Summer hiatus? Never heard of her. Sizzling-hot pop culture with Southern ties doesn’t take a break. Here are the TV series, movies, music, you name it, you’ll be chatting about around the water-cooler this season.
The Dink
Film
Elevator Pitch: Another sports underdog film from actor-producer Ben Stiller, this time centered on pickleball mania and a has-been tennis star, Dusty (Jake Johnson, of New Girl), who embraces the phenomenon after an injury.
Southern Bona Fides: Besides our built-in fan base—the South boasts more pickleballers than any other U.S. region—the Grand Slam–winning Austinite turned Charlottean Andy Roddick took a time-out from his popular podcast, Served, to play Dusty’s childhood tennis nemesis, named…you guessed it, Andy Roddick.
Set a Reminder: The PG-13 movie will begin streaming on Apple TV on July 24.
Alabama Shakes
Album
Elevator Pitch: In a moment anticipated since Alabama Shakes members Brittany Howard, Zac Cockrell, and Heath Fogg broke their hiatus at a Tuscaloosa concert in 2024, the band announced a forthcoming album amid a marathon tour.
Southern Bona Fides: The trio began jamming together while growing up in the North Alabama town of Athens. On tour, they’ve draped their stage in kudzu. As Howard told NPR, “It made sense to kind of take the opportunity to do something creative and do something true that all kind of reminds us of home.”
Set a Reminder: While awaiting album details, stream the dazzling singles “Another Life” and “American Dream.”
Dutton Ranch
TV series
Elevator Pitch: Miss fan favorites Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler since the conclusion of Yellowstone in 2024? Now you don’t have to! Showrunner Taylor Sheridan has set the hot-blooded couple up with their very own spin-off.
Southern Bona Fides: And just where are the Montana duo and their son, Carter, saddlin’ up for? South Texas, to go boot toe to boot toe with a rival rancher played by Annette Bening. The Fort Worth–raised Sheridan’s brand-new, 450,000-square-foot studio there makes filming in the Lone Star State all the easier.
Set a Reminder: Brush up on Yellowstone before May 15; that’s when Dutton Ranch’s first episode lands on Paramount+.
FIFA World Cup
Sports
Elevator Pitch: Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Miami make up a quarter of the match cities for the North American–hosted World Cup. In 2025 Samford University ranked Southern regions highest in U.S. concentration of fans and viewership.
Southern Bona Fides: The South also claims a good chunk of the U.S. men’s national team. Fun facts: Midfielder Sebastian Berhalter played for UNC, as did his parents; midfielder Tanner Tessmann is Dabo Swinney’s godson; El Paso–born forward Ricardo Pepi chose to play for the U.S. instead of his mother’s native Mexico.
Set a Reminder: Matches run June 11 till the July 19 final, on Fox, FS1, and streamers like the free FIFA+ app and Peacock.
Isle of Hope
Album
Elevator Pitch: Duane Betts puts out an ideal set-it-and-forget-it rock album to spin on the sound system during a cookout or beach day, in part an aural ode to his father, Dickey, an Allman Brothers legend who died in April 2024.
Southern Bona Fides: Betts lives up to his Southern-rock roots in ways both superficial (he’s a double-take double of Dickey) and ingrained (one has to imagine the eyebrow-singeing guitar on this Dave Cobb–produced album would make his old man proud). His tour swings through his native Florida in late May.
Set a Reminder: Stream the driving single “Down to Houston” now; Sun Records releases Isle of Hope on June 12.
American Sublime
Art exhibition
Elevator Pitch: Remember the brouhaha when Amy Sherald pulled her celebrated solo retrospective from D.C.’s National Portrait Gallery over censorship concerns? The show is ending its run on the road at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art.
Southern Bona Fides: Columbus, Georgia, childhood; Atlanta schooling; Baltimore MFA. After her portrait of Breonna Taylor sold to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and Louisville’s Speed Art Museum, she donated $1 million to the University of Louisville for grants in Taylor’s name.
Set a Reminder: Nab a timed ticket to see the thirty-nine Sherald pieces on display at the High until September 27.
Young Washington
Film
Elevator Pitch: A George Washington movie, but make him hot enough that powdered wigs go flying. But seriously, beyond the cherry tree, what did happen in our first prez’s early years? Jon Erwin, codirector/cowriter of I Can Only Imagine, imagines.
Southern Bona Fides: Virginia, Virginia, Virginia: The film centers on Washington’s time as a state surveyor and militiaman before commanding the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. We’ll also see him charm the pantaloons off Old Dominion socialite Sally Cary (well, not literally—this is a family film!).
Set a Reminder: Naturally, our founding father’s story hits theaters July 3, in time for a popcorn-filled semiquincentennial.
SongTeller Hotel
Opening
Elevator Pitch: Dolly Parton adds to her bejeweled empire a hotel in the heart of Nashville outfitted inside with pink and purple and stocked with Dolly’s Life of Many Colors Museum, Jolene’s cocktail lounge, and Parton’s Live music venue.
Southern Bona Fides: One might wonder why Dolly puts her name on anything that will sit still: Tennessean Travel Stops, Joleans jeans, frozen meals. But Saint Dolly gives the income back: Take the “generational and transformational” donation to the East Tennessee—make that the Dolly Parton—Children’s Hospital.
Set a Reminder: Hotel booking is open now for stays starting in September. Let the bachelorette parties begin!
Sweet Magnolias
TV series
Elevator Pitch: Three besties live, laugh, love in fictional Serenity, South Carolina, in this melodrama. Do the characters always make the best moral choices in a way totally divorced from reality? Yes. But you’ll still stream every episode.
Southern Bona Fides: The show, based on a book series by Virginia-born Sherryl Woods, films in Covington, Georgia. Florida native JoAnna Garcia Swisher costars; she and former MLB-er Nick Swisher married in Palm Beach, with Reba McEntire as a bridesmaid (Swisher played the legend’s daughter in Reba).
Set a Reminder: You can catch up on the first four seasons on Netflix before season five drops there on June 11.
Cape Fear
TV series
Elevator Pitch: A miniseries remake of Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of 1962 film Cape Fear, based on 1957 novel The Executioners. The Southern gothic tale follows rapist Max Cady as he stalks his attorneys after a Georgia prison stint.
Southern Bona Fides: Creator Nick Antosca hails from NOLA; the series filmed in Doraville, Georgia; Cape Fear refers to the North Carolina river where the thriller’s action typically climaxes. Virginia native Patrick Wilson plays Tom Bowden, who along with his wife (Amy Adams) defended Cady (a creepy Javier Bardem).
Set a Reminder: The first two of ten episodes stream on Apple TV June 5, with new ones every Friday thereafter.
Feature image credits:
From left: Yaroslav Sabitov/YES Market Media/Alamy Stock Photo; Harmony Gerber/Getty Images; Emerson Miller/Paramount+; Image of sport/Alamy Stock Photo From left: Jason Kempin/Getty Images; Kelvin Bulluck, courtesy of Hauser & Wirth; Angel Studios; Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel; courtesy of Dolly Parton; courtesy of Netflix/© 2024 Netflix, Inc.; Apple TV
Amanda Heckert is the executive editor of Garden & Gun and the editor of the magazine’s book Southern Women. A native of Inman, South Carolina, she previously served as the editor in chief of Indianapolis Monthly and as a senior editor at Atlanta magazine. She lives in North Charleston with her husband, Justin, and their dogs, Felix and Oscar.
