The 31 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2024

Following a predictable trend, more than half of the shows on this list are based on pre-existing intellectual property, or IP: novels old and new, like Monsieur Spade (The Maltese Falcon by Samuel Dashiell Hammett) and Expats (The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee); nonfiction books, like Masters of the Air (Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller) and Franklin (A Great Improvisation by Stacy Schiff); movies, like Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith); TV shows, like Parish (2014’s The Driver) and Avatar: The Last Airbender; video game franchises, like Fallout; and comic books, like The Penguin (characters created for DC).

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And then there are the shows inspired by existing history, textbook or onscreen: Griselda, Genius: MLK/X, The New Look. With so much TV based on IP, there is less room for original ideas brainstormed by creative screenwriters. But 2024 will see a few original series break through, including The Brothers Sun, Death and Other Details, and The Regime. As the delightfully inventive Curb Your Enthusiasm draws to a close after 12 beloved seasons, one must wonder: Is it setting a precedent?

Here are the TV shows we’re most looking forward to in 2024.

New Releases

The Brothers Sun

Jan. 4 on Netflix

Bruce (Sam Song Li) is just a normal guy in California—or at least he wants to be. That hope is thwarted, though, with the abrupt arrival of his brother, Charles (Justin Chien), from Taipei. Charles brings with him the shocking revelations that their father is a Taiwanese triad kingpin, and their mother, Eileen (Michelle Yeoh), had moved to the U.S. to escape that life, but now ruthless gangsters have followed Charles and are coming for the Sun family.

Echo

Jan. 10 on Disney+ and Hulu

Maya Lopez, or Echo (Alaqua Cox), entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2021 miniseries Hawkeye. Then, she was the head of the criminal gang Tracksuit Mafia, working under the crime lord Wilson Fisk, or Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). Now, Echo, who is deaf, has returned to her Oklahoma hometown. She’s reckoning with her past—which heavily involves Kingpin, her adoptive uncle, who is responsible for her father’s death—and reconnecting with her Native American roots.

Monsieur Spade

Jan. 14 on AMC

Based on the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett—Monsieur Spade picks up where The Maltese Falcon left off. The private investigator Sam Spade (Clive Owen) is dragged out of tranquil retirement in the south of France to look into the brutal murders of a half a dozen nuns at the local convent. Their deaths, it seems, are mysteriously linked to a child that everyone is chasing, who is believed to have great powers.

Death and Other Details

Jan. 16 on Hulu

Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and suddenly Imogene Scott (Violett Beane) is the primary suspect in a locked-room murder. The room in question is on a sumptuous, restored Mediterranean ocean liner. But to prove her innocence and solve the crime, Imogene has to team up with Rufus Coteworth (Mandy Patinkin), the world’s greatest detective, who she just so happens to hate.

Griselda

Jan. 25 on Netflix

This crime drama, “from the creative minds that brought you Narcos,” dramatizes the life story of Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco (Sofía Vergara.) She is framed as a jack-of-all-trades “queenpin, innovator, mother, and killer,” although the real-life Griselda was ruthlessly violent. Griselda follows its titular character from Medellín, where she shot and killed her husband, to Miami, where she established a massive, bloody cocaine empire.

Masters of the Air

Jan. 26 on Apple TV+

Based on Donald L. Miller’s 2007 book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, this war drama traces the history of the 100th Bomb Group of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Austin Butler stars as Major Gale Cleven, with Callum Turner as Major John Egan, Barry Keoghan as Lt. Curtis Biddick, and Ncuti Gatwa as 2nd Lt. Robert Daniels. The companion miniseries to Band of Brothers tells another WWII story from producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.

Expats

Jan. 26 on Prime Video

Based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel The Expatriates, this drama, created by Lulu Wang, follows the intricate, interconnected lives of those living abroad in Hong Kong. The American architect Margaret (Nicole Kidman), the Korean American college grad Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), and the British expat Hilary, who desperately wants a baby (Sarayu Blue), are knit together by friendships both strong and necessarily temporary through the bumps of adult life: marriage, parenting, careers, and loss.

Genius: MLK/X

Feb. 1 on National Geographic/Feb. 2 on Disney+ and Hulu

So far, the National Geographic biographical anthology franchise Genius has covered Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and Aretha Franklin. Now, its fourth season, MLK/X is the first to compare and contrast two historical figures: Martin Luther King Jr. (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Malcolm X (Aaron Pierre). The work of these two giants was constantly in conversation, and their legacies are inextricable.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Feb. 2 on Prime Video

This iteration of Mr. & Mrs. Smith is based on the titular characters from the 2005 action-comedy film by the name (starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). But in this version, Donald Glover plays the Mr. in question and Maya Erskine plays the Mrs. Their marriage is a cover story, staged by the mysterious spy agency that both individuals work for. But can they keep up the pretense under the pressure of weekly high-risk missions? And what happens if false feelings turn real?

The New Look

Feb. 14 on Apple TV+

In the wake of the World War II Nazi occupation of Paris, the fashion designer Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) is poised to launch his new fashion collection, the “New Look.” But as Dior’s star rises, Coco Chanel’s (Juliette Binoche) is at risk of waning. A star-studded ensemble—Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong, Emily Mortimer as Eva Colozzi, Claes Bang as Hans Von Dincklage—rounds out a historical drama about the launch of modern fashion.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Feb. 22 on Netflix

The beloved animated series gets a live-action remake—and hopefully it’s a fresh take on the movie version. The premise remains the same: Siblings Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) of the Southern Water Tribe discover Ang (Gordon Cormier), a 12-year-old airbender, frozen in ice, where he has been for the last hundred years. They revive him, and the three of them (and Ang’s beloved sky bison, Appa) embark on a quest to help Ang become the Avatar, the master of all four elements.

Shōgun

Feb. 27 on FX/Hulu

Based on the 1975 novel by the same name by James Clavell, Shōgun is a period drama set in feudal Japan. Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a daimyo, a feudal lord, who is cunning and powerful but surrounded by enemies. He is juxtaposed against John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a British sailor who winds up shipwrecked in Japan, facing a culture completely foreign to his own. And Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai) joins the fray as a mysterious female samurai with plenty to prove.

Apples Never Fall

March on Peacock

Based on the 2021 novel by Liane Moriarty, who also wrote Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, Apples Never Fall is a twisty mystery about the Delany family. Joy (Annette Bening) and Stan (Sam Neill) and their four grown children—Amy (Alison Bri), Troy (Jake Lacy), Logan (Conor Merrigan-Turner), and Brooke (Essie Randles)—are hoping to spend time together after the parents sold their tennis academy. But when an injured young woman shows up at their door, the golden family’s secrets start to surface.

Palm Royale

March 20 on Apple TV+

This show’s ingredients are scrumptious: It’s a 1969 period drama and a comedy; it stars Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, and Ricky Martin; and it’s set in Palm Springs, billed as the most “exclusive, fashionable, and treacherous” ledge of America’s high society. Based on Juliet McDaniel’s 2018 novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie, in Palm Royale, one ambitious woman, Maxime Simmons (Wiig), is more of a have-not than a have, but she’s scrambling toward the towering top.

3 Body Problem

March 21 on Netflix

In physics, a three-body problem takes the positions and velocities of three point masses and solves for their subsequent motion. In this story, the three bodies in question are three sun-like stars, which means, you guessed it, alien civilization. Based on Liu Cixin’s 2008 sci-fi novel by the same name, in 3 Body Problem, the astrophysicist Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) makes a decision in the ‘60s that will cause massive ripple effects for scientists in the present day. 

Fallout

April 12 on Prime Video

Based on the role-playing video game franchise by the same name, and starring Ella Purnell as a young Vault Dweller named Lucy, Fallout is set in an alternate history. In this world, after World War II, nuclear technology continued to evolve until a massive nuclear war created the Wasteland, or anything outside of the Vaults. Now, 200 years later, Lucy sets out from these secure underground bunkers, where survivors of the war have proliferated, into the bizarre, brutal, retrofuturistic realities outside.

The Regime

Spring on HBO

Kate Winslet is back with another singular accent. This time, the subtle drawl belongs to a fictional Central European autocracy, where she is the chancellor in charge. This sharp political satire spans a year inside the palace of this contemporary European regime, as cracks show and it begins to crumble. Guillaume Gallienne plays the chancellor’s husband, Andrea Riseborough is her palace manager, Martha Plimpton is the U.S. Secretary of State, and Hugh Grant is the leader of the opposition.

Franklin

TBD on Apple TV+

Based on the 2005 book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff, Franklin recounts the founding father’s 8-year-long mission to France. During the Revolutionary War, while pushing 70, Franklin helped craft the 1778 Franco-American alliance. Then, in 1783, he did again in the final Treaty of Paris with England. All the while, he was navigating, dodging, and out-maneuvering French informants, British spies, and his own colleagues.

Parish

TBD on AMC

Based on the BBC One series The Driver, Parish stars Giancarlo Esposito as Garcián “Gray” Parish, a taxi driver whose life takes a sharp turn after he picks up an unusual passenger. Gray has a dark past, and thinks it is all far behind him—until now. The sudden, brutal murder of his son sends him on a spiraling quest that reawakens old habits.

The Boroughs

TBD on Netflix

The Duffer brothers, who brought us Stranger Things, are the executive producers behind a different supernatural series. This one is on the opposite end of the age spectrum, set in a retirement community in New Mexico. And the shadowy villain this time around is an extraterrestrial being who craves their most valuable resource: time.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight

TBD on Max

This show is based on George R. R. Martin’s 2015 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which compiles the first three prequel novellas to A Song of Ice and Fire: “The Hedge Knight,” “The Sworn Sword,” and “The Mystery Knight.” A hedge knight is a wandering knight without a master, and the knight in question is Ser Duncan the Tall, or Dunk for short. 80 years after House of the Dragon and 90 years before Game of Thrones, Dunk and his squire, Egg, wander through Westeros.

The Sympathizer

TBD on HBO

Based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Sympathizer, a black A24 comedy, tells the tale of the Captain (Hoa Xuande), a North Vietnamese plant in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. When the war ends, the Captain must flee to the U.S. There, he keeps spying on South Vietnamese refugees and reporting back to the Viet Cong. But how long can he keep up the charade?

Ripley

TBD on Netflix

Tom Ripley has had a few other iterations before this: While this specific story is based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, that book also inspired 1960’s Purple Noon, starring Alain Delon, and 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon. Now, Ripley is played to unnerving perfection by Andrew Scott, opposite Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf and Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood. He’s a grifter, hired by a wealthy man to convince his son, Johnny, to come back from ‘60s Italy. 

The Penguin

TBD on Max

Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin revisits a classic villain. Colin Farell reprises his role as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, after 2022’s The Batman. The Penguin is a disfigured crime lord who had served as chief lieutenant to Carmine Falcone, who was killed by The Riddler. Now, The Penguin is vying with Falcone’s daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti) for power over Gotham City’s criminal underbelly.

Returning Shows

True Detective: Night Country (Season 4)

Jan. 14 on Max

Jodie Foster the investigator is back. After starring as FBI trainee Clarice Starling in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, now she’s playing detective Liz Danvers in the fourth season of the anthology crime drama True Detective. “Night Country” refers to the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska during the winter, when darkness lasts for 24 hours. She begrudgingly reunites with her former partner, Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), to solve a string of disappearances that end with a pile of bodies on ice—literally.

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (Season 2)

Jan. 31 on FX/Feb. 1 on Hulu

Based on Laurence Leamer’s 2021 book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, Capote vs. The Swans marks the second installment of Feud, a docudrama series created by Ryan Murphy. Tom Hollander plays the writer Truman Capote, who ingratiates himself with a flock of swans, beautiful women from ‘70s New York high society—until he shatters their trust by publishing their secrets. (The swans include Barbara “Babe” Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart.))

Bridgerton: Season 3

May 16 (Part 1) and June 13 (Part 2) on Netflix

Based on the fourth novel in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the third season of this smash hit will focus on the burgeoning friends-to-lover romance between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). And there is, of course, the tantalizing subplot of Lady Whistledown, the mystery author of a wildly popular scandal sheet that circulates Regency-era London. At the tail end of Season 2, remember, Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie), Penelope’s best friend and Colin’s sister, realized Penelope was Whistledown the whole time.

House of the Dragon: Season 2

Summer on HBO

Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) are at war. In this prequel series set roughly 200 years before Game of Thrones, and based on George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, House Targaryen has splintered. King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) has died, and his daughter Rhaenyra is supposed to succeed him. But on his deathbed, he muttered part of a prophet that Alicent, his wife, mistook to believe that their son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) should be his heir. 

The Jinx – Part 2

TBD on HBO

Eight years after The Jinx, and in the wake of Robert Durst’s 2022 death, we’re getting six more docuseries episodes about the convicted murderer and New York real estate heir. The Jinx digs deep into three murders: Durst’s wife Kathie in 1982, the writer Susan Berman in 2000, and Durst’s neighbor Morris Black in 2001. (Durst was suspected of involvement in the first two incidents and confessed to killing Black—though he was acquitted at trial.) And the day before the Season 1 finale, Durst was arrested on first-degree murder charges for the death of Berman.

The Bear: Season 3

TBD on FX/Hulu

Season 3 of this frenetic, chaotic, beautiful show has been confirmed, and filming will resume this winter. In Season 2, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri)—alongside a dedicated crew of family and friends—raced against the clock to create and open their new restaurant, The Bear. In the finale, Carmy may have accidentally locked himself in the walk-in refrigerator, but opening night ultimately went well, thanks to Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Natalie (Abby Elliott), and Marcus (Lionel Boyce).

Final Seasons

Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 12

Feb. 4 on Max

All good things must come to an end. Since 2000, this beloved sitcom, starring Larry David as a fictionalized version of himself, has followed his life as a semi-retired TV writer and producer in L.A. Regulars Cheryl Hines, J.B. Smoove, Jeff Garlin, and Susie Essman return, and we would bet on many satisfying guest appearances, if history is any indication.