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Joel McHale and Sarah Hyland Enter “Dimension 404”
Anthologies are hotter than ever and now Hulu is getting into the mix with “Dimension 404,”inspired by the internet’s “404” error code.
“Dimension 404” aims to evoke that 3 a.m. feeling of wandering onto the weird side of the web, stumbling upon stories that cannot be explained in the world that we know. Each episode will explore a different bizarre mystery, including an obscure cartoon that may hold the secret to time travel or energy drinks perhaps causing a global apocalypse.
“The X-Files” and Deliver Us From Evil‘s Joel McHale and “Modern Family‘s” Sarah Hyland, pictured below in Satanic, have signed on to “Dimension 404,” Hulu’s six-episode sci-fi/fantasy anthology scripted series from RocketJump and Lionsgate.
Deadline explains that McHale will appear alongside Michele and Buckley in a separate episode as Mr. Maker, a charismatic, eccentric yet slightly patronizing founder of a matchmaking company that offers single adults a seemingly perfect solution to finding love. Hyland will play the female lead in a stand-alone, hour-long episode as Chloe, an unassumingly cute, typically independent high school student just discovering that boys are into her. With her older classmates’ opinions increasingly taking on more importance, Chloe pushes her uncle/best pal, Dusty, to take her to a screening of a new sci-fi action film in a fresh, never-before-seen cinematic format – “Cinethrax” – which gives the audience a strange, perilous movie-going experience.
Lea Michele, Robert Buckley and Ryan Lee will also star in the upcoming six-part project, Variety recently reported, with Michele and Buckley starring together as love interests in one of the episodes, and Lee starring in another of the stand-alone, hourlong episodes.
The “Glee” and “Scream Queens” star will play the Amanda, an attractive, witty, ambitious, type-A gal with a warm heart, who turns to matchmaker services to suit her rebound dating needs after a bad breakup.
Buckley, who stars on the CW’s “iZombie,” will play the male lead opposite Michele. His character Adam is described as emotionally vulnerable and a bit naïve. Adam falls hard for Amanda (Michele), his online date from a matchmaking service, and drops “I love you” too soon — prompting her to “swipe left” on him. Their breakup forces Adam to confront a multitude of truths about his life.
In a separate episode from the one starring Michele and Buckley, Lee (“Goosebumps,” “Trophy Wife”), will play the lead, Andrew, a teenage introvert and video game addict. Secretly gay, Andrew is viciously bullied by classmates and only finds comfort and courage at Ernie’s Arcade where he discovers a mysterious, never-played arcade game called Polybius, and investigates its dark and bloody provenance. His episode is set in 1982.
The scripted series hails from digital studio RocketJump, and is created by Dez Dolly and Will Campos with co-creators Dan Johnson and David Welch. “Dimension 404” is exec produced by Freddie Wong, Matthew Arnold and Dolly who will serve as showrunner. Lionsgate is distributing the series.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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