The Studio Season 2 is currently filming, and while it’s a shame that we won’t see more of former Continental Studios head Patty Leigh following Catherine O’Hara’s passing, there are plenty of other things to look forward to from it. For example, last month, it was revealed that Madonna will appear in the Apple TV subscription-exclusive show’s second season, ending her 24-year acting break. However, it turns out that this will be more than just another of The Studio’s celebrity cameo, as the series is using her to pull off the most epic meta Hollywood joke since Channing Tatum played Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Here’s some context: a few years back, a Madonna biopic was in development in Universal Pictures, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Julia Garner was set to play the musical artist. However, that biopic has since been shelved, and while Netflix is now putting together an autobiographical series about Madonna, Garner is not involved with it. Within the world of The Studio, however, we now know that Garner-fronted Madonna biopic lives on thanks to Continental Studios.
As reported by Variety, Madonna will appear in two episodes of The Studio Season 2. Seth Rogen, Kathryn Hahn, Bryan Cranston, Ike Barinholtz and Chase Sui Wonders’ characters will take the biopic to the Venice Film Festival, and Madonna and Julia Garner will be there as well to help hype the movie up and generate Oscars buzz. It was also mentioned that The Studio’s version of Madonna did not direct the biopic like she was planning to do in real life. However, Donald Glover has reportedly been seen with her and Garner on the show’s Italian set, so maybe his fictional self or whatever character he’s been cast as assumed helming duties.
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Variety additionally shared that Madonna’s episodes will focus on “ the all-important debate around journalists timing festival standing ovations to provide a sense of how films will play in the wider world.” This is some top-tier meta humor and commentary, but I would expect nothing less from The Studio. After all, this is the show where the first episode saw Seth Rogen’s Matt Remick being instructed to greenlight a Kool-Aid movie, and then trying to get it made as a Martin Scorsese-directed movie about the Jonestown massacre instead.
Looking beyond The Studio, as mentioned in the headline, this reminds me of Channing Tatum’s Gambit journey. For five years, he was attached to play the popular X-Men character in his own spinoff movie, but that was scrapped once Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019. Five years later, Tatum made a surprise appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine as Gambit, and obviously some fourth wall-breaking jokes had to be made about the failed spinoff and Tatum’s over-the-top Cajun accent. The actor will next play the mutant superhero in Avengers: Doomsday this December.
It’s still unclear if The Studio Season 2 will be ready in time to premiere late on the 2026 TV schedule or if it will be saved for 2027. Whenever it arrives, I’m looking forward to seeing snippets of how the Madonna biopic turned out in this world and how the Venice Film Festival crowd receives it. I know this won’t be the only meta joke of Season 2, but there’s already a strong possibility it will end up being my favorite one.
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