Are we still living in a golden age of television? Hard to tell. Netflix’s first generation of more refined offerings – Top Boy and The Crown – ended last year. As did Succession and Happy Valley. And there’s a general consensus that prestige peaked some point in the last decade. But there’s certainly a lot of television coming this year, and a few familiar faces. Anyone hankering after the halcyon days of Westeros will be happy to see the return of a Thrones spin-off as well as a new series from the original show’s creators. Aside from dragons, there are some lovelorn spies and high-flying soldiers in our list of the biggest TV shows of 2024.
True Detective: Night Country
True Detective is back, with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis taking the reins of the twisty crime series. This time, we are in Alaska, so expect plenty of polar landscapes and puffer jackets. Detectives Liz Danzers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) will be investigating the disappearances of six men from an Arctic research station. Early word says this is a return to form. And even if it’s not, an even gloomier landscape may make you grateful for the UK in January.
You can watch True Detective: Night Country on Sky Atlantic/NOW TV now
Sexy Beast
Imagine Muppet Babies but for psychopathic gangsters…. And lo! Here comes Sexy Beast, the series: a prequel to Jonathan Glazer’s iconic 2000 film about the misadventures of Gal Dove and Don Logan. Now though, they’re not old and disaffected, but young and up to no good in naughty Nineties’ London, with James McArdle as Gal and Emun Elliott as Don, taking on the roles made famous by Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley respectively in the original, with Stephen Moyer doing Ian McShane’s memorable drug lord, Teddy Bass. Will it have the staying power of the movie? That remains to be seen, but the tongue-in-cheek homage to the famous sunbathing scene in episode one shows it’s wearing its heritage lightly.
You can watch Sexy Beast on Paramount + now
Expats
When Expats creator Lulu Wang spoke to Esquire ahead of the show’s launch, she said that it was a series about perspective. “It jumps around, both in timeline and perspective, to show you different sides of the same story,” the Farewell director told us. It turns out that this is both the best and at-times frustrating aspect of the Hong Kong-set miniseries, which tells the story of an American expat Margaret (played by Nicole Kidman) whose youngest child goes missing. While the series gains a lot of energy by jumping around – we follow nanny Mercy (Ji-young Yoo) and Margaret’s long-suffering friend, Hilary (Sarayu Blue) – it can also prove dizzying and threatens, at times, to lose us. But stick with this strange, unexpectedly paced show, and you are in for a treat, especially as it builds towards its conclusion. There may not be easy answers (or any answers at all, really) in Expats, but it only adds to the show’s life-like appeal.
You can watch Expats on Amazon Prime Video now
Masters of the Air
This is the third instalment of a loose trilogy from executive producers Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg (Band of Brothers debuted in 2001, The Pacific followed in 2010). This time round, we follow the highs and many lows of the US army’s 100th Bomb Group during World War II. The cast is a who’s who of potential Bonds: Callum Turner, Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, Ncuti Gatwa, Anthony Boyle. It is gearing up to be another worthy addition to Apple TV’s library. Cannot get enough of the show? Read our interviews with Butler and Raff Law about filming those high-flying scenes.
You can watch Masters of the Air on Apple TV+ now
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
When a television remake of a 2005 flick (which, you may recall, brought together Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) was announced in 2021, it sounded like a dream pairing: Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge would take on the lead-roles. But then Waller-Bridge left, and it seemed to encounter development trouble (last year’s strikes also caused a delay). We are happy to report that the eight-part show is a subversive and surprisingly sexy slow-burn, with unexpected developments and genuinely good action sequences (the main characters’ spy skills are another matter). You can read our full review of the show here.
You can watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Amazon Prime Video now
Abbott Elementary
Even if you do not feel evangelical about this breakthrough mockumentary – as large swathes of Twitter do – it’s hard to deny its small-scale, gently biting appeal. Quinta Brunson’s school-based comedy has provided two seasons’ worth of consistent laughter (and to a less successful extent, romance) and it still feels like it’s only getting better. It’s worth tuning in for the stand-out performance by Janelle James (who plays a disastrous but somehow-Teflon principal).
You can watch Abbott Elementary Season 3 now. In the UK, you can watch it on Disney Plus, and new episodes air weekly
One Day
For many people who treasured David Nicholls’ best-selling 2009 book, One Day, about a young man, Dexter, and a young woman, Emma, who meet at university and have a will-they-won’t-they friendship over the next 20 years, Lone Scherfig’s 2011 movie adaptation didn’t quite scratch the itch. Perhaps that’s because the book is about the lingering slow-burn, and was better suited to a drawn-out TV drama. Well, the televisual gods are listening, because here comes Netflix’s 14-part take, with The White Lotus’s Leo Woodall and This Is Going to Hurt’s Amibika Mod making for a very promising lead (kind of) couple.
You can watch One Day on Netflix now
The New Look
From Todd A. Kessler (who wrote and produced two seasons of The Sopranos) comes another glossy Apple TV+ series. This time, the gloss is the whole point, as we delve into the world of haute couture after World War II. The series focuses on Christian Dior (played by Ben Mendelsohn) as he leads his eponymous fashion house through a turbulent period. Juliette Binoche takes on the role of Coco Chanel, while Game of Thrones alum Maisie Williams plays Christian’s sister, Catherine. Also of note is the soundtrack, produced by frequent Taylor Swift collaborator Jack Antonoff, and will feature songs performed by Nick Cave, The 1975 and Lana Del Rey. Phew!
The first three episodes of The New Look stream on Apple TV+ on February 14, followed by weekly episodes
Boarders
If Saltburn proved anything, it’s that the cloisters of privilege are perpetually fascinating to us. This new six-part comedy-drama from writer Daniel Lawrence Taylor is a delightful exploration of what might happen if a majority-white British private boarding school turned out – courtesy of an incriminating leaked video – not to be teaching its students excellent morals (imagine!) and sought to make amends (and definitely not enact a hollow PR exercise!) by offering scholarships to five black students from more modest inner-London backgrounds. The five young leads – Aruna Jalloh, Josh Tedeku, Jodie Campbell, Myles Kamwendo and Sekou Diaby – fill this energetic show with pathos, charisma and humour.
Boarders is coming to BBC iPlayer and BBC Three on 20 February
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live
We shall spare you the jokes about an undead television series, but February marks the return of The Walking Dead’s main player, the world weary sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln). He’s back for a six-episode spin-off which should answer lingering questions about his departure from the main series. Whether it satisfies fans is another question altogether.
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live premieres 25 February
Elsbeth
Michelle and Robert King’s legal series The Good Wife was so good it already prompted one spin-off, the Christine Baranski-fronted The Good Fight. Now comes a second sequel series, about zany but unbeatable lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni (Carrie Preston). For fans of the intellectual and moreish original – which was often leagues ahead its competition – this will be a must-watch.
Elsbeth airs on CBS on 29 February
The Regime
Hmmmm, is anyone in the mood to watch the manic final days of a crumbling European regime? And no, it is not a documentary but a six-part miniseries written by Will Tracy (The Menu and Succession), directed by Stephen Frears and Jessica Hobbs, and starring Kate Winslet (as well as Hugh Grant, Martha Plimpton and Andrea Riseborough). Sure to provide an alarming mix of comedy and catharsis.
The Regime debuts in the US on 3 March, and you can watch watch it in the UK on Sky Atlantic/Now
Palm Royale
Does an underdog story set in Florida sound appealing to you? Well, how about if it’s funny? Here is Palm Royale, loosely based on Juliet McDaniel’s novel Mr. and Mrs. American Pie, which follows Maxine Simmons (Kirsten Wiig) as she attempts to break into Palm Beach high society (even if she has to clamber over the back wall). This has the expensive look of an Apple show, and the streamer certainly has a knack at creating good-looking, better-than-average comedies, from The After Party to Platonic. Perhaps a stacked cast, which includes Leslie Bibb, Ricky Martin (!), Laura Dern and Allison Janney, will tip this into must-watch territory.
You can watch Palm Royale on Apple TV+ from 20 March
3 Body Problem
David Benioff and D. B. Weiss – whose names you will remember from the Game of Thrones opening credits – bring a major sci-fi epic to Netflix with 3 Body Problem. Based on a trilogy of novels – Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem (no idea why they changed that title) – the series follows an astrophysicist who witnessed her father’s violent murder during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Later enlisted at a military radar base, she makes a decision that will echo through time and space. Will this redeem Benioff and Weiss for the final season of Thrones? HBO probably doesn’t care, but Netflix will.
You can watch Three Body Problem on Netflix from 21 March
Fallout
Can Fallout, a show about survivors getting by 200 years after an apocalypse, follow in The Last of Us’ footsteps and become this year’s critically-acclaimed videogame adaptation? It’s looking mixed. On the plus side, the show has a charming lead in Yellowjackets’ Ella Purnell and is based on beloved source material (the first Fallout game is credited with reviving the role-playing genre). Reasons to be sceptical: every other video game adaptation. You can read our full preview here, but we’ll find out if this is worth tuning into come April.
You can watch Fallout on Prime Video from 12 April
The Sympathizer
“Confessing secrets is the most exciting thing in the world,” announces Sandra Oh’s wide-eyed character in the trailer for The Sympathiser. If you share that worldview, you are in for a treat with HBO’s latest miniseries, an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 novel of the same name. Xoa Huande plays the Captain, a North Vietnamese mole who flees to Los Angeles in the final days of the Vietnam War. In America, he learns that his days of espionage may not be quite over just yet. The novel – a debut which won the Pulitzer Prize – is an energetic mix of styles, part comedy, part political thriller, part immigration narrative. There is a memorable storyline in which the Captain consults on a film, which is a parody of Apocalypse Now-style Vietnam war narratives. Hopefully, all that transfers well to the small screen. The recent trailer certainly looks appealing, and with the addition of Robert Downey Jr. (currently riding an Oppenheimer career high), our hopes are high.
The Sympathizer starts on Max from 14 April, and will air on Sky in the UK
House of the Dragon Season 2
Has any show ever benefitted so much from spoilers? Going into House of the Dragon, we knew exactly where these families would all end up thanks to eight seasons of Game of Thrones, which meant the pleasure was all about learning how those relationships came to be. Thanks to a stellar cast – Matt Smith and Emma D’Arcy on pulpy form – the first season was a welcome return to George R.R. Martin’s fantasy word. The second season, which dive once more into this fractured family, will be big. The only question is how big. Our guess? Dragon-sized.
House of the Dragon is expected to debut in the summer, and you’ll be able to watch it on Sky Atlantic/NOW
The Penguin
If superheroes are on the way out, perhaps it was inevitable that villains would start taking up prime real estate. So here is The Penguin, with Colin Farrell as the titular bad guy (he first appeared in 2022’s The Batman with Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne). The eight-part series will follow the rise of Gotham’s devious gangster. Comic book adaptations are no longer sure fire hits but there’s enough here – a grungy, gangster vibe, Farrell’s moodiness – to pique our interest.
The Penguin is expected to debut on Max later this year
Dune: Prophecy
If Denis Villeneuve’s blockbuster sequel were not enough (Dune: Part Two, trailer above, arrives in March), Max has another helping of Frank Herbert’s fantasy world for you. This one takes place 10,000 years before the action of the main novel and changes its focus to the Bene Gesserit, the shadowy sisterhood that plays a key role in the movies. Emily Watson and Mark Strong are on board for this Duniverse expansion.
Dune: Prophecy is expected to land on Max later this year
Disclaimer
If there were one reason to switch on the television (or watch something sadly on your iPhone during a commute), it would look a lot like Disclaimer. Based on the novel of the same name by Renée Knight, the thriller stars Cate Blanchett, Lesley Manville, Sacha Baron Cohen and Squid Game‘s HoYeon Jung. Another huge plus? It is written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The miniseries follows a journalist who realises she is a character in a novel that reveals a long-covered secret. Nightmarish premise, excellent entertainment.
Disclaimer is expected to debut on Apple TV this year
Henry Wong is a senior culture writer at Esquire, working across digital and print. He covers film, television, books, and art for the magazine, and also writes profiles.
Miranda Collinge is the Deputy Editor of Esquire, overseeing editorial commissioning for the brand. With a background in arts and entertainment journalism, she also writes widely herself, on topics ranging from Instagram fish to psychedelic supper clubs, and has written numerous cover profiles for the magazine including Cillian Murphy, Rami Malek and Tom Hardy.
