What to watch on streaming in January 2026: Highlights from Netflix, Disney, Apple, HBO, Stan and more

THE PITT S2 (HBO Max, 8th)

One of the top three TV shows of 2025 is here to kick off 2026 with a second season. It might seem like a fast turnaround, but, actually, that’s what TV used to do before two-to-three-year breaks became the norm.

That’s what The Pitt reminds us of, the allure of old-fashioned TV that’s character-driven as well as plot-forward, set in an environment (in its case, an emergency department in a metro hospital) that reveals the best and worst of humanity. May Noah Wyle always be on our screens.

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS (HBO Max, 19th)

When Game of Thrones wrapped in 2019, there was already a rush on to spin-off George R.R. Martin’s franchise and capitalise on that fan fever. Several were in development, many of them didn’t make it. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms did.

Co-created by Martin (who was doing this instead of finishing Winds of Winter), it’s based on his Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, centred on a low-born wandering knight who choses a child to be his squire, it just so happens the latter is a Targaryen prince.

THE NIGHT MANAGER S2 (Prime Video, 11th)

Ten years is a long time between seasons, but then again, the first season of The Night Manager was based on a John le Carre novel and the master spy writer died in 2020. But before he died, he gave the TV team his blessing for another season, if the right story ever came along.

The team is back together, with showrunner David Farr back, as well as Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, the slick and sexy former military officer turned undercover operative. Hiddleston was so convincing, his name rocketed up the list of potential Bond replacements when season one premiered.

Now, he’s too old to play Bond, but he’s still perfect as Pine, this time, pulled into a Colombian plot when an old face pops up on his radar.

THE RIP (Netflix, 16th)

Another reunion for bestest Boston buddies Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. We love to see them together, whether that was in Air, or in this straight-to-streaming action thriller, The Rip. They play two Miami cops who come across a massive stash of cash – to the tune of $24 million – and by law, they have to count it and account for it.

But with that much on the line, can they trust the team around them to not be tempted? The cast also includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, Sasha Calle, Nestor Carbonell and Kyle Chandler.

BRIDGERTON S4.1 (Netflix, 29th)

It’s Bridgerton’s Cinderella era, literally. The focus for this season borrows heavily from the classic fairy tale with Benedict, the second Bridgerton brother, standing in for Prince Charming. In this scenario, Cinderella is maid Sophie, the mysterious Lady in Silver, who catches the Bridgerton scion’s eye at, where else, a masked ball.

The newcomer will be played by Australian actor Yerin Ha, a huge boon for one of our local stars, while returning cast includes Luke Thompson, Jonathan Bailey, Simone Ashley, Nicola Coughlan, Golda Rosheuvel and Claudia Jessie.

HIJACK S2 (Apple TV, 14th)

That’s Sir Idris to you. The newly knighted actor, musician and philanthropist returns for a second season of Hijack, that surprising, suspenseful thriller where he was a passenger on a plane that was, duh, hijacked. It’s in the name.

Two and a half years later and Elba’s Sam Nelson finds himself at the centre of another commandeering, this time, a train on the Berlin U-Bahn. Hundreds of passengers are trapped within its carriages, hurtling through the city’s underground labyrinthine network, and assumptions are being made by the authorities that could ultimately prove deadly.

HIS & HERS (Netflix, 8th)

There’s a lot of pedigree attached to this miniseries – it’s adapted from a novel by Alice Feeney, developed by director William Olroyd (Lady Macbeth, Florence Pugh’s breakthrough film), has a veteran showrunner in Dee Johnson (The Good Wife) and stars Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.

The pair play Anna, a dogged TV reporter, and Jack, a detective, both investigating the murder of a woman in a small town near Atlanta. They also happen to be estranged husband and wife, and that’s not even the “oh, twist!” that reveals itself at the end of the first episode.

SHRINKING S3 (Apple TV, 28th)

Shrinking was a bit of a lowkey, slow-burner when it first premiered and now in the lead-up to its third season, it’s firmly established itself as a must-watch comedy-drama thanks to its compassionate writing and strong performances from the likes of Jason Segel, Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford.

The series was centred on Jimmy, a widower and therapist, coping with the death of his wife while trying to raise his teenage daughter, but has expanded to really delve into the inner lives of its ensemble cast, all the quirky neighbours, friends and colleagues in his life.

WONDER MAN (Disney+, 28)

When Jonathan Majors was dropped from Marvel after been charged and then convicted of assault, there was somebody that could’ve taken over his role as Kang the Conqueror, an actor who had the same intensity and could’ve pulled off that demanding role. Except he had already been cast as another Marvel character.

That was Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Candy Man, Watchmen), and his Wonder Man series is a long-gestating project that was filmed almost three years ago. It’s finally here. Wonder Man is Simon Williams, a struggling actor who meets another Marvel thesp – Ben Kingsley’s Trevor Slattery, and then gains powers when he auditions for a movie about a super hero. It’s super meta.

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S SEVEN DIALS (Netflix, 15th)

When it comes to old-school murder mysteries, no one does it better than Agatha Christie, which is why more than a century after the publication of her first novel, her stories are still so revered.

This latest screen adaption, a three-episode miniseries, is based on The Seven Dials Mystery, and features Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex) as Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, a curious young woman investigating a death at a country house. The cast also includes Helena Bonham-Carter, Martin Freeman and Edward Bluemel.

INDUSTRY S4 (HBO Max, 12th)

After playing the purer-than-pure Jon Snow, Kit Harington is really embracing his bad boy era. He joined Industry in season three and returns this year as Sir Henry Muck, an ultra-rich tech founder who is not a good human. But few of the characters are in this British series set in the cutthroat, money-first world of finance and investment banking.

THE STEAL (Prime Video, 21st)

Sophie Turner leads this heist thriller which also stars Archie Madekwe, and their characters are both regular office workers at a pension fund. But their typical humdrum day turns very dramatic when violent thieves break in and steal billions of pounds, sparking an investigation with many twists and turns.

GOOLAGONG (ABC iview, now)

Evonne Goolagong is a legitimate Australian tennis legend, and one who hasn’t tarnished her her achievements with a legacy of prejudice. Yet, her personal story hasn’t had the focus some of her compatriots have enjoyed, but that changes now with this biopic miniseries, which charts her rise and triumphs, but also who she is and what she believes in.

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY (Paramount+, 15th)

The 12th series in the Star Trek universe, Starfleet Academy is a coming-of-age of sorts, following the adventures of a class of cadets, the first in a century, as they train to be officers. The characters are played by up-and-comers but the impressive adult cast includes Holly Hunter, Tig Notaro and in recurring roles, Paul Giamatti and Tatiana Maslany.

PONIES (Binge, 16th)

When an American series set in 1970s Russia soundtracks its trailer to Boney M, you know it has a sense of humour about itself. Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson play the young wives of spies stationed in the USSR who are unexpectedly thrust into the world of double-crosses and honey traps when they take over from their husbands after their spouses die in an accident.

THE BOYFRIEND S2 (Netflix, 13th)

A wholesome reality show that was Japan’s first same-sex dating series, it featured nine LGBTQI+ men who shared a home and are given the chance to get to know each other better by manning a coffee truck. It’s adorable, and it’s back for a second season.

ALWAYS WAS TONIGHT (ABC iview, 21st)

Tony Armstrong leads this 30-minute special that has billed itself as an “unflinching” satirical program that will decolonise news headlines by looking at Australian conversations through an Indigenous lens. He will be joined by Brooke Blurton, a former Bachelorette.

THE BEAUTY (Disney+, 22nd)

A decade ago, a new Ryan Murphy TV show could go either way. Now, it’s 90 per cent likely to be utter trash. Not even fun and camp, just bad. Between fetishising serial killers and All’s Fair and Doctor Odyssey, Murphy has had such a terrible run. Add to that, probably, The Beauty, about a virus that makes the infected unbelievably beautiful. But the cost is it eventually kills you, and gruesomely.

DADDY ISSUES S2 (SBS On Demand, now)

This under-the-radar comedic and warm-hearted gem should hopefully get more attention now that one of its stars, Aimee Lou Wood, is a much bigger name thanks to her turn in The White Lotus. She plays the daughter to David Morrissey, a child-and-parent odd couple who are forced back into co-living when she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant and he divorced. This season, there’s also a baby.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION (Netflix, 9th)

This film will definitely not be for everyone. But it will be for the millions of readers who have voraciously gobbled up Emily Henry’s romance novels that you have seen at every airport shop, all identical in its colourfully generic styling, promising a low-stakes, no cerebral activity necessary confection. This is the first of a slate of upcoming Henry screen adaptations.

THE WRECKING CREW (Prime Video, 28th)

The logline of this streaming movie – two mismatched brothers come together to investigate the conspiracy behind their father’s murder – sounds like it could be any movie. But the cast is intriguing enough to pique curiosity. It includes Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Claes Bang, Temuera Morrison and Stephen Root.

RED EYE S2 (Stan, now)

Two years after Detective Hanna Li (Jing Lusi) had to investigate a murder that took place on a flight between London and Beijing, she’s now puzzling over another death, but this time on the ground. It involves a diplomatic courier and has ties to the US Embassy, which crosses her path with a security agent (Martin Compston), with whom she shares an uneasy past.