Who does a press day at an airport hangar instead of a theater? Why, Apple does, and it was not until witnessing the tech giant’s setup at the Santa Monica Barker Hangar on Tuesday morning that the reason for the odd venue selection became clear.
Apple fashioned a 120-degree surround screen inside the space — which has been home to many entertainment events from the Critics Choice Awards to the MTV Movie Awards, and even the LA Food & Wine Festival — helping to amp its trailers to Cinerama Dome levels for both reporters and influencers in attendance to hear more about the company’s upcoming slate of films and series.
The morning kicked off with the first teaser for Season 2 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, complete with a monster tail whipping across half the room.
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The action-packed trailer (unreleased as of yet, sorry folks) for Season 2 of the Colin Farrell-led Sugar shook some seats thanks to the surround sound, and one of the last panels of the day, Pluribus, got quite a few cheers as soon as the unsettling intro music echoed through the room. And yes, the infamous petri-dish smiley faces were plastered around the entire surround-screen as creator Vince Gilligan chatted with stars Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga and Samba Schutte (who also moderated).
But, Apple has also appeared to go the way of most media companies in recent years by severely limiting press’ ability to actually take anything substantial away from the event. Designed to replace the twice yearly Television Critics Association press days of yesteryear, the networks and streamers have tightened their grip on the types of stories that might come out of these events now that they’ve got full control over the run of show.
Press were not allowed to record the panels, though Apple did give permission to take videos of talent’s entrance to the stage. Audience questions were accepted only via QR codes sitting at everyone’s work stations, no doubt vetted by Apple staff before being directed to the moderators (who were pretty much exclusively talent, showrunners, authors or others directly from the title being promoted).
That’s not to say people didn’t enjoy themselves. A sea of phones lit up the room, and the audience sat up a little straighter when Jonah Hill, Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz, and Matt Bomer walked on stage to tease their upcoming movie Outcome. The same moment, though, illustrates just how curated the day was. The powerhouse quartet were on stage for all but a minute or two so they could rib each other playfully with jokes read off a teleprompter before throwing to a trailer and exiting. They did a shtick about how great the Moneyball actor Hill was; and Reeves quipped that Point Break and Speed 2 would’ve been better “if you (Jonah) were in it instead of me.” Bomer called Hill “Jacob Elordi tall.”
Truthfully, attendees were buzzing before the panels even began, thanks to a swanky breakfast that welcomed guests with a set of new Airpods Pro to experience the latest iteration of the wireless headphones’ live translation technology. After walking through a dimly lit corridor into the hangar, rows of tables were neatly set with a hardcover notebook, a pen, a mug (all branded, of course), and a face sheet with portraits of every famous face expected throughout the eight-hour day to showcase Apple’s 2026 offerings.
The audience was met with creatives and talent from Cape Fear, The Dink, Imperfect Women, The Last Thing He Told Me, Lucky, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Matchbox The Movie, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Mayday, Pluribus, Shrinking, The Studio, Sugar, Way of the Warrior Kid, Widow’s Bay and Your Friends and Neighbors. Apple’s SVP of Services Eddie Cue and Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali were also on hand to tout that partnership (and no, there was no confirmation on a sequel or any other scripted projects in development).
For a taste of the hard-hitting questions talent was confronted with during their sessions, here’s one straight from the Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed panel (moderated by one of its stars, Charlie Hall): “In your own words, what is a camboy?”
“I mean, I’m an actor. That’s kind of a camboy by definition,” actor Brandon Flynn joked before jumping into a more eloquent answer about the research that went into playing a sex worker in the series. Or, at least that’s the assumption since details on Flynn’s actual character are still under wraps. Apple did screen a trailer in the room but so far have not released it, only publicly announcing a premiere date on Tuesday.
The Your Friends & Neighbors session offered some interesting albeit equally vague details about Season 2. James Marsden discussed his character Owen Ash, Westmont Village’s newest resident, describing him as “Gatsby-esque, flashy, larger than life,” and “always running 100 miles an hour.” Hamm called Marsden’s character a “chaos agent,” and the star narrator teased that the rules of game have been set up in Season 1, allowing cast and creators to “play at higher level” in Season 2.
What does that mean? You’ll have to wait and see, because spoilers of any kind were a major no-go. When it came time for audience questions, showrunner Jonathan Tropper gleefully selected the one that allowed him to remind the audience that the show got another early renewal. From the Lucky panel, Tropper, who is an executive producer, creator, and co-showrunner and moderated once again, had another riveting query, asking Emmy-nominated actors Anya Taylor-Joy (who plays the titular character, by the way) and Timothy Olyphant to share a moment that made them “feel lucky” to work with co-star Annette Bening.
The plus side is the general sterility made it easy to stand out, which a few titles did manage to do. Margo’s Got Money Troubles author Rufi Thorpe moderated the panel about the upcoming adaptation of her novel with stars Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, Michelle Pfeiffer and Thaddea Graham and series creator David E. Kelley. That one got quite a few laughs, as did Jennifer Garner and The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2 gang, who came ready with a clip of Garner kicking some butt in a home invasion sequence. Garner delighted attendees with a story about working with the same performer previously and biting off a piece of his ear while filming Peter Berg’s 2007 The Kingdom, which really set the stage for this meeting on The Last Thing He Told Me.
No one had any complaints about the Shrinking panel, which welcomed Harrison Ford to the hangar to discuss working with Michael J. Fox as Gerry, a Parkinson’s patient who meets Ford’s Paul at their shared doctor’s office. Co-creators Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel were MIA. Not much news out of that one, but to be fair the series did just get renewed for Season 4 ahead of the Season 3 premiere last week.
Speaking of this crew, nothing on Tuesday from one of Apple’s biggest shows, Ted Lasso, even though that’s slated to return with Season 4 this summer. Severance didn’t have a presence either, but that makes sense given Season 3 hasn’t even gone into production yet. Same goes for The Morning Show‘s Season 5.
Several projects — specifically TV shows like Lucky, Imperfect Women and Margo’s Got Money Troubles — made a point to acknowledge that they were shot in Los Angeles, bringing production back to the city in the year after the Palisades and Altadena wildfires. Lots of claps all around, as production in the area is still down significantly over five-year averages.
Film had less of a presence than TV, but Apple made sure to show off Matchbox the Movie. If there’s any movie on the magnitude of Apple’s hit last year, F1, it’s the Skydance Media co-production of the Mattel toy. But, it’s not hitting theaters, and was never destined to despite the Skydance Media connection and a string of successes from other toy- and game-related offers like Barbie and A Minecraft Movie. It’s not clear, at least from today’s press day, when the streamer will return to the big screen, even though we’ve heard they’re not abandoning it.
Skydance and Apple are also teaming for the action-adventure tentpole Mayday. Stars Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh opted not to make an appearance in person for that one, but they sent in a short video message instead. Another biggie movie, the 1980s Cold War action movie follows a U.S. pilot who crash-lands in the USSR, only to be nurtured back by a local woodsman, who is a fan of the U.S. From the trailer, the Skydance Media pic looks to be akin to Spies Like Us with a dose of Top Gun. The trailer played to surround sound in the hangar, but it will stream on Apple TV on September 4.
Here’s the full slate for 2026. Click the links for more details on some of the buzziest offerings.
FEBRUARY
Eternity – Streaming Feb. 13 (after theatrical release last year) (Film)
The Last Thing He Told Me, Season 2 – Feb. 20 (TV Series)
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2 – Feb. 27 (TV Series)
MARCH
Imperfect Women – March 18 (TV Series)
For All Mankind, Season 5 – March 27
APRIL
Your Friends And Neighbors, Season 2 – April 3 (TV Series)
Outcome – April 10 (Film)
Margo’s Got Money Troubles – April 15 (TV Series)
Criminal Record, Season 2 – April 22 (TV Series)
Widow’s Bay – April 29 (TV Series)
MAY
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed – May 20 (TV Series)
JUNE
Cape Fear – June 5 (TV Series)
Sugar, Season 2 – June 19 (TV Series)
JULY
Lucky – July 15 (TV Series)
The Dink – July 24 (Film)
COMING SUMMER 2026
Ted Lasso, Season 4 (TV Series)
SEPTEMBER
Mayday – September 4 (Film)
OCTOBER
Matchbox: The Movie – Oct. 9 (Film)
NOVEMBER
Way of the Warrior Kid – Nov. 20