What to stream this week: ‘Extraction 2,’ Stan Lee doc, ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The Wonder Years
The return of Chris Hemsworth’s gun-for-hire anti-hero in Netflix’s “Extraction 2” is among the new television and movies, headed to a device near you.
Among the offerings worth your time as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists are season two of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” and new “The Wonder Years,” about a middle-class Black family in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1960s, returns for its second season.
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New movies to stream
— Clinical death is just a minor obstacle for Chris Hemsworth’s action hero Tyler Rake, who audiences can see again in “Extraction 2,” debuting on Netflix on Friday. In this outing, he’s assigned the dangerous task of rescuing a Georgian gangster’s family from a prison. Director Sam Hargrave promised twice as much action and more emotion in this outing, produced again by the Russo brothers. And Hemsworth has said that they opted for practical stunts and set pieces over green-screen fakery, which could be a bit frightening filming a sequence atop a train going 40 miles per hour through the snowy Czech Republic while a helicopter hovered 23 feet in front of him flying backwards.
— And on Disney+, a new original documentary about the late Stan Lee premieres on Friday. “Stan Lee,” directed by David Gelb, promises to explore Lee’s life and cultural impact. Lee, who died in 2018 at age 95, co-created an army of comic book characters including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man and many more who have in the past 15 years become household names thanks to the popularity of Marvel films, many of which feature fun Stan Lee cameos.
— AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr
New series to stream
— The new “The Wonder Years” about a middle-class Black family in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1960s, returns for its second season on Wednesday on ABC. The show is told from the point of view of 12-year-old Dean Williams (played by Elisha “EJ” Williams) with Don Cheadle narrating as the adult version of Dean. It’s already been announced that season two will feature several guest stars including Donald Faison, Bradley Whitford, Phoebe Robinson, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Patti LaBelle.
— Season two of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” arrives on Paramount+ on Thursday. If you haven’t watched yet, the show takes place about a decade before “Star Trek: The Original Series,” so it features younger versions of some of the “Star Trek” characters viewers know and love. “Strange New Worlds” stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike when he led the USS Enterprise, with a crew that includes Ethan Peck as Spock, Rebecca Romijn as Una Chin-Riley (otherwise known as Number One), and Celia Rose Gooding as Nyota Uhura. The season one finale introduced Paul Wesley in the role of James T. Kirk and the actor reprises the role in this new season.
— “Gold Rush” fan favorite Todd Hoffman is trying to turn his fortune around by rehabilitating a rundown mine in Alaska in Discovery Channel’s “Hoffman Family Gold.” In season two, Todd has a small crew to help him including his father, Jack, and son, Hunter, but even with the familial assist, it’s a major task and success is not guaranteed. On top of the pressure, Todd and Hunter are very competitive and no one pushes your buttons quite like family. “Hoffman Family Gold” season two debuts Friday.
— Alicia Rancilio