By Selome Hailu, Ethan Shanfeld, Kate Aurthur, Emily Longeretta
Though this year’s South by Southwest Film & TV Festival was an abbreviated, seven-day affair, filmmakers still brought Austin’s clap-happy crowds an assortment of film and TV titles full of blood, laughter and tears to complement their tacos and barbecue.
It was a strong year for the SXSW headliners section, which is populated with studio-backed titles and celebrity names. Three of them made our best-of-fest list: Boots Riley’s Keke Palmer-led sci-fi comedy “I Love Boosters,” Jorma Taccone’s comedic thriller “Over Your Dead Body” starring Jason Segel and Samara Weaving and the horror comedy “They Will Kill You” from Kirill Sokolov, starring Zazie Beetz as its murderous heroine. Notice a theme? SXSW is best known for its love of gory humor.
SXSW officially added TV to its title and its list of priorities a few years back, and no series on the 2026 lineup justified that move more than “The Comeback.” Created by Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow, with Kudrow starring as a washed-up reality TV star, the world premiere of the third and final season after a decade-long hiatus was a welcome presence at the fest.
One the documentary front, our standout was Netflix’s “Noah Kahan: Out of Body,” soon to premiere on Netflix. Our other picks — “The Fox,” “Kill Me” and “Their Town” — are smartly written indies still seeking distribution.
For more on our offbeat favorites from the weirdest stop on the festival circuit, read on.
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The Comeback
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO It’s been 11 1/2 years since “The Comeback” has blessed us with its presence, and for those of us who love it, that’s far too long. But seeing Season 3’s first two episodes in its premiere at the Paramount Theatre on March 16 did feel worth the wait. “The Comeback” — Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King’s brilliant creation — is like a comet that comes along every 10ish years, and this time, it will circle the Earth just one last time, when its third season premieres on HBO on March 22.
As always, the show finds Kudrow’s Valerie Cherish — a yearning sitcom star who’s never quite gotten what she wants — in a state of duress. This time, she’s been offered the leading role in the first TV comedy that’s been fully written by AI. Valerie worries about this … just a little. But then her ambition takes over, and she’s off to the races. (Read our full writeup of the premiere here.)
