God love ‘em, the Gemstones’ prayers have finally been answered. Season three of The Righteous Gemstones returns to HBO on June 18, and, in a page straight out of Succession, Jesse (Danny McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam DeVine) Gemstone finally have control of the family’s televangelist church made world-famous by their father, Dr. Eli Gemstone (John Goodman). But, running a megachurch is not as easy as it seems, and, from the looks of it, the Gemstone children may not be cut out for the gig. Pray for them. —Chris Murphy
The Walking Dead: Dead City
June 18 (AMC)
The universe of The Walking Dead expands once again with this sequel series, which picks up two years after the end of The Walking Dead and finds former enemies Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) traveling in a postapocalyptic Manhattan. It’s the fourth spin-off from the smash-hit AMC series, which wrapped its 11th and final season in November 2022. None of the follow-up series have become as huge as the original, but AMC clearly remains very much in the zombie business. —K.R.
Secret Invasion
June 21 (Disney+)
“We don’t know who’s a friend, who’s the enemy,” Samuel L. Jackson told Anthony Breznican for Vanity Fair’s first look at his upcoming Marvel series, which follows Jackson’s former S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Nick Fury, as he uncovers a conspiracy to quietly install double agents into positions of power around the world. He’s joined by Emilia Clarke as an alien radical named G’iah, Olivia Colman as a British intelligence agent who has a past with Fury, and a few familiar faces from the MCU, namely Martin Freeman (as CIA agent Everett K. Ross) and Cobie Smulders (as Fury’s steadfast ally, Maria Hill). Maybe it’s not a new Avengers movie, but Secret Invasion seems just as starry. —H.B.
The Bear
June 22 (FX)
Order up. The Bear—the high-octane kitchen series that premiered on FX last summer and quickly became the network’s most-watched half-hour show of all time—serves up a new 10-episode season two on June 22. After shutting down his restaurant, The Beef, Jeremy Allen White’s chef Carmy and his kitchen crew consisting of his “cousin” Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), sous-chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), pastry chef Marcus (Lionel Boyce), and veteran line cook Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) are preparing to open Carmy’s new restaurant, The Bear. Along with the new restaurant, there are a few new faces, with Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk and Booksmart’s Molly Gordon both joining The Bear for season two. “It’s not a reopening, it’s a rebirth,” reads the caption on a teaser trailer for The Bear’s second season. Yes, chef. —C.M.
The Bachelorette
June 26 (ABC)
While many of us are still feeling the hangover of a particularly brutal season of The Bachelor, a new season for love is here with Charity Lawson, a 27-year-old Georgia native who was sent packing after hometowns by Zach Shallcross, calling the shots. She becomes only the fifth Black lead in franchise history, following in the footsteps of Matt James, Rachel Lindsay, Tayshia Adams, and Michelle Young—a welcome addition after yet another season where a contestant’s racist past was exposed. Here’s hoping that the exit of controversial longtime creator Mike Fleiss, and Lawson’s career as a child and family therapist bring fresh life to a wilting rose. —S.W.
The Witcher season three
June 29 (Netflix)
Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Ciri (Freya Allan) are going into hiding as the new season of Netflix’s fantasy epic begins, a journey that promises equal parts discovery and treachery—and lands them in a position of putting everything on the line. Robbie Amell and Meng’er Zhang join the cast as an elven fighter and a human huntress, respectively. —D.C.
And Just Like That… Season Two
June (Max)
Now that the death of Big and a realignment of friend groups has been taken care of, maybe the second season of Max’s Sex and the City continuation can relax and have fun. Maybe we might even get a more episodic format, with each installment centered on a particular theme—you know, like SATC used to be. Though creator Michael Patrick King and producer/star Sarah Jessica Parker have been careful to note that AJLT is not trying to directly mimic the style of their previous hit, this is a different set of shoes altogether. So, perhaps that will be the real narrative of this sophomore run of episodes: audiences learning to embrace what’s different about the series, while its creative team finds a way to make it all fit. —R.L.
The Horror of Dolores Roach
July 7 (Prime Video)
From play to podcast to TV series: That’s the unlikely journey of The Horror of Dolores Roach, which began its life as a one-woman show starring Daphne Rubin-Vega, who reprised the role for the Gimlet Media podcast version. The play and podcast’s creator Aaron Mark will serve as co-showrunner for the series, which stars One Day at a Time alum Justina Machado as a woman returning to her Washington Heights neighborhood after being released from prison. As the description for the podcast went, it’s “a macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest.” —K.R.
The Real Housewives of New York City
July 16 (Bravo)
RHONY has gotten a rebrand. After 13 seasons, Bravo has done away with original Real Housewives of New York cast members like Luann de Lesepps, Sonja Morgan, and Ramona Singer in favor of a fresh crop of ladies ready to take on the Big Apple. Bravo’s updated RHONY cast includes Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Jessel Taank, Brynn Whitfield, Erin Dana Lichy, and former J.Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons. Season 14 of Real Housewives of New York will premiere on Bravo on July 16 because, after all, there’s nothing like summer in the city. Until then, we’ll have to wait and see whether the new cast will fill the RHONY OGs’ big and fabulous shoes. —C.M.
The Afterparty
July 14 (Apple TV+)
The only thing juicier than an afterparty is what mischief happens next. Even more murder is afoot in season two of this comedic whodunnit, which deliciously recounts the same crime from a different character’s perspective in each episode. The sophomore installment reunites returning cast members Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, and Zoë Chao with a—ahem—murderers’ row of new performers including John Cho, Paul Walter Hauser, Anna Konkle, Ken Jeong, Poppy Liu, Zach Woods, Vivian Wu, and Elizabeth Perkins as an unlucky set of soon-to-be interrogated wedding guests. Let the theorizing begin! —S.W.
Praise Petey
July 21 (Freeform)
Annie Murphy as an It girl whose glamorous life comes crashing down? Sounds a lot like Schitt’s Creek, only, this time, Murphy is voicing the animated Petey, who decides to lean into modernizing her dad’s small-town cult. From former Saturday Night Live head writer Anna Drezen, Praise Petey promises comedy for the Gen Z set. John Cho, Kiersey Clemons, and Christine Baranski also star. —N.J.
They Cloned Tyrone
July 21 (Netflix)
Is it a comedy, a conspiracy thriller, a stylish sci-fi-action-mystery-Blaxploitation-throwback? Juel Taylor’s directorial debut looks like all of the above. “Blaxploitation films always represented movies that let us express ourselves, and we could just look snazzy and do cool shit,” star John Boyega recently told EW of the high-concept project. ”It didn’t matter if we knew kung fu. It just all made sense with the music, with the vibes. I’m just proud to, at least, be a part of something that pays homage to that.” Trust his costars Teyonah Parris and Jamie Foxx to nail the vibe too. —H.B.
Minx season two
July 21 (Starz)
Axed from HBO Max in dramatic fashion last year, the 1970s workplace comedy has found a new life on Starz, with Ophelia Lovibond and Jake Johnson returning as Joyce and Doug, the pair of unlikely collaborators behind a feminist porn magazine. In season two, the magazine Minx has become a hit, which, for our heroes, “brings more money, fame, and temptation than either of them know how to handle,” per Starz. With the recent Party Down revival, Starz is hopefully well-positioned to promote another smart comedy and treat Minx better than its first home did. —K.R.
Twisted Metal
July 27 (Peacock)
Did you spend the winter of 1995 watching your brother shoot napalm-laced ice cream cones at a souped-up Corvette driven by a ghost? If so, you too may find yourself intrigued by Peacock’s adaptation of the classic Playstation game, which casts Anthony Mackie as an everyman (he’s literally named John Doe) on a quest that, if the original is any blueprint, will mostly serve as an excuse for stylized vehicular mayhem. Yes, the clown who drives a killer ice cream truck is there too—and, this time, he’s voiced by Will Arnett. —H.B.
Breeders season four
July (FX)
The fourth season of FX’s dark comedy series follows a tense finale in which Ava (Eve Prenelle) finally stood up to her father, while our weary married antiheroes Paul (Martin Freeman) and Ally (Daisy Haggard) don’t split up, exactly, but plan to move forward with a dynamic that may not be fixable, and a lot of pain in the rearview. How will they all pick up the pieces? Hopefully, the premiere lays out the road map. —D.C.
Heartstopper season two
August 3 (Netflix)
Get ready for a summer of love. Netflix’s hit queer coming-of-age romance Heartstopper returns to the streaming platform on August 3. Based on the New York Times best-selling graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper follows Charlie (Joe Locke) a recently out teen at a British all-boys school, Nick (Kit Connor) a closeted rugby player coming to terms with his sexuality, and their budding romance. With a 100% average Tomatometer on Rotten Tomatoes, there’s clearly many Heartstopper fans interested in seeing what the next step is in Charlie and Nick’s romantic journey. —C.M.
Red, White & Royal Blue
August 11 (Prime Video)
Speaking of Heartstopper, The Royal We meets Netflix’s hit queer romance in Matthew Lopez’s adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s Young Adult bestseller, a sweetly silly rom-com that pairs America’s First Son with the heir to the British crown. Sure, the premise is implausible, but McQuiston’s charming banter was enough to sell it in novel form. Presumably, young cuties Taylor Zakhar Pérez and Nicholas Galitzine will be able to do the same on the small screen. Plus: Uma Thurman as the first female POTUS! —H.B.
Reservation Dogs season two
Summer Date TBD (FX)
At the end of season two, the titular Dogs—Indigenous teens Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and Cheese (Lane Factor)—have made their long-awaited sojourn to California, a dream they often discussed while living on the Muscogee Nation Reservation in Oklahoma. But, while the last season ended with a sense of resolution, showrunner Sterlin Harjo has teased “some darkness coming” in season three for the group, whose bond was cemented after the tragic loss of their fifth friend just before the show’s start. —S.W.
What We Do in the Shadows season five
Summer Date TBD (FX)
Renewed last year for a fifth and sixth season, the vampire comedy returns with a major vote of confidence from its network, and a major cliff-hanger to wrap up: At the end of the last season, human familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) had asked to be turned into a vampire. The season ended with several other resets, like Baby Colin’s (Mark Proksch) reversion back to regular adult Colin and the end of Nadja’s (Natasia Demetriou) nightclub dream. But, for vampire characters who have been alive for hundreds of years, there’s clearly time for many more adventures. —K.R.
Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, Savannah Walsh, Rebecca Ford, David Canfield, Katey Rich, Natalie Jarvey, Chris Murphy
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