for ourselves. It’s a healthy, profitable business for them. We weren’t in that business not because we hated it. We weren’t in that business because our business was doing so well.”
Netflix’s anticipated acquisition of Warner Bros., which would include its film and television studios, HBO Max, and HBO, is valued at $82.7 billion. Industry insiders and fans have pushed back on the merger, saying it could deal a huge blow to movie theaters. Rumors started circulating that Netflix planned to shorten theatrical release times from 45 days to just 17 days, similar to what Universal does for some of its releases.
Sarandos told NYT that he anticipated this type of response. “I think [the backlash] was a lot of loud voices, but not necessarily a lot of them,” the Netflix CEO said. “I think a lot of it was folks who questioned, rightfully so, our intent with theatrical because we hadn’t said anything about it. A lot of it was the emotions around that more than anything else.”
During the same interview, Sarandos addressed comments he made in 2025 about theaters being “outmoded” for people outside of large cities.
“You have to listen to that quote again. I said ‘outmoded for some.’ I mean, like the town that ‘Sinners’ is supposed to be set in does not have a movie theater there,” he said. “For those folks, it’s certainly outmoded. You’re not going to get in the car and go to the next town to go see a movie. But my daughter lives in Manhattan. She could walk to six multiplexes, and she’s in the theaters twice a week. Not outmoded for her at all.”

Netflix CEO Says He Won’t Shorten Theatrical Releases Following Warner Bros. Acquisition

Movie Theaters

Actor Matt Damon explained some stipulations Netflix has for movies, taking into account what they describe as short attention spans from viewers.
The 55-year-old Academy Award-winner made the revelation during a recent appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast while promoting his new Netflix project, “The Rip.”
Damon said traditional movie setups have changed due to audiences being accustomed to short-form content, also because they’re only half paying attention as they check their phones.
“The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, you usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third,” Damon said.
“You spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your finale,” he added. “And now they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay. And it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.’”
Damon’s longtime collaborator Ben Affleck chimed in, pointing out that the Netflix hit “Adolescence” did not follow the formula and was still a success. “It didn’t do any of that sh*t,” Affleck said. “And it’s f*cking great.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Joe Rogan Experience #2440 - Matt Damon &amp; Ben Affleck" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AVEZBy1uAk8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The interview comes on the heels of Netflix announcing they are acquiring Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO, in a massive deal valued at $82.7 billion.
This move has led to criticism from the public, especially as rumors persisted that Netflix planned to reduce how long streaming customers had to wait to watch new theatrical releases. Multiple outlets reported that the window would be shortened from six weeks to seventeen days.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos attempted to put those rumors to rest during a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/business/media/ted-sarandos-netflix.html">interview</a> with The New York Times.
&#8220;We will run that business largely like it is today, with 45-day windows,&#8221; he told the outlet. &#8220;I’m giving you a hard number. If we’re going to be in the theatrical business, and we are, we’re competitive people — we want to win. I want to win opening weekend. I want to win box office.&#8221;

Matt Damon

Matt Damon Says Netflix Wants Movie Plots ‘Reiterated’ Multiple Times For Distracted Viewers

Matt Damon Says Netflix Wants Movie Plots 'Reiterated' Multiple Times For Distracted Viewers

Ben Affleck

At the beginning of every New Year, journalists, and other flagrant abusers of God’s precious gift of life, make lists of predictions about what will happen in the year to come. Turning their corruption-riddled minds to politics and culture and other topics they know absolutely nothing about, journalists forecast absurd scenarios that would confirm them in all the boneheaded prejudices that made their reporting such utterly useless crap-fountains in the year that just ended. 
But unlike journalists, we at the Daily Wire are committed to telling the truth. And the truth is we have no freaking clue what’s going to happen in the next ten minutes let alone the months ahead. The future’s not ours to see, as Doris Day said, shortly after she let out an ear-piercing scream that startled the assassin so that he only wounded the ambassador, leaving Jimmy Stewart free to find his kidnapped son and knock the kidnapper down a flight of stairs to his death, a conclusion that makes absolutely no sense if you stop and think about it for even a minute.
Where was I? Oh yeah.
Since predicting the future is very popular and since no one knows the future, the Daily Wire has developed a system for forecasting the events of the year that is far more scientifically consistent than any other. Namely, we just make stuff up and hope we get lucky and can create the illusion that we’re much smarter than we are.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-261-it-s-crazy-out-there?contentProgram=The%20Andrew%20Klavan%20Show&amp;contentType=ShowEpisode&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974735 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-768x128.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now-1536x256.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/Klavan-watch-now.jpg 1800w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
So here are my predictions for 2026.
In early March, a tarantula the size of the Chrysler Building will descend on New York City and begin to devour the inhabitants, who will find this a welcome relief from the policies of Zohran Mamdani. President Donald Trump will rush to the scene, armed only with an emerald-encrusted titanium sword he borrowed from Glenn Beck’s collection of titanium swords encrusted with various precious gems. Trump will single-handedly slay the spider, whereupon Democrats will condemn this violation of the arachnid rights guaranteed in our Constitution, and will spend the rest of the month having cocktails and photo ops with sad-looking tarantulas around the country, before heading to local hospitals to be treated for bites. &#8220;The View&#8221; will dedicate an entire show to the long history of anti-tarantula bias, until a guest tarantula crawls over Sunny Hostin’s hand, causing her to let out a high-pitched shriek that goes on for ten uninterrupted minutes before anyone realizes this is not just her usual commentary. At CBS News, meanwhile, editor-in-chief Bari Weiss will come under fire when she pounds a tarantula to death with a high-heeled shoe before anyone has time to explain to her that it was on its way to be interviewed for &#8220;60 Minutes.&#8221; And Candace Owens will announce that a spider the size of the Chrysler Building could only have been created by God, proving once again that a Jew is to blame.
In the culture, Netflix Chief of Content Bela Bajaria will proclaim that all married couples in Netflix movies must be mixed race and all children must be homosexual unless they’re transgender in which case they can be heterosexual because that would be homosexual. When Netflix’s audience share sinks to zero percent, Mrs. Bajaria will tell interviewers, “Our pictures are still big. It’s the audience that got small,” and then descend a long staircase declaring, “I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille,” before being carted off to a mental institution or to become head of Warner Brothers, depending on how the deal turns out.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will step down, resting on his accomplishments of watching Minneapolis burn to the ground while Somalians bilked American taxpayers out of billions of Somolians. Or possibly Somolians bilked us out of Somalians. Either way, they should both go back where they came from.
Finally, Democrats will take back the House in the mid-terms, and immediately move to impeach Trump for flagrantly causing world peace and American prosperity. Republicans will keep the Senate, but Chuck Schumer will reassure journalists, “The government is still big, it’s the people who got small,” and then descend a staircase declaring, “I’m ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille,” before he’s devoured by a gigantic tarantula.
All right, that last part is just a personal daydream of mine.
* * *
This excerpt is taken from the opening satirical monologue of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-andrew-klavan-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Andrew Klavan Show</a>.”
Andrew Klavan is the host of “The Andrew Klavan Show” at The Daily Wire. Klavan is the bestselling author of numerous books, including the Cameron Winter Mystery series. The fifth installment, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/After-That-Cameron-Winter-Mysteries/dp/1613166869/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3EGZUC370LG46&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y_NI0mDOKeowShheDQTVx5NH-fAeimJoCD56_T0Acpl8C0mup7uJf-nGGSRLEItaaekoDnvS2vWLMa4Zd2UBXQ8Y-g-P502jOWz-Y8IX3ZQsdlO7WMLrg1xIhNoKmjCorSWUR4C2l_RbiZ7apJ1MfPzGOrrEf7AdAXX6xwnJRVP_XqUfWuMuVthTWscaU3P4vgmS86-96n-721enHfX12CFQWTajqFbVnrsDkexfUf4.6_gTH6h1Bb9Pn375QdF_VAVZSayDvjQBBKGXE-MTiFo&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=klavan&amp;qid=1754049918&amp;sprefix=%2Caps%2C80&amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">After That, The Dark,</a> is NOW AVAILABLE. Follow him on X: <a href="https://x.com/andrewklavan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@andrewklavan</a>.
The views expressed in this satirical piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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Warner Bros. Discovery has formally rejected the hostile takeover bid from Paramount amid their merger deal with Netflix, dubbing the proposed terms “inferior” to the Netflix partnership.
“Your Board negotiated a merger with Netflix that maximizes value while mitigating downside risks, and we unanimously believe the Netflix merger is in your best interest. We are focused on advancing the Netflix merger to deliver its compelling value to you,” the board wrote in a letter to shareholders Wednesday morning, per <a href="https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/warner-bros-discovery-rejects-paramount-skydance-ellison-latest-takeover-offer-1236624282/">Variety</a>.
The letter further stated that the Paramount offer “is not more favorable to WBD stockholders than the Netflix Merger and continues to be inadequate,” because of “insufficient value, taking into account price and numerous risks, costs and uncertainties.” 
The decision to reject the bid was said to be unanimous. This was the sixth offer made and rejected by Paramount.
“The Offer is entirely at [Paramount]’s discretion – [Paramount] can reduce the price, impose new conditions, or walk away entirely at any time prior to its acceptance of tendered shares,” Warner Bros. said of the proposal.
Paramount announced their latest bid days after the Netflix deal was announced in December.
“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry,” Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison said in a statement at the time, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/paramount-launches-hostile-takeover-bid-for-warner-bros-days-after-netflix-deal-announced?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Paramount+Launches+Hostile+Takeover+Bid+For+Warner+Bros.+Days+After+Netflix+Deal+Announced">reported</a>. 
“We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction.”
President Trump remarked on the Netflix deal in December, saying it “could be a problem” from an antitrust standpoint. The president also mentioned being “involved” in reviewing the deal. The proposed merger has had bipartisan pushback from skeptics who warn it could turn into a “nightmare” for consumers and creatives. 
Many critics also worry that it could destroy the theater industry, as rumors persist that Netflix will push for a shorter theatrical release window for major films. Per <a href="https://www.avclub.com/netflix-warner-bros-17-day-theatrical-amc">reports</a>, the timing could be shortened to as little as 17 days, drastically reducing the industry standard of a 30 to 45-day delay before movies arrive on streaming services.

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Warner Bros. Rejects ‘Inferior’ Paramount Hostile Takeover Bid, Chooses Netflix

Warner Bros. Rejects 'Inferior' Paramount Hostile Takeover Bid, Chooses Netflix

Editor’s note: This piece discusses the finale of Stranger Things, so there are obviously going to be spoilers. Consider yourselves warned if you are, like this author, a dork and plan to watch the show.
Stranger Things concluded its fifth and final season with a two-hour New Year’s Eve release, nearly a decade after the vanishing of Will Byers launched a new era of Netflix original programming.
Expectations for the final season rose to the heavens in the four years since the fourth season of Stranger Things. Fans were almost certain to be disappointed — and boy, were they.
Initial waves of criticism gave way to a truly strange mass psychosis wherein superfans have convinced themselves that the series finale was actually a fake, and that creators Matt and Ross Duffer were waiting to drop the actual finale in the coming days.
Those of us who did not develop a parasocial relationship with Gaten Matarazzo realized this was bunk from the start. But for those really pinning their hopes to these theories, Netflix has made it clear that Stranger Things is done. The finale we got was the finale we&#8217;re going to get. And yes, there are plenty of things to criticize with that episode, as with the whole final season: the bad dialogue, the continuity errors, the lazy acting.
But I don’t want to talk about any of that. I want to talk about Steve Harrington.
The fan-favorite character has gone on quite a journey. He began as a stereotypical 1980s jock, Nancy Wheeler’s unlikable boyfriend who bristles at her intelligence and beats up the nerds. The Duffer Brothers planned to kill him off at the end of season one, but they found themselves so charmed by Joe Keery’s performance that they reversed course.
And then they did more than that: they gave Steve warmth and depth unmatched by any other character. Over the course of the show, he not only accepts Nancy’s independence but also her relationship with Jonathan Byers, one of the dorks he once beat up. He becomes a friend and mentor to the younger children, constantly putting his life on the line for their safety. And he grows close with Hawke’s character, Robin, accepting her quirkiness without a second thought.
This character development was so effective that, in the run-up to the finale, fans made it clear that Steve’s death was the outcome they most feared. Fortunately for the legions of Harringtonians out there, Steve survives his final journey to a parallel dimension and makes it safely back to Hawkins.
But that’s where things go off the rails.
In the show’s penultimate scene, we see the cadre of older Hawkins kids reminiscing on the rooftop of the town radio station. Jonathan is making anti-capitalist films at NYU. Robin is dating girls at Smith. Nancy reveals that she’s dropped out of Emerson to work as a journalist full-time, and has a girlboss haircut and blazer to prove it.
And what of Steve? Did he settle down and start having the six children he’s been so vocal about wanting? Did his repeated encounters with the supernatural inspire him to seek out a change of scenery? Or did he join up with the Hawkins police department as Hopper’s deputy, harnessing the skills he honed defending the world from Vecna?
No, while all his friends move on to bigger and better things, Steve is still in Hawkins, coaching the high school baseball team. And lest it seem like Steve’s adventures with all those plucky kids had inspired him to pursue a career in education, the finale makes it clear: this is just the path of least resistance. Steve Harrington is a loser.
As he grabs another beer in his poorly-fitting suit, his friends mock the fact that, in addition to his coaching duties, Steve is also teaching sex education. Steve gives them plenty of fodder for their ribbing, noting that he has &#8220;a strict A policy, B if you’re a real knucklehead.&#8221;
There are jokes about him cycling through a series of vapid women, so clearly his plans for domestic bliss haven’t panned out. And lest you miss the point, he delivers this sad little monologue to all his posh friends in which he expresses his utter disbelief that they would ever want to leave Hawkins!
“Come on, I mean, look at this place!&#8221; Steve bellows while looking wistfully at the horizon. &#8220;The sunset, the view. Woo! You guys are seriously telling me you don’t miss any of this? The forest, the quarry? Family Video?&#8221;
This is the most unforgivable part. We’re meant to believe that after all this time — after years of personal growth and confrontations with mortality, to say nothing of countless trips to an alternate dimension — Steve Harrington is just another hometown hero who can’t fathom why anyone would want to leave the glory days behind.
The problem isn’t that Steve didn’t want to leave Hawkins, or that he wanted to become a coach. Those are both fine choices for a young man to make, and consistent with the character we’ve grown to know and love. It’s the myopia, the pigheaded jock mentality that makes everyone roll their eyes, that feels like a betrayal. Steve doesn&#8217;t like the community or the fact that Hawkins is his home. He likes the quarry and the video store, the two lamest and most generic things you could think to name. It’s a last-second reversion to Season 1 Steve, a fundamentally uncurious brute whose gaze extended no further than the Friday night lights at Hawkins High.
To the Duffer brothers’ credit, Steve’s ending isn’t entirely inconsistent with the show’s finale. The epilogue is very John Hughes, an effective tonal shift back to the 1980s nostalgia that launched the show, vibes that played second fiddle to the supernatural in later seasons.
But the return to authentic 1989 didn’t stop the Duffer brothers from showing two openly gay characters living easy lives, or a girl graduating high school despite having spent the past two years in a coma — to say nothing of, you know, the aliens. Disbelief can be suspended, it seems, so long as it serves the narrative. And that narrative can’t countenance the jock being anything other than kind of sad.
To be clear: I don’t think this is some grand neo-Marxist conspiracy to make kids eschew small-town life in favor of more degenerate pursuits like journalism. This is just another instance of a tiresome Revenge of the Nerds mentality we see all the time among creatives.
It doesn’t matter that the Duffer Brothers created one of the most popular shows of the decade, one that largely owes its popularity to the shocking transformation of its stereotypical jock character. They probably got bullied for making home movies in high school, and so the cool guy had to be a loser in the end.
Maybe it isn’t that malicious. Maybe the Duffers really did just get lazy, and making Steve a stereotype was just one of several ways they phoned in this final season. Either way, it’s a disappointing end to the best character arc in a mostly great show.
Steve deserved better, and so did we.

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