2024’s TV was surprisingly good. This year will be even better
Old favourites like The Bear, Poker Face, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Last of Us and White Lotus are set to return – but there are surprises in store, too.
TV in 2024 turned out to be much better than many anticipated and this year looks even better with old favourites like The Bear, Poker Face, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Last of Us and White Lotus returning. And there are new shows from veterans such as Tina Fey, Lena Dunham and Mindy Kaling. Along with that reassurance, we anticipate the final seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale and Stranger Things. But there are surprises in store too.
Prime Target
Apple’s conspiracy thriller Prime Target is coming soon, in which Leo Woodall plays a post graduate student with a knack for seeing patterns in prime numbers that might see him able to access the world’s computers. And of course that makes him a target for unseen enemies. Among Goodall’s co-stars are Stephen Rea, David Morrissey and the incomparable Sidse Babett Knudsen.
The Studio
Apple also has the Seth Rogan comedy The Studio, in which he plays Matt Remick, newly appointed head of embattled Continental Studios. He and his core team of executives wrangle narcissistic artists and corporate overlords to make great movies even as they become even harder to compete with the streaming revolution.
According to Apple, “With their power suits masking their never-ending sense of panic, every party, set visit, casting decision, marketing meeting and award show presents them with an opportunity for glittering success or career-ending catastrophe.” Bryan Cranston guest stars along with Martin Scorsese.
The Last of Us
Post-apocalyptic action drama The Last of Us returns for a second season, again with all the obligatory horror motifs cunningly woven into a complex narrative.
The series is based on the 2013 video game of the same title, written and created by the visionary Neil Druckmann, and picks up a few years after its frenetic finale. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) have found a home in a Wyoming settlement but a figure from Joel’s past arrives looking for revenge, and, once again, they must fight for survival. The first season was a big hit, an enthralling portrayal of human behaviour in dire situations with some of the most extravagant scare-you-to-death moments.
Your Friends & Neighbours
Apple also have another Jon Hamm series called Your Friends & Neighbours, the busy actor playing a hedge fund manager grappling with a recent divorce who is forced to steal from his neighbour’s home’s. He discovers dangerous secrets hidden behind their wealthy facades. A case it seems of wrong house, wrong time. It’s Hamm’s first time headlining an ongoing series since Mad Men, though he’s been visible in a range of supporting and cameo roles. It’s already been renewed for a second season, certainly a sign of confidence.
Poker Face
Natasha Lyonne’s clever Poker Face returns for a second season, her Charlie Cale, like Peter Falk’s Columbo, no ordinary detective, and as is the case in that classic procedural cop show we first see the murder and then watch the star bring the killer to justice.
And as in The Fugitive – Poker Face is an unashamed homage to a lost age of TV - Charlie is constantly on the run, hunted by a killer, turning up in a new place in every episode and occupying a new drama with new protagonists. Guest list for the new season includes The American’s Margo Martindale, Better Call Saul’s Giancarlo Esposito, and Winning Time’s Gaby Hoffman.
The Bear
Disney’s The Bear is also returning after a strange, experimental season last year. There’s little information yet, though it seems the full cast is returning, the new season apparently filmed back to back with season three.
All we know is that the fate of the restaurant is unclear, but we can be certain the new episodes won’t be short on emotional breakdowns and dramas. There have been some problems with the cast’s availability too. As one executive said, “We started a show with a team of great actors. Now we have a show with a team of movie stars.”
The White Lotus
One thing is certain, Mike White’s ensemble-driven anthology drama The White Lotus’s return is imminent, the upcoming season set in Thailand’s Four Seasons in Koh Samui, the big themes class and death. Parker Posey, named “Queen of the Indies” by Time after appearing in 30 movies since 1994, most low budget, joins the cast.
Deadline reported, “Not many details are available regarding the new chapter’s plot beyond that it follows a new group of guests at another White Lotus property including a multigenerational gang with a patriarch, a female corporate executive, an actress, a couple of mothers, a country club wife, a misfit and a yogi.”
Black Rabbit
The mysteriously titled Black Rabbit looks interesting, already promoted by Netflix as a star-studded limited series set in New York’s nightlife scene. We know it stars and is executive produced by Jude Law and Jason Bateman, with Bateman directing the first episodes. According to Netflix, Black Rabbit “centres on some serious sibling drama: When the owner of a New York City hotspot (Law) allows his chaotic brother (Bateman) back in his life, he opens the door to escalating dangers that threaten to bring down everything he’s built.”
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Game of Thrones fans be excited, the latest prequel based on George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas is coming. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms follows House of the Dragon and is set 89 years before Game of Thrones, and is the next in many planned spinoffs.
This one follows Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk), played by Peter Claffey, and Aegon Targaryen (Egg), played by Dexter Sol Ansell, on their adventures throughout the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
There is so far little information, but the official logline says: “Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.”
Zero Day
Zero Day is Eric Newman’s (Narcos) six-part drama, another conspiracy theory show, this time about an ageing former president placed in charge of the investigation into a 9/11-esque terrorist attack. Robert De Niro stars, surrounded by a line-up including Angela Bassett, Bill Camp, Jesse Plemons and Connie Britton.
According to Netflix, “Zero Day asks the question on everyone’s mind: How do we find truth in a world in crisis, one seemingly being torn apart by forces outside our control? And in an era rife with conspiracy theory and subterfuge, how much of those forces are products of our own doing, perhaps even of our own imagining?”
Apple Cider Vinegar
Netflix is also releasing the scam story of Australian grifter Belle Gibson in Apple Cider Vinegar, with Kaitlyn Dever as the wellness influencer who claimed to have cured her terminal brain cancer through pseudoscience.
Gibson became famous with her claims of surviving the disease through healthy eating and natural remedies. She also launched a successful app and a cookbook called The Whole Pantry.
The series was created by award-winning Australian writer Samantha Strauss (Nine Perfect Strangers, The End, Dance Academy). According to Netflix, the series “serves as a cultural interrogation of the times, exploring the birth of Instagram; the allure and rise of wellness culture; peak girl boss start-up culture; and the age of innocence on social media with very few checks and balances in place”.
Miss Austen
2025 marks the 250th birthday of Jane Austen and the BBC celebrates with the four-part drama Miss Austen. Based on Gill Hornsby’s novel, it stars Keely Hawes as Jane’s sister Cassandra desperate to find a cache of her sister’s private letters which in the wrong hands could destroy her reputation.
The BBC says: “In flashback, we meet Young Cassy (Synnøve Karlsen) and Jane (Patsy Ferran) as they navigate the romantic infatuations, family feuds and dashed hopes which shaped their lives, and laid the foundations for Jane’s unforgettable stories.”
Happy watching.
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