Goodbye 2025, hello 2026! The New Year usually brings about resolutions, as well as predictions for what will happen in the coming months. I’m landing somewhere in the middle with things I want to manifest. Maybe these will happen, maybe they won’t, but I know I will be excited and writing about it for this blog if they do.
Maybe this year you’re trying to exercise more or drink more water. The good thing is you can read this as you lay on a yoga mat or grab an ice cold drink straight from the tap (or a Brita filter if you prefer). Happy New Year!
KJ Apa Press Tour for Jimmy
Burns & Co. Entertainment via YouTube
The minute I saw the teaser for KJ Apa starring as Hollywood legend James Stewart, my brain completely broke. He sounded completely different from Archie Andrews of Riverdale…and even Mr. Fantasy if the rumors are true. He sounded almost like Jimmy Stewart, but also, like, not??? Is this the Austin Butler School of Accents we’re seeing here? Is Apa going to be talking like this all year, on the red carpet and in his acceptance speeches and his SNL debut? Maybe, just maybe, Apa can be the first Riverdale alum to be Oscar nominated (his former co-star, Charles Melton, was so close two years ago!!)
Beyoncé’s Rock Album
The rumors have been all but confirmed that this will be the year that Beyoncé turns heavy metal. First it was dance…then it was country…now it’s time for Queen Bey to pick up a guitar and scream into the night as fire bursts out from a speaker on stage.
A Patrick Dempsey Comeback
FOX via YouTube
Patrick Dempsey will be starring in his first primetime network drama since his departure from Grey’s Anatomy in 2015. You could say People Magazine started the McDreamy comeback in 2023 when they named him Sexiest Man Alive. With his new show, Memory of a Killer, Dempsey plays a hitman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which is quite the contrast from the doctor character that made him a household name. Maybe Ellen Pompeo will cameo.
Ryan Gosling on SNL to Promote Project Hail Mary
Ryan Gosling should’ve gotten an Oscar for his performance here (SNL via YouTube)
Ryan Gosling has had so many iconic Saturday Night Live skits it’s a shock that he hasn’t been inducted into the Five-Timers Club yet. There’s “Close Encounter,” “Santa Baby,” “Papyrus,” and perhaps most recently, “Beavis and Butt-Head.” Gosling’s latest movie, Project Hail Mary, releases March 20, meaning it’s the perfect time for him to stop by studio 8H. If we’re lucky, we’ll get another instantly iconic skit in Gosling’s already impressive pantheon.
Dancing with the Stars Predictions
Dancing with the Stars was huge this year. It was so big it had the largest audience of 18-49 year-olds watching live since the Friends finale aired in 2004. That means even though we’re nine months away from the next season, it’s time to start predicting who should be on it (you never know when they’ll make a surprise announcement on Good Morning America, after all).
I think it’s definitely time for a One Tree Hill alum to join, especially considering there’s a reboot in the works (perhaps Bethany Joy Lenz or James Lafferty). There’s a good chance that they’ll pluck someone from the upcoming 4th season of The Traitors, both because Dylan Efron did so well last year (on both Traitors and DWTS) and pro dancer Mark Ballas will be on this time around. My prediction would be upcoming Traitors contestant and Olympic figure skater Tara Lipinski, as figure skaters generally have a good track record on DWTS and the Winter Olympics are this year. DWTS will also almost certainly pick a social media influencer and/or podcaster. For this I would pick Hannah Berner, host of the podcast Giggly Squad and a guest star on The Bachelor last year. When season 35 rolls around, in the words of Dua Lipa, I will be ready to dance the night away.
Tracker’s Cliffhanger
Tracker ended on such a shocking cliffhanger it’s been living in my head rent-free for weeks. A quick recap: Colter (Justin Hartley) was driving his friend Keaton (Brent Sexton), who had been shot, to the hospital, when an unknown assailant shot Colter through the window of his car, which then careened off a cliff as we ended on a “To Be Continued.”
Now, obviously, we know that Colter doesn’t die because then there would be no show. But what about his friend Keaton? Who shot Colter?? How do they get out of this mess??? March seems like too long of a wait. But I have waited longer for cliffhangers before–I somehow went an entire week without spoiling the mid-season premiere of season 4 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine for myself when I was on a school field trip in Washington DC. So this should be a piece of cake.
Timmy vs. Leo for Best Actor this Awards Season…
Two of the greatest living actors are competing head-to-head for awards this season. Leonardo DiCaprio is up for his performance One Battle After Another. Timothée Chalamet (usually seen as a younger Leo) is up for his performance in Marty Supreme. It’s definitely going to be close. The Academy Awards have historically not given DiCaprio his flowers (he finally won Best Actor on his fifth acting nomination) while Chalamet would be one of the youngest Best Actor winners ever (he nearly won last year for A Complete Unknown but lost to Adrien Brody, who is the youngest Best Actor winner when he received his first trophy in 2003 for The Pianist). One Battle is currently considered the frontrunner for Best Picture, which are usually won alongside acting trophies (see: Cillian Murphy and Oppenheimer in 2024 and Mikey Madison and Anora in 2025). But could Chalamet’s insane social media-driven press tour win people over? Or will a different actor win entirely? We should get our first indication for the way the race is going when the Critics Choice Awards air on January 4.
…And Looking Ahead to the 2027 Oscars
Universal Pictures via YouTube
Considering that the 2027 Oscars race begins almost immediately after the 2026 awards are handed out, it’s already time to start looking ahead. On the movie front, we have Steven Spielberg’s Departure Day, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, a sequel to 2010’s widely acclaimed The Social Network. The Odyssey is Nolan’s first movie since his Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, and stars an incredible cast including Matt Damon in the lead role alongside Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, and Robert Pattison.
Speaking of the latter two, R. Patts and Zendaya will be in three movies together this upcoming year–one of them has to give them acting nominations, right??? Maybe I’m still salty about Challengers getting blanked at the Oscars, but Zendaya and Challengers co-star Josh O’Connor have to receive Oscar noms someday (they both already have Emmy wins, so they’re already covered on the TV front). This could be the year, as O’Connor will be starring in Spielberg’s Departure Day alongside Emily Blunt. Spielberg’s last film, The Fabelmans, was nominated for seven Oscars, and Blunt was previously nominated for Oppenheimer (everything in Oscar-land is connected).
I could go on–Hathaway will be in five films this upcoming year. The Social Reckoning will feature Oscar winner Mikey Madison and Oscar nominee Jeremy Strong, as well as going-for-his-first-nom Jeremy Allen White. There are so many movies this year to be excited for. It’s going to be a great year for pop culture, I can just feel it.
The Pop Culture Pundit 
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