From the return of the White Lotus to more Pixar genius, here’s the best of streaming in February

More very rich people behaving very badly in The White Lotus and the Belle Gibson story laid bare are just some of the gems coming to streaming this month.

From the return of a globetrotting favourite to Pixar’s first foray into long-form TV and a stranger-than fiction true Aussie story, there’s plenty of quality coming to streaming in February.

The third season of the BINGE black comedy White Lotus has moved to Thailand.

BINGE

WHITE LOTUS

February 17

After the hedonistic holiday shenanigans in Hawaii and Sicily in the first two seasons, the action moves to Thailand for the third season of the Emmy Award and Golden Globe winning black comedy, written and directed by Mike White. The location and cast might be new but expect more rich people behaving very badly with some of the hotel guests, including a wealthy businessman (Jason Isaacs) travelling with his family and facing ruin; longtime friends on a girls trip (Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon and Michelle Monaghan); and jaded man travelling with his much young girlfriend (Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood). No Jennifer Coolidge this time after her sticky ending in season two, but Natasha Rothwell reprises her season one role as a spa manager on a fact-finding mission.

ALSO SHOWING

■ The Hilton: Park Lane – February 6

■ The Takedown: American Aryans – February 6

■ Last Week Tonight With John Oliver – February 17

■ Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour – February 18

■ The Real Housewives of Sydney – February 25

■ Pamela’s Cooking With Love – February 26

■ Small Town Big Story – February 27

Joe Klocek and Joseph Zada in Aussie drama, Invisible Boys.

STAN

INVISIBLE BOYS

February 13

“In Geraldton, there were two ways out – leave in a blaze of glory, or die. I don’t want to die,” says one of the lead characters in this groundbreaking new LGBTQIA+ series based on the award-winning novel by Holden Sheppard. It’s set against the backdrop of the 2017 same-sex marriage plebiscite and follows the struggles and triumphs of a group of gay teens in the remote West Australian coastal town. Among them are a would-be rock star outed after an affair with a married man, another is living a double life and worried about cruelling his promising sports career, and one is battling the prejudices of his deeply religious family – but all band together to form a tight-knit friendship as they navigate love and life.

ALSO SHOWING

■ The Grammys – February 3

■ Amandaland – February 6

■ Good Cop Bad Cop – February 20

PARAMOUNT+

NCIS SYDNEY

February 7

The first international spin-off version of the long-running and much loved military action series went great guns with its first season, both in Australia and in the US, where it got a prime-time boost thanks to last year’s actors and writers strike. Picking up right after the season one cliffhanger ending, season two promises to raise the stakes even further with NCIS Special Agent Michelle Mackey (Olivia Swann) and her local deputy JD Dempsey from the AFP butting heads and battling criminals who threaten the stability of the region and uncovering a conspiracy that leaves them not knowing who to trust. No doubt there will be more sweeping views of the spectacular Sydney Harbour and surrounds, as well as a couple of special episodes filmed in Darwin.

ALSO SHOWING

■ The Honey Trap: A True Story of Love, Lies and the FBI – February 7

■ Yellowjackets Season 3 – February 14

■ Gogglebox Season 21 – February 20

■ 1923 Season 2 – February 23

Pixar’s Win or Lose will tell the same story from eight different perspectives.

DISNEY+

WIN OR LOSE

February 19

Coming off a couple of winners on the big and small screen in Inside Out 2 and Dream Productions, the peerless Pixar people are launching their first ever long-form original series. The eight episodes will all centre on the same event – the lead-up to a school softball team’s big championship game – but each will be told from a different perspective. The pressure and expectation will be seen through the eyes of players, parents, coach and the umpire (the voice cast includes Will Forte, Rosa Salazar, Lil Rel Howery, Flula Borg and Rhea Seehorn), and will doubtless swing for the fences with life lessons as well as laughs.

ALSO SHOWING

■ The Kardashians Season 6 – February 6

■ The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl – February 7

■ Win Or Lose – February 19

■ A Thousand Blows – February 21

■ No Taste Like Home With Antoni Parowski – February 24

■ Scamanda – February 26

Henry (George Wallace), Desiree (Laverne Cox) in Clean Slate. Picture: Courtesy of Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC

PRIME VIDEO

CLEAN SLATE

February 6

Orange is the New Black favourite Laverne Cox – the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category – stars in this new comedy from the late, legendary and trailblazing producer Norman Lear (Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, Diff’rent Strokes). Cox plays Desiree Slate, who returns from the bright lights of New York to reconnect with the father she hasn’t spoken to for 23 years in the Alabama town where she grew up. The only problem is that outspoken, old-school, car wash owning Harry (George Wallace) was expecting the return of the son he farewelled all those years ago and struggles with the fact that he now has a daughter. But as the “pronoun jar” gets fuller, the two rediscover their bond in a show that Cox says is about love, family and “trying to figure out how to connect after being away from each other and figuring out how to connect across generations and experiences”.

ALSO SHOWING

■ Invincible: Season 3 – February 6

■ The Order – February 6

■ My Fault: London – February 13

■ ICC Champions Trophy – February 19

■ Reacher Season 3 – February 20

■ Nickel Boys – February 27

Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy in the Apple TV+ movie The Gorge.

APPLE TV+

THE GORGE

February 14

With an intriguing concept, a quality director in Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange and The Black Phone) and two action stars at the top of their game, Top Gun: Maverick’s Miles Teller and Max Mad: Furiosa’s Anya Taylor Joy, this has all the ingredients for a top-notch sci-fi-horror-action thriller. The pair play elite snipers, one from the East and one from the West, who are given a mysterious assignment – facing off on towers on opposing sides of a deep gorge. Guarding what is described as “the door to hell” they are forbidden to have any contact with each other, but you just know that they are eventually going to team up to find out what horrors lie beneath the murky cloud covering the vast chasm that separates them.

ALSO SHOWING

■ Love You To Death – February 5

■ Goldie – February 14

■ Surface Season 2 – February 21

■ Onside: Major League Soccer – February 21

■ Berlin ER – February 26

Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in Apple Cider Vinegar. Picture: Netflix © 2024

NETFLIX

APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

February 6

Billed as “a true-ish story based on a lie”, this six-part Australian-made drama is inspired by the rise and fall of wellness influencer Belle Gibson’s business empire and adapted from the book The Woman Who Fooled the World. Sporting a Kate Winslet-level Australian accent, US actor Kaitlyn Dever plays Gibson, who claimed she had cured her brain cancer through diet and healthy living. The ambitious, scheming Gibson – inspired by another wellness warrior who came before her – parlayed that profile into a cookbook and app by harnessing the explosion of social media and exploiting the trust of careless media companies until the whole edifice collapsed under the weight of her lies.

ALSO SHOWING

■ Kinda Pregnant – February 5

■ The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep – February 11

■ Cobra Kai Season 6: Part 3 – February 13

■ Love Is Blind Season 8 – February 14

■ Zero Day – February 20

■ Running Point – February 27

Originally published as From the return of the White Lotus to more Pixar genius, here’s the best of streaming in February