Mallory, who appeared on MTV’s The Real World: Denver and The Challenge, shared photographs of himself and Vaughan on Instagram on Sunday, August 30.

The images showed the couple on vacation, including photographs in which they kissed and posed together for a selfie.

“It’s crazy what love can do,” Mallory wrote in the caption, followed by, “I love you.”

Vaughan replied in the comments, “I love you,” accompanied by heart emojis.

Vaughan also posted photographs of the pair and described their first meeting in a social-media caption.

“First day I met Davis in the middle of the ocean we pet wild horses and hitchhiked up the valley,” Vaughan wrote.

She added that their time together had included “God stories, worship nights, crazy cities all over the world,” and wrote that she was proud of Mallory.

What Mallory Said About His Identity

The relationship announcement followed public comments Mallory made in September 2025 during a video recorded at the Arise House of Prayer and Worship in Hawaii.

In that video, Mallory said he had lived a “gay lifestyle” for approximately 20 years and had come out as a gay Christian while appearing on *The Real World*.

“God really pulled me out of that lifestyle a year ago,” Mallory said in the video.

Mallory’s earlier comments were presented as a personal religious testimony and did not establish that sexual orientation had changed through a medically recognized process.

In a response to questions about attraction, Mallory said that he found both men and women beautiful but answered “NO & NO” when asked whether he remained sexually attracted to men.

His public statements have been described by LGBTQ+ media as using “gay lifestyle” language, a phrase that can distinguish sexual behavior from sexual orientation and can carry religious or political implications.

Reported Timeline With Vaughan

Mallory told TMZ that he first met Vaughan in Hawaii in February 2022 while he was working as a DJ at a wedding.

According to Mallory’s account, the two initially developed a friendship, traveled together and eventually fell in love.

He said they officially began dating in August 2026.

TMZ reported that Mallory and Vaughan were not living together at the time of its report.

The public posts did not provide a detailed account of when the relationship became romantic, and the available reports differ in how they describe the length of the couple’s romantic relationship.

Public Reaction and LGBTQ+ Context

Mallory’s announcement has drawn attention because it links a new heterosexual relationship with his earlier public rejection of a gay identity.

A relationship with a woman does not, by itself, determine a person’s sexual orientation, and a person’s current partner cannot establish whether that person is gay, bisexual, queer, straight or another identity.

For that reason, this article describes Mallory’s identity using his own publicly reported words rather than assigning him a new label.

LGBTQ+ people can experience and describe their identities in diverse ways, including changes in labels, relationships and religious affiliation over time.

At the same time, a personal account of leaving a “gay lifestyle” should not be presented as evidence that sexual orientation can be voluntarily changed for LGBTQ+ people generally.

The reports reviewed for this article contain no evidence that Mallory has promoted a clinical treatment intended to change another person’s sexual orientation.

Career Background

Mallory became known to television audiences through *The Real World: Denver* and later appearances connected with *The Challenge*.

During his reality-television career, he publicly identified as a gay Christian.

His 2025 religious testimony and his 2026 relationship announcement have therefore been covered together by entertainment outlets as developments in his public personal life.

As of September 2, 2026, the most recent reporting identifies Vaughan as Mallory’s girlfriend and records Mallory’s statement that the couple began dating in August.

No further public statement from Mallory clarifying how he currently describes his sexual orientation was identified in the sources reviewed.

The announcement was made on September 1, when Cyrus also revealed two performances at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl, scheduled for October 16 and October 18.

The album’s title and release date were disclosed after Cyrus had spent several days teasing a new project through her website and social-media accounts.

In the announcement materials, the singer was referred to as “Miley,” without the surname Cyrus, prompting widespread attention to the apparent change in her artist branding.

No formal explanation for the branding change was included in the reports reviewed for this article.

What Is Known About the Record

Bass Persuades is described as Cyrus’s tenth studio album and is scheduled to arrive on September 18.

The album is expected to contain 10 tracks.

Rolling Stone reported a track list that includes the title song, “Religion,” “Let’s Get Married,” “Orbit,” “Aftermath,” “REDLIGHTS,” “Signs,” “Innocent Ways” and “Snow,” along with a remix.

The reported track list includes collaborations with Model/Actriz and Andrew Wyatt, a member of Miike Snow.

The available reporting did not identify a full album track list through an official statement from Cyrus’s representatives.

Cyrus addressed the meaning of the album title in an Instagram post, writing that music can be “powerful, vulnerable, sweet and strong” and describing the title as connected to the emotional range of life.

The post also referred to experiences including a “heart full” and “heartache,” but it did not provide a complete description of the album’s songs or production.

Return to the Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl concerts will be Cyrus’s first full concerts in the United States since 2021, according to Rolling Stone.

Model/Actriz is scheduled to open the two performances.

The concerts are scheduled to take place after the release of Bass Persuades, giving Cyrus an opportunity to perform the new material publicly after the album’s September debut.

Tickets are scheduled to go on sale to the general public on September 10 through Ticketmaster.

An American Express presale is scheduled to begin September 8, followed by an artist presale on September 9.

The reported sale times are 1 p.m. Eastern Time, or 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

Recent Work and Career Context

The forthcoming record follows Something Beautiful, which was released in 2025, and Endless Summer Vacation, which arrived in 2023.

“Flowers,” a song from Endless Summer Vacation, won Cyrus the Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Something Beautiful was presented as a conceptual project and was accompanied by a film connected to the album.

The new album announcement therefore marks the next scheduled release in Cyrus’s recorded-music career, little more than a year after Something Beautiful.

The announcement also represents a change in label context: earlier reporting said Cyrus had signed with Atlantic Records after spending 13 years with Sony Music’s Columbia Records.

Earlier coverage of the project said Cyrus viewed the album as a “love story” and that it would explore love for her fiancé, Maxx Morando, as well as self-love.

Those earlier comments predated the formal announcement of the title and release date.

What Has Not Been Announced

Cyrus’s September 1 announcement established the album title, release date and Hollywood Bowl performances, but the reporting reviewed did not include details about a broader tour.

The available reports also did not confirm additional singles, music videos or a complete statement of the album’s production credits.

For now, the confirmed schedule is the album’s September 18 release followed by Cyrus’s two October performances at the Hollywood Bowl.

The returning ensemble includes Arnaud as Scott Hunter, Robbie G.K. as Christopher “Kip” Grady and Nélisse as Rose Landry.

Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova will reprise the role of Svetlana, while Christina Chang and Dylan Walsh will return as Yuna and David Hollander, Shane’s parents.

Callan Potter and Benjamin Roy are also returning as Shane’s teammates Hayden and JJ, respectively, and Kamilla Kowal will reprise the role of Jackie, Hayden’s wife.

The announcement confirms that the show’s second season will continue to draw on characters beyond its central couple, expanding the fictional professional-hockey world surrounding Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov.

The Central Relationship

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will return as Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, the professional hockey players whose secret relationship drives the series.

The first season follows Shane and Ilya as rivals whose private relationship develops alongside their careers with competing teams.

Arnaud’s Scott and Robbie G.K.’s Kip are described as a couple whose relationship helped inspire Ilya’s connection with Shane in the series.

Nélisse’s Rose was previously presented as an actress who dated Shane and later became his close friend and confidante.

The season-two casting announcement therefore restores several supporting characters connected to Shane and Ilya’s personal lives, friendships and hockey careers.

New Additions to the Season-Two Cast

The returning performers will appear alongside a previously announced group of new cast members.

Justice Smith will play Harris Drover and Charlie Gillespie will play Troy Barrett.

Daniel Diemer has joined the cast as Ryan Price, while Shaheen Jafargholi will portray Fabian Salah.

Emily Hampshire will play Vanessa, Edvin Ryding will play Luca Haas, Robert Naylor will play Wyatt Hayes, Sabrina Jalees will play Farah Jalali and Priyanka will portray Tarek.

The cast expansion was reported in stages during August, with the announcement of Hampshire, Ryding, Naylor, Jalees and Priyanka following the confirmation of Smith and Gillespie.

The August 25 casting announcement identified Diemer and Jafargholi as additional season-two performers.

Adaptation and Story Context

The series is based on Reid’s Game Changers book series, with season two set to adapt material from The Long Game, the sixth novel in the series.

The second season will also incorporate elements from Role Model, the fifth book in Reid’s series.

In The Long Game, Shane and Ilya have been in a relationship for a decade while continuing to keep it secret from the public.

The novel’s conflict centers on Ilya’s desire to make their relationship public and Shane’s concerns about the professional consequences of coming out.

The inclusion of Harris and Troy connects the upcoming season with another relationship from Reid’s fictional hockey universe, while Ryan and Fabian are the central characters of Tough Guy, the third Game Changers novel.

The returning characters also reflect the interconnected structure of Reid’s books, in which players, friends, family members and partners appear across multiple stories.

Production and Release Timing

*Heated Rivalry* was created by Jacob Tierney, who serves as a writer, director and executive producer on the series.

Brendan Brady and Jayme Alter Wilson are also executive producers, while Lori Fischburg and Liane Cunje serve as producers and Reid is credited as a consulting producer.

Mike Goldbach is the co-writer of season two.

The series is produced by Accent Aigu Entertainment in association with Bell Media’s Crave, with the Canada Media Fund participating in the commissioning of the series.

Crave airs the series in Canada, while HBO Max distributes it in the United States.

Season two is scheduled to premiere in spring 2027, although no specific premiere date has been announced.

The latest casting news arrives as the production moves toward its second season after earlier reports that filming was scheduled to begin in August 2026.

The announcement gives viewers a more complete picture of the returning ensemble but does not provide episode counts, a precise launch date or detailed production scheduling.

For LGBTQ+ viewers, the series remains notable for placing a same-gender romance between two professional athletes at the center of a mainstream sports drama, while treating the characters’ secrecy, intimacy and career pressures as ongoing parts of their story.

The confirmed return of Arnaud, Robbie G.K. and Nélisse ensures that season two will continue with familiar relationships and supporting perspectives as it broadens the adaptation beyond Shane and Ilya.

“I’m definitely feeling my age when fighting a lot,” Pattinson told GQ interviewer Cam Wolf.

The actor added: “I’m literally like, ‘Goddamn, this is significantly harder than it used to be.’”

Pattinson, who is 40, said he is working in London through the end of the year on the sequel to Matt Reeves’s 2022 film The Batman.

His comments were published as part of an interview connected to his campaign for Swiss watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre.

A Long-Awaited Sequel

The Batman: Part II brings Pattinson back as Bruce Wayne and the masked vigilante Batman after the commercial and critical release of *The Batman* in 2022.

The sequel is being directed by Reeves, who also directed the first film.

Pattinson’s remarks provide one of the clearest recent public updates from the production, although he did not disclose major plot details in the interview.

“I’m in London here till the end of the year doing a ‘Batman’ sequel,” Pattinson said.

He described the experience as positive despite the physical strain.

“It’s good,” he said.

“But it’s really fun,” he continued, adding that he thought the movie “is going to be pretty great.”

Pattinson also praised the sequel’s cast, calling it “really, really fun.”

Production and Cast

Production on the sequel began in London in June 2026, with Pattinson returning as the central performer.

Scarlett Johansson and Sebastian Stan have joined the film, although the identities of their characters have not been publicly revealed.

The secrecy surrounding the new characters has limited the amount of confirmed story information available about the film.

Pattinson characterized the filming schedule as “a marathon.”

The comment referred to the sustained demands of the production rather than to a specific injury or medical issue.

No injury was reported in the interview or in the contemporaneous coverage reviewed for this article.

The Broader 2026 Schedule

Pattinson’s Batman comments arrive during a busy year for the actor.

CNN reported that Pattinson is appearing in four films scheduled for 2026, including Primetime and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

Primetime, directed by Lance Oppenheim, casts Pattinson as television journalist Chris Hansen in a film focused on the making of To Catch a Predator.

A24 has scheduled Primetime for a theatrical release on September 25, 2026.

Pattinson’s other 2026 projects have kept him prominent in entertainment coverage while work on the Batman sequel continues.

Release Outlook

The sequel is currently expected to reach theaters in 2028.

A specific release day was not stated in the GQ interview.

The extended timetable means audiences will have to wait several years to see Pattinson return to the role in a completed film.

For now, Pattinson’s update focuses less on the sequel’s plot than on the practical reality of performing repeated fight scenes while maintaining a demanding production schedule.

His assessment was candid but broadly positive: the action work is harder than it once was, yet he remains enthusiastic about the project, its cast and its eventual prospects.

Stonestreet discussed the criticism during a joint interview with Ferguson published by The Guardian on September 1, 2026.

“What really hurt my feelings in the beginning was people saying because I was straight I didn’t want to kiss Jesse,” Stonestreet said, according to People’s account of the interview.

He rejected the idea that his sexual orientation explained the show’s early restraint around physical affection between Cameron Tucker and Mitchell Pritchett.

Stonestreet also pointed to his earlier work in the 2003 film Girls Will Be Girls, in which he appeared in a romantic scene with a drag performer.

A Relationship Under Scrutiny

Modern Family premiered in 2009 and concluded in 2020 after 11 seasons.

The series followed Cameron and Mitchell as a married same-sex couple raising their daughter, Lily, within a larger extended family.

Ferguson, who is gay, played Mitchell, while Stonestreet, who is straight, played Cameron.

That distinction became part of the public conversation surrounding the characters, particularly during the show’s early seasons.

Some viewers and commentators criticized what they saw as a lack of physical affection between the couple, including kissing and other public displays of intimacy.

The debate reflected broader questions about how same-sex relationships were represented in mainstream television and whether gay couples were being held to different standards than heterosexual couples.

In a 2013 interview with GQ, Ferguson said that the characters’ domestic life and emotional closeness communicated intimacy even when the show did not depict them kissing.

The Show’s Approach to Affection

The early criticism was incorporated into the program’s storytelling rather than treated solely as an issue outside the show.

In the season-two episode “The Kiss,” Mitchell’s discomfort with public displays of affection became a central part of the plot.

The episode connected Mitchell’s reluctance to kiss Cameron with his complicated relationship with his father, Jay Pritchett.

That narrative choice shifted the explanation away from Stonestreet’s personal identity and toward the fictional character’s family history and emotional development.

The episode also included a kiss between the characters, an on-screen moment that received attention because of the earlier discussion surrounding Cameron and Mitchell’s physical affection.

The Blast, reporting on the new interview, said Stonestreet again described the assumption that he was unwilling to kiss Ferguson as hurtful.

Ferguson’s Perspective

Ferguson has previously described feeling significant pressure as the openly gay actor portraying one half of a prominent television couple.

He said that the role brought scrutiny from LGBTQ+ viewers who wanted the characters to represent their experiences accurately.

Ferguson also acknowledged that audiences had different expectations for what Cameron and Mitchell’s relationship should look like on screen.

The Guardian’s interview presents the actors as reflecting on those pressures together, rather than describing a conflict between them.

Ferguson said there was never any doubt that Stonestreet would remain in his life, while Stonestreet described his tendency to tease people as an expression of affection.

The comments indicate that the actors’ professional partnership developed into a continuing friendship after the series ended.

Cultural Context

Modern Family’s portrayal of Cameron and Mitchell was part of a period when same-sex couples were becoming more visible in major American television comedies.

The characters were shown as parents, spouses and members of a multigenerational family rather than being defined exclusively by their sexuality.

At the same time, the couple’s visibility meant that individual creative decisions—such as when they kissed or displayed affection—were closely examined by viewers.

The renewed discussion comes as Ferguson prepares to appear in Tru at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory from September 19 through November 14, 2026.

The interview does not report a new physical injury or medical condition involving Stonestreet.

Instead, the word “hurt” refers to his feelings about the public assumption that his personal identity influenced how affection between the fictional couple was portrayed.

The couple shared the decision in a joint statement posted to Instagram as production on a potential fourth season was beginning.

“We wanted to share a quick update that we will not be returning to The Valley ” Booko and Sanchez wrote.

“We’re incredibly grateful for this experience but our priority is protecting our peace and our family,” they continued.

The statement added: “We are fully committed to each other and our beautiful children. We want to thank everyone for all the love and support you’ve shown us. Thank you to Bravo and the team for everything. We are looking forward to what the next chapter brings.”

The announcement did not identify a specific reason for the departure beyond the couple’s stated focus on their family and personal peace.

Their Time on The Valley

Booko and Sanchez joined The Valley when the series premiered in 2024 and appeared in all three seasons.

The Bravo program follows a group of friends and couples navigating relationships, parenthood and social life in California’s San Fernando Valley.

Sanchez, a former Miss USA, and Booko, an actor, have been married since October 2015.

The couple have four children: son Asher, twin daughters Isabelle and Zariah, and daughter Adelaide.

Adelaide was born in June 2025, making Booko and Sanchez a family of six.

The family’s transition to life with four young children formed part of the couple’s story during the third season.

A Season Marked by Marital Tension

Season three featured disagreements between Booko and Sanchez about parenting responsibilities, the demands of caring for their children and how much assistance they should accept from their nanny.

Sanchez described herself as feeling overwhelmed and continually in “mom mode,” while Booko argued that the couple should make greater use of available help during a cast trip to San Diego.

The disagreement escalated during the trip, including an argument in which the couple referred to the fact that they were wearing microphones for the program.

Booko later apologized publicly to Sanchez for the way he spoke to her during the conflict.

In the apology, Booko said that stress, alcohol, insufficient rest and a short temper were factors in the difficult period, while also stating that those circumstances did not justify directing his behavior toward his wife.

Sanchez subsequently said that she was not leaving Booko and characterized the conflict as part of a difficult period rather than an announcement that their marriage was ending.

In an August interview with Bravo, Sanchez said that she and Booko were in a good place and connected the season’s tension to the pressures of raising a newborn alongside their other children.

Public Reaction and the Show’s Future

Booko’s behavior during the season drew criticism from viewers and some cast members, particularly after episodes showed tense exchanges involving Sanchez and other members of the cast.

Sanchez said in June that Booko had received death threats from viewers responding to the televised conflicts.

The couple’s departure follows the conclusion of the third season’s reunion, whose third part aired on August 19.

Their announcement also arrives as the series moves toward its next production cycle. Deadline reported that season four production was ramping up when the couple announced they would not return.

Bravo had not officially announced a season-four renewal as of People’s September 2 report.

The network has not publicly announced who, if anyone, will replace Booko and Sanchez in the cast.

The couple’s statement likewise did not announce a new television project, business venture or other specific professional plans.

For now, Booko and Sanchez have framed the decision as a family-centered transition after three seasons in which their marriage and parenting life were filmed and discussed publicly.

The Season 35 roster consists of 16 celebrity contestants, including established actors, reality-television personalities, a U.S. figure-skating champion, a professional athlete, a chef, and social-media personalities.

The pairings are:

Guillermo Rodriguez | Witney Carson
Ciara Miller | Brandon Armstrong
Maura Higgins | Mark Ballas
Jackson Olson | Emma Slater
Jenna Dewan | Val Chmerkovskiy
Tyler Cameron | Sharna Burgess
Amber Glenn | Pasha Pashkov
Harry Shum Jr. | Jenna Johnson
Tatyana Ali | Jan Ravnik
Taylor Hanson | Britt Stewart
Connor Wood | Rylee Arnold
Sarah Jane Nader | Hailey Bills
Conner Leavitt | Adele Zaikman
Ezra Frech | Daniella Karagach
Giada De Laurentiis | Alan Bersten
Julia Stiles | Ezra Sosa

Four contestants had been confirmed before the full announcement: Summer House cast member Ciara Miller, Irish reality-television personality Maura Higgins, Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson, and late-night personality Guillermo Rodriguez.

Notable Contestants

Julia Stiles joins the competition after a career that includes the hit dance film Save the Last Dance and the Bourne series. Stiles will dance with professional performer Ezra Sosa.

Jenna Dewan, whose early career included work as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, will compete with Val Chmerkovskiy. Dewan is known for her breakout role in the 2006 dance film Step Up and the police drama The Rookie.

Harry Shum Jr., known for Grey’s Anatomy, Crazy Rich Asians, and Glee, will be paired with Jenna Johnson. The actor also has prior experience as a professional dancer and choreographer.

Amber Glenn, a U.S. figure skating champion, will compete with Pasha Pashkov. If Glenn wins the competition, she would become the fourth figure skater to claim the show’s Mirrorball Trophy.

Tatyana Ali, the actor and singer best known for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is paired with Jan Ravnik. Giada De Laurentiis will compete with Alan Bersten, while Paralympian gold medalist Ezra Frech will dance with Daniella Karagach.

Previously Announced Competitors

Guillermo Rodriguez will dance with Witney Carson. Carson is returning to the series ballroom while pregnant.Rodriguez became a familiar television personality after being discovered while working as a security guard at a Hollywood studio. During the official announcement, Rodriguez said, “I’m excited! I’m very happy.”

Maura Higgins, who will dance with Mark Ballas, is known to U.S. audiences for appearing on The Traitors and to U.K. audiences for Love Island. Higgins and Ballas previously crossed paths during her time on The Traitors.

Jackson Olson, an infielder for the Savannah Bananas, will be paired with Emma Slater. Olson has millions of followers across TikTok and Instagram.

Returning Hosts and Judges

Carrie Ann Inaba, Derek Hough, and Bruno Tonioli are returning as judges for Season 35. Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough are returning as co-hosts.

The series pairs public figures with professional dancers, who train them for ballroom performances judged throughout the competition.

Premiere Details

Season 35 is scheduled to begin with a live two-night premiere on September 15 and 16. The full network announcement came following a campaign in which several contestants were disclosed individually before presenting the full field.

The Season 35 cast brings together performers with established dance backgrounds and contestants entering ballroom competition from television, sports, food media, and online entertainment.

Addressing the crowd during her last concert in London Tuesday before she takes a break from the public eye, the singer was full of emotion and gratitude.

Grande thanked the audience and called The Eternal Sunshine Tour one of “most beautiful, extraordinary, experiences” of her life.

The music star confirmed in August that she’d be taking time out after the conclusion of her live shows, with the final leg being a 10-date run at London’s O2 Arena.

On stage, Grande has admitted to being emotional about the tour coming to an end after 41 dates, which also took place in the U.S. and Canada before the U.K. On Tuesday, she tried to speak “without sobbing completely,” she said.

“I’ll cherish this experience always. I have the best fans in the entire world and I always have,” she said.

A representative for Grande told People magazine in August that the 33-year-old singer “will be taking a step back from visibility" after the tour.

“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily, and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which has led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny,” the statement said.

In a social media post on Monday, ahead of the penultimate night, Grande warned fans that she had to swap out her trademark six-inch heeled platform boots after cutting her foot.

She reassured them that she was on the mend, even if she was a few inches shorter on stage.

While Grande wasn’t in her highest heels, her followers still were; the audience dressed up in her style with stilettos, cat ears and ponytails — something the star noticed.

“Thank you for all of your effort and continuing to make this so special. I have loved every minute of this with you all,” Grande said.

The concert concludes with Grande summoned back, sci-fi style, to a spacecraft as she ascends to the mothership in a beam of light.

It’s not known when she will next be seen on earth, although Grande’s most recent album “Petal” will certainly be a fixture at September’s MTV Video Music Awards, where she’s in the running for artist of the year.

Bailey confirmed the decision in a statement shared on social media and reported by multiple outlets. He wrote that Ariana Grande was “one of my dearest friends” and that his support for her was “unwavering.” Bailey also described director Marianne Elliott as “one of my longest collaborators and friends.”

“After much consideration, I have decided to also step back from Sunday in the Park with George,” Bailey said. He called the musical a “brilliant, introspective” work and said it had been “a real passion project” for him.

Bailey said he felt “incredibly lucky” to have shared in the production’s journey with its creative team. He added that the story explores “the deep connection between George and Dot” and expressed anticipation about what the replacement performers would create in the roles.

Grande’s Earlier Exit

Grande announced in August that she was stepping back from the production as part of a wider decision to take a break from public-facing work after completing her current tour. Her representative cited what Grande described as “endless, ongoing public scrutiny.”

Grande had been scheduled to appear opposite Bailey in the production at London’s Barbican Centre in summer 2027. The musical was expected to mark Grande’s return to the stage in a major theatrical role after her appearance as Glinda in the Wicked films.

Following Grande’s withdrawal, Empire Street Productions said the production would proceed as planned and that her role would be recast. The company said it understood Grande’s decision and offered her its support.

The production’s position changed after Bailey’s departure was announced on September 1. An Empire Street Productions representative told the Press Association that Bailey had informed producers he had also decided to step back after Grande’s withdrawal.

Production Plans

Empire Street Productions said work on the production was continuing. The company said casting discussions were “actively under way” and that the creative team was reshaping the production around a new company while preserving the ambition and artistic integrity of Sondheim and Lapine’s musical.

Variety reported that a representative for Empire Street Productions confirmed the show would continue at the Barbican Centre in London. The production’s official website says tickets are expected to go on sale in autumn 2026.

The Barbican’s event listing identifies the planned musical as a production directed by Elliott. The venue previously said its theatre team was continuing preparations for a summer 2027 opening.

No replacement actors for George or Dot had been announced in the reports available on September 1. Empire Street Productions said further casting and production details would be announced later.

The Musical and Its Creative Team

Sunday in the Park With George has music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine. The musical takes inspiration from Georges Seurat’s painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

The work follows the fictional artist George and his relationship with Dot, who serves as a model and companion, before extending its focus to later generations of the characters’ families. The musical won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The planned revival was to reunite Bailey and Grande after their roles as Fiyero and Glinda in the Wicked film adaptations. Elliott was set to direct, with Tom Scutt responsible for the design.

Elliott previously directed Bailey in the West End revival of Sondheim’s Company. The director’s involvement in the new production remains part of the announced creative plans.

Bailey’s withdrawal leaves the revival without either of the two performers originally announced as its central leads. The producers have not announced whether the revised production will retain the previously planned staging, design or schedule beyond their statement that work is continuing toward the Barbican engagement.

The immediate next step is the casting of a new company for the musical. Until those announcements are made, the identities of the performers who will play George and Dot, and any resulting changes to the production, remain unconfirmed.

The reported production window comes from a new listing in Production Weekly, an industry publication that tracks film and television production information. The listing represents a significant update for the project because filming had previously been expected to begin in Hungary during 2025.

Gay Times also reported that there had been no substantial public updates on Rapture after the earlier announcement of its principal cast and proposed Hungarian shoot. Gayety described the October listing as the clearest indication yet that the production may be moving forward, while noting that the project had apparently been delayed.

The October schedule should be treated as a reported production target rather than confirmation that cameras have begun rolling. The reports do not identify a specific first day of filming, and no official production announcement confirming the start date has been cited.

A plague-era story

Rapture is set in Yorkshire in 1348, during the arrival of the Black Death in the British Isles. The story centres on 10 monks living at the remote Lansley Abbey, whose isolated religious community is disrupted when a messenger arrives carrying news of a spreading illness.

The messenger is reportedly showing signs of infection, and the disease begins as a haemorrhagic fever before transforming victims into “revenants,” or undead creatures. As outsiders seek refuge at the abbey, the monks must decide whether to admit people who may be sick or close the gates to protect the monastery and the knowledge held inside it.

The resulting conflict reportedly involves betrayal, violence and the breakdown of the community’s established order. The film has been described by its coverage as queer body horror, medieval zombie horror and an “undead romance.”

Director and writer Jordan Tannahill has said that the narrative will focus on “the deep, passionate relationship between these two young monks who have grown up together.” The identities of the actors who will play the two monks have not been announced.

The cast and creative team

Connor, Poulter and Ríos were announced as the film’s central cast. Connor is known for Heartstopper, Poulter has appeared in Midsommar, and Ríos is known for Élite.

The film will mark Tannahill’s feature directorial debut. Tannahill is a Canadian playwright and director who has described Rapture as a “juicy” and “terrifying” project.

Elevation Pictures, 2AM and Brookstreet Pictures are attached as production companies. Eli Arenson, identified in the reports as the cinematographer of Lamb, is attached as director of photography.

The reported casting reunites Connor and Poulter after their appearances together in Alex Garland’s Warfare. Ríos has also appeared in the queer film Strange Way of Life.

Distribution and release

IFC and Shudder have acquired United States distribution rights to Rapture. True Brit is attached to the United Kingdom release.

No official release date has been announced. Gayety reported that audiences should probably not expect the film before 2027 at the earliest, although that timing is not an announced release date.

The reported October filming target therefore provides an updated production expectation, but not a confirmed premiere timetable. Until the producers or distributors issue a formal statement, the start date, final filming locations and release schedule remain subject to change.