The best TV and streaming shows coming in 2025: White Lotus, Wednesday, Andor, The Last of Us and more

From more seasons of The White Lotus, The Last of Us and Stranger Things to new surprises such as The Residence, Your Friends and Neighbours and The Studio, there’s a lot coming.

THE RESIDENCE (March 20)

The Residence is being billed as a mystery but given the cast includes a lot of funny people (Uzo Aduba, Randall Park, Jane Curtain, Ken Marino), we’re betting this is more comedy than drama.

The whodunit is set in the White House where someone is killed during a state dinner and Aduba’s detective, Cordelia Cupp, is called on to solve the crime.

The best piece of casting news may just be the one involving two Australians. One, Kylie Minogue will cameo as herself, and two, Julian McMahon has been cast as the Australian PM. If you don’t understand how funny the McMahon bit is, hang your head in shame and ask someone older than you.

How to watch The Residence: Netflix

OPTICS (January 29)

OK, the whole Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni debacle has exposed the dodgy practices of the crisis management industry, and how it strives to manipulate public sentiment on behalf of a client, maybe by promising to “ruin” someone’s reputation by distracting from the bigger story.

Before that all blew up, Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst had written and shot Optics, an ABC comedy that’s set in exactly this world, centred on two young women who are promoted to run the firm for which they work, running from one crisis to another while one brews right around them.

How to watch Optics: ABC iView

THE STUDIO (March 26)

Seth Rogen has been in the business long enough to have collected quite a few stories about all the ways Hollywood is completely bonkers. When there are that many “strong personalities” AKA egos involved, it’s sure to be a metaphorical cage fight.

Rogen plays Matt Remick, a studio executive who has just been promoted to president and while he may consider himself a supporter of auteurs and art, the reality is he’s been installed in the top job to get a movie about Kool-Aid across the line.

The cast also includes Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz and Kathryn Hahn but it’s the cameos that are going to blow your mind, including Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Greta Lee, Ron Howard, Sarah Polley Anthony Mackie, Steve Buscemi, Zac Efron, Olivia Wilde and more, all playing themselves.

How to watch The Studio: Apple TV+

ZERO DAY (February 20)

Zero Day has some serious names involved, starting with Narcos showrunner Eric Newman (but we’ll have to forgive his work on total stinkers Rebel Moon parts one and two), journalist Michael Schmidt and director Lesli Linka Glatter, and that’s on top of a cast that includes Robert De Niro in his first ever TV show, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Connie Britton, Bill Camp and Angela Bassett.

The series is a political conspiracy thriller about a former US president (De Niro) who is appointed to a commission tasked with discovering the truth (an ever more malleable concept) after a massive cyber-attack.

How to watch Zero Day: Netflix

THE LAST OF US S2 (April)

After putting everyone off mushrooms in their diet for, well, at least two days, The Last of Us will be back this year with the next instalment of its dystopian nightmare world.

Sure, it may be bleak (The Last of Us was adapted from the video game by Craig Mazin, who wrote Chernobyl, so the grimness tracks), but there are moments of great humanity in this story about Ellie (Bella Ramsey), seemingly immune to the fungus zombie virus, and the man trying to keep her alive, Joel (the internet’s daddy, Pedro Pascal).

This next season will introduce Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who is out for revenge against the person who killed her father, and will put her directly in Joel and Ellie’s path.

How to watch The Last Of Us season 2: Binge

THE FOUR SEASONS

Reuniting Tina Fey and Steve Carell, The Four Seasons is a remake of the 1981 Alan Alda and Jane Fonda rom-com about three couples who go on holidays together every year. But when one set gets divorced, it completely changes the group’s dynamic.

Also starring Will Forte and Colman Domingo, the show will be written by Fey, Tracey Wigfield (30 Rock, Great News) and Lang Fisher (Never Have I Ever).

How to watch The Four Seasons: Netflix

DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN (March 4)

When the Netflix deal with Marvel folded and the sun set on its cabal of “street-level” heroes, Charlie Cox’s Daredevil was the character many said they’ll miss the most (personally, justice for Jessica Jones).

It took many years but the character was revived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper and already made appearances in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk. But he and Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio, who has already reprised the character in Echo and Hawkeye) will be back in their own show, along with Deborah Ann Woll’s Karen Page, Elden Henson’s Foggy Nelson and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher.

How to watch Daredevil: Born Again: Disney+

BLACK MIRROR S7

Since the most recent series of Black Mirror in mid-2023, technology has further upended our world and world views – energy-sucking AI is so ubiquitous you don’t even know if cute animal videos on Instagram are real, fact-checking is an endangered species and tech billionaires have gained even more influence.

What will Charlie Brooker and Black Mirror make of all this, and what horrors will be forecast? This upcoming series will feature a sequel to Star Trek-ian episode “USS Callister” with Cristin Milioti returning while other cast members include Emma Corrin, Awkwafina, Rashida Jones, Paul Giamatti, Issa Rae, Chris O’Dowd and Peter Capaldi.

How to watch Black Mirror season 7: Netflix

THE WHITE LOTUS S3 (February 16)

You might be sceptical that Mike White taking on Eastern philosophies of spirituality and death will be as successful as his clumsy attempt to address colonialism in Hawaii, but The White Lotus is a cultural juggernaut.

This upcoming season takes audiences to Thailand, where Natasha Rothwell’s character from Hawaii is on secondment. Other characters include three friends reuniting (Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan), a couple with a considerable age gap (Walter Goggins, Aimee Lou Reed) and a family (Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs).

How to watch The White Lotus season 3: Binge

STRANGER THINGS S5

If Stranger Things was happening in real time, the nefarious forces of the Upside Down will surely have swallowed the Earth 50 times over. After an almost three-year break (partly due to the industry strikes), the kids of Hawkins, Indiana will finally get to finish the war.

There will be battles, tears and a bit more growing up to do if they’re to defeat Vecna, the big bad who’s been manipulating all the events that have plagued our heroes. There will be eight episodes, which, according to Maya Hawke, will be “eight movies”. Linda Hamilton is one of the newcomers this season.

How to watch Stranger Things season 5: Netflix

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

The story of cancer fraudster Belle Gibson captivated Australians when the so-called wellness influencer was exposed for her lies. Now, the rest of the world will get to meet her too – or at least a dramatised version of her.

The decision to cast American actor Kaitlyn Dever as Gibson was controversial – but she pretty much nails our notoriously difficult accent – but the overall cast is top flight local talent, including Alycia Debnam-Carey, Aisha Dee, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Mark Coles Smith and Ashley Zukerman.

How to watch Apple Cider Vinegar: Netflix

YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS (April 11)

If Nicole Kidman is the most prolific female actor in Hollywood, then her male counterpart is Jon Hamm. The former Mad Men star will front a new series and Apple is so confident about it, the show has already been greenlit for a second season.

Hamm plays a hedge fund manager who’s just been fired and is also going through a divorce. To keep up appearances of his lavish lifestyle, he starts stealing from his neighbours’ homes and comes across all their secrets and affairs. The show also features Olivia Munn and Amanda Peet.

How to watch Your Friends And Neighbours: Apple TV+

CHAD POWERS

Glen Powell had quite the year in 2024 and the Texan actor has no plans to slow down. One of his upcoming projects is Chad Powers, a series that was based on an episode of ESPN’s Eli’s Places, in which Eli Manning went undercover as a “walk-on prospect” during college football.

Powell will play a football star whose bad behaviour benches him, so he disguises himself as “Chad Powers” to walk on to a struggling team elsewhere. The series was created by Powell and Michael Waldron, who created the Loki series after writing on Rick & Morty.

How to watch Chad Powers: Disney+

BLUE LIGHTS S3

Gritty and grounded, this British crime drama about policing in Belfast is a pulsating and complex exploration of a city that is still beset by the sectarian division of the Troubles. Accords were signed but past grievances remain and they seep into the very social fabric of the place.

The show follows three rookie cops, including Sian Brooke’s Grace Ellis, as they contend with the myriad challenges on the streets, in their homes and within the force itself. The first two seasons were such a hit the show was renewed for a third and fourth. It hasn’t been confirmed when yet, but expect it to land this year.

How to watch Blue Lights season 3: SBS On Demand

DOCTOR WHO S15

At this point, the naming conventions of Doctor Who seasons is kind of confusing, so let’s just clarify that this will be the second series of Ncuti Gatwa’s run. The Scottish-Rwandan actor has megawatt charisma and his incarnation of the Doctor is imbued with that same must-watchability.

Despite parting ways with the Doctor at the end of the previous season, Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday is expected to return but there will also be a new companion on the way, which could make for an interesting threesome. If you haven’t seen the Christmas special yet, get onto it immediately.

How to watch Doctor Who season 15: Disney+

SQUID GAME S3

We can all agree that season three of Squid Game should really be named season two, part two given the episodes that dropped over Christmas not only left us on a cliffhanger, but actually resolved none of the subplots. Not one.

So, yes, everyone is hanging out for the so-called third season to witness the fates of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), also known as player 456 and his fellow competitors, all desperately trying to stay alive in this brutal, murderous game.

How to watch Squid Games season 3: Netflix

PARADISE (January 28)

This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman hasn’t had much experience in the political thriller space but he knows how to make compulsive TV that resonates with broad audiences. He reunites here with Sterling K. Brown, who leads a cast that also includes James Marsden, Julianne Moore and Sarah Shahi.

Brown plays a secret service agent who was the last person to see his protectee alive, which is quite the pickle when that person is the US president. Ooops. Not surprisingly, he becomes a person of interest in the death but just what is really going on?

How to watch Paradise: Disney+

SUITS: LA (February)

Suits was never an awards winner or critical darling but it ran for nine seasons and was, in the earlier years, consistently one of the most illegally downloaded shows in Australia when it was on air. It also made Meghan Markle famous.

It wrapped in 2019 but after it dropped on Netflix US in 2023, it re-entered the conversation as audiences flocked to the legal drama with accessible storylines and lots and lots of episodes.

Another life was inevitable, and it comes in the form of a spin-off based in Los Angeles and starring Stephen Amell. Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter is expected to make an appearance.

How to watch Suits: LA: 7plus

DYING FOR SEX

Based on presenter Nikki Boyer’s podcast series about her best friend Molly, the comedy drama is about a woman who finds out she has breast cancer and ends her 15-year marriage before it’s too late to discover who she really is and what she desires.

Michelle Williams will play Molly with Jenny Slate as Nikki while the rest of the cast includes Rob Delaney, Jay Duplass, Kelvin Yu, David Rasche and Sissy Spacek. Liz Meriwhether (New Girl, The Dropout) is one of the co-creators.

How to watch Dying For Sex: Disney+

AMADEUS

Peter Schaffer’s 1979 play about the imagined rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri made for a sticky tale about art, inspiration and bitter rivalry, and it spawned a film adaptation in 1984 which won the best picture Oscar.

Can a TV version rise to the same heights? We’ll soon find out. This British series will star Will Sharpe as the music prodigy with Paul Bettany as Salieri. While you’re waiting, 30 Rock did a pretty funny piss take of the story in the season two episode, “Succession” involving a the creation of a porn video game.

BLACK RABBIT

If you listen to Jason Bateman, Will Ferrell and Sean Hayes’ Smartless podcast, you’d be aware that Bateman has been working on this series, which required he grow out his hair and beard. He also directed several episodes alongside Justin Kurzel and Laura Linney.

Black Rabbit stars Jude Law as a New York City club owner who allows his black sheep brother (Bateman) back into his life, which threatens all his success.

How to watch Black Rabbit: Netflix

ANDOR S2 (April 22)

If you had to name the best Star Wars series of the Disney streaming era, it’s a pretty tight race between Andor and The Mandalorian, and where you fall will largely depend on if you prefer the adventure vibes of Mando or the political thriller of Andor. For a lot of Andor cheerleaders, the fact the show isn’t obsessed with Star Wars’ mythology is the upside.

The show is a prequel to Rogue One and follows Cassian Andor’s (Diego Luna) story from thief to rebel spy. Ben Mendelsohn is confirmed to return to the franchise in the second season as Orson Krennic, a Galactic Empire villain.

How to watch Andor season 2: Disney

ADULTS

Created by Saturday Night Live writers Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, the series will follow a group of twenty-something co-dependent housemates as they navigate what it means to have to take care of yourself.

Like predecessors in its genre (Broad City, Girls and the rest), it will be set in New York City. It was previously titled Snowflakes.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S TOWARDS ZERO

One of the great pleasures of every year is that a British broadcaster will make a lavish, three-part Agatha Christie adaptation. If you don’t catch them on the ground, trust us when we say they’re always great to watch on a plane.

This year’s is Towards Zero, which concerns a recently divorced tennis player who is staying with his aunt at her estate. Someone is killed. Investigations occur. Love it. It will star Anjelica Huston, Matthew Rhys, Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Clarke Peters.

RUNNING POINT

Co-created by Mindy Kaling and starring Kate Hudson, the comedy is set in the world of high-stakes sports. It will also feature Brenda Song, Max Greenfield and Jay Ellis.

Hudson plays a woman who is unexpectedly elevated to the top of her family business, one of the most famous basketball teams in the US. Now she has to prove herself to her brothers, the board and the fans.

How to watch Running Point: Netflix

POKER FACE S2

We can’t wait to go back into the world of the chaotic Charlie Cale, played by the equally mesmerising Natasha Lyonne. The former casino staffer turned fugitive and human lie detector kept walking into murder mystery cases in the Columbo-style show from Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Brick).

The case-of-the-week format wasn’t a whodunit so much as a whydunit, and the first season featured guest including Judith Light. The upcoming series will see the likes of Giancarlo Esposito, Cynthia Erivo, Katie Holmes, Kumail Nanjiani and Sam Richardson pop in to play.

Hiow to watch Poker Face season 2: Stan

WEDNESDAY S2

She’s creepy and she’s kooky, and she doesn’t ever, ever blink. Wednesday Addams’ second year at Nevermore, a name that should never adorn a school, will come with a new set of mysteries and the same black-and-white visual palette.

Jenna Ortega will continue to unnerve alongside her much more affable friend Enid (Emma Myers) as well as returnees Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman as her parents Morticia and Gomez.

How to watch Wednesday season 2: Netflix

UNSPEAKABLE: THE MURDER OF JONBENET RAMSEY

Arguably, there is something incredibly grubby about yet another JonBenet Ramsey project, especially when there is no answer as to what happened to the child beauty queen who was found dead in her family home in 1996.

But the appetite for salacious true crime continues unabated, ethical quandaries be damned. Maybe there is at least one interesting aspect about this production and that is Melissa McCarthy’s take on Patsy Ramsey. Clive Owen also stars.

How to watch Unthinkable: The Murder Of JonBenet Ramsey: Paramount+