‘Always Sunny’ gangs up on ‘Abbott Elementary’ and ‘The Golden Bachelor’ in new trailer

Hey, Popculturology readers. Welcome to this summer edition of the weekly newsletter. Hopefully you’re staying cool as the first big heat wave of the season hits.

Book nook

Here’s what I’ve been reading this week …

• T-Shirt Swim Club: Stories from Being Fat in a World of Thin People (Ian Karmel and Alisa Karmel)
• Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream (Megan Greenwell)
• Artificial Condition (Martha Wells)

NEWS, NOTES & TRAILERS

🍿 A new season rises for Always Sunny

Going into Season 16 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the show’s trio of dudes — Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Glenn Howerton — were ubiquitous. They hosted a weekly podcast, not only walking us through those early episodes of Always Sunny but also giving us a behind-the-scenes look at how they were creating the upcoming season.

But as they got busier with other projects, the podcast disappeared. The Always Sunny Podcast hasn’t dropped a new episode since July 10, 2023. Almost two years ago. (Howerton says the show is over and they “got rid of the podcast studio.”) That last episode premiered as Always Sunny’s sixteenth season was nearing the end of its run on FXX.

After an almost two-year absence, Always Sunny returns next month. We got our first full trailer for the new season this week.

If you’ve been watching Abbott Elementary on ABC, you caught the first half of its crossover with Always Sunny earlier this year. We’ll see another side of that storyline during Season 17 of Always Sunny. The corporate synergy doesn’t stop there, with Danny DeVito’s Frank becoming the Golden Bachelor.

I’ll always welcome new episodes of It’s Always Sunny Philadelphia. The show has consistently found new ways to reinvent itself over its two-decade run. I only wish they didn’t quickly burn off episodes like they have in recent seasons. Let the show breathe! You don’t have to speed through them two at a time.

Dune Messiah casts Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya’s kids

The third Dune movie exists in a weird place. Warner Bros. has reserved a Dec. 18, 2026, for an unnamed movie that we all just assume is Dune Messiah. The film hasn’t been officially announced. (We don’t actually know if they’re going to with that title.) Jason Momoa has confirmed he’s coming back. And now we’re getting news that actors have been cast to play Leto II and Ghanima, the twin children of Paul Atreides and Chani.