Your hair is your crown, and few people understand that better than Zendaya.

The actress’ hairstylist, Coree Moreno, sat down with ET to reveal the creative process behind her latest looks, including the dreamy, flowing styles she’s been rocking during The Odyssey press tour. 

And when inspiration strikes, it usually starts with Zendaya herself.

“Normally she’s found a reference and it’s my job to birth the vision,” he says. “She’s open with intention and sure about how she wants to look. I love the challenge of unveiling her deepest hair desires.”

Lately, those ideas have leaned into soft, cascading lengths, which Moreno created using Bellami’s Flex Weft in Dark Brown and Tape In extentions in Chocolate Rebel.

“Bellami is perfect for everything from subtle fullness to custom hairpieces for everyday wear,” he explains. “They have such a diverse shade range, and I love mixing multiple colors to create depth and texture.”

These days, he’s been using the brand to create an airy, lived-in aesthetic.

“I love ethereal, undone feels,” he shares. “Not manipulating the texture and letting waves and curls live in their true state is the future of hair.”

His advice for channeling that effortless energy this summer is refreshingly simple.

“Whether it’s polished or deconstructed, braids are perfect for unpredictable weather, giving the hair direction and order while beating the heat,” he explains. 

His favorite finishing touches? Beaded scarves, fabric wraps, hats, and headbands are all on his list of must-haves this season.

“Hair accessories are the perfect way to elevate a style without thinking too hard about it.”

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Nerds need to stop clamoring for their favorite shows from yesteryear to come back.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 35 seconds ago

It’s no secret that The X-Files debuted at the perfect time. Even as the show built off the public’s increasing fascination with conspiracies and cover-ups, it became a sensation on the nascent World Wide Web, with early online fandom helping to shape the direction of the show. I was part of that early fandom, and nobody was more excited than I was when The X-Files was brought back for a television revival in 2016. However, the awful quality of these two new seasons taught me an invaluable lesson: nerds need to stop clamoring for their favorite shows from yesteryear to come back.

The revival of The X-Files didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was part of a glut of television revivals that included everything from Full House to Frasier. For another thing, it was part of the depressing entertainment industry trend where seemingly every new show or film must be a sequel, prequel, spinoff, or revival. That trend is here to stay because audiences generally enjoy returning to their favorite IPs (think of it as entertainment comfort food), but the middling X-Files revival is proof that some of our favorites need to stay in the past, untouchable perfect and preserved in the amber of nostalgia.

From Return To Form To Retcon Disaster

At first, the X-Files revival seemed like a return to form. After all, for fans who remembered how Mulder was completely absent for the last season and a half of the show, it was great to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson back onscreen in something other than the lackluster series finale or the bizarrely plodding sequel film The X-Files: I Want To Believe. But it didn’t take long for the revival to bring back dead characters, undo classic stories, and generally turn the franchise into something the Flukeman would swim through on his way out of the toilet.

The result was the worst of both worlds … a revival that made much of what came before meaningless even as it introduced new stories that quickly became all-time series lows. Did we really need more Scully pregnancy drama or the bizarre revelation that her son William was secretly Mulder’s half-brother? Instead of reigniting fans’ passion for the earlier seasons, the revival merely reminded us of what a mixed bag The X-Files really was when it came to consistency and quality.

You Can’t Recapture Lightning In A Bottle

Once I made peace with the failures of this revival, I began to realize that The X-Files was not a unique failure. In fact, its failure was as inevitable as change itself. The actors, creators, and fans had changed quite a bit since the show’s original run ended, but our collective need for nostalgia ensured that Chris Carter tried to replicate those earlier episodes, effectively trying to do ‘90s storytelling in 2016. The show refused to change for a fandom that had changed, and its revival did nothing but shine a spotlight on all the narrative warts of our favorite kooky conspiracy show.

The same need to peddle yesterday’s ideas to today’s very different audiences has doomed several other revivals, including That 90s Show and Frasier. Both of those shows tried to recreate their old formulas despite missing key cast members. Frasier is particularly egregious in that Kelsey Grammer is the only one of the original cast who returned in a meaningful way. For me personally, there was simply no appeal in watching this talented actor go through the motions without the support of the ‘90s best comedic ensemble cast (suck it, Seinfeld).

The Past Belongs In The Past

However, thanks to the failure of The X-Files revival, I already knew what to do about my hatred for the Frasier revival: ignore it in favor of simply streaming the original show. The classic episodes of all your favorite series are still available, and they will inevitably be better than any tired reboot or revival that the network trots out when they’re out of ideas. 

Furthermore, by ignoring these tepid revivals, we can send a powerful message to those same networks that we demand new ideas and not tired, old ones. You don’t have to meet a shadowy government informant or face down alien monsters to effectively send this message. All you need to do is the last thing networks expect: turn the TV off until there’s something worth watching.

By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated 23 seconds ago

Forgotten in the shadow of Star Trek is Gene Roddenberry’s other sci-fi show, Earth: Final Conflict, a syndicated 90s series that started strong and finished with a whimper. Brought to life after Roddenberry’s passing in 1991, it was his wife, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who helped develop the series off of his notes and outlines in a partnership with Tribune Entertainment.

Originally developed by Gene after Star Trek: The Original Series was canceled, bringing the show to life was considered a miracle by sci-fi fans. While the first season of Earth: Final Conflict filled with promise, it all fell apart over backstage disputes, budget issues, and Kevin Sorbo.

Bringing Alien Politics To Earth

Earth: Final Conflict forgoes the vastness of space for an Earthbound story set years after the Taelons arrived, calling themselves “Companions” and elevated Earth with the gift of advanced technology. But not everyone trusts the new arrivals have good intentions. A resistance movement is stirring against the Taelons, led by Jonathan Doors.

William Boone, a police officer who saves a Taelon from an assassination attempt, becomes a Protector and is secretly a member of the Resistance. There are betrayals, double-crosses, multiple conspiracies, and an ever-increasing cast of Taelons, Earthlings, and even other aliens. All of this should have set up a fascinating series focused on political intrigue similar to Babylon 5.

The Inconsistency Of Earth: Final Conflict

Or it would have except that following Season 1, Kevin Kilner, who led Earth: Final Conflict as Boone, left the series over a contract dispute. Then Majel Barrett-Roddenberry stepped down as a producer.

This was the start of the rotating cast issues, which persisted until the very end of Season 5 and made it impossible for fans to remain attached to any of the characters. Replacing Boone as the ostensible lead of the show was Liam Kincaid, played by Robert Leeshock, a human/kimerean hybrid who aged rapidly into a middle-aged man in a version of the worst sci-fi trope writers need to stop using.

Needless to say, this change went over like a lead balloon. Even Majel Barret-Roddenberry commented on how poor the writing became in Season 2. Viewers left the series in droves, pushing Earth: Final Conflict towards cancellation when it was retooled again for the launch of Season 3. More cast members were let go over contract disputes, unhappy over each season coming with a progressively smaller budget, and Tribune Entertainment rapidly lost patience with the production, choosing instead to focus on their new show, Andromeda.

Abandoned For The Shiny New Toy

Starring Kevin Sorbo in his first post-Hercules role, Andromeda had the attention of the media, and so Tribune Entertainment pulled writers and crew off of Earth: Final Conflict to their new syndicated crown jewel. The result was that Season 4 ended with a cliffhanger, in which it wasn’t clear who lived or who died, just in case any of the cast decided not to return for Season 5.

The budget for the next season was less than a quarter of the first season. The Taelon conspiracy was eliminated, the leads changed again, and the focus was on fighting a covert war against the Atavus, essentially a race of “energy vampires” that were a precursor to the Taelons.

The show, which started out so strong in Season 1, ended with a whimper after abandoning the original story outline from Gene Roddenberry and, not coincidentally, a tiny fraction of its original fanbase.

Earth: Final Conflict is streaming for free on Tubi, Pluto TV, and YouTube, among others, and if nothing else, Season 1 is a fascinating sci-fi tale of politics and mysteries, and the truly unknowable Taelons are a standout of the genre. It’s also a reminder of what could have been, if not for corporate cost-cutting and a desire to rush results instead of letting a show develop organically and take the time to tell its story the right way.