This show debuted during the pandemic at a time when everyone needed the warm embrace of its earnest, feel-good attitude, but Ted Lasso can’t maintain that affection unless it’s honest about the fact that not everyone approaches life with an open heart and good intentions. Sometimes people are cruel, operate in bad faith, or simply don’t care. Coach Ted and the characters who have been won over by him remain a type of antidote to that cynicism, but to avoid becoming a Hallmark card, this show is likely to get much more real, much more edgy, and maybe a little colder before it warms things up again. —A.B.
NEW SHOWS WORTH LOOKING OUT FOR
Ahsoka (Disney+)
Premiere date TBD
The last time we visited Ted Lasso–land, we were left on a kind of cliff-hanger, a villain origin story, with former towel-boy Nate (Nick Mohammed) betraying Jason Sudeikis’s nice-guy coach by leaking details of his emotional breakdown to the press, then departing to work for a rival team.
This show debuted during the pandemic at a time when everyone needed the warm embrace of its earnest, feel-good attitude, but Ted Lasso can’t maintain that affection unless it’s honest about the fact that not everyone approaches life with an open heart and good intentions. Sometimes people are cruel, operate in bad faith, or simply don’t care. Coach Ted and the characters who have been won over by him remain a type of antidote to that cynicism, but to avoid becoming a Hallmark card, this show is likely to get much more real, much more edgy, and maybe a little colder before it warms things up again. —A.B.
All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix)
Premiere date TBD
What happens when Shawn Levy, director of Free Guy and the Night at the Museum films, takes on a Pulitzer Prize–winning book set in World War II–era France? That’s the fascinating question at the heart of All the Light We Cannot See, a miniseries adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s moving novel, which will star Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie alongside newcomer Aria Mia Loberti. As much as Netflix has succeeded with buzzy TV shows, they haven’t gone for too many high-toned literary adaptations. Could this be the show to get them a seat at the table that HBO has dominated for so long? —K.R.
The Diplomat (Netflix)
Premiere date TBD
It’s unclear when exactly this new political thriller from West Wing and Homeland alum Debora Cahn will be out, but given that filming took place in London this year, there’s a good chance that Keri Russell will be back on our screens soon. In her first TV role since The Americans, Russell will play a career diplomat who finds herself in over her head after she lands a big new job. Rufus Sewell (The Man in the White Castle) and Ali Ahn (Billions) also star. —N.J.
Full Circle (HBO Max)
Limited series premiere date TBD
In the time it has taken you to read this, Steven Soderbergh has already written, directed, and edited four to six new projects, all of which will soon be appearing on a streaming service near you. The next project on his roster? Full Circle, an HBO Max limited series starring Dennis Quaid, Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, and Timothy Olyphant. The six-episode series, directed entirely by Soderbergh, tells the story of an investigation into a botched kidnapping in New York City, with Quaid reportedly playing a high-profile chef whose grandson becomes a target. Soderbergh is famously in his Soder-bag when it comes to crime-laced thrillers, so here’s hoping this series, with its punchy longline and eclectic ensemble, is no exception. —Y.D.
The Full Monty (FX)
Premiere date TBD
In an era of reboots, reunions, and long-delayed new seasons, the British indie comedy The Full Monty was not necessarily high on anyone’s list of must-see comebacks. But now that all the original stars have agreed to return—that’s Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Tom Wilkinson, and many more—under the guidance of original screenwriter Simon Beaufoy and producer Uberto Pasolini, why not look forward to it? The original 1997 film, the first best-picture nominee from what was then Fox Searchlight, remains a winning gem, and the new series promises to hit on many of the same themes. According to FX, “it will follow the original band of brothers as they navigate the post-industrial city of Sheffield and society’s crumbling health care, education, and employment sectors. The series will explore the brighter, sillier, and more humane way forward where communal effort can still triumph over adversity.” —K.R.
The Idol (HBO)
Premiere date TBD
Billed as coming from “the gutters of Hollywood,” the collaboration between Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson recently released a teaser trailer that includes sex, drugs, rock and roll, and star Lily-Rose Depp in a series of improbably tiny bikini tops. A toxic love story between Depp’s aspiring pop star and The Weeknd as a self-help guru, it looks like an even more Hollywood-ized version of Euphoria, or maybe The Weeknd’s dizzying club scene in Uncut Gems stretched to series length. Prepare to watch your entire Twitter feed yell about it every Sunday night whenever The Idol finally does premiere. —K.R.
The Last Thing He Told Me (Apple TV+)
Premiere date TBD
After starring in her own buzzy TV adaptations of blockbuster novels like Big Little Lies and Little Fires Everywhere, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine presents The Last Thing He Told Me—a starring vehicle for Jennifer Garner (who replaced Julia Roberts), based on Laura Dave’s 2021 book. Garner stars as Hannah, a woman who finds new means of connection with her 16-year-old stepdaughter (Angourie Rice) as they search for their husband and father Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) following his startling disappearance. Dave is adapting her novel alongside cocreator and husband Josh Singer, winner of an Oscar for cowriting 2015’s Spotlight. Olivia Newman, who helmed Hello Sunshine’s Where the Crawdads Sing film adaptation, has been brought on to direct. —S.W.
Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+)
Premiere date TBD
The adaptation of Bonnie Garmus’s best-selling novel centers on a woman (Brie Larson) whose dreams of being a scientist but, stifled by the 1960s societal belief that women belong in the kitchen and not the labs, instead uses her hosting gig on a TV cooking show to help women learn about much more than making dinner. Oscar winner Larson also produces the series, which also stars Lewis Pullman, Aja Naomi King, and Beau Bridges. —R.F.
Masters of the Air (Apple TV+)
Premiere date TBD
In development at HBO for nearly a decade before Apple took it over, this World War II historical drama is produced by none other than Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, among others, and reunites Hanks with his Elvis costar Austin Butler. Cary Joji Fukunaga, also an executive producer, is among the sterling list of directors on the reportedly wildly expensive series—Dee Rees (Mudbound), Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Captain Marvel), and Tim van Patten (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, etc. etc.) also step behind the camera. Twenty years after Band of Brothers, are Hanks and Spielberg set to make TV history again? —K.R.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Netflix)
Limited series premiere date TBD
Have you wondered what Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel) was like before she was the talk of the ’Ton? Then you’re in luck because Netflix’s Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story waltzes onto the streaming platform in 2023. The limited prequel series from mega-producer Shonda Rhimes will follow the travails of the young Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) as well as younger versions of Bridgerton matriarchs Lady Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) and Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh). ”It truly is stunning,” Netflix head of scripted series Peter Friedlander told Variety. “It is going to live up to your expectations.” —C.M.
Secret Invasion (Disney+)
Premiere Date TBD
It’s been 15 years since Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury first told Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man about a “bigger universe.” Little did he know what awaited them! And with Secret Invasion, Jackson is finally getting his turn in the spotlight. Adapted from one of Marvel Comics’ most memorable story lines, the series sets Fury up against a faction of Skrulls (the shape-shifting alien race introduced in 2019’s Captain Marvel) that have infiltrated Earth on a global scale. Given its premise and star power (newcomers Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Academy Award winner Olivia Colman join a formidable lineup of MCU veterans including Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Ben Mendelsohn, Don Cheadle, and Martin Freeman), Secret Invasion is shaping up to be a twisted joyride that’s more spy thriller than CGI-fest. It couldn’t arrive at a better time. —T.B.
Three-Body Problem (Netflix)
Premiere date TBD
Game of Thrones’ D.B.s return—David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are overseeing this sci-fi series about humanity’s first encounter with intelligent alien life. Cocreated with True Blood’s Alexander Woo, the show is based on a novel by Liu Cixin and will reportedly cover a vast span of time with an ensemble cast. Among the actors are Jess Hong of Inked, Liam Cunningham (a Thrones veteran), John Bradley (another), and Doctor Strange’s Benedict Wong and Jovan Adepo (Fences). The title refers to a type of physics equation that predicts the movements of three different objects in relation to each other. The notoriously difficult question focused on whether a repeating pattern could be discerned. With two objects—that’s no problem. But add the third, and the possibilities become much harder to predict. —A.B.
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