The best upcoming TV shows in 2025

Alien: Earth (Hulu/Disney+)

It’s fair to say that recent additions to the Alien franchise have been hit and miss, but we hold high hopes for this – the series’ first ever TV show. Set in 2120 (which is two years before the events of the original movie), it concerns a mysterious spacecraft that crashes on Earth. And, needless to say, its deadly contents. Aside from that, we know very little about the plot, but with months to go before its release we expect more revealing trailers to appear soon.

The series, which is being executive produced by Ridley Scott and Noah Hawley (best known for the excellent Fargo TV show), apparently follows the style and mythology of the early films much more than the likes of Prometheus and Romulus.

Release date: 12 August 2025

King and Conqueror – Season 1 (BBC)

Ah, 1066 and all that. The story of William of Normandy, Harold Godwinson and the Battle of Hastings is generally among the first bits of history British schoolkids learn about, and it’s absolutely packed with drama on both the grand and human scale.

Odd then, that we’ve rarely seen it represented on the screen. This BBC-produced series is changing all that, with James Norton playing King Harold and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William of Normandy – and while we don’t know a whole lot about it the initial round of shots suggest a grim and gritty look reminiscent of Game of Thrones or The Last Kingdom.

Release date: August 2025 (UK)

Task – Season 1 (Sky/Now/HBO Max)

We’re still suckers for an HBO prestige crime drama, and the fact that Task comes from Brad Ingelsby, the writer of the excellent Mare of Easttown, only makes us more excited for its arrival.

A seven-part miniseries starring Ozark’s Tom Pelphrey as a working-class Philadelphia family man who has turned to violent robbery as a means of making a living, and Mark Ruffalo as the FBI agent leading the task force ordered to stop him. Oh, and both men have complex and troubled inner lives, in case you were wondering!

Release date: September 2025

The Paper – Season 1 (Peacock/Sky/Now)

The Office showrunner Greg Daniels returns to the workplace mockumentary format with his new series. It’s a spin-off of sorts – ostensibly filmed by the same TV crew that documented the lives of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch – set in the newsroom of a small Midwestern newspaper that’s struggling to survive in the current financial climate.

Domhnall Gleeson leads the cast as an idealistic and overenthusiastic young publisher determined to revive The Toledo Truth-Teller’s fortunes, and other members of the ensemble include Tim Key and The White Lotus’ Sabrina Impacciatore. But Office fans will be pleased to hear that some familiar faces from Dundler Mifflin will be appearing too. In fact, if you look closely at the first look image above, you might spot Oscar Nuñez at the back; he’ll be reprising his role as fastidious accountant Oscar Martinez.

Release date: 4 September 2025

The Morning Show – Season 4 (Apple TV+)

Apple TV+’s flagship show has netted a ton of awards for its previous three seasons, and we fully expect this fourth tranche of episodes (of which there’ll be ten in total) to grab armfuls more.

With a star-studded cast led by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, the series gives viewers a glimpse behind the cameras of a top network broadcast morning news show, and all the backstabbing, jostling, misbehaviour and more that goes on when powerful people push up against each other.

It’s premium drama at its best, really – and this fourth season will add yet more star power to the cast with the additions of Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, Aaron Pierre and Boyd Holbrook.

Release date: 17 September 2025

Black Rabbit (Netflix)

Ozark alumni Jason Bateman and Laura Linney are reunited on this limited series from Netflix – but you won’t see the latter on screen. Linney will direct two episodes of the eight-part show, with Bateman directing another two, as well as co-leading the cast as Vince Friedken, one of two brothers whose fates becoming intertwined with that of a New York nightclub called, you guessed it, Black Rabbit.

The other brother, Jake, is played by Jude Law. He’s the charming, outgoing owner of the club, and is taken aback when the much more chaotic Vince, who’s been away, arrives back on the scene and wants into the business. The fact Vince has some vicious loan sharks pursuing him might have something to do with his sudden desire to reconnect.

Release date: 18 September 2025

Slow Horses – Season 5 (Apple TV+)

Gary Oldman is an actor with incredible range. From Count Dracula to Sid Vicious to Beethoven to Léon’s deranged cop Norman Stansfield, he’s inhabited dozens of iconic roles over the years. But we suspect future entertainment historians will regard Slow Horses’ Jackson Lamb as one of his best-regarded acting turns ever.

The dishevelled, alcoholic Lamb, who oversees MI5’s misfits and write-offs in the shabby office building of Slough House (the ‘Slow Horses’ to which the title refers), is a fascinating character. Rude, caustic and outwardly cynical, there’s far more to him than meets the eye, and Oldman’s performance goes a long way towards conveying that depth and complexity with a subtlety few actors could pull off.

As yet we know very little about the fifth season’s plot, but expect more espionage shenanigans from Lamb and his team as they strive to counter a new threat against Great Britain.

Release date: 24 September 2025

Welcome to Derry – Season 1 (Sky/Now/Max)

Serving as a prequel to the 2017 It movie, this supernatural series takes place in Stephen King’s fictional town of Derry, Maine – the setting for many of the horror maestro’s best-known novels and short stories.

Set in the 1960s, this nine-part show will tell the origin story of the demonic Pennywise (played once more by Bill Skarsgård) through a series of catastrophic events that take place in the town whenever the killer clown emerges from hibernation. The plan is to make two more seasons, set in later time periods – but we suppose we’ll have to see how the first season performs before that’s confirmed.

Release date: October 2025

Down Cemetery Road (Apple TV+)

If you like Slow Horses, this miniseries should be right up your dark, mysterious and suspenseful alley – because it’s an adaptation of another book by Mick Herron, the thriller writer behind the Slough House series of novels on which Slow Horses is based.

Down Cemetery Road, adapted for the screen by Slow Horses writer Morwenna Banks, stars Emma Thompson as private investigator Zoë Boehm, who teams up with Ruth Wilson’s Sarah Tucker to delve into the mystery of a missing child – a mystery that goes much deeper and darker than either woman can have imagined.

The first two episodes will be available on 29 October, with a further episode released weekly until the 10 December finale.

Release date: 29 October 2025

Stranger Things – Season 5 (Netflix)

The first series of Stranger Things hit Netflix nine years ago. Feel old yet? It’s been a long and arduous journey for the Hawkins kids and their families, and at times it’s felt the same to be a viewer, with episodes getting longer and the cast of characters expanding season upon season. This fifth season of the 1980s-set drama promises to bring the struggle against skull-faced demon Vecna to a conclusion, however, and we’re hopeful that show creators the Duffer brothers can deliver the satisfying, scary and emotional ending that this marquee show deserves.

The season will consist of eight episodes, served up in three ‘volumes’. The first, consisting of four episodes, will premiere on 26 November, while a second, this time of three episodes, arrives on Christmas Day. The final episode will be released on New Year’s Eve.

Release date: 26 November 2025

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Season 1 (Sky/Now/Max)

This prequel to Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s three Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, promises to be much smaller in scope than HBO’s other Martin adaptations.

Following the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight, and Egg, a Targaryen prince and Ser Duncan’s squire, it’s set around 90 years before the events of Game of Thrones. We’re excited for it mainly because it’s based on Martin’s real, finished stories and its tighter focus means it should be relatively simple to adapt without creating the sort of major plot holes and issues that beset the latter seasons of GOT. This first season will have only six episodes, so we’re hoping for a nice brisk fantasy story without excessive padding. Too much to ask, perhaps…

Release date: Early 2026