23 Shows We Can’t Wait to Watch This Summer

Maybe you haven’t heard about Sirens yet, but you’ve definitely heard of these names: Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Meghann Fahy, and Milly Alcock. The group will kick off the new comedy on Netflix, following a woman (Fahy) who finds that her sister (Alcock) is working for a bizarre cult-of-personality socialite (Moore) at her lavish beach estate.—Josh Rosenberg

It’s been awhile since anyone obsessed over Gone Girl, but The Better Sister is about to make us fall in love with polished mystery thrillers all over again. The Better Sister stars Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks as estranged siblings who reunite after one of their husbands (Corey Stoll) is murdered. Slated to premiere May 29, the show just might give us reason to keep our Prime subscriptions active all summer long.—Eric Francisco

The Queen’s Gambit creative team returns to Netflix this summer to helm a British drama about a detective who leads a new department solely for solving cold cases. (Think: Netflix’s Slow Horses.) According to the streamer, the series will star Matthew Goode (The Crown) and a band of misfit officers who work out of a basement space in Edinburgh.—J.R.

Will Stick follow in Ted Lasso‘s footsteps as the next great sports comedy on Apple TV+? Well, its star—Owen Wilson, you might’ve heard of him—certainly thinks so. He plays an ex-pro golfer named Price Cahill, who just might find redemption in the form of a protégé: Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager). All sorts of antics—and maybe even some sentimentality—on the greens go down from there. You can read exactly why Wilson has high hopes for Stick in Esquire’s exclusive first look of the series.—Brady Langmann

It was quite something when Arnold Schwarzenegger achieved a new career milestone in 2023: starring in a TV show. The Netflix series FUBAR was billed as a spiritual follow-up to his cult blockbuster True Lies, and found enough of an audience to guarantee a second season. Two years later, the show is finally back. Schwarzenegger reunites with Monica Barbaro to reprise their father-daughter duo employed as CIA operatives. In season 2, the two go on the run after their identities are leaked to the underworld.—E.F.

Longtime Esquire readers know damn well that if Greg Whiteley—the filmmaker behind Netflix’s greatest sports documentaries, from Cheer to The Clubhouse—is involved with a project, then so are we. His latest is a return to the gridiron in the next season of America’s Sweethearts, which will see the return of fan favorite Reece Weaver—plus some new faces following some key departures from the team at the end of season 1. Cue “Thunderstruck!”—B.L.

Starring Holt McCallany (The Iron Claw), The Waterfront follows a North Carolina fishing family who turns to smuggling cocaine as a means to save their struggling business. The series is created by Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson. From the trailer alone, I’m picking up hues of Ozark, and a lot of punching.—J.R.

If you’ve never watched The Gilded Age, now is the perfect time. The HBO comedy starring Carrie Coon (The White Lotus) and Christine Baranski (The Good Wife) about a rich 1880s woman determined to break into polite society really hit its stride in season 2. It’s fitting, since the series comes from the creators of Downton Abbey.—J.R.

Almost three years after her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, kid genius Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) returns to suit up once again as Ironheart. Her solo Disney+ miniseries takes place at MIT, where Riri uses her genius intellect and cutting-edge technology to fight a new supervillain, The Hood. Now that Thunderbolts* has us excited about Marvel again, perhaps Ironheart can keep up the momentum.—E.F.

Chef, I am once again calling you to the kitchen. At long last, FX announced the release date for the fourth go-round in the Windy City, and the stakes are astronomical for Carmy and co. Why, you ask? If you remember, season 3’s cliff-hanger saw Carmy read The Chicago Tribune review for his restaurant… but we never learned the verdict. The latest trailer certainly gives us a hint, but it could be a clever bit of misdirection from series creator Chris Storer. Regardless, we’re just grateful for the opportunity to enjoy another apprenticeship under Carmy and Sydney.—B.L.

Taron Egerton (Rocketman) stars in a new crime drama for Apple TV+ that seeks to smoke out the competition. Literally. Smoke follows an arson investigator who is tasked with rooting out a local firebug on the Pacific Northwest. Smoke also stars John Leguizamo and Jurnee Smollett (Lovecraft Country).—J.R.

Only six months after season 2’s (quite frankly, cruel!) cliff-hanger, we’ll return for yet another round of deadly childhood games. Now, unless Netflix really explodes this IP and orders a dozen spin-offs—which is absolutely what they’re going to do—this is our last ride with Lee Jung-jae’s hardened hero, Seong Gi-hun. Let’s just hope he makes it out alive. Someone tell the Front Man that the poor guy’s been through enough!—B.L

The madcap, phantasmagoric smash hit anime makes its highly-anticipated return this summer. If you missed it last year, Dan Da Dan tells the story of a teenage girl who believes in ghosts and a teenage boy who believes in aliens; the two team up after they discover that both paranormal phenomena are real. A genre-bending acid trip of an anime, Dan Da Dan defies expectations and all logic, and its second season is bound to be another banger.—E.F.

All I want from the next season of It’s Always Sunny is an episode called, “The Gang Does the Tush Push.”—B.L.

Dexter’s back. The TV serial killer played by Michael C. Hall has gone through so many reboots and spin-offs that it appears Showtime finally needed to resurrect him for this one. According to the network, the new title picks up right after the events of Dexter: New Blood, with Dexter miraculously surviving the gunshot wound that killed him at the end of the series. Long live Dexter.—J.R.

Frank Herbert biographer Tim O’Reilly suggested that the author of Dune partially wrote his landmark novel in response to another seminal text of modern science fiction: Isaac Asimov’s Foundation. In 2021, Asimov’s tale was brought to streaming as a big-budget Apple TV+ series. After an acclaimed season 2, Foundation returns for a third season on Apple’s streaming platform. If spice and sandworms aren’t your thing, consider a visit to the other major pillar of sci-fi.—E.F.

Sandman, the acclaimed fantasy story by Neil Gaiman, is an incredibly ambitious project to adapt. Netflix loves trying those kinds of series on for size, almost as much as they love to split seasons into part 1 and -art 2. So, season 2, part 1 of this dreamy, nightmare world and its fallen prince will return later this summer.—J.R.

It’s in the name, folks—after following a trio of NFL QBs for a full season in 2023, Netflix captures the lives of three more signal-callers in 2024. This time around, we’ll catch up with Joe Burrow, Jared Goff, and Kirk Cousins (again!). The ever-fashionable Burrow should prove a compelling subject this time around, as should Goff, who enjoyed a career year in 2024. That said, I’m most curious about Cousins—if you’re familiar with the game, you’ll know that the man ended up in a thorny situation that still hasn’t resolved quite yet.—B.L.

Attention Godzilla and Pacific Rim fans: If you’re not already watching Kaiju No. 8, well, why not? This punk rock take on the kaiju genre made a monstrous splash last year, and it’s about to do it again with a second season starting in July. Picking up where season 1 left off, season 2 sees Kafka—a human with the power to transform into a giant monster—join the Anti-Kaiju Defense Force that is hunting dangerous anomalies just like him.—E.F.

Closing out the summer is what’s surprisingly become—alongside Stranger Things and Squid Game—one of Netflix’s three most anticipated shows of the year. Wednesday‘s first season was a horror-comedy hit, thanks to the talents of Hollywood’s preeminent scream queen: Jenna Ortega. Lest you think that season 2 will simply run it back, don’t worry: Christopher Lloyd, Thandiwe Newton, and Haley Joel Osment will bring some extra juice (wrong movie, but still!) the cast. —B.L.