Some big American shows that had new seasons delayed by the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 will return. Among them is the third series of luxury resort black comedy The White Lotus, as well as the final seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale and Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things.
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth
The first of two dramas due this year about the 1988 Lockerbie disaster stars Colin Firth as Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter was aboard Pan Am Flight 103 when a terrorist bomb exploded, bringing the airliner down over the Scottish town, killing 11 residents. The five episodes follow Swire as he becomes spokesman for the victims’ families before eventually starting a campaign to prove that one of the Libyans convicted of the bombing was innocent.
(TVNZ 1, TVNZ+, February)
The White Lotus
Mike White’s hit luxury class satire about unhappy rich folk heads to a new resort, this time in Thailand. There, as has been the tradition of the past two seasons, it’s apparent not all the guests will be checking out alive. And like previous instalments, this one comes with an impressive international cast, including Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), Carrie Coon, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey and our very own Morgana O’Reilly.
(Sky HBO, Neon, February)
Zero Day
Robert De Niro makes a rare foray into television in this political conspiracy thriller in which he plays a former US president who takes on the job of heading a commission investigating a devastating global cyberattack who is granted extraordinary powers to bring in the culprits. Jesse Plemons, Dan Stevens, Joan Allen and Lizzy Caplan and Angela Bassett also feature in the cast.
(Netflix, February)
A Thousand Blows
Another gritty period drama from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, this one is set in Victorian London. It follows the exploits of the Forty Elephants, a shoplifting gang of women from the Elephant and Castle district who pilfered the city’s department stores for decades. Erin Doherty (The Crown) plays the gang’s boss Mary Carr, who also operates an illegal boxing operation, where Stephen Graham’s Sugar Goodson is the big dog.
(Disney +, February)
The Studio
Movie biz satire has Seth Rogen as the new boss of a legacy Hollywood movie studio, who finds his idealism about making great films won’t fly now that he’s the one in charge. Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara and Kathryn Hahn also star. Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Zoë Kravitz, Charlize Theron and some famous others also star.
(Apple TV+, March)
Your Friends and Neighbors
Onetime Mad Men star Jon Hamm swaps 1960s Madison Avenue for contemporary Wall Street, where he’s a high-flying hedge fund manager. Until, that is, he’s fired, which adds to his post-divorce financial woes. He finds a little local larceny – relieving his wealthy neighbours’ homes of their valuables – is the perfect solution to his cash flow problems, and gives his unemployed life a bit of an edge. Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn co-star.
(Apple TV+, April)
The Handmaid’s Tale
Arguably, dragging out a story originally based on Margaret Attwood’s classic dystopian novel to six seasons has stretched things out far too long. But faithful fans will be tuning in to see how the tale of Elisabeth Moss’s June Osborne ends, and whether she will return to Gilead yet again to rescue her daughter Hannah from her forced adoption. Meanwhile, a television adaptation of Attwood’s sequel novel The Testaments is still in the works.
(Neon, April)
The Last of Us
Having become one of the biggest shows of 2023 while confounding expectations about videogame adaptations, The Last of Us returns for the second season of its postapocalyptic odyssey involving Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal). The story picks up five years after the events of the first season and introduces new cast members, including Jeffrey Wright as militia leader Isaac, a role he voiced in the original game.
(Sky HBO, Neon, April)
Andor
The 2022 first season arrived as the best of the increasingly patchy live-action Star Wars television shows, possibly because it wasn’t interested in all that Jedi and lightsabre stuff, but more in characters on either side of the Rebellion-Empire political divide. It became an exciting spy thriller set in a galaxy far, far, away. Diego Luna returns as Cassian Andor in the second and final season, as the story covers the four years leading to the events of the movie Rogue One.
(Disney+, April)
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
The second Game of Thrones spin-off prequel after The House of the Dragon comes written by George RR Martin himself, adapting his series of Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. Set 70 years after Dragon and nearly a century before Thrones, the six episodes will follow the escapades of freelance knight Ser Duncan the Tall (played by former Irish professional rugby player Peter Claffey) and young squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) as they compete with Westeros nobility in jousting tournaments.
(Sky HBO, Neon, mid-year)
Alien: Earth
After 45 years and nine movies, the Alien franchise gets a live-action television series. And while it’s rare for a television sci-fi spin-off that goes deeper than the movies before it, this one looks promising – mainly because of what its showrunner Noah Hawley managed with his television anthology adaptations of Fargo. As the title says, this one will be set on Earth and it takes place in 2120, two years before the events of the first movie. The cast includes Sydney Chandler (Pistol) Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) and our own Erana James.
(Disney +,TBC)
Wednesday
A second season of the hit goofy gothic horror comedy spin-off of The Addams Family returns with Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday facing another year at Nevermore Academy. Tim Burton will direct four of the eight episodes, as he did on the first season, and new cast members include Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd (who played Uncle Fester in The Addams Family movies), Thandiwe Newton, Billie Piper, Joanna Lumley and – there’s sure to be a Halloween costume in this – Lady Gaga.
(Netflix, late in the year)
The Night Manager
The acclaimed 2016 adaptation of John Le Carré's 1993 novel gets a beyond-the-book extension, with Tom Hiddleston returning as Jonathan Pine and Olivia Colman as his Foreign Office handler. The first of two new seasons picks up eight years after the events of the first series, and there’s speculation whether Hugh Laurie, whose arms dealer character Dickie Roper supposedly met his demise at the end of season one, might return.
(Prime Video, late in the year)
Department Q
The Queen’s Gambit creator Scott Frank adapts Danish crime writer Jussi Adler-Olsen’s book series of the same name, shifting it to Edinburgh and casting Matthew Goode as a troubled cold case detective and Kelly Macdonald as his police therapist.
(Netflix, TBC)
Stranger Things
We last saw those kids from the town of Hawkins take on the evil Vecna and his minions from the Upside Down in 2022, in episodes that stretched out to movie length. Expect more epic instalments from the Duffer brothers when the fifth and final season finally arrives, bringing to a close a show that has become the biggest pop culture phenomenon of the streaming era. Just ask Kate Bush.
(Netflix, late in the year)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Another sign the US streaming platforms are backing Australian content, this five-part mini-series adapts Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel about celebrated Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans’ memories of a wartime love affair as a young man and his time as a prisoner of the Japanese, working on the Burma Railway. The book was inspired by Flanagan’s father’s time as a POW. The series stars Jacob Elordi (Saltburn) as the young Evans and Ciarán Hinds as the older man.
(Prime Video, April 18)
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
The second series adapting Hilary Mantel’s acclaimed trilogy about the life and times of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s chief minister screened in the UK to wide acclaim late last year. Mark Rylance returned to his role of the dutiful and doomed statesman and Damian Lewis to that of the capricious king. Hopefully, it will be available to NZ viewers in the coming year, but a local broadcaster or streamer is not yet confirmed.
Miss Austen
Likewise, this drama based on Gill Hornby’s novel about why Jane Austen’s older sister Cassandra burnt all their personal letters after her death, hasn’t yet got a NZ broadcaster. But the year marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen, so it would be timely to get one. Cassandra is played by Keeley Hawes, and the cast also includes Jessica Hynes and Rose Leslie, and has Patsy Ferran as the young Jane.
