What to watch on streaming in July: New shows and movies on Netflix, Stan, Disney, Amazon, Binge, Apple
When it comes to new streaming highlights for July, it’s an impossibly long list. It pays to be a little picky.
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As usual, there’s too much to watch and not enough time. So it pays to be discerning.
Start with this already-whittled down list of what’s new on streaming in July.
Mystery Road: Origin (ABC iview, July 3): We’ve met and bonded with the tough Detective Jay Swan in Mystery Road and Goldstone but have you ever wondered how Jay came to be Jay? This origin story delves into his backstory, taking audiences back to 1999 when the cop was still a rookie on his first posting in a mining town with a population of 1000 people. The experiences there will be formative. The six-parter stars Mark Cole Smith as the young Jay and also features Toby Leonard Moore, Daniel Henshall and Steve Bisley.
The Gray Man (Netflix, July 22): Reportedly the most expensive movie Netflix has ever made, The Gray Man stars Ryan Gosling as a CIA assassin who finds himself as the target when he uncovers some of the agency’s dirty dealings. Now, Chris Evans’ ruthless – and psychotic – killer is on his trail. Directed by the Russo brothers (of Avengers fame) and co-starring Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick and Rege-Jean Page.
The Terminal List (Amazon Prime, July 1): With a high-profile cast including Chris Pratt, Taylor Kitsch, Constance Wu and Riley Keough, this generic eight-part thriller is based on a book by Jack Carr. It tells the story of a platoon of Navy Seals whose covert mission goes very wrong. In the aftermath, Reece (Pratt) discovers a vast conspiracy and he thinks everyone is out to get him and those around him.
The Old Man (Disney+, July 13): Jeff Bridges plays a former spy in retirement and living off-the-grid. But that didn’t stop an assassin from darkening his doorstep, which forces him on the run and into hiding. The series plays with the idea of obsolescence as Bridges’ old hand draws on his instincts and training at his advanced age, while pitted against John Lithgow’s agency official. The supporting cast includes Alia Shawkat, Amy Brenneman and Joel Grey.
What We Do in the Shadows S4 (Binge and Foxtel*, July 13): Remember the final shot of the previous season of What We Do in the Shadows? Yes you do – unless you didn’t watch it, in which case, shame on you. The mockumentary series about a group of vampires had something of a reset at the end of the previous season, changing up the show’s established (and wacky) dynamics and what’s coming now is something you don’t want to miss. Three words: Baby Colin Robinson.
The Resort (Stan, July 29): You don’t even need to know the premise of this new series to have your interest piqued – just know that it stars Cristin Milioti and The Good Place’s William Jackson Harper and it’s created by Andy Siara, who wrote time loop rom-com Palm Springs. If you need more convincing, the story is centred on a couple holidaying on a resort for the 10th wedding anniversary and stumbles upon a 15-year-old mystery which will test their already strained marriage.
Persuasion (Netflix, July 22): Jane Austen’s final novel is in for something of an update with this adaptation starring Dakota Johnson and Henry Goulding. It may have copped flak for its postmodern fourth-wall breaking and injected humour, but we think it looks fun and fresh. Reverence be damned.
Surface (Apple TV+, July 29): Sophie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) develops memory loss after a traumatic injury and now she can’t remember her own secrets. Soon, she starts to doubt the story of her life as it’s told to her and can’t trust what anyone, including her husband, tells her to be true. Set in San Francisco, the thriller also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Stephan James and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Stranger Things S4.2 (Netflix, July 1): The Stranger Things team held back the explosive resolution of its resurgent fourth season until now, and they are two bumper-sized episodes, coming in at one and half hours and two and half hours. That’s like a whole season just there. Monsters! Ghouls! Human flaws! It’s got everything.
Paper Girls (Amazon Prime, July 29): Adapted from a comic book run from Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, the high concept sci-fi series starts in the late-1980s with four newspaper delivery girls who are sucked into a time vortex and land themselves in a war between time-travelling factions. Transported to 2019, they come face-to-face with their older selves and must find a way to return to their timeline and save the future. That’s a lot to ask any teenager. The cast includes some fresh faces, plus Ali Wong.
Uncoupled (Netflix, July 29): Neil Patrick Harris plays a man named Michael, whose seemingly perfect life unravels in an instant when his husband unexpectedly walks out after 17 years. Alone for the first time in a very long time, Michael has to grieve his huge loss and confront being a single man in New York. The series comes from Sex and the City, Younger and Emily in Paris creator Darren Star and Modern Family writer Jeffrey Richman.
The Secrets She Keeps (Paramount+, July 12): Despite a relatively neat resolution to The Secrets She Keeps at the end of the first season (shock horror, some secrets were exposed, others not so), more dramas await Meghan and Agatha who just can’t seem to disentangle themselves from each other’s lives. Agatha might be in prison now for her baby-stealing ways, but that doesn’t mean Meghan’s life is peachy keen. In fact, she’s in for a world of trouble.
Don’t Make Me Go (Amazon Prime, July 15): John Cho stars in this tender movie about the relationship between a single dad and his teenage daughter. When he finds out he has a brain tumour and only a year to live, he’s determined for her to meet her mother, so she’d have someone to rely on when he’s gone.
Better Call Saul S6.2 (Stan, July 12): This is the end. The Breaking Bad spin-off has been charting the transformation of low-level hustler Jimmy McGill into the criminal lawyer Saul Goodman, and it’s been a wild ride. This back-half of the final season will dovetail into the Breaking Bad timeline and fans will get a much more robust taste of the crook they met all those years ago. Plus, Carol Burnett will be a guest star.
True Colours (SBS On Demand, July 4): In this NITV series, a young woman is killed in a car accident and a detective is assigned to the case because of her connections to the place where it happened. The logline sounds like it could be set anywhere which speaks to the universality of the story but the specificity of True Colours is that it’s an Indigenous-led and fronted series centred on a mystery but fuelled by a narrative around belonging. And part of the dialogue is in Arrerte.
Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (Binge and Foxtel, July 28): Hands up if you knew that Pretty Little Liars is already a franchise with three other shows? Original Sin is the fourth entry in the universe and it’s hoping to draw on the first series’ more-ish, guilty pleasure vibes. The main characters are about to be put through the tribulations of a masked, vengeful killer who wants to punish them for the sins of their mothers – as well as their own.
Moonhaven (AMC+, July 7): Is there really such a thing as utopia? Surely whenever you hear something described as a “utopian colony” on the moon, you know what they really mean is dystopia masquerading as paradise. Starring Dominic Monaghan, Emma McDonald and Joe Manganiello, the series is set 100 years in the future and features a vast conspiracy that threatens to derail Earth’s last hope.
The Rehearsal (Binge and Foxtel, July 16): The Rehearsal is comedian Nathan Fielder’s experimental series in which he gives everyday people the chance to rehearse life’s big moments in simulated environments thanks to a construction crew, actors and his imagination. We can only imagine how things could go wrong.
The Undeclared War (Stan, July 1): If you’re already having nightmares about a cyber war, then this series set in Britain’s GCHQ might be too triggering for your anxieties. Starring Simon Pegg, Adrian Lester and Hannah Khalique-Brown, The Undeclared War is centred on a team working to block cyber attacks but things escalate when one of them notices a buried threat to the UK’s electoral system.
Our House (BBC First – Foxtel and Fetch, July 13): The four-part thriller stars Tuppence Middleton as a woman who returns to her home only to find all her possessions gone and another family moving in. The property has seemingly being sold from under her and she can’t get in touch with her estranged husband. A twisty series that seeks to discombobulate the viewer as much as it does the lead characters, it also stars Martin Compston and Rupert Penry-Jones.
I Love That for You (Paramount+, July 21): Created by and starring Saturday Night Live’s Vanessa Bayer, I Love That For You is about an aspiring shopping channel host who, in a moment of desperation, tells a little white lie to keep her job. That fib – pretending her childhood cancer is back – has huge consequences. It also stars Molly Shannon.
Resident Evil (Netflix, July 14): There have been so many screen adaptations of Resident Evil, you may have forgotten that it was a video game to start. This version tells its own stories but the games’ plotline serves as the universe’s backstory. The universe has been besieged by a bioweapon and the uninfected human population numbers only 15 million versus six billion cannibal mutants. And the world’s most powerful corporation is hunting for a 14-year-old conceived under mysterious circumstances.
Black Bird (Apple TV+, July 8): Inspired by real-life events, a high school sports star and cop’s son is serving 10 years in a minimum security prison when he’s presented with an impossible choice. He can either shorten his sentence by being transferred to a maximum security prison to befriend a serial killer and have him confess or serve out his full term where he is. The series stars Taron Edgerton and Paul Walter Hauser.
Aftertaste S2 (ABC iview, July 20): After settling for obscurity in South Australia, former famed chef Easton West’s peaceful life is disrupted by the return of his niece Diana from her high-flying life in London. Tensions arise but blood is thicker than water when family secrets emerge. Coming back for the second season is a top-notch ensemble cast including Erik Thomson, Natalie Abbott, Rachel Griffiths, Remy Hii and Wayne Blair.
Das Boot S3 (SBS On Demand, July 7): The German WWII submarine series, a spin-off from Wolfgang Petersen’s revered 1981 film, returns for its third season. A taut, suspenseful thriller series, the wartime story is set both on land and on the underwater battlelines. This season, Ray Stevenson joins the cast as a British naval commander who becomes bitter with grief after his son is killed in a submarine attack.
Murder in Provence (Britbox, July 1): Murder happens everywhere so why not watch one set in the sun-kissed hills of Provence and the cobblestoned streets of Aix-en-Provence? Based on the ML Longworth novels, there will be dramatic beats (lots of indignant glass breaking) and murder most foul.
Trying S3 (Apple TV+, July 22): Returning with eight episodes, the third season of Trying throws Jason and Nikki in the deep end. After two series trying to adopt, they now have two kids but parenthood is more than either of them expected as their relationships – with each other and with their friends and family – are tested.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under (Stan, July 30): The fabulous queens of Drag Race is taking another sashay around the traps with a second season of the wildly popular competition series. Mama Ru, Michelle Visage and Rhys Nicholson will be back along with some as-yet-to-be announced special guests.
American Horror Stories S2 (Binge and Foxtel, July 22): What differentiates American Horror Stories from American Horror Story? Well, the spin-off’s anthology format is weekly instead of seasonal. And producer Ryan Murphy would never be satisfied with having a mere seven shows currently in rotation – so here’s the eighth.
Not Okay (Disney+, July 29); Danni Sanders is like any other social media influencer – desperate for attention, no matter the cost. This time, she takes it too far when she fakes a trip to Paris, unaware that the city has been besieged by terror attacks. Her lie is found out and she becomes public enemy number one. The satirical film stars Zoey Deutsch and Dylan O’Brien.
Stuff Everyone Should Know About Australia (Paramount+, July 3): As part of NAIDOC week, this docuseries is hosted by Elaine Crombie. It sets out to bust myths and inform audiences about First Nations culture, with factoids that, as the title suggests, every Australian should know.
Rap Sh!t (Foxtel, July 21): HBO is really investing in Issa Rae’s prodigious talent. Her debut series Insecure may have just wrapped up but the American network still wants to be in business with the writer and filmmaker. A half-hour eight-episode, Rap Sh!t was created by Rae and tells the story of two high school friends who reunite to form their rap group.
Couples Therapy Australia (Paramount+, July 26): Billing itself as the anti-MAFS, Couples Therapy promises to dive into the world of couples counselling without the confected drama or scandals of other reality shows. And given divorce rates have hit a high after two years of the pandemic, the series might be more relevant than ever.
Looking Black (ABC iview, July 5): In line with the ABC’s 90th anniversary celebrations, Looking Black is a conversation-driven special that explores the history of Indigenous storytelling at the national broadcaster. It features the likes of Deborah Mailman, Leah Purcell and Nakkiah Lui.
Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked (ABC iview, July 19): If you really want to understand Australia, sometimes it pays to see it through the eyes of an adopted outsider, especially when it comes examining what taken-for-granted concepts such as a “fair go” really means in a nation that purports to be egalitarian but have revealed multiple fault lines and prejudices. And there’s no one better to ask those questions than the always honest Miriam Margolyes.
Nude Tuesday (Stan, July 7): Starring Jackie Van Beek and Damon Herriman as a suburban married couple in crisis, this odd Kiwi comedy is set at a retreat run by a seemingly Dionysian guru (Jemaine Clement) who encourages you to let go of inhibitions. The movie’s dialogue is in a made-up gibberish language (which sounds a lot like a Scandi dialect) while the subtitles were translated by comedian Julia Davis.
Too Close (SBS On Demand, July 27): When a forensic psychiatrist is assigned to assess the sanity of the “yummy mummy monster”, a woman accused of a horrendous crime, it kicks off a game of cat-and-mouse between the two. Starring Emily Watson and Denise Gough.
Mad as Hell S15 (ABC iview, July 20): Shaun Micallef and his ragtag band of pot-stirrers are back with another season of satire and sketch show Mad as Hell. They may not have the risible Morrison Government to parody anymore but Australian political, social and cultural elites will always provide a rich target.
Honour Society (Paramount+, July 30): This teen rom-com features Angourie Rice as a Tracy Flick-esque overachiever whose sole goal is to get into Harvard. But there’s someone in her way. So she plots to take down her academic rival (Gaten Matarazzo) but her best-laid plans hit a snag when she unexpectedly starts to fall for him.
Anything’s Possible (Amazon Prime, July 22): Actor and singer Billy Porter directed this coming-of-age teen romance between a trans high-schooler and a fellow student.
*Binge and Foxtel are majority owned by News Corp, publisher of this website
Originally published as What to watch on streaming in July: New shows and movies on Netflix, Stan, Disney, Amazon, Binge, Apple
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