Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who needs a mental health break from the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce engagement vortex.

Three years after “The Terminal List” ended its first season, Prime Video’s prequel to the military-espionage thriller arrives. The debut season of the flagship series concluded with — spoiler alert! — Navy SEAL commander James Reece (Chris Pratt) discovering his closest ally, Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) was involved in the ambush mission that led to the death of his platoon, as well as his wife and daughter. “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” traces Ben’s journey from Navy SEAL to CIA operative. Creator and showrunner David DiGilio stopped by to discuss expanding the Jack Carr book universe and working with Kitsch.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our streaming recommendations are different types of nostalgia plays: Noah Hawley’s timely television prequel to the ‘Alien’ film franchise that is set on Earth, and “Gunsmoke,” the classic western that first hit TV screens 70 years ago and is finding new life in the streaming era.

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Must-read stories you might have missed

Olivia Colman, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch of “The Roses,” a remake of “The War of the Roses,” photographed in London in June.

(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch are a match made in heaven — or, in ‘The Roses,’ hell: They’ve known each other for years, but having the opportunity to spar in a savage new take on ‘The War of the Roses’ was too good for the longtime friends to pass up.

How Taylor Kitsch became Hollywood’s go-to actor (and veterans’ favorite) for military roles: The star of ‘The Terminal List: Dark Wolf’ discusses his new prequel series and how, with the help of military veterans, he learned to embody a Navy SEAL.

Telluride Film Festival returns with an eclectic mix of politics, auteur visions and the Boss: The 52nd edition blends star power and auteurs, with world premieres from Scott Cooper, Chloé Zhao and Edward Berger, plus new work from Yorgos Lanthimos and Noah Baumbach.

Inside romance queen Emily Henry’s literary empire and soon-to-be cinematic universe: The author has become the master of the contemporary romance novel, publishing six bestsellers since 2020. Now, five are being adapted into movies and shows.

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Sydney Chandler as Wendy in FX’s “Alien: Earth.”

(Patrick Brown / FX)

“Alien: Earth” (Hulu, Disney+)

Reimagining a nearly 50-year-old franchise like “Alien” isn’t for the faint of heart (or stomach). The iconic sci-fi horror saga has already spawned a tangled web of sequels, prequels and spin-offs of wildly varying quality. But Noah Hawley — who turned “Fargo” and “Legion” into bold, brainy extensions of their cinematic roots — brings a jolt of fresh, unnerving life to “Alien: Earth.” The horror is real, the xenomorphs still terrifying (and, yes, there are new critters too). But this isn’t just eight hours of people running from acid-blooded monsters. It’s a sprawling, idea-rich vision of a future ruled by tech oligopolies, where minds are uploaded into synthetic bodies and morality is outsourced to machines — a world as indebted to Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” as his original “Alien.” The monsters are back, but the deeper thrill is how Hawley keeps you thinking even as you’re bracing for the next kill. Now midway through its eight‑episode run, “Alien: Earth” doesn’t just extend a franchise. It reanimates it with a mind of its own and a brand-new set of fangs. — Josh Rottenberg

James Arness, Amanda Blake, Ken Curtis and Milburn Stone in “Gunsmoke.”

(CBS)

“Gunsmoke” (Peacock, Pluto TV)

I long for the simple times when my family and I would gather around the television to watch the latest episode of “Gunsmoke.” The drama that featured James Arness as no-nonsense Marshal Matt Dillon was a staple in millions of households throughout its 20-year run, which ended in 1975. In the streaming era, “Gunsmoke” is now sparking a lot of new heat, and has ranked at least twice among Nielsen’s top 10 list of most-streamed acquired series. Beginning Saturday, MeTV will kick off a month-long 70th anniversary salute to the drama, airing specially-themed weeks such as “Best Characters of Dodge City” and five made-for-TV movies. — Greg Braxton

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch), James Reece (Chris Pratt) in “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf.”

(Justin Lubin / Prime)

Taylor Kitsch rose to fame with his portrayal of brooding football player Tim Riggins on “Friday Night Lights,” but he’s spent a good portion of his career since then stepping into the military mindset — as my former colleague Michael Ordoña astutely unpacked in his profile of the actor. With “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf,” which further expands Jack Carr’s book universe, Kitsch reprises his role as Navy SEAL-turned-CIA operative Ben Edwards in Prime Video’s prequel to 2022’s Chris Pratt-led series. Premiering its first three episodes earlier this week, the series takes place five years before the events of the first season of “The Terminal List” and explores Ben’s origin story and his crisis of faith that eventually led to his betrayal of James Reece (Pratt). Showrunner David DiGilio stopped by Screen Gab recently to discuss why Ben is a worthwhile character for a spin-off, the story behind that AC/DC needle drop and more. — Yvonne Villarreal

What was it about the story of Ben Edwards that resonated with you and made you so passionate about wanting to explore his origin story?

Ben is an ever-evolving character. He was different in the book than he was in our scripts for Season 1 of “The Terminal List.” Then Taylor arrived and brought a whole new layer of empathy, complexity and danger to the role. Unlike Reece, who represents a light wolf character pulled into a dark place by a conspiracy, Ben Edwards is a man with innate darkness inside him. But he also values loyalty, brotherhood and freedom. And that dichotomy in a character means we can give Taylor a ton of great stuff to play. It makes Ben unpredictable. And we get to watch how Ben evolves from a leader in the SEAL Teams to a Black Side Operator who thinks he can use his dark wolf for good.

You had involvement from real veterans in the making of the series, including in the writing of the season. There are seven episodes and five were written by veterans. Walk me through finding the voices to join the room and how did that enrich discussion as you broke stories?

As we were making Season 1 of the flagship series, we made a commitment to military authenticity. The lived experience is what defines Jack Carr’s writing in the books, and we wanted to make sure it translated to the shows. During Season 1 of “The Terminal List,” two military veteran storytellers in particular — Max Adams, a former Army Ranger, and Jared Shaw, a former Navy SEAL — really stepped up our action and authenticity and our storytelling overall. When it came time for “Dark Wolf,” we elevated Max and Jared to executive producer[s]. And we were able to include Jack Carr in more of the writing and creating side of the show as well. But we didn’t stop there. We brought writer-producer Kenny Sheard — also a former SEAL — into the writers room and brought back Ray Mendoza — a former SEAL and technical advisor on Season 1 — to second unit direct. So, between Max, Jared, Kenny, Ray and Jack Carr himself, I don’t think you have a show that’s more committed to getting it right for the military veteran audience.

Is there a personal connection — for you or the veterans who worked on the show — behind the use of AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” to score the time jump in the first episode?

Interesting story. We were trying to use Led Zeppelin for that training montage in the pilot. The band is notoriously tricky to clear, but we made it to about the five yard line before it got denied. Sadly, we’d been temp-editing with that song for months and were all quite attached. So we now had to pivot … quickly. We found AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” by asking our military veteran storytellers for bands/songs that were big for them during deployments. AC/DC was near the top of the list, and the civilian side of our EP team had connections to the music as well. We tried three AC/DC songs for the sequence, and “Hells Bells” was a no-brainer. But, truly, a classic example of the adage “don’t fall in love with the temp.” We made this music selection way tougher than it needed to be!

Tell us a good story about Taylor Kitsch and his time on the inflatable boat.

I think the biggest thing we learned from putting Taylor on that boat in the pilot is that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Meaning, Budapest production is very different than production in the U.S. In the States, you would have a full “marine unit” dedicated to getting a scene like that. Half a dozen camera boats and follow boats built specifically to capture that sequence. In Budapest, we were tying camera men down on the boat itself, and turning tourist river boats into parts of our armada. Boats could not keep up with those beastly gunship engines. Smaller boats got waked. We got the scene, and we got it safely. But after the ease of filming the flagship series in Los Angeles, I think that day told all of us that Budapest would be a city with unique production challenges. But I give a huge hat tip to the Budapest crew, because even on a day like that, they never complained. And I think having the cast and American crew together in a foreign city really helped bond us all into one big family.

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

My last watch was probably while flying to and from South Africa and Toronto for the filming of “The Terminal List” Season 2. I downloaded and binged “Adolescence” [Netflix] and Season 2 of “Andor” [Disney+]. I’m surprised more folks don’t talk about “Andor.” It’s probably the most smartly-written show on streaming these days. A World War II resistance film wrapped up in incredible sci-fi visuals. And on “Adolescence,” the performances were incredible. But note to all, whatever you do, don’t watch that show’s finale in a crowded airport lounge in London. I was bawling.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

Might not surprise folks to hear, but it’s either “Saving Private Ryan” [Prime Video, Pluto TV] or “Gladiator” [Prime Video, Paramount +]. Both movies capture the warrior’s ethos and sense of brotherhood that we strive for in the “Terminal List” shows. They also combine great action with big emotional character-driven scenes. Hollywood’s balance of VFX and character work was probably at its zenith right around the turn of the century. So I love to rewatch those films as a reminder of the balance I strive for in my writing, and for the balance we try to build into the Jack Carr Universe shows.