With winter in full swing and everyone keeping a low profile after all the end of year festivities, chances are it’s addictive box sets that are keeping you going through the next few weeks and months. It’s officially TV season, and there are already must-see new series hitting our screens – with plenty more where that came from too. 2024 is set to be stacked with unmissable shows, from returning favourites, to fresh franchise instalments, to all-new originals.
Read Empire’s epic TV preview, looking at the most exciting series coming your way in the next 12 months – with approximate release windows (though dates are subject to change). Start planning your small-screen calendar now.
January
True Detective: Night Country (Prime Video)
HBO’s crime anthology returns, this time with Jodie Foster leading the cast and Issa López taking over show runner duties from original creator Nic Pizzolatto. This fourth season heads to the chilly climes of Alaska, where eight scientists go suddenly missing in suspicious circumstances. Early word has this being the most effective True Detective since the first season.
Expats (Prime Video)
Lulu Wang, writer and director of The Farewell, returns with an adaptation of Janice Y. K. Lee’s bestselling novel – starring Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, Jack Huston and Maggie Lee. It’s a culture-clash drama following a series of women in Hong Kong, whose lives spiral outward following the disappearance of Kidman’s son.
Death And Other Details (Disney+)
Fans of Only Murders In The Building and the Knives Out movies, listen up – there’s a new original murder-mystery in town. This one stars Mandy Patinkin as renowned detective Rufus Cotesworth solving a locked-room mystery on a Mediterranean ocean liner. Violett Beane is Imogene Scott, who becomes a prime suspect when she’s unlucky enough to be in proximity to the crime.
Sexy Beast (Paramount+)
Charting the earlier days of the characters from Jonathan Glazer's 2000 comedy drama is surely a tall order, and many people will have said, "No! No! No!" to the idea, but series creator Michael Caleo said, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" to the challenge. James McArdle and Emun Elliott are the young Gal and Don, drawn into London’s criminal underworld in the 1990s. Will it have the same levels of swearing? We'll see...
Griselda (Netflix)
Switching gears from the comedic likes of Modern Family, Sofia Vergara goes full Narcos for a fictionalised dramatisation of cartel leader Griselda Blanco – not just starring, but executive producing too. Witness how Griselda earned the nickname ‘The Godmother’ in a tale spanning the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Masters Of The Air (Apple TV+)
Loved Band Of Brothers and The Pacific? Strap in for Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ next World War II series, this time focused on the ‘Bloody Hundredth’ bombing pilots. They’ve adapted Donald L. Miller’s book with a ludicrously starry cast – led by Austin Butler, and also featuring Barry Keoghan, Callum Turner, Ncuti Gatwa, and Anthony Boyle.
Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans (Disney+)
Ryan Murphy returns with a second season under his Feud anthology banner, focusing on the friendship between Truman Capote (Tom Hollander), and a group of New York socialite women – one that turned ugly when he fictionalised their lives. Director Gus Van Sant helms multiple episodes, while the cast includes legends like Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny and Calista Flockhart.
February
Abbott Elementary: Season 3 (Disney+)
Quinta Brunson's award-winning sitcom returns after a strike-enforced break – a school-set mockumentary that’s become a recent favourite thanks to its warm and cosy tone, and loveable cast of characters. Expect 14 new episodes to drop through the early months of 2024.
Tracker (Paramount+)
Tracker sounds like a throwback to the sort of shows that littered the 1980s TV landscape – which is no bad thing. This Is Us favourite Justin Hartley stars as Colter Shaw (great name), a ‘lone-wolf’ survivalist who takes on private jobs to solve mysteries and find the missing. Also starring Deadwood’s Robin Weigert and Battlestar Galactica’s Mary McDonnell.
Mr & Mrs Smith (Prime Video)
The Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movie gets a small-screen makeover, this time with Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as the married spies (originally Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but she left due to creative differences). This time though, the duo know of each other’s spy status, and their nuptials are arranged as part of their cover. Can they survive both missions and marriage? Co-created by Glover and his Atlanta colleague Francesca Sloane.
Halo: Season 2 (Paramount+)
The adaptation of the mega-hit Halo games proved a hit for Paramount+ – and now it’s back for a second season. Pablo Schreiber returns as Master Chief John-117, continuing to fight back against the Covenant. David Wiener is show runner this time around.
The New Look (Apple TV+)
Ben Mendelsohn plays Christian Dior in a series exploring the fashion designer’s life in Paris, post-World War II. The cast also includes Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel, Maisie Williams as Christian’s sister Catherine Dior, and John Malkovich as couturier Lucien Lelong. Todd A. Kessler steps up as showrunner, with Raw and Titane filmmaker Julia Ducournau directing two episodes – plus, super-producer Jack Antonoff oversees an all-star soundtrack, featuring Lana Del Rey, Florence + The Machine, Nick Cave and more.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch: Season 3 (Disney+)
The Clone Wars spin-off takes its last bow this year, wrapping up the story of Omega and Clone Force 99. The end of Season 2 saw the death of team member Tech and the capture of Omega by the Empire — along with the revelation that she has a sister. Sounds like a prison break and a family reunion is on the cards – but will the show go out in a blaze of glory?
Tokyo Vice: Season 2 (BBC One)
The series adaptation of Jake Adelstein’s memoir returns for a second season – with Ansel Elgort reprising the role of Adelstein himself, continuing his investigation into the yakuza. Michael Mann remains a producer, but it’s unknown whether he’s returning to direct any episodes.
One Day (Netflix)
David Nicholls’ bestselling novel was already adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. Now it gets the small-screen treatment – checking in on the lives of will-they-won’t-they couple Dexter Mayhem and Emma Morley (here The White Lotus’ Leo Woodall and This Is Going To Hurt’s Ambika Mod) on the same day each year, but jumping forward years at a time. As they grow up – both separately, and together – life throws plenty of curveballs their way.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix)
The beloved Nickelodeon animated series gets a live-action translation – bringing the fantastical world of element-bending kids to life. Gordon Cormier is Aang, a young Air Nomad who could be the next ‘Avatar’ – embarking on a mission to push back against the onslaught of the Fire Nation. Albert Kim is showrunner, while the cast also includes Daniel Dae Kim, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, and Ken Leung. Fingers crossed it fares better than the ill-fated M Night Shyamalan movie, The Last Airbender.
Alice & Jack (Channel 4)
Played by Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson, respectively, the title characters of Alice and Jack are two people whose relationship to each other evolves over the span of 15 years. From an initial date, they go their separate ways – but can’t help but come back into each other’s orbit. Created by Victor Levin.
Ted (Sky Max)
Seth MacFarlane turns back the clock for a prequel series to the 2012 movie about a sentient teddy bear brought to life by his young owner's wish. The year here is 1993, and Ted is living with John Bennett (Max Burkholder) and his family, and confronts some of the true challenges in life, including high school. Expect foul-mouthed soft toy action and lots of drug talk.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (TBC)
Ever since Andrew Lincoln’s Rick Grimes was airlifted to safety in his Walking Dead exit, fans have wondered what happened to him next. We’ll finally find out in The Ones Who Live, focusing on Rick and Danai Gurira’s Michonne. The six-episode series is created by Walking Dead alum Scott M. Gimple and Gurira herself – fingers crossed there’s life in the undead yet.
Constellation (Apple TV+)
There are serious Twilight Zone vibes coming from this new Apple show, which stars Noomi Rapace as Jo — an astronaut who discovers that things aren’t exactly what she remembered when she returns to Earth. Jonathan Banks and James D’Arcy also star, and McMafia and Doctor Who veteran Peter Harness is behind this one, which has our curiosity and our attention.
Shōgun (Disney+)
Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks created this samurai-flavoured action series, which looks to be full of sword-swinging action and crafty politicking – adapted from James Clavell’s bestselling novel of the same name. Cosmo Jarvis stars as John Blackthorne, an English sailor who is shipwrecked in Japan and learns under the tutelage of Hiroyuki Sanada’s Lord Yoshii Toranaga.
Elsbeth (Paramount+)
With The Good Wife having already spun off The Good Fight, here comes another, once again created by duo Robert and Michelle King. Carrie Preston returns as recurring Wife and Fight character – singular attorney Elsbeth Tascioni, who leaves Chicago for New York City and assists the NYPD’s Captain CW Wagner (Wendell Pierce) in putting baddies behind bars. Quirkiness guaranteed!
March
The Regime (HBO)
A prestige HBO series, centred on Kate Winslet? No, it’s not the return of Mare Of Easttown – it’s a comedically-minded political satire from creator Will Tracy (whose previous writing credits include The Menu, and episodes of Succession). Winslet stars as the chancellor of a fictitious European dictatorship, whose power begins to crumble. Stephen Frears is on board as a director, while the cast also includes Matthias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, Hugh Grant and Martha Plimpton.
3 Body Problem (Netflix)
How exactly do you adapt one of the most sprawling science fiction novel trilogies out there? For Netflix, the first step was to hire David Benioff and DB Weiss, who already oversaw a huge book-to-screen project in Game Of Thrones. The premise is notoriously dense, but in short it seems humanity encounter alien entities, with dramatic results for our species. The likes of John Bradley, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Benedict Wong, Jonathan Pryce and Rosalind Chao star – we’d list more cast members, but there isn’t room on the internet to name them all.
Palm Royale (Apple TV+)
What a cast! Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern and Alison Janney unite for an adaptation of Juliet McDaniel’s 1969-set novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie. The show, created by Abe Sylvia, will be a comedy in which Wiig’s Maxine Simmons finds herself suddenly divorced – and intent on inveigling herself into the high society of Palm Beach. Also starring Ricky Martin. Yes, that Ricky Martin.
Invincible: Season 2: Part 2 (Prime Video)
The ultra-bloody animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series returned last year after a significant absence from our screens. And when it did, it landed with only four episodes – picking up from Invincible’s (Steven Yeun) brawl with seriously-bad-dad Omni-Man (JK Simmons). Now, the final four instalments of the season are dropping weekly from 14 March.
Girls5Eva: Season 3 (Netflix)
Like its striving main characters — former '90s girlband members attempting to revive their stardom while dealing with everything else life throws their way — Girls5Eva has faced challenges. Mostly the fact that it launched on US streaming service Peacock and, despite a high laugh count (it was created by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Meredith Scardino and is produced by Tina Fey), never really broke out. Hopefully a new home at Netflix and a third season will change that.
X-Men ‘97 (Disney+)
Possibly the most anticipated animated series developed by Marvel and Disney+ to date, this new show, created by Beau DeMayo, serves as a revival of X-Men: The Animated Series, and the plot will continue where the original series leaves off. Several of the classic series' voice cast are back, including Cal Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Catherine Disher, Chris Potter, Alison Sealy-Smith, Adrian Hough, Christopher Britton and Alyson Court. And with excitement high about the future of big screen mutant action, this could be just the thing to keep those levels up.
Manhunt (Apple TV+)
Monica Beletsky’s series might hinge on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, played by Midnight Mass’s Hamish Linklater – but the series’ central figure is Tobias Menzies’ Edwin Stanton, Lincoln’s friend, who makes it his mission to track down the treacherous John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle) after the murder. Based on James L. Swanson’s non-fiction book Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln's Killer, and directed by Carl Franklin.
April
Fallout (Prime Video)
After the success of The Last Of Us, could this be another stellar game-to-series adaptation? Westworld’s Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are producers, presenting a post-apocalyptic America filled with survivors, subterfuge, and scary mutants – with Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner as showrunners. The triple-pronged narrative follows Ella Purnell’s Vault Dweller Lucy, Aaron Moten’s wasteland-dwelling Maximus, and Walton Goggins’ irradiated Ghoul, 200 years after a nuclear wipeout.
Star Trek: Discovery: Season 5 (Paramount+)
The show that relaunched Star Trek's presence on TV screens is ready to fly off, wrapping up its run this year. The fifth and final season will find Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the crew of the USS Discovery heading off on one last mysterious voyage, boldly going… well, we don’t know where yet. But regular director Jonathan Frakes has promised an Indiana Jones-style adventure tone for this final outing.
Ripley (Netflix)
Andrew Scott is enjoying plenty of praise right now for his sensitive, nuanced performance in All Of Us Strangers. So how do you follow that? You play Tom Ripley, of course! This new telling of the Patricia Highsmith story is adapted by Steve Zaillian, retelling The Talented Mr. Ripley tale. Scott's Ripley is dispatched to Italy to try to track down Johnny Flynn's Dickie Greenleaf and get him to return to America – with dangerous results. The entire series is shoot in moody monochrome, and looks frankly fantastic. Cannot. Wait.
May
Doctor Who (BBC One)
Following on from Ncuti Gatwa's entertaining introduction in the third of the 60th Anniversary specials and his proper launch in The Church On Ruby Road, the 15th Doctor and companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) hit the road (well, time and space) running in their first full season. We're promised adventures through history and beyond, and some new foes. With Russell T. Davies on blazing form in his return to the show, hopes are sky high for the Doctor's next outing.
Bridgerton: Season 3 (Netflix)
The mega-hit period drama is back – this time with Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington in the central role. The third series will arrive in two parts (four episodes in each), and is based on Romancing Mister Bridgerton, with Penelope seeking a husband, continuing her role as the scandal-stirring Lady Whistledown, and maybe finally getting somewhere with her crush on Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton.
June
The Boys: Season 4 (Prime Video)
Following the successful launch of college-set spin-off Gen V, we're diving back into the chaotic arena of the parent show. In Season Four, expect the most overtly political season yet – with head-exploder Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) and All-American psycho Homelander (Antony Starr) setting their sights on the White House. Expect Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and the rest of The Boys to present some kind of opposition.
September
Agatha All Along (Disney+)
The clear breakout of WandaVision (with an ear-worm of a theme tune), Kathryn Hahn's duplicitous, powerful witch Agatha was seemingly doomed to be her cover character at the end of the show. But of course you knew it wouldn't be that straightforward and Agatha All Along (as it's seemingly now titled – formerly known as Darkhold Diaries and Coven Of Chaos) will chronicle both some of her past and her attempts to regain her powers. Alongside Hahn, we'll see the likes of Aubrey Plaza, Sasheer Zamata and — coup! – Patti LuPone showing off witchy talents, with plenty of music.
November
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
Renamed from Spider-Man: Freshman Year, the new animated prequel series follows Peter Parker as he awaits his High School orientation. It's a Marvel Studios production, but there's no Tom Holland here – the voice cast includes Hudson Thames as Peter, Eugene Byrd as Lonnie Lincoln, Grace Song as Nico Minoru, Kari Wahlgren as May Parker and Hugh Dancy as Otto Octavius.
Arcane: Season 2 (Netflix)
Arcane, set in Set in the League of Legends universe, has been a big hit for Netflix. Featuring the voices of Hailee Steinfeld, Ella Purnell and Kevin Alejandro, the series focuses on sisters Violet and Powder (later Jinx) as they end up on opposite sides of a growing conflict between the wealthy utopia of Piltover and its dark undercity whose citizens wish to break away from their oppressors. Season 2 promises to up the ante, continuing the split between the siblings and introducing a dangerous new villain.
Undated
The Big Cigar (Apple TV+)
Andre Holland stars as Black Panther founder Huey P. Newton in a dramatisation of his life. He escaped to Cuba to avoid prosecution for murder with the help of Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola), the Hollywood producer behind Easy Rider, as well as a few other celebrity radicals. This one draws from Joshuah Bearman's 2012 Playboy article, with developer Jim Hecht and showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois guiding the series.
Eyes Of Wakanda (Disney+)
Marvel and Disney are certainly going big on animation this year (partly to fill gaps left by delayed live-action shows and a desire to stop overwhelming audiences with mythology "homework"). Rather than focusing on a singular Black Panther, Eyes Of Wakanda will tell the stories of multiple warriors travelling the world, retrieving dangerous vibranium artifacts from different points in the nation’s history. Details are scarce on voice cast or an exact date, but it'll land this year.
The Penguin (TBC)
Delayed by last summer's strikes, this spin-off from Matt Reeves' The Batman follows Colin Farrell's rising crime lord as he makes a power-grab on Gotham City. Cristin Miloti, Michael Kelly, Clancy Brown, Craig Walker and Theo Rossi all star in the series, which is overseen by Lauren LeFranc.
The Big Door Prize: Season 2 (Apple TV+)
Much is still a mystery about Season 2 of this Chris O'Dowd-starring sci-fi comedy mystery series, following on from its 2013 debut run. The show is set in the small town of Deerfield, where the arrival of a mysterious 'Morpho' machine at the local shop promises to reveal each resident’s true life potential. Creator David West Read adapted MO Walsh's 2020 book for the show, but has specifically avoided tackling its finale so the story can continue and deepen.
The Franchise (Sky Atlantic)
Though The Boys has satirically touched upon the idea of superhero movies, leave it to producer Armando Iannucci (and creator veteran Jon Brown) to really stick the knife in. His Avenue 5 follow-up follows the crew behind a blockbuster film as they get mired in the mess that comes with bringing beloved superhero properties to the screen. Starring the likes of Billy Magnussen, Himesh Patel, Jessica Hynes, and Lolly Adefope.
Mary & George (Sky Atlantic)
Julianne Moore heads into miniseries territory with a tale of 16th century scheming – adapted from Benjamin Woolley’s non-fiction book The King’s Assassin. Moore plays Mary Villiers, Countess Of Buckingham, who strategically placed her son George (Nicholas Galitzine) to seduce Tony Curran’s King James (VI of Scotland, I of England) and steer the course of the country. Also starring Nicola Walker and Niamh Algar.
House Of The Dragon: Season 2 (Sky Atlantic/NOW)
That's it, it's war! As if there wasn't enough conflict in the first season, the next run of the Game Of Thrones prequel series will see things really heat up (figuratively and literally) as House Targaryen descends into internecine conflict, with Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower’s Olivia Cooke forced go head to head. The likes of Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Eve Best and Steve Toussaint return with new recruits including Tom Taylor, Clinton Liberty, Jamie Kenna, Kieran Bew, Vincent Regan and Tom Bennett.
Playing Nice (ITVX)
The thriller novel by JP Delaney gets a TV adaptation – present quite the moral quandary. Two couples who discover that their young kids were actually switched at birth in a hospital error have to face a horrifying choice: do they revert to their biological children, or keep the ones they’ve already started raising? James Norton, Niamh Elgar, James McArdle and Jessica Brown Findlay are the four parents, with Malpractice writer Grace Ofori-Attah on adaptation duties.
Eric (Netflix)
Acclaimed writer Abi Morgan is back with a Benedict Cumberbatch-starring drama. Set in ‘80s New York, it stars Cumberbatch as professional puppeteer Vincent, reeling from the loss of his disappeared son Edgar. As his mind continues to unravel, Vincent plans to reach out to Edgar by turning the kid’s drawings of a blue monster named Eric into a hit puppet on TV. Also starring Gaby Hoffman and Dan Fogler.
Star Wars: The Acolyte (Disney+)
While Mando and Grogu are flying off to the big screen, small-screen Star Wars is still going strong with this dip back in time to the end of the High Republic era, roughly 200 years before Luke Skywalker's time. It's here that the earlier republic began to crumble and the dark side emerged. Leslye Headland has worked up the new show, with Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-Jae, and Jodie Turner-Smith leading the cast.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Disney+)
The other Star Wars series launching this year comes from recent Spider-Man trilogy director Jon Watts and writer Christopher Ford. With Jude Law, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Robert Timothy Smith, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, Tunde Adebimpe, Kerry Condon and Jaleel White in the cast, it sees four kids ending up on an adventure to make their way home after being lost in the galaxy. The stellar director line-up includes Everything Everywhere's Daniels, David Lowery, Lee Isaac Chung, and Bryce Dallas Howard
Renegade Nell (Disney+)
The legendary Sally Wainwright returns with a period drama set in 18th century England – depicting the rise of feared highway(wo)man Nell, played by Louisa Harland (Derry Girls’ Oral). But there seems to be a somewhat supernatural twist, with Nick Mohammed playing a spirit known as Billy Blind. Also starring Joely Richardson, Adrian Lester, and Frank Dillane.
Passenger (ITVX)
Wunmi Mosaku leads a thriller series from Andrew Buchan, playing a former police detective who’s swept into an investigation when a series of shocking events unfolds in the town of Chadder Vale. Also starring David Threlfall.
The Sympathizer (HBO)
As if the presence of Oldboy and Decision To Leave director Park Chan-Wook – working alongside Canadian indie stalwart Don McKellar – wasn't enough enticement, this adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer-Prizer winning novel boasts Robert Downey Jr. (in multiple roles) alongside Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Ky Duyen, and Sandra Oh. It's a satire-tinged espionage thriller about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States. Yep, we're in.
The Girls On The Bus (Netflix)
Inspired by a chapter of Amy Chozick’s best-selling book Chasing Hillary, this fictional drama follows four female journalists – played by Melissa Benoist, Carla Gugino, Christina Elmore and Natasha Behnam – who report on a host of flawed candidates for the US presidency. But as well as developing their personal relationships, they uncover a democracy-threatening scandal.
No Good Deed (Netflix)
The new series from Dead To Me's Liz Feldman. This one stars the likes of Lisa Kudrow, Luke Wilson, Ray Romano, and Linda Cardellini (who appeared in Dead), following three different families all intent on owning a 1920s Spanish style villa that will make all their problems go away. But all is not as it seems with the apparent dream-home. There will blood. Or, more likely, mould.
Apples Never Fall (TBC)
Following Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, another Liane Moriarty novel gets the TV treatment (this time not starring Nicole Kidman). Sam Neill and Annette Bening play former tennis coach couple Stan and Joy – whose seemingly perfect marriage is upended when Joy disappears. Alison Brie, Jake Lacy, Conor Merrigan Turner and Essie Randles are their four grown-up children, reassessing what they knew of their parents’ relationship.
Those About To Die (Prime Video)
This year doesn’t just bring Gladiator 2 on the big screen – get ready for Roland Emmerich and Robert Rodat’s epic Roman combat series, based on Daniel P. Mannix’s 1958 book of the same name (which provided the inspiration for Scott’s original Gladiator). The series is set in 79 AD, as factions vie for eyeballs at Circus Maximus, where bloody combat and big bets are the order of the day – get ready to enter the Colosseum. Anthony Hopkins leads the cast as Emperor Vespasian.
Interview With The Vampire: Season 2 (BBC Two)
The small screen version of Anne Rice's classic bloodsucker series will tackle the second half of the first novel. We'll be back with Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and Claudia (now re-cast with Delainey Hayles). Having effectively left Lestat for dead (or near it), Louis and Claudia are seeking out new vampires in Season 2, leading them to the Parisian Théâtres des Vampires. It’s there that Louis meets Armand (Assad Zaman) and his vampire coven that wreaks more public havoc on humans than Louis ever has.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2 (Prime Video)
With Amazon dropping a small country's worth of cash on the rights to make new Tolkien-based stories and on the first season, The Rings Of Power rolls right into a second season. Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) will embark on a journey to Rhûn to uncover The Stranger's true identity; simultaneously, Sauron (Charlie Vickers) is now in Mordor, and a central storyline revolves around the hunt for his blood. Galadriel (Morfydd Clark), Elrond (Robert Aramayo), and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) are seeking help to save Middle-earth, while Galadriel grapples with the revelation that Halbrand was Sauron in disguise.
Marvel Zombies (Disney+)
Spinning off from the fifth episode of Marvel's What If...? Season 1, Marvel Zombies will revisit the universe where many of Earth's Mightiest Heroes (plus some villains) have become flesh-craving monsters. Iman Vellani is voicing Ms. Marvel, who will be a key player in the story, but even if you've read the comics' source material, expect considerable deviation, as is the MCU's way.
Orphan Black: Echoes (ITVX)
A spin-off from the clone-club series that gave Tatiana Maslany her big breakout role (or roles), this new series is set in the near future and promises a deep dive into the exploration of the scientific manipulation of human existence. Created by Anna Fishko, Echoes follows a group of women unravelling the mystery of their identity. Krysten Ritter's Lucy the lead this time, with Keeley Hawes and Avian Jogia also among the ensemble.
The Veil (Disney+)
Steven Knight – creator of Peaky Blinders, Taboo and See – returns with a spy thriller, starring Elisabeth Moss. It’s set to be a limited series, with a globetrotting premise and a game of cat-and-mouse.
You: Season 5 (Netflix)
This fifth — and final — season of the campy serial-killer drama takes Penn Badgley's Joe back to New York City with his wealthy partner Kate (Charlotte Ritchie) and a dangerous new lease on life — a life he’s finally admitted is fundamentally immoral. There are plenty of loose ends dangling that will need to be wrapped up, so don't expect to be bored.
The Umbrella Academy: Season 4 (Netflix)
Like a few other returning shows, The Umbrella Academy is back for one final go-around, its fourth season promising to wrap things up in style. Last season ended with a major twist: There’s a new timeline dictated by the family patriarch, Reginald (Colm Feore), and the siblings no longer have their powers. That’s not the only oddity in this timeline — there are new enemies who want to see the family wiped from existence. Can the superhero siblings get their abilities back? The regular ensemble are joined this time by Megan Mullally and David Cross.
Vikings: Valhalla: Season 3
The historical fiction series, which premiered in 2021, follows a new generation of legendary heroes a hundred years after the original Vikings. As tension arises between the Vikings and the English in the early 11th century, these characters inspired by Norse mythology must fight for their own beliefs, territory, and legacy. Start building the funeral pyre, though, as the show is ending with this third run on Netflix. The danger is far from over for Harald Sigurdsson (Leo Suter), Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), and Freydís Eiríksdóttir (Frida Gustavsson) – and there might also be a long-awaited reunion for the trio.
American Horror Story: Delicate: Part 2 (Disney+)
The latest story in the anthology horror series finds Emma Roberts as Anna Victoria Alcott, a rising actor, and her husband, Dexter (Matt Czuchry), striving to expand their family. However, Anna's pregnancy takes a mysterious turn as she experiences unsettling visions of an intruder, hinting at hidden complexities. Production was cleaved in two because of last year's strikes, so now the second chunk will be delivered in the coming months.
Squid Game: Season 2 (Netflix)
If Squid Game: The Challenge didn't do enough to quench your Squid thirst, then get happy that the second season of the actual show is set to return this year. Even given its twistiness, there's some debate over whether the story needed to continue, but given how much of a hit the first season became back in 2021, this was inevitable. Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, Gong Yoo will return along with some new players. And yes, we'd expect more fiendish games.
Disclaimer (Apple TV+)
One of those shows that boasts top-tier talent, Disclaimer marks not only a rare foray for Alfonso Cuarón to TV, but also Cate Blanchett. Based on the novel of the same name by Renée Knight, the series sees Blanchett play TV documentary journalist Catherine Ravenscroft, with a reputation for lifting the lid on scandals in beloved institutions. Things get twisty when a novel penned by a widower (Kevin Kline) turns up on her bedside table – and recognises her own life (and dark secrets) in its pages.
Star Trek: Prodigy: Season 2 (Netflix)
Kevin and Dan Hageman's animated Trek series was designed to get younger viewers excited about the Federation and various ship-focused adventures. But it didn't perform well enough for Paramount+ to consider airing the completed second season, and promptly offered it elsewhere. Netflix stepped up and now the 20 episodes have a home (the series' third after Nickelodeon and Paramount's streaming service). Prodigy follows a motley crew of young aliens who must figure out how to work together while navigating a greater galaxy, in search of a better future.