TV Heavy Hitters Head to SXSW

Three legends of the small screen will be making their way to this year’s South by Southwest Film & TV Festival (March 12-18). The creators behind Scrubs, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Breaking Bad have been announced as part of the conference with their newest shows.

The trio begins with Vince Gilligan, who will be discussing the role of New Mexico in his creative career in Albuquerque Aftermath: From Breaking Bad to Pluribus. He’ll be joined by Pluribus star Rhea Seehorn, as well as his longtime collaborators, composer Dave Porter, costume designer Jennifer Bryan, and Producer Trina Siopy, as well as President of Sony Pictures Television Studios Katherine Pope.

Then it’s visitors from New York with A Waste of Time With Larry David and Jeff Schaffer, in which the Seinfeld co-creator and his regular creative partner talk about their new sketch series for HBO. Make sure to attend this conversation with the Los Angeles Times’ Lorraine Ali for a first peek at their currently unnamed show and a look into the process of one of TV comedy’s most influential and controversial minds.

Meanwhile, there’s going to be a first-time pairing on display as Ted Lasso creator Bill Lawrence teams up with Steve Carell. The star of The Office makes his return to sitcoms for the first time since Space Force with Lawrence’s new college-set show for HBO, Rooster. The series debuts on March 8, and the duo will be talking about the show alongside Lawrence’s co-showrunner, Matt Tarses, and Carell co-stars, Charly Clive and Danielle Deadwyler.

Also added today to the SXSW conference lineup:

• Jamie Lee Curtis became SXSW royalty when she wowed the Paramount with the first ever public screening of future Oscar-winner Everything Everywhere All at Once, and she was already coming to town for the world premiere of her new film, Sender. Now she’ll discuss her own personal philosophy with If Not Now, When, If Not Me, Who? Pivoting and Manifesting!

• Ever wonder what happened to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry after Dancing With the Stars? He got heavily into psychedelics – medically speaking, that is. He’ll be part of Ibogaine in America: The Parable of Our Time, a panel about the therapeutic possibilities of the plant-derived drug for trauma and addiction treatment. 

• Continuing this year’s conference-wide theme of the perils and potentials of AI, former under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, the Hon. Michelle K. Lee will present AI Real-World Impact of AI: Opportunities, Risks and Intellectual Property Oh My!

SXSW and SXSW EDU 2026 badges are available now via sxsw.com. Keep up with the latest SXSW news at austinchronicle.com/sxsw.

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