The middle of the year will feature a streaming lineup that’s anything but middling. Some of the biggest TV titles in town return for new seasons; fresh prequels, novel adaptations, and alternate histories premiere; and fans of fantasy and sci-fi in particular will get well-fed.
Eliza Janssen lists 10 of the buzziest shows streaming over the month of June: add each title to your watchlist to get notified when new episodes drop.
The Acolyte: Season 1
Take a walk on the dark side with this Star Wars prequel series—like, a prequel to the prequel films, set a century before that naughty sprog Anakin was ever born. It’s made by acerbic writer-director Leslye Headland, and stars Amandla Stenberg as a corrupted Padawan who starts attacking her former Jedi masters. The ensemble cast absolutely whips, with recognisable faces from Squid Game, The Good Place, Russian Doll, and The Matrix (Carrie-Anne Moss!).
Sweet Tooth: Season 3
Set in a post-apocalyptic world populated with ever-so-cute human-animal hybrids, this returning adventure series got a pretty solid review from Luke Buckmaster back in its first season. He admired its complex tone, as the show “ventures to dark places…it needs to, in order to offset elements that might have come across as twee in lesser hands.” Make sure to read the celebrated graphic novel it’s based on before diving in.
Presumed Innocent: Miniseries
A Chicago prosecutor gets accused of murdering a colleague, in this intense legal thriller from TV juggernaut David E. Kelley. It’s based on a big chunky crime book from the late 1980s, and the cast is stacked: Jake Gyllenhaal stars, with Ruth Negga as his troubled wife and Bill Camp and Renate Reinsve supporting. Gyllenhaal’s character is named “Rusty Sabich”, which is pretty fab.
The Boys: Season 4
The last season of Prime Video’s brutal superhero series ended on a sour note, with the good guys hooked to a experimental superpower drug and our bad guy, the brilliant Antony Starr’s Homelander, buddying up with a presidential candidate. Luckily, everybody’s trading heaps of hugs in the new season’s trailer, with Hughie (Jack Quaid) starting to realise that “violence isn’t brave.” Can we please get a heap of head explosions and imaginative superhero slayings, anyways?
Bridgerton: Season 3 Part 2
“I’ll admit, I hated season one”, our columnist Clarisse Loughrey said of Netflix’s bodice-ripping romance hit: “but the series has mellowed out since then, and while season two went for borderline Austen fan fiction, season three has settled for a distinctly romcom tone.” The first four episodes of Bridgerton’s latest season are already available, with shy Penelope’s quest for love wrapping up in mid-June. It’s thrilling to see a fan fave graduate into the main character big leagues—and, we presume, into a saucy friends-to-lovers affair?
Hotel Cocaine: Season 1
The co-creator of Narcos flexes his muscle for addictive TV once again, drawing us into the cocaine scene of 1970s Miami. There are some small-screen legends here as dogged cops and drugged-up hotel managers, including Danny Pino and Michael Chiklis. The lines will be fat; the lapels will be wide; and you’ll come away after each episode using retro narcos slang you don’t quite understand the meaning of.
House of the Dragon: Season 2
After a purposefully-structured first season, which fast-forwarded through the seminal years of pivotal Targaryen players, here we are at all-out civil war: with former besties Princess Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) at each other’s throats. Will fans who gave the prequel series a chance two years ago return for more fire-breathing, incest-doin’ George R.R. Martin warfare? We hope so, because it feels as though the series may only be firing on all cylinders from this point forward.
The Bear: Season 3
Yes, chef! This sleeper hit took a minute to return to screens in between its first two, stellar seasons, so it’s a treat to see what’s next for Carmy (Jeremy Allan White) and his kitchen crew so soon after season two’s disastrous, stressful finale. The precarious balance between work and life, success and happiness, continues to fuel every episode’s frantic dialogue and editing, and we’d love to see Carmy and Sydney finally figure out how to thrive, like former no-hoper Richie did in his delightful season two arc.
My Lady Jane: Season 1
What if the tragic Lady Jane Grey escaped the executioner’s axe, and got to enjoy a life of flirtation and freedom? This British series reimagines an alternate, not-so-stuffy royal history, with just a touch of modern ‘what-could’ve-been’ wish fulfilment. Jim Broadbent, Dominic Cooper, and Rob Brydon bring some aristocratic weight to the production whilst Emily Bader will play the doomed ‘Nine Days Queen’, head thankfully intact for this interpretation.
WondLa: Season 1
A few Disney and Pixar deserters lend their animation talents to this sci-fi fantasy series, based on a trilogy of popular kids books. It’ll be relatable to any kid who finds a warm escape in fiction, following a teen adventurer who finds herself on the surface of a strange planet populated by cranky aliens and, unfortunately, no other humans. If your little ones are a getting bored with all the various Star Wars animated series, perhaps this could be a fresh and exciting chapter to delve into.
