What to watch on streaming in June: Everything worth watching on Netflix, Disney, Stan, Prime, Apple and Binge

With new episodes of The Bear, The Boys, Bridgerton and House of the Dragon, there’s no doubt June is a big month for streaming releases. There are even some newbies to try out — you won’t regret it.

THE ACOLYTE

(Disney+, 5th)

In a galaxy far, far away and a century before the Skywalker brood caused so much drama, The Acolyte is set during the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe.

And it concerns another pair of twins — Osha and May, both played by Amandla Stenberg. Rather than being forces for good, Osha and May are different sides of the same coin. One is a murderous revenge path in trying to hunt down four Jedi masters while the other is trying to stop her sister.

The series also stars Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae, The Good Place’s Manny Jacinto and Logan’s Dafne Keen, and was created by Russian Dolls’ Leslye Headland.

HIT MAN

(Netflix, 7th)

Powell has reunited with renowned indie filmmaker Richard Linklater (he of Before Sunrise fame) with this rom-com about an unassuming college professor whose side hustle is working for the police, pretending to be a hit man for its stings to catch out would-be murderers.

Powell’s onscreen chemistry with Adria Arjona, playing a woman looking to kill her abusive husband, sparkles; way more than he did with Sydney Sweeney in that awful Anyone But You.

THE BEAR S3

(Disney+, 27th)

“If it’s not perfect, it doesn’t go out” may be words that would stress out any food waste campaigner, but is music to a fine dining customer.

The Bear returns for its third season (this time Australia will see it the same day as Americans), and Carmy’s jaw is set to new levels of anxiety, especially as he tries to adhere to his “non-negotiables”.

The restaurant is up-and-running but you just know it’s not going to be smooth sailing. There wouldn’t be a show if it was, and that’s how we love it.

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON S2

(Binge, 17th)

In case you didn’t realise the Game of Thrones spin-off was centred on the looming civil war between different branches of the flaxen-haired and slightly mad House Targaryen, the second season released two “duelling” trailers that hammered home this point.

One is a teaser from the perspective of Rhaenyra, the former king’s firstborn, as she battles to reclaim the throne that was promised to her.

The other is told through the lens of Alicent Hightower, whose child is the former king’s first-born son. The second season has promised fans violence and five new dragons.

THE BOYS S4

(Amazon Prime Video, 13th)

The Boys may be an ultraviolent subversion of superhero myths but it is also one of the most politically and socially engaged shows made by a major corporation.

Through the head-explosions and bloodbaths, The Boys has always been a parable for how extreme power works in a socially fractured world. Here, the “Supes” are not heroes but representative of unchecked corruption and notoriety platformed as a force for good. You can probably think of a few real-life examples.

In the fourth season, the homicidal Homelander isn’t even pretending any more or merely flirting with fascism, he’s just straight-up going for the kill.

BRIDGERTON S3 PT2

(Netflix, 13th)

The splitting of Bridgerton’s fourth season into two parts, released a month apart, has been controversial, but it should also pay off for Netflix with double the buzz.

Now that (spoiler alert), Colin and Penelope have consummated their inevitable romance with that steamy carriage ride (are we the only ones thinking those vehicles are not very soundproof? Won’t someone please think of the poor bloke sitting up front?), the dramatic tension shifts to this question: Will the fairy tale last if/when Colin finds out Penelope’s secret?

More wisteria-adorned trellises, elaborate gowns, even more elaborate hairstyles and social etiquettes (well, I never!) abound. It is the Bridgerton way.

I AM: CELINE DION

(Amazon Prime Video, 25th)

Stiff-person syndrome is so rare it only occurs in about one in a million people. Likely, you had never even heard of it until Canadian chanteuse Celine Dion announced her diagnosis in late-2022 after she cancelled a raft of shows due to muscle spasms.

Dion is finally ready to talk about it and her career, life and the euphoria she feels when she’s on stage. It promised to be an illuminating portrait of an artist who has lived in the public eye but whose personal struggles have always been private.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

(Netflix, 28th)

The last time Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron appeared together on screen, it was the 2012 movie The Paperboy. They had some intimate scenes together and A Family Affair is no different — at least you know they’re already comfortable with the scenario.

This time, A Family Affair is a rom-com-of-sorts in which Joey King plays a young woman caught between her mother (Kidman) and her self-centred boss (Efron) when the two of them start up something behind her back. Awks.

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY S3

(Disney+, 26th)

Abbott Elementary is proof the sitcom format is alive and well, and you can make smart, warm and funny comedies without a laugh track and punchlines you see coming a mile off.

The Quinta Brunson-created series is set at a public primary school in Philadelphia and follows the work lives of a group of dedicated teachers trying to do more with less. They don’t always agree on the methods but there is so much mutual respect because they all recognise their shared goal, the joy of instilling a love of learning. It’ll melt the coldest of hearts.

LADIES IN BLACK

(ABC iview, 16th)

Even though the 2018 film adaptation of Madeleine St John’s novel wasn’t a commercial barnstormer, there has been a persistent love for this story about the women working at a glamorous Sydney department store.

It was also a 2015 stage musical with music and lyrics by Tim Finn.

Set in 1961, the six-part series moves the story forward a year, faced with the tumultuous social changes of the decade and how they will cope with a world that is quickly morphing into a place of difference and opportunities. It stars Miranda Otto, Jessica de Gouw and Debi Mazar.

STUFF THE BRITISH STOLE S2

(ABC iview, 17th)

On the surface, Stuff the British Stole could play like a heightened version of Antiques Roadshow (and that is no sledge, who doesn’t love a bit of Antiques Roadshow), revealing the histories and significance of curious objects.

But, of course, that’s not what the series is really, really about. It’s an exploration of Britain’s colonial history, and the far-reaching consequences it’s had all over the world, and how do you move forward and heal.

This season, Marc Fennell journeys to Egyptian deserts, the Amazon River and a robot lab in the Tuscan mountains.

MURDER IS EASY

(Binge/Fetch, 23rd)

The Brits are great at releasing, at least once a year, a three-part Agatha Christie adaptation, full of lush production design and a decent cast.

The latest is Murder is Easy, with Rings of Power’s Morfydd Clark and Industry’s David Jonsson.

The story, if you’re not familiar, involves a strange encounter on a train when a woman tells Luke Fitzwilliam that she’s on her way to Scotland Yard to report a series of mysterious deaths in her village. When she is soon killed, Fitzwilliam realises there’s more going than tragic coincidences.

OTTO BY OTTO

(Stan, 16th)

Barry Otto has been one of Australia’s best-known and best-loved thespians for decades. His daughter Gracie is one of Australia’s most in-demand directors. But the most personal project either of them will ever make is Otto by Otto.

Gracie’s portrait of her father and his illustrious career is reflection not just on Barry’s gifts and contributions to our screen and stage industries but of a man near the end of his life, six years after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. It’s a film about memory — what we remember of ourselves and our lives, and what others remember of us.

PRESUMED INNOCENT

(Apple TV+, 12th)

Legal thriller and David E. Kelley are inevitable, like primary school and paper mache.

Although Kelley has been off his game recently, heaving under the weight of a gazillion projects. But there is enough of a curiosity factor in Presumed Innocent, which marks Jake Gyllenhaal’s first TV starring role.

He plays a government prosecutor who becomes the prime suspect in a murder when his co-worker is found dead. With the pressure of a trial, it’s no wonder his marriage is also in jeopardy. It also stars Ruth Negga, Bill Camp, Elizabeth Marvel and O-T Fagbenle.

EXPOSURE

(Stan, 20th)

With a bumper cast including Alice Englert, Thomas Weatherall and Essie Davis, this Australian series is created and written by Lucy Coleman (Hot Mess).

Billed as a black comedy with dark layers, the story follows a 29-year-old photographer who returns to her hometown of Port Kembla, south of Sydney, after her best friend’s suicide. What drove her friend to such an act, what was behind the tragedy?

MY LADY JANE

(Amazon Prime Video, 27th)

Everyone loves a “what if” twist to historical fiction. What if Juliet didn’t die (& Juliet), what if the Nazis won WWII (The Man in the High Castle), what if the Soviets made it to the moon before the Americans (For All Mankind)?

Enter the arena, My Lady Jane, an alternative history that asks, what if the teenage Lady Jane Grey wasn’t a pawn in the deadly games of Tudor politics, declared a pretender to the throne and executed after nine days as Queen?

In this dramedy, she survives and is allowed to have a life of her own. Starring Emily Bader, Anna Chancellor, Rob Brydon and Edward Bluemel, it’s going for The Great/Mary & George/Catherine Called Birdy vibes.