As most industry experts, diehard fans, and casual viewers alike will attest, we truly are living in the Golden Age of Television as we speak.
Whether looking at the shows premiering on network television or debuting exclusively to worldwide streaming platforms, it’s clear that almost every show that makes its way to our screens is of undeniably high quality. Fortunately, this ongoing trend in the television industry doesn’t seem to be slowing down, with just as many great shows arriving in 2025 as there have been in 2024, 2023, and 2021 previously.
From satirical dark comedies to revolutionary sci-fi and fantasy series, here are seven highly anticipated TV series we look forward to seeing in 2025.
After earning standout acclaim for its initial two seasons, HBO’s dark comedy anthology series The White Lotus returns to the airwaves just after Valentine’s Day this February. As with the previous two seasons before it, The White Lotus’s third season transports viewers to yet another idyllic international destination: specifically, the vibrant and mysterious jungles of Thailand. With a cast that includes Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monaghan, and Leslie Bibb, The White Lotus Season 3 has the makings to be one of the best comedy series of the new year (even if it doesn’t feature Jennifer Coolidge’s fan-favorite heiress Tanya McQuoid in the main cast).
With most fans raising an eyebrow at Black Mirror’s gradual turn to supernatural horror with Season 6, showrunner Charlie Brooker has stated his intent to return Black Mirror back to its humble roots with the show’s upcoming seventh season. While the season’s premiere date has yet to be announced, Brooker has confirmed that Black Mirror’s newest season will feature a total of six episodes, with a cast that includes such Hollywood heavyweights as Awkwafina, Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, and Cristin Milioti. Interestingly, Brooker has also stated that one of the episodes will serve as a belated sequel to Season 4’s acclaimed “USS Callister” – a first in Black Mirror’s production history.
Jenna Ortega has been incredibly busy lately. Fresh off her recent appearances in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” music video, the former Scream star is set to reprise her role in Wednesday’s long-awaited second season. Specific plot and production details have been kept tightly under wraps thus far, but we do know that Wednesday’s second season will feature several new prominent cast members, including Billie Piper, Owen Painter, Noah Taylor, and the always phenomenal Steve Buscemi. (Fingers crossed we also see Ortega take the Internet by storm with yet another creative dance number.)
When it first premiered on Apple TV+ in the early months of 2022, most viewers instantly fell in love with Severance’s socially relevant narrative and unorthodox implementation of dystopian science fiction. As expected, then, most people are extremely excited to see the series’ second season. Set to air on January 17, Severance’s second season will continue to shine a light on the troubling corporate practices of Lumon Industries, further analyzing the impact of meddling too deeply with the company’s severance barrier. Along with many of its first season cast members like Adam Scott, Christopher Walken, Patricia Arquette, and John Turturro, Severance’s second season will also feature several new characters played by Bob Balaban, Gwendoline Christie, John Noble, and Alia Shawkat, among quite a few others.
Three years after its lauded debut on Hulu, The Bear shows no signs of slowing down its larger-than-life momentum. Winning praise for its harrowing portrayal of trauma, depression, and mental illness, The Bear has also earned recognition for its organic character development and accurate exploration of the restaurant industry as a whole. The fourth season of The Bear is set to premiere on Hulu this coming June, with most of the mainstay cast returning for the show. Additionally, viewers can expect to see several other familiar faces in the form of supporting guest characters, such as Carmy and Sugar’s unstable mother, Donna (ingeniously played by a scene-stealing Jamie Lee Curtis).
As the hottest HBO series since the peak days of The Sopranos or Game of Thrones, anticipation is running rampant for The Last of Us’s second season. Set five years after its initial season, The Last of Us’s second season follows Joel and Ellie as they face off against an embittered enemy from their past. Most interestingly, the series will closely adhere to the events of Naughty Dog’s 2020 The Last of Us Part II, incorporating such characters as Kaitlyn Dever’s morally ambiguous playable character, Abby, from the original video game. Alongside a returning Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us Season 2 also introduces several new cast members to the dark and gritty world of the show, including Isabela Merced, Ariela Barer, Catherine O’Hara, and Jeffrey Wright (reprising his role as militia leader Isaac Dixon from the game).
All great things must come to an end, and sadly, Netflix’s hit sci-fi series, Stranger Things, is no exception to that extremely accurate phenomenon. Three years after its previous season and nine years after its official start, Stranger Things returns with its fifth and final season at some point in 2025. With every major cast member making their way back onto the show for the series’ conclusive chapter, Stranger Things’ fifth season promises to be a momentous television event wrapping up one of the most popular Netflix series of the past decade, bar none.
