The best upcoming TV shows in 2024

A Kickstarter-funded adult animated show, you say? Based on characters from a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that had been previously dramatised in a web series?! If nothing else, The Legend of Vox Machina has provided further proof that geek/nerd/gaming culture has gone full-on mainstream. In fact, we’d go so far as to say that it’s nigh-on impossible to be considered uncool these days, even if you’re spending your evenings moonlighting as an elven mage named Tasfariel.

Thankfully, this series is also a brilliant showcase for eye-catching animation, a sharp gag-filled script and a compelling, high-stakes story as a party of eight adventurers embarks on a quest to save the world. This long-awaited third season sees the loveable band of fantasy misfits reuniting to take on the twin threats of the Chroma Conclave and the Cinder King.

Release date: 3 October 2024

Picking up where the events of Crystal Dynamics’ recent Tomb Raider game trilogy left off, this animated series sees the world’s best-known relic hunter (not called Indiana, at least) embarking on an all-new adventure. When a priceless ancient Chinese artefact is half-inched from her private collection, Lara Croft (Hayley Attwell) must pursue the thief across the globe. She will, we have it on good authority, end up raiding some tombs along the way, as well as catch up from some old friends and confront her deepest fears. Pretty standard stuff for her, all being told, but exciting for us.

Release date: 10 October 2024

Oscar-hoarding movie director Alfonso Cuáron turns to the small screen with this star-studded seven-parter, somewhat grandly described as an ‘event’ rather than a TV miniseries. Based on Renée Knight’s bestseller, it follows a celebrated investigative journalist (Cate Blanchett) whose own dirty laundry end up in the spotlight courtesy of a mysterious novel – in which she appears as a prominent character. Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Leslie Manville also star in what might be the must-watch big budget TV series of the autumn. Provided you subscribe to Apple TV+, of course.

Release date: 11 October 2024

Set 10,000 years before the events depicted in Denis Villeneuve’s recent Dune movies, this six-part series takes a deep dive into the history of Frank Herbert’s massive fictional universe. The show follows the exploits of two Harkonnen sisters as they fight off calamitous forces and plant the seeds for what will become the Bene Gesserit – the secretive female-only priesthood that seeks to mould the very future of humanity. The cast includes Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Travis Fimmel, Jodhi May and Mark Strong, and the show has been created by HBO alongside Legendary – the producers of those aforementioned movies. Expect a similarly epic audio-visual experience.

Release date: Autumn 2024

Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett returns to the small screen with this adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s classic thriller. Eddie Redmayne stars as the eponymous Jackal, a lone contract killer who roams the world picking off targets with consummate skill before changing his identity at a moment’s notice. But after attracting the attention of an equally cunning and driven British intelligence operative (Lashana Lynch), his career as a killer-for-hire looks set to hit its most precarious phase yet. The 10-part series also stars Money Heist’s Úrsula Corberó, Charles Dance and Richard Dormer.

Release date: 7 November 2024

Get ready to cry, cowboy. It’s the final half-season of this much-loved series about the machinations of the Duttons, a family of Montana ranchers who don’t shy away from using the dark arts of blackmail, extortion and murder in their efforts to stay top of the tree. Or highest in the saddle, to use a more setting-appropriate term.

Series talisman Kevin Costner, who plays patriarch John Dutton, will not be returning due to an apparent fall-out with the showrunners, but fans of the show (of which there are many millions) will probably get over his omission fairly quickly. After all, there are plenty of other beloved characters to catch up with, and a lot of storylines that need to be resolved over the final few episodes.

Release date: 11 November 2024

Based on James Patterson’s long-running novel series, this eight-part crime thriller sees Aldis Hodge step into the gumshoes of mercurial D.C. detective Alex Cross (previously played by Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry), whose background in forensic psychology gives him a unique perspective on the criminal mind. And, with a twisted killer stalking the streets of the US capital, Cross will need to call upon every skill in his repertoire – all while dealing with an enigmatic echo from his tragic past.

Release date: 14 November 2024

Yellowstone may be over, but the latest drama series to come from its creator Taylor Sheridan might just fill the gap in your heavy heart. Based on the hit podcast Boomtown, Landman is a high-stakes tale of power, money and black gold amidst the booming oil business of West Texas, it boasts a star-studded ensemble cast including the likes of Billy Bob Thornton, Demi Moore, Andy Garcia, Michael Peña and Jon Hamm. Will there be blood? You can bet your life on it.

Release date: 17 November 2024

Stranger Things meets Star Wars in Lucasfilm’s next original series, which will follow the adventures of four children following an incredible discovery on their hitherto dull home planet. Whisked off into another galaxy, they must find their way back – and will experience the adventure of their lives along the way.

Jude Law is the biggest name star in a show that we know very little about thus far, having only been given a handful of images, a teaser trailer and a skeletal (no pun intended) synopsis. Expect more info to emerge from the depths of space very soon.

Release date: 3 December 2024

Produced by the creators of Netflix show Love, Death + Robots, Secret Level is a similar anthology series, in which each and every one of the 15 episodes will be an original, self-contained animated story. They’re all inspired by popular video games too, ranging from Pac-Man to Unreal Tournament via Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer 40,000. We don’t know much about the individual episodes yet, but this is shaping up to be the TV show of choice for sore-thumbed gamers in search of some bite-sized entertainment in their downtime.

Release date: 10 December 2024

Giving a whole new meaning to the concept of a ‘work-life balance’, employees at Lumon Industries submit to having their minds and memories surgically divided into two sections: one for the office, one for their personal life. With these two aspects of the person never meeting or crossing over, each worker becomes two distinct people living in one body – or at least that’s the idea.

This involving, mystery-laden sci-fi drama is arguably Apple TV+’s most interesting and thought-provoking original series, and after a long hiatus it’s coming back to the streaming service in early 2025. We have no idea what the second season holds plot-wise, because we don’t yet have an actual trailer or synopsis, but we don’t care: this is probably our most anticipated show of 2025 right now.

Release date: 17 January 2025

The millions who have played through Naughty Dog’s game know what’s in store – but we wager they’re ready to have their hearts broken all over again by this TV adaptation. The first season was spectacular and moving, and managed to distil the feel of the game almost perfectly while expanding on it themes in some genuinely interesting ways but, if HBO’s The Last of Us is to truly cement its position as the greatest game adaptation of all time, it really needs to nail Part II properly. It’s a tricky ask, but if anyone’s up to it, the creative team here are.

Release date: 2025

There’s no shortage of wartime epics out there from the American and British perspective. Band of Brothers, Catch-22, The Man in the High Castle, The Pacific, we could go on. The eight-part M. Son of the Century, though, will show Italy’s wartime role in a TV drama format. Based on the novel by Antonio Scurati, directed by BAFTA-winner Joe Wright (Darkest Hour, Atonement, Cyrano) and written by Stefano Bises (Gomorrah), M. Son of the Century charts the rise of fascism in Italy, and with it Mussolini’s grasp on power.

Release date: 2025