The Van Der Beek family is facing incredibly high medical bills. To help, friends organized a GoFundMe campaign and even hosted a Dawson’s Creek reunion last year. Actor Paul Walter Hauser has also been using Cameo to raise money for the family, sharing a heartfelt message on Instagram expressing support and promising continued prayers and fundraising efforts. Here are some tributes from friends and colleagues remembering James Van Der Beek.
Fame can sometimes limit an actor, forcing them into roles they can’t escape. But James Van Der Beek, who recently passed away at 48, wasn’t that type of performer. He was incredibly popular for a short time in the late 90s and early 2000s – known for Dawson’s Creek, the football film Varsity Blues, and The Rules of Attraction. After that, he often played variations of himself, and he was surprisingly willing to make fun of his own public image, something many actors avoid. Van Der Beek didn’t seem to worry about maintaining a carefully crafted persona. He openly acknowledged how huge Dawson’s Creek became and didn’t mind poking fun at its overwhelming presence in pop culture, even if it meant playfully diminishing his own image.
Season 2 of Severance broke viewership records for Apple TV+, and the network is hoping to build on that momentum. Production for Season 3 is starting shortly, and Apple is already looking ahead to Season 4 and beyond. They also plan to create more content within the Severance world, potentially including prequel stories, spin-off series, and versions of the show made for different countries.
According to ComicBook.com, a new Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comic series will be released later this year, published by Penguin Random House. The exciting news is that Marguerite Bennett, who previously wrote Power Rangers: Beyond the Grid, is writing this new series as well.
A sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie is in the works, but details about the plot and who will star in it have been uncertain. A reboot featuring Margot Robbie was announced in 2018, but she later confirmed in 2022 that the project was cancelled. It’s also unclear if Johnny Depp will return as Jack Sparrow, though some reports suggest the story might focus on Jack Sparrow’s son.
At The Hollywood Reporter’s Nominees Night on February 10, 2026, Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that development on a sequel is underway. He mentioned they are crafting the story and collaborating with Lewis Hamilton, who is a co-producer and former Formula One driver, to get his input on potential ideas. When asked about Brad Pitt potentially reprising his role, Bruckheimer playfully responded that it was too early to say.
There’s a short, memorable line in football movies that perfectly captures a cultural moment. It’s delivered with a slight accent that doesn’t quite sound Texan, but it doesn’t matter. The line is powerful because of its honesty, anger, and the universal feeling of wanting to forge your own path, rejecting the values of previous generations. I’m referring to James Van Der Beek’s iconic delivery of “I don’t want your life” in the 1990s film Varsity Blues, which still resonates with audiences today.
Writer Ben Kesslen jokingly dubbed Nicole Kidman’s recent film choices a “kidmanslop” cinematic universe, and many fans agree there’s something to it. Despite being a major advocate for the movie-going experience, Kidman frequently appears in films and shows released directly to streaming services. In the last two years alone, she’s starred in several streaming titles, including A Family Affair and Spellbound on Netflix, Holland and Expats on Prime Video, and second seasons of Lioness on Paramount+ and Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu. She even did a film called The Last Anniversary for the Australian streaming service Binge. Like a doctor who’s always on call, Kidman seems to constantly be working on new projects.
James Van Der Beek publicly shared his battle with colorectal cancer. He announced his diagnosis in November 2024, expressing a positive outlook and saying he was feeling well. Though his health prevented him from attending a Dawson’s Creek reunion in September 2025, he continued to report feeling good. Van Der Beek was surprised to learn he had stage-three cancer, as he hadn’t experienced any symptoms. In a December 2025 interview with Today, he emphasized the importance of getting regular screenings, saying, “If anybody takes anything away from this interview, it would be get tested.”
In 2024, the actor publicly shared that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer the previous year. As medical bills piled up, he began selling items from his career – including costumes and props from his films and TV shows – in late 2025 to help cover the cost of his treatment, just three months before he passed away.