Casey Bloys is not prepared to say much about the near-term future of HBO under Paramount — it’s simply not his place, he said (several times) on Thursday.
To everyone else in the industry, Bloys is clearly poised to lead the combined streaming efforts of HBO (and Discovery) and Paramount once the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merga-merger officially closes on Oct. 6. To make room, the former Paramount+ and Pluto TV chief Cindy Holland is leaving; Bloys still has a year remaining on his WBD deal.
At Bloomberg‘s 2026 Screentime event, Bloys was asked to discuss his pretty immediate professional future. Like, for starters, is he getting the top streaming job?
“Obviously there was news this week, and obviously there’s news across the board. I will say that the merger is not closed,” Bloys responded. “I believe that David (Ellison) and the team want to announce their leadership structure — it’s not mine to announce, so I don’t have any news for you to confirm.”
OK, fine — but what about the streaming platforms themselves? Will HBO Max and Paramount+ combine into one giant direct-to-consumer service?
“I would say that I don’t want to comment on what is going to happen or anything like that, but I would point to the HBO Max-Disney bundle, which has been very successful,” Bloys said.
“So could you see something like that happening? That would make a lot of sense,” he asked and then answered.
David Ellison is presently the CEO of Paramount Skydance; Mattel’s Ynon Kreiz has been named co-CEO. Bloys does not believe either man is out to change what the best brand in prestige TV has done so well for decades.
“I’ve had conversations with David, and he is very, very excited, very respectful of what the HBO team has done — not just in my tenure — but the entire history of HBO, and he’s excited,” Bloys said. “So I think, as in all of the owners that we have had, we have had people come in genuinely excited and wanting to maintain what we’ve done, and I believe that he will do that.”

It’s no secret that the Heated Rivalry fandom can be, well, intense.
Since the hit Canadian show premiered on Crave last year, the steamy hockey-themed series grown into a full-on cultural phenomenon—and its lead stars, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, are at the center of all the feral energy. The two actors have now earned top high-fashion contracts (Storrie at Saint Laurent, Williams at Balenciaga), attended the Met Gala, and garnered hundreds of fan accounts devoted to documenting their each and every move.
Both of their A-list impact in the fashion world is clearly tangible—but even more so for the smaller, independent designers that they now choose to wear. Case in point: This week in New York, Williams attended the Kate Spade New York Global Summit on Women’s Mental Health event, and wore a striking knit cardigan by the Canada-based Indigenous designer Justin Jacob Louis. Just moments after Williams donned his blue-and-black striped “Journey” sweater, which retails for $350, the style instantly sold out online. “It’s pretty surreal,” Louis tells Vogue. “It’s cool when somebody who has that much influence sees and appreciates your work.”
It was a meaningful moment that extended beyond just earning a splashy celebrity placement: Williams chose to wear Louis’s sweater on Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Day, which honors the history of Indigenous children who were forcibly taken from their homes and forced into Canada’s residential school system, a movement that lasted until 1996. (He also wore an orange ribbon, the day’s official symbolic color.) “Love that he’s giving a nod to the day,” wrote a Williams fan on Instagram. “He knows that this will generate sales of the sweater, thus supporting that Indigenous artist as well as just bringing the awareness of Indigenous artists to the forefront.”
For Louis, the impact was instantly felt: The brand gained hundreds of new followers as a result, and the sighting also earned the designer thousands of dollars in sales. Below, Louis shares more of the story behind how his viral cardigan placement came to be.
Vogue: So, how did this whole thing begin?
Louis: I was told that Hudson wanted to support an Indigenous designer for [Canada’s] Truth and Reconciliation Day. He was very intentional about wanting to wear something by an Indigenous designer, and he must have been doing some research and came across my stuff. He found that cardigan, fell in love with it, and wanted to wear it for the red carpet in New York. That’s the coolest thing you can ask for as an Indigenous designer: We make our stuff for everybody! We love to see other people wear it.
What inspired the specific design of that cardigan?
The design is called “The Journey.” It’s actually from a dream I had about being back home at my dad’s. In the dream, I was wondering where all my ancestors were. It was in the wintertime, and when you look over the prairies, you see all of the blue hues from the moon. That’s where the tipi and the colors come from: It represents the time in winter when the moon is big and lights the prairies up. The stars represent where my ancestors were: In the dream, the stars turned into eyeballs to represent my ancestors looking down on me. The sweater represents being far away from home and feeling disconnected, but realizing that your ancestors are with you always.
Who reached out from Hudson’s team to get it?
His agent chased us down last week to buy the piece. I get emails like that all the time, and I usually ignore them because I think it’s just people wanting free shit. But then she DM’d my personal account and said it was for Hudson. I just so happened to have one in my studio in his size, so it worked out. We had more in our warehouse, but it was a last-minute request, and the shipping times were going to take too long. Then someone from his team drove all the way from Vancouver up to my house to pick it up on Sunday.
Wow, the dedication! Then he wore it this week. When did you realize?
As soon as he wore it, people went and bought every single last one of those cardigans. I had almost forgotten about it. Yesterday was Truth and Reconciliation Day, so I wasn’t thinking about trying to sell anything—I was just spending time with my family. I went for a paddle on the lake at 11:30, and I got back at 12:30. I came back and looked at my phone, and all of a sudden my phone was blowing up. I was like, “What’s going on?” Then I realized that he wore it, because fan pages were tagging me on social media. I looked at the cardigans on the site and realized we had $12,000 in sales from it. I had so many DMs, and had a couple hundred followers added. The amount of eyes on all of my social media was pretty wild.
That’s a big sales day. How did that compare, say, to a normal day?
A day like that is the difference between being able to pay some bills at the end of the month. It definitely creates some breathing room for a small business like ours. People think we have a lot of money—we don’t. We’re always grinding. Sometimes, that amount of sales takes half a month, depending on the time of year—so to do that in one day is huge. We’ve had some big sales days before, but usually it’s on a drop day—not a random Wednesday.
So, are you going to restock the cardigan again?
We only had 60 units left in stock—there wasn’t a lot left—but it sold out. I opened up a few pre-orders for it, because the requests kept coming in. But the whole point of the brand is not to overproduce: It’s about exclusive and limited releases. Though, there is a knit hoodie version [of that cardigan] that I have been wanting to release, so maybe I will. If people really appreciate and want something, you want to try your best to get that to them.
What can people score now, if they couldn’t get their hands on the cardigan?
There are some really nice coats and lettermen jackets. A lot of pieces from my first collection are still there, including some hoodies.
Do you hope to dress Hudson again for his Heated Rivalry season two press tour, perhaps?
I hope so! I’ve stayed in touch. They said he really likes some other things. I gifted him one of the letterman jackets. There might be some opportunities in the future—and I’m 100 percent down.

Chase Infiniti has chosen her first film role since breaking out with the best picture winner One Battle After Another.
Infiniti will star in the mysterious horror feature Portrait of God, which hails from rising director Dylan Clark, who wrote the script with Joe Russo. No plot details were available, but sources describe it as a new twist on religious horror. Clark released a short film of the same name online in 2022, wracking up millions of views in the process.
Portrait of God was once set up at Universal, but the studio quietly let it go earlier this year, making it available for Lionsgate to move in and greenlight it. It has a high flying list of producers, including Sam Raimi for Ghost House Pictures and Jordan Peele for Monkeypaw, marking the first time the two horror maestros have collaborated.
Also producing are Ghost House’s Rob Tapert and Monkeypaw’s Win Rosenfeld, along with Russo. Romel Adam and Jose Cañas ovrsee for Ghost House. For Monkeypaw, Chris Rosati is executive producing thru his first look deal at his NAT20 Films banner
Infiniti broke out with Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, her feature debut that won six Oscars. Her followup film The Julia Set, shot before One Battle made her a name, recently bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival and is on the hunt for a buyer.
Clark is a rising new filmmaker, who came up by posting his high-horror short films to YouTube that amassed millions of views. That got him Hollywood’s attention, and before Portrait, he will make his feature directorial debut with the reboot of the Blair Witch Project for Lionsgate and Blumhouse Atomic Monster. The deal comes as there is an arms race for young horror talent, with Curry Barker’s Obsession and Kane Parson’s Backrooms becoming breakout hits of the summer.
“We’re delighted to deepen our creative partnership with Dylan Clark, whose remarkable talent and distinctive perspective make him one of the most exciting emerging voices in horror,” said Lionsgate film boss Adam Fogelson. “With Sam and Jordan, two of the genre’s most influential producers, the extraordinary Chase Infiniti starring, and Dylan at the helm, this is an exceptional creative team. We believe they have all the ingredients for a film that is haunting, thought-provoking, and scary as hell.”
Added Clark: “With Blair Witch, I’m experiencing firsthand the trust Lionsgate places in its filmmakers, and I couldn’t be happier that Portrait of God has found a home there as well. I’m also thrilled to welcome Chase Infiniti to our team. She blew me away in One Battle After Another and is one of the most exciting young actors working today.”
Scott O’Brien will oversee the project. Dan Freedman negotiated for the studio, while Brandon Hill brought the project to Lionsgate.
Clark is repped by UTA, 3 Arts, and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis. Infiniti is repped by Gersh, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and the Lede Company.

Lionsgate has acquired Portrait of God, a horror flick from emerging genre filmmaker Dylan Clark based on his viral short of the same name. With One Battle After Another breakout Chase Infiniti now aboard to star, the project is greenlighted for production.
Portrait comes to Lionsgate after being put in turnaround by Universal, which acquired a spec from Clark in a competitive situation in December 2025, as we first reported. The Lionsgate acquisition is natural, given that they’ve set Clark to make his big studio filmmaking debut with a reimagining of 1999 horror classic The Blair Witch Project, dated for September 24, 202
Portrait of God will mark the first-ever collaboration of producers Sam Raimi and Jordan Peele, two of the biggest names in horror, with Clark directing from a script co-written with Joe Russo (The Inheritance). Involved with the project since it was at Universal, Raimi is presently set to direct an adaptation of the 1978 horror film Magic for Lionsgate as his next project.
While the studio is keeping the plot of the feature take under wraps, Clark’s short revolves around a religious young woman who discovers the disquieting answer to the question, “What does God look like?” Opening with a quote from the Old Testament — “No man shall see Me and live” — it finds Mia sitting in the dark, practicing a slide presentation about a work of art dubbed “Portrait of God.” Some who view the painting perceive it as completely black, she says, while others report seeing a person in the darkness — one who’s been described time and again, in consistent detail.
Minimalistic yet menacing, the short offers a counterpoint to the idea of God as a benevolent entity. It’s accrued over 10 million views on YouTube since its August 2022 debut.
Raimi and Rob Tapert will produce through their Ghost House shingle, as will Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld through their Monkeypaw Productions, and Joe Russo (The Inheritance). Romel Adam and Jose Cañas will oversee for Ghost House. On behalf of Monkeypaw, Chris Rosati is exec producing through his first-look deal at shingle NAT20 Films. Scott O’Brien will oversee the project for Lionsgate, which had Dan Freedman negotiated deals on its behalf.
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson commented, “We’re delighted to deepen our creative partnership with Dylan Clark, whose remarkable talent and distinctive perspective make him one of the most exciting emerging voices in horror. With Sam and Jordan, two of the genre’s most influential producers, the extraordinary Chase Infiniti starring, and Dylan at the helm, this is an exceptional creative team. We believe they have all the ingredients for a film that is haunting, thought-provoking, and scary as hell.”
Like Obsession‘s Curry Barker and Backrooms‘ Kane Parsons, Clark is a young genre filmmaker who came to the industry’s attention after gaining a large following in the YouTube horror space. He stated, “With Blair Witch, I’m experiencing firsthand the trust Lionsgate places in its filmmakers, and I couldn’t be happier that Portrait of God has found a home there as well. I’m also thrilled to welcome Chase Infiniti to our team. She blew me away in One Battle After Another and is one of the most exciting young actors working today.”
Infiniti earned noms at the Actor Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards for her breakout role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. She came to the film after appearing in a major role opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Negga in Apple’s hit thriller series Presumed Innocent. Most recently, she’s been seen leading The Testaments, Hulu’s follow-up to hit Margaret Atwood adaptation The Handmaid’s Tale, earning her first Emmy nomination for her work on Season 1. With work on the second season underway, Infiniti will also be seen coming up in The Julia Set, an indie coming-of-age drama from Niki Byrne coming off its premiere at TIFF. She is repped by Gersh and Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Clark is repped by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis; Russo by Fictional Entity, Untitled, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, jokingly requested some credit for not canceling his appearance at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference Thursday which came at a very awkward time. It was held two days after Paramount‘s streaming chief Cindy Holland’s exit cleared the way for Bloys to take over the combined Paramount+/HBO Max streaming operation but ahead of Paramount’s acquisition of HBO parent WBD officially closing and the merged company’s leadership structure, including Bloys’ exact position and title, being announced.
That led to a series of deflected questions, including whether HBO Max and Paramount+ will be fully merged or bundled.
Bloys did provide a hint. “I don’t want to comment on what is going to happen or anything like that, but I would point to the HBO Max-Disney bundle, which has been very successful,” he said, adding, “So, could you see something like that happening? That would make a lot of sense.”
As for his new boss, Bloys did say that Paramount CEO David Ellison “is very, very excited, very respectful of what the HBO team has done — not just in my tenure, but the entire history of HBO” and that he believes Ellison will “maintain what we’ve done.”
Bloys did address in depth the ongoing TV industry contraction — which the Paramount-WBD merger will likely be contributing to — in the aftermath of the Peak TV era that was driven by the rise of streaming.
“We are an industry in disruption, we used to compete against people who were selling cable subscription or advertising, main product was video entertainment,” he said. “We are now competing against companies that are in very different spaces, have different economics. We’re also on the backside of a bubble bursting, we went from 600 shows to 400, whatever it is. If you just think about those numbers, 200 shows and the average show, depending on how big it is, is a couple of hundred good paying jobs. That’s a catastrophe. That is very hard across the board. That is what it looks like when a bubble bursts. It’s ugly.”
Bloys did admit that the downfall was inevitable, referencing the craze at the height of the market when over 600 scripted series were being made in a year.
“People were greenlighting shows based on an idea, it was not sustainable; you couldn’t make that many shows as an industry and monetize it properly,” Bloys said. “A bubble has some benefits on the way up in terms of people learning on shows because there’s so much work. The downside is really painful.”
It was not all bleak as Bloys had a positive outlook and said that he would still recommend pursuing a career in entertainment because it’s “a lot of fun.”
“My hope is, like any industry that gets disrupted, there is mergers, there is new players coming in,” he said. “Maybe we will find some certainty, some calmness.”