Aftermath of ‘Last of Us’ Tragedy, ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Dark Winds’ Finales, CNN Travelogues

The Last of Us

SUNDAY: Death is a constant in this riveting thriller, but even so, last week’s savage murder of alpha hero Joel (Pedro Pascal) at the hands of the vengeful Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) — while Ellie (Bella Ramsey) watched in horror — was a gut-wrenching tragedy whose aftermath will dominate the rest of the gripping second season. While all of Jackson is in mourning, all eyes are on Ellie’s physical and psychological recovery. She’s hellbent on revenge, but it’s up to the town to decide on its next move.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

SUNDAY: Happy endings are pretty much unheard of in the court of Henry VIII (Damian Lewis), and so it is as this enthralling adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s historical novels ends with master manipulator Thomas Cromwell (the sorrowful Mark Rylance) now seeing life from inside the Tower of London, where he’s had so many of his enemies imprisoned. With his days numbered, it’s a bitterly ironic twist for the monarch’s chief counselor, who loses favor, is branded a traitor and awaits the executioner’s axe while the king takes yet another new bride, the equally ill-fated Catherine Howard (Summer Richards). “History is against her,” Crowell observes, to which his nemesis Stephen Gardiner (Alex Jennings) replies, “I fear it’s against us all.” True words.

Dark Winds

SUNDAY: Intense action drives the Season 3 finale of the terrific mystery drama based on Tony Hillerman’s 1970s-set Navajo mysteries. Lt. Joe Leaphorn (the great Zahn McClarnon) and his deputy Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) chase their suspect onto a train for a suspenseful showdown, while down on the border, their former colleague Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) has learned there may be no one she can trust in her investigation into corruption and collusion in a drug-running and human-trafficking operation. When the smoke clears, Joe still has to face a reckoning with FBI Agent Washington (Jenna Elfman) and his estranged wife, Emma (Deanna Allison).

Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain

SUNDAY: She went Searching for Mexico in 2023, and now the Desperate Housewives star explores more of her ancestral roots in Spain in her latest culinary travelogue. Her first stop: one of my own personal favorites, Barcelona and the Catalonia region, where Catalan prawns and other delectable regional specialties await. (The architecture’s not so bad, either.) Followed by the series premiere of My Happy Place (10/9c), where celebrities invite us to travel to places that have become their own personal sanctuary. The journey begins with The Traitors host and Tony winner Alan Cumming, who grew up in Scotland and returns to the scenic Highlands to renew a sense of belonging and connection.

Doctor Who

SATURDAY: Those with long Doctor Who memories will get a shiver of déjà vu when the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) lands on a sinister planet that’s eerily familiar. With a reluctant Belinda (Varada Sethu) in tow as they leap hundreds of thousands of years into the future, they join a military unit (including Slow Horses‘ Christopher Chung) exploring a mining colony that’s been almost completely wiped out. The sole survivor has an ominous message: Don’t get behind her, or else.

The Righteous Gemstones

SUNDAY: In the frenzied last episode before the irreverent comedy’s series finale, Gemstone patriarch Eli (John Goodman) is inconsolable after his breakup with Lori (Megan Mullally), but he should be watching his back. Elsewhere, Baby Billy (Walton Goggins) goes even more over-the-top than usual in a Teenjus production number, and Judy (Edi Patterson) sees husband BJ’s (Tim Baltz) bizarre service animal as a personal threat. We’ll miss these lost souls.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• Banana Ball World Tour (Saturday, 7 pm/ET, ESPN2): As seen recently on 60 Minutes, the unorthodox Savannah Bananas delight an overflow crowd at Clemson University’s Memorial Stadium with a mix of baseball and freewheeling entertainment in the first game of a season-long deal with ESPN.
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered: To the Moon and Back (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): The Postables of the U.S. Postal Service’s dead letter office return in a new movie, tracking down a musician to help return a lost letter to its recipient.
• Fame: A Temptations Story (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): A new Temptations movie stars singer-songwriters Keri Hilson and Keshia Chanté as chart-topping singing sisters Cherish and Roxy, whose sibling rivalry threatens to tarnish their success.
• 48 Hours (Saturday, 10/9c, CBS): Peter Van Sant interviews Melody Farris, convicted of the 2018 murder of her husband on a Georgia farm. She says her son did it. He disagrees.
• Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life (Saturday, 10/9c, HBO): The Ted Lasso and Shrinking star and writer/producer brings his profane charm to the stand-up stage in a set filmed at New Jersey’s Bergen Performing Arts Center.
• Southern Fried Lies (Sunday, 6/5c, Oxygen): A two-hour true-crime documentary dishes on the scandal that ensued in Camden, Arkansas, after the 2015 death of Deepwater Horizon oil-rig survivor Matt Jacobs and the discovery that his will had been falsified.
• 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7/6c, CBS): The embattled newsmagazine features Sharyn Alfonsi‘s update on the National Institute of Health after massive government cuts, Cecilia Vega reporting on new evidence unearthed about the 9/11 attacks and Jon Wertheim on the declining birth rate in Japan.
• American Idol (Sunday, 8/7c, ABC): James Taylor is the guest mentor as the Top 14 perform songs from Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legends for America’s vote. During the show, this year’s Hall of Fame nominees will be revealed.
• 24 in 24: Last Chef Standing (Sunday, 8/7c, Food Network): It’s all in a day’s work — literally — in the second season of a grueling competition, hosted by Michael Symon and Esther Choi, in which 24 top chefs take on 24 challenges in 24 consecutive hours, and the one with the most skill and stamina takes home $75,000. The first shift in the two-hour opener tests their speed.
• Tracker (Sunday, 8/7c, CBS): Colter (Justin Hartley) heads to Michigan to find a missing beauty queen who’s harboring a not-so-beautiful secret. Followed by Watson (9/8c), where the medical detective (Morris Chestnut) revisits his Army past when a fellow veteran suffers what appears to be a psychotic break; and The Equalizer (10/9c), with Dante’s (Tory Kittles) brother bringing the team a case that reveals a bombing plot.
• The Simpsons (Sunday, 8/7c, Fox): The animated comedy plays ball in a baseball spoof featuring (as themselves) sportscaster Kevin Burkhardt, former player Kevin Millar, Danny Trejo and Chris Rock. Followed by Family Guy (8:30/7:30c), with parodies of Hulu hits The Bear, Only Murders in the Building and The Dropout.
• The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (Sunday, 8/7c, CNN): Anchor Abby Phillip leads a recap of the new administration’s chaotic first 100 days.
• Bravo’s Love Hotel (Sunday, 9/8c, Bravo): In the opposite of a no-tell motel, Mexico’s Grand Velas Boutique Hotel is the deluxe setting for a Real Housewives offshoot, where Housewives alums Shannon Storms Beador, Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby and Luann de Lesseps check in looking for a love connection.