Crack the spine of your 2025 planner and start filling in some dates, because we’ve rounded up all the biggest new and returning shows of next year.
2024 has seen the death of plenty of TV shows, some by design—like Larry David’s long-running Curb Your Enthusiasm, the vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows, and the most unlikely spin-off hit of all time, Young Sheldon. Then there were those that had the rug pulled out from under them, like the Star Wars series The Acolyte, Netflix’s Greek god epic Kaos, and Taika Waititi’s fan-favorite Our Flag Means Death.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Still, where some TV doors close, new browser windows open, and next year looks to be packed to the rafters with big-budget swings like a new Game of Thrones prequel and a positively stacked Apple TV+ originals slate, as well as highly anticipated returning faves like The White Lotus, The Bear, and The Traitors.
We’ve narrowed down the shows we think will be on everyone’s lips in 2025.
Jan. 2
Just days before Christmas in 1988, the UK saw its deadliest terror attack in history when a Pan Am flight was blown up over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people. In Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Colin Firth takes on the role of Jim Swire, who lost his daughter in the explosion and became the spokesperson for families who lost loved ones on board. He believes the government is covering up what really happened on the flight, but as 36 years of history reveal, the story is never clear.
Jan. 9
If the title of Netflix’s gritty new drama implies something dangerous and evil, well, that’s the idea. American Primeval chronicles the birth of the American West, with all the perils and violence that came with warring cultures and religions vying for dominance. Taylor Kitsch leads Peter Berg’s series as a traumatized man traversing the terrain, with the always excellent Betty Gilpin as a mother looking for a guide across the country. They hope for freedom, but in the frontier, the best they can ask for may be survival.
Jan. 9
Noah Wyle as an ER doc? In 2025? It’s more likely than you think. The Pitt sees Wyle return to the fluorescent-lit hospital halls as the chief attendant at a Pittsburgh hospital. More 24 than ER, each episode of the series follows one hour in Wyle’s 15-hour shift and aims to show the relentless conditions for modern-day healthcare workers in America, from crammed waiting rooms to nursing shortages.
Jan. 22
After the sob-fest that was One Day, we’re grateful that Leo Woodall’s follow-up series looks to be more adrenaline-spiking than tear-jerking. Prime Target follows Woodall’s Edward Brooks, a math genius (hence the reference to prime numbers) on the brink of a major breakthrough who senses someone may be trying to thwart his discovery. He and the FBI agent sent to spy on him (Quintessa Swindell) will attempt to unravel the conspiracy at the heart of both of their work.
Jan. 26
If there are three things that the average TV viewer loves, they are medical dramas, police procedurals, and innovative spins on recognizable IP. Enter Watson, the new series about Sherlock Holmes’ doctor sidekick, which bills itself as part medical mystery, part detective show. Morris Chestnut takes the mantle of John Watson (following Lucy Liu’s run in the character’s last primetime procedural outing in Elementary), who, after the death of Sherlock Holmes, sets up his own practice dedicated to strange and unusual medical issues.
Jan. 28
Sterling K. Brown is teaming back up with This Is Us creator Dan Fogleman for this series centered around the murder of the President of the United States (played by James Marsden, always a joy to see pop up in things). Brown plays the head of security, who just so happens to have been the last person to see him alive after being let in on something top secret and potentially world-altering. Cue the intrigue, espionage, gripping mysteries, and Brown doing what he does best: expertly playing a character we don’t know whether to root for or against.
Feb. 16
SNL’s birthday bash has been a full-season affair so far, with legacy hosts and returning cast members galore. The actual big five-oh celebration for Lorne Michaels’ comedy brainchild will be a three-hour live special dedicated to the sketch show’s half-century run. Details so far are thin on the ground, with no word yet on who will take on hosting duties and who from the show’s illustrious run will be back for some nostalgic commemoration. Based on the show’s 40th anniversary special 10 years ago, we can certainly expect a carousel of big names and multiple musical guests.
Feb. 20
Zero Day, Netflix’s upcoming political thriller, marks Robert De Niro’s first step into the world of prestige TV, an impressive feat to hold off on considering so many of his A-list peers have made the jump over the last few years. He’ll be joined by Jesse Plemons, Dan Stevens, Lizzy Caplan, and Angela Bassett in the series, about a beloved and former United States president (De Niro, naturally) as he leads the investigation into a catastrophic cyberattack.
Feb. 23
Move over David Attenborough, Tom Hanks is coming for your bag. Hanks takes on narrating duties for this expansive docuseries that shows the beauty of nature spanning the most remote parts of both North and South America. The series was filmed over five years, taking viewers from the top of the world in the Arctic to the bottom in the Antarctic.
Feb. 23
If there’s one thing that L.A. has in abundance, it’s lawyers. So it makes sense that the first spin-off of Suits, the wildly popular, Meghan Markle-starring series about NYC attorneys that became a behemoth streaming hit after it ended in 2019, would decamp for the West Coast. The series stars Stephen Amell as a federal prosecutor from New York who moves to Hollywood to represent some of Los Angeles’ most powerful clients. Maggie Grace will also star.
March 4
It’s been a long, long road to get us to Daredevil: Born Again’s release. The long-awaited solo return for Charlie Cox’s blind superhero outside of the short-lived Marvel-Netflix partnership was first announced in 2022, but by 2023 it was undertaking a massive creative overhaul with The Punisher’s Dario Scardapane brought in as showrunner. The show, which has been billed as a continuation of the character’s initial three-season Netflix run rather than a reboot, will bring back series originals Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio as villain Kingpin, and Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page to the gritty streets of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen.
March 14
Dope Thief is another crime novel adaptation set to hit the small screen next year. Top Gun: Maverick screenwriter Peter Craig’s 2009 story will star Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura as a duo that runs a grift posing as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to realize they’ve stumbled across the biggest narcotics corridor on the East Coast. Ridley Scott will executive produce.
March 20
So far, Netflix’s more than $100-million deal with Shonda Rhimes has given us the bodice-ripping behemoth Bridgerton, its spin-off Queen Charlotte, and the Anna Delvey miniseries Inventing Anna. The newest jewel in the crown is The Residence, a murder mystery set within the walls of the White House. Described as an “upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs” story, the series stars Uzo Aduba as the eccentric detective alongside Giancarlo Esposito and Randall Park.
March 26
The sign of truly making it in Hollywood isn’t an award or a mansion in the hills, it’s wracking up enough caché to get Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Charlize Theron, Zac Efron, and Kathryn Hahn to berate you on screen. The Studio stars Seth Rogen as a movie studio head on the brink of existential crisis as he tries to toe the line between making art and “movies with a capital M.” The trailer alone is like a rolodex of big-name cameos playing heightened versions of themselves, which, when executed well, can be delightful.
April 11
Jon Hamm as a somewhat sociopathic businessman conning his way through New York? We think we’ve seen this one before. In Your Friends & Neighbors, Hamm will lead his first TV series since Mad Men and suit back up as a hedge fund manager who, after losing his job and marriage, starts stealing from the wealthy residents of his suburb. Naturally, the con gets out of hand, and when he steals the wrong thing from the wrong house, his new life of petty crime starts to unravel. The series will also star Olivia Munn and Amanda Peet.
April 16
Another series in Apple TV+’s loaded slate is Government Cheese, starring and executive-produced by David Oyelowo. The surrealist comedy is set in 1969 and revolves around a quirky family in L.A. Oyelowo plays its patriarch who, after being released from prison, tries to curry favor with his wife and kids who resent his absence and have seemingly built a strange life around lofty pursuits and odd hobbies in the time he’s been away. The show is created by Paul Hunter, dubbed one of the most influential hip-hop music video directors of all time. Unsurprisingly, early images of the series look gorgeous.
Summer TBA
The Alien franchise has had a long and storied existence in cinema (the latest installment, Alien: Romulus, came out this year), but Alien: Earth will be its first live-action iteration on TV. They’ve brought in the big guns for the xenomorph’s small-screen debut, roping in Fargo series creator Noah Hawley to helm the (space) ship. The series is a prequel to the original 1979 Ridley Scott film starring Sigourney Weaver and takes place on Earth after a mysterious vessel containing a dangerous entity (three guesses for what it might be!) threatens life as we know it.
TBA
Owen Wilson is pitching on the green in Stick, a comedy about golf. He stars as Pryce Cahill, an ex-pro golfer who, after having his career prematurely cut short, becomes the coach for a troubled but talented 17-year-old. If you’ve seen Eddie the Eagle (2016) or The Karate Kid (1984), you might get a sense of what we’re in for. There’s still a lot of mystery around this series, but we do know that Timothy Olyphant and Judy Greer will also star.
TBA
Taron Egerton will team back up with Black Bird creator Dennis Lehane for Smoke, a fictionalized take on the true-crime podcast of the same name about the hunt for an arsonist who seemed to confess their crimes in a novel manuscript. Egerton will star as an enigmatic arson investigator on the hunt for two serial arsonists terrorizing the area. The series will also star Jurnee Smollet, John Leguizamo, and Rafe Spall.
TBA
Jason Momoa wears multiple hats in Chief of War, a series he wrote, executive produced and stars in. It tells the story of the bloody and brutal colonization of Hawaii from the indigenous point of view, and Momoa stars as the warrior Ka’iana, known as the “most famous Hawaiian in the world.”
TBA
The Game of Thrones universe continues to expand its reach. Along with House of the Dragon, 2025 will see another prequel come our way. The series is set 100 years before House of the Dragon’s Targaryen turf war and is based on the Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas in George R. R. Martin’s original A Song of Ice and Fire series. It revolves around a naive knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his squire known as Egg. Martin will write the series and has said it will have a different tone to its successors but it’s still Westeros so “No one is truly safe.”
TBA
“Glen Powell Summer” is extending its run into 2025 with Chad Powers, a comedy series Powell co-created with Michael Waldron based on Eli Manning’s character of the same name. Taking inspo from Manning’s ESPN docuseries in which he went undercover during college football tryouts, Powell will play a disgraced college quarterback who tries to get a second shot at his big break by disguising himself on a new college team under a different identity (bad wig and prosthetics included!).
TBA
For those pleading for the return of good old-fashioned classic rom-coms, you may be in luck with The Four Seasons, Tina Fey’s remake of the 1981 Alan Alda and Carol Burnett comedy, which was a love story about friendship as much as it was a romance. The story follows three couples who vacation with each other each season, but their harmony is thrown off balance when one of them gets divorced and brings a new partner into the fold. Fey will lead the show and reunite with her Date Night co-star Steve Carrell. Elsewhere in the cast, we have Will Forte, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Erika Henningsen.
TBA
The snapshots of the child-murdering sewer clown Pennywise’s history that we got in It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019) inform the story of Welcome to Derry, the prequel series about Maine’s most haunted town. Taking place 27 years before Stephen King’s original novel (because Pennywise only shows up in 27-year intervals), the show will explore the town’s first sightings and experiences with the dancing clown. Set in the 1960s, expect all the hallmarks of King’s penchant for vintage vignettes, including the looming fear of the Cold War as well as whatever monsters live beneath the sewer grates.
TBA
Liz Moore’s novel Long Bright River topped multiple year-end critics lists and was named one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year when it was released in 2020, so naturally, it is heading to the small screen with an adaptation. Amanda Seyfried will star in the series which follows a beat cop working as the opioid crisis grips the streets of Philadelphia. Her sister, who she’s more or less estranged from, battles on the fringes of addiction and the latest danger that sweeps the city, a killer who targets sex workers.
TBA
After Mindy Kaling wrapped up her Netflix high school rom-com Never Have I Ever last year, questions turned to where she’d go next. The answer is not very far. She is back with the streamer for her next creation, Running Point, a Kate Hudson-starring series about a woman who inherits the top seat of her family business—one of the biggest basketball franchises in the country. Sitcom lovers will rejoice at the show’s supporting cast, which includes Drew Tarver, of the sublimely hilarious The Other Two, Brenda Song, whose renaissance the internet is cheering on enthusiastically, and Max Greenfield, who’s not playing Schmidt from New Girl but who will always be Schmidt in our hearts.
TBA
If you, like seemingly the rest of the world in 2024, decided to rewatch Girls and now yearn for more of Lena Dunham’s specific lens on the world of friendship and romance, you’re in luck! She’s back with Too Much, a series she’s written with her husband Luis Felber, about a New Yorker who moves to London after a painful breakup and meets a handsome and kind local. Considering Dunham herself moved from the Big Apple to the other side of the pond and married a hot Brit, we sense there could be some autobiographical license. If the premise wasn’t enough, Dunham has roped in Meg Stalter, consistently one of the funniest people on screen (watch Hacks!) and The White Lotus Season 2’s hunky nerd Will Sharpe. We’re so back, baby!
TBA
Although Netflix’s mononymous David Beckham 2023 docuseries focused on the footballer’s ascent to “Golden Balls” status, it was his wife Victoria, the fashion designer and former Spice Girl, who came out as the real star. The series reminded viewers that behind the pout, Victoria has always had a razor-sharp wit and isn’t precious when it comes to joking about herself (as seen in her previous satirical reality show Victoria Beckham: Coming to America). Unsurprisingly, the streamer has jumped on that goodwill and greenlit another series, this time focused on Victoria and her shift from extravagant pop star to quiet luxury fashion mogul.
Jan. 9
The most gripping reality TV series out there, The Traitors is thankfully returning very early on in 2025. Happy New Year to us! The show where celebrities are pitted against each other in a high-stakes party game of Mafia, in which some are designated secret “traitors” who are vying to get others eliminated to steal the top prize, is heading back to the Scottish Highlands with Alan Cumming as host (we would riot if not!) and the likes of Bob the Drag Queen, Chrishell Stause, Dorinda Medley, and Tom Sandoval competing in the mix.
Jan. 17
The wait between Seasons 1 and 2 of Ben Stiller’s high-concept workplace drama felt longer than that stretch between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. at the office on any given Wednesday, but finally, it’s upon us. Adam Scott is back as Mark, an employee of Lumon, where employees can separate their work memories from their real-life memories. Season 1 gave us plenty of mysteries about what Lumon is actually up to; let’s hope Season 2 gives us some answers before it clocks out for the end of its shift.
Jan. 23
After its first season launched as one of the most watched shows in Netflix’s history, it was only a matter of time (a month, to be exact) before The Night Agent was greenlit for a second (and third) series. Gabriel Basso’s FBI agent Peter Sutherland is back for more explosive twists and turns as he gets further immersed in Night Action, a secret organization full of danger.
Jan. 30
Mo Amer’s semi-autobiographical comedy series about his life as a Palestinian refugee in Houston is back for a second season. The show, which is co-created by Ramy Youssef, will pick up with Mo’s continued attempts at seeking asylum in the U.S., but in Season 2 he’s stranded across the border in Mexico without a passport.
Feb 14
What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with a bit of survival-based cannibalism? Season 2 of Yellowjackets, the dual-timeline series about a group of teens who got stranded in the wilderness, created even more tension and questions than its first outing. In Season 3, it looks like the team is getting hunted by someone who knows their secret—but everyone who knows the story is “us or dead.”
Feb. 16
The third installment of Mike White’s resort-based murder mystery is one of the most anticipated shows of 2025, especially after the culture-shifting ending of its second season in late 2022. Following from Hawaii and then Italy, this series takes place at the White Lotus branch in Thailand. Naturally, White has cobbled together a killer (literally, perhaps) cast including Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, and Lisa from the K-pop girl group Blackpink.
April 22
Star Wars spin-off shows haven’t had the most success lately, but Andor is a shining jewel among the expansive galaxy’s offerings. The show chronicles the events leading up to 2016’s Rogue One, with intelligence officer Cassian Andor anchoring the series. While Season 1 took place over a single year, Season 2 will span four years.
Spring TBA
It will have been almost three years since the last season of The Handmaid’s Tale by the time Season 6, the show’s last, lands in our laps next year, but the creators have promised that the wait will have been worth it. Season 5 left us with an unlikely team-up and an increasingly authoritarian threat in Canada.
TBA
The Bear’s popularity has bubbled over like a pot of boiling water since its debut. Its second season swept every award going and while its third season was met with a more mixed bag of reviews, it’s still one of the most talked about shows on TV right now—not least because it’s banging out seasons in a way we haven’t seen in decades. Four seasons in four years? We forgot we could live like this!
TBA
Charlie Brooker’s satirical anthology about technology’s chokehold on us will be back for a seventh season, so be prepared to start looking at your cell phone or air fryer with some suspicion again. The series will include Emma Corrin, Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Cristin Milioti, and Chris O’Dowd.
TBA
Apple TV+’s answer to Bridgerton is The Buccaneers, the story of five ambitious high-society American women navigating the culture clash of 1870s London. Greg Wise and Leighton Meester will be joining the show’s second season.
TBA
Never has a TBA been more TBA than when it comes to Euphoria, Sam Levinson’s dive into the drug-addled, sex-fueled lives of teenagers. While its cast, including Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, and Sydney Sweeney, have entered bonafide Hollywood A-list status since its hiatus began in 2022, Levinson has confirmed that the show will be back for a third season that’s due to start filming in January. It’s said there will be a time jump from last season, meaning the characters will have aged out of being teenagers.
TBA
Julian Fellowes’ The Gilded Age, set in late-1800s New York, proves that great drama can be found anywhere, even in high-society quibbles over who has the superior opera house. Season 3 will see an evolving New York, where the old guard has been usurped and new socialites run the town.
TBA
The Last of Us became one of the most popular and gripping shows with its 2023 debut, putting to bed the idea that video games can’t be successfully adapted to the screen and solidifying Pedro Pascal’s “Internet Daddy” status. Season 2 will be based on the game’s second installment, Part II, meaning we’re time-jumping a few years into the future with Bella Ramsey’s Ellie being 19 rather than 14.
TBA
Rian Johnson has truly cornered the market in whodunits or, as he calls Poker Face, a howcatchem. Natasha Lyonne will return as Charlie Cale, a case-of-the-week Las Vegas detective, pointing fingers at all manner of big-name guest stars. Kumail Nanjiani, Katie Holmes, John Mulaney, Ego Nwodim, and Sam Richardson will all pop by this season.
TBA
It’s been so long since Stranger Things’ last season that we’re almost ready to bring “Running Up That Hill” for its second cultural renaissance just to feel something. Still, the wait will hopefully be worth it as we get ready to say goodbye to Hawkins, the Upside Down, and all the characters who are definitely still supposed to be 15-year-olds despite this show nearing its 10th anniversary. After Hawkins gave way to Vecna’s destruction last season, the gang will have to pool together one last time to save their town from its biggest villain yet.
TBA
Wednesday Season 1 launched to unprecedented levels of popularity in 2023, usurping Stranger Things’ chokehold when it came to streaming numbers. Its second installment has a lot to live up to, but if Jenna Ortega’s sardonic take on the classic pigtail-braided character has taught us anything, it’s that we should never underestimate The Addams Family (and that black really does look good with everything).
TBA
Will Joe Goldberg finally get what’s coming to him? That’s the question we’ll all be asking as we head into You’s final season. After murdering his way through New York, California, and London with varying degrees of success, Penn Badgley’s stalking serial killer is back on home turf, although this time he’s got a multi-millionaire wife to hide behind.
