We may be living in a golden age of TV, but panning through all the dross to find that gold can be time-consuming and tedious. For every much-discussed hit like Severance, House of the Dragon, and The Bear, there are dozens of new original shows that barely tip the cultural needle. And with so many new streaming services competing with HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Disney Plus, it’s impossible to keep up with everything new to view. But The Verge’s TV section is ready to help. Our news, reviews, and interviews help you find the next Stranger Things or Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in time to keep up with the cultural conversation. And our essays and analysis invite you to consider the deeper context of what you’re watching.
Prime Video hasn’t mentioned how many episodes its ordered to adapt the Rebecca Yarros dragon-riding romantasy novels that are so widely beloved by BookTok, but Meredith Averill (The Haunting of Hill House, Locke & Key) will serve as showrunner and executive producer. An expected release date also hasn’t been announced yet.
[Amazon MGM Studios]
Mark your calendar for November 11th.
”Season Three takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war, bind all peoples to his will – and at last rule all Middle-earth,” according to a press release.
During NBC Universal’s upfronts presentation, Vin Diesel made a surprise announcement: not only is Fast and Furious coming to TV, it’s somehow getting four different spinoff series. There are no other details right now, but the show will be streaming on Peacock whenever they do come out.
Bandai has given its new Science Saru-produced The Ghost in the Shell reimagining a July 7th premiere date on Amazon Prime Video.
There’s a lot of sci-fi streaming this summer, but if you’re looking for something a little more intense, there’s always the latest iteration of Cape Fear. If nothing else, Javier Bardem looks appropriately terrifying in the new trailer, which should make it worth checking out when it starts streaming on June 5th.
The whole season will be available to watch at once when it premieres at 9PM ET that day oh Hulu, Variety reports. If you want an appetizer, FX also released a surprise prequel episode just yesterday that’s available to stream now.
“Gary” stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Richie) and Jon Bernthal (Mikey) and was written by the pair, according to Moss-Bachrach. It’s available now on Hulu.
It’s a small treat ahead of season five of The Bear, which will be the show’s last and is expected to debut in June.
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We’re about to enter a busy few months for new science fiction shows, and one that I’m particularly excited about is The Boroughs, an extraterrestrial mystery that’s set in a retirement home and that also boasts one hell of a cast. It hits Netflix on May 21st.
Netflix has announced that The One Piece — Studio Wit’s upcoming reimagining of Eiichiro Oda’s iconic series — will debut some time next February with seven episodes that “will cover approximately the first 50 chapters of the original manga.”
A month after the Writers Guild struck a longer-term deal than normal with the studios, the Screen Actors Guild has followed suit. While it hasn’t been made official yet, the deal reportedly includes a sizable contribution to the union’s pension fund, increased streaming residuals, and new AI protections.
If you’ve backed any of the recent Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarters, you probably have access to a bunch of episodes via the Gizmoplex. Unfortunately, an email went out today informing users that the site is shutting down and they have until September 30th to download any episodes they’ve purchased.
Amazon has reportedly discussed casting the President’s eldest son to replace him as host if they film new episodes. The show isn’t in active development yet, but it would be the latest example of Amazon cozying up to the Trump family since it spent $75 million on the Melania documentary.
[The Wall Street Journal]
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Tales From ‘85, the animated Stranger Things spinoff, but it evidently did well enough that there’s more in store. Netflix has confirmed it’s coming back for season 2, and it’s happening soon — it’ll start streaming this fall.
We knew Ted Lasso was set to return this summer, and now Apple has released a more specific timeframe: season 4 will start streaming on August 5th. There’s also a new trailer showing that, even though Ted is in charge of a new team, things don’t seem to have changed all that much.
The game show spinoff, which covers topics like music, movies, culture, sports, celebrities, and entertainment, debuted on Amazon Prime Video. Now it’s headed to Netflix for another trivia-filled season starting May 11th, with host Colin Jost.
Games of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is heading into its third season, and HBO just released a new and appropriately-dragon filled trailer ahead of the premiere. The show debuts on June 21st.
There’s the way any good noir is meant to be consumed — in high-contrast monochrome below. And then there is a “True-Hue Full Color” that frankly sucks all the fun out of it and just serves to highlight the seams in the mediocre CGI.
Swift public outcry gave the movie a chance to speak for itself.
Deadline reports that WBD’s shareholders have “overwhelmingly” voted the sell the legacy studio to Paramount Skydance for $31 per share. Shareholders rejected a proposed compensation package for current CEO David Zaslav that could range from $500-800 million. But Zaslav could still wind up walking away with a lot of money because that vote was non-binding.
Over the last few weeks the streamer has provided updates on new seasons of Dark Matter and Silo, and now we have the first proper trailer for Star City, the For All Mankind spinoff that shows things from the Soviet perspective. It starts streaming on May 29th.
Netflix has announced the leading cast for its upcoming Gundam movie from director Jim Mickle (Sweet Tooth), and the lineup looks like… an interesting group of faces, to say the least.
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Though Apple has been radio silent about The Savant ever since it postponed the show’s debut last year, Deadline reports that the series may finally start streaming some time this July.
In a statement to Deadline, Paramount argues that its merger will ensure “creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer:”
We have been clear in our commitments to do just that: increasing output to a minimum of 30 high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases, continuing to license content, and preserving iconic brands with independent creative leadership.
On Monday, more than 1,000 Hollywood professionals signed an open letter opposing Paramount’s $110 billion deal.
Ben Stiller, Joaquin Phoenix, Tiffany Haddish, Bryan Cranston, and Lin-Manuel Miranda are among the over 1,000 Hollywood professionals pushing back on the $110 billion deal that they say will “further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape:”
We are deeply concerned by indications of support for this merger that prioritize the interests of a small group of powerful stakeholders over the broader public good. The integrity, independence, and diversity of our industry would be grievously compromised.
VFX supervisor Ashley Bernes had to think big to make the show’s heroine feel small.
Before Netflix’s live-action One Piece adaptation returns for a third season in 2027, the streamer will also debut a new One Piece Lego animated special this September, which will make a good companion for WIT Studio’s upcoming The One Piece anime remake series.
While Tencent and Jared Kushner’s private equity firm are no longer contributing to Paramount’s $110 billion bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, The Wall Street Journal reports that $24 billion of the proposed deal is still being provided by sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.
[The Wall Street Journal]
If you thought writer Jack Thorne’s Adolescence was a stressful watch, the new trailer for his take on Lord of the Flies might be a bit much to take in before the series hits Netflix on May 4th.
It was already exciting enough to know that Ryan Coogler was working on an X-Files revival, but The Wrap reports that he is also set to produce a new Animorphs reboot for Disney Plus.
J.K. Rowling has made it abundantly clear that she will continue using her fortune to harm transgender people.
