It’s nice of the streaming services to make up for the lack of original programming during the week of Thanksgiving by dropping three big new shows at the beginning of December. Disney+ has the first two episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Key ready to go, while Hulu has dropped the entire first season of the action series Paris Has Fallen. Not to be outdone, Max is turning a page on DC’s animated adaptations with Creature Commandos.
There are going to be some slow weeks ahead, as December is traditionally a quiet month for originals. Having said that, both Marvel’s What If…? and Netflix’s Squid Game are returning near the end of December. We’ll have those two shows to look forward to when the other streamers hold back on premieres for early 2025 debuts.
You can find all of the rest of the best new shows to stream below. Remember to check back next week, as we update this list every Friday to give you the top choices for your next TV night.
When you’re done here, check out the best new movies to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, the best new shows on Max, the best shows on Amazon Prime Video, and the best shows on Disney+.
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, and Apple TV+ all have one thing in common: They’re more expensive than they used to be. We can live with higher rates as long as new shows keep coming, but it’s always a good idea to consider signing up for the ad-supported tiers, which are worth it if you can sit through a few commercials.
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Paris Has Fallen2024
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Creature Commandos2024
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Landman2024
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Cobra Kai2018
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Cruel Intentions2024
Disney+
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024)
71%
7.2/10Sometimes, when defending a few of the worst creative decisions, Star Wars apologists will fall back on the claim that the franchise is meant for children. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is one of the few projects where that defense is objectively true. This is a younger-skewing show with children as the main characters and an intentional riff on the classic Steven Spielberg coming-of-age Amblin flicks.
Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), KB (Kyriana Kratter), and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) are a group of children who discover a lost spaceship on their home world, At Attin. While exploring the ship, the vessel takes off with the kids trapped inside. Now, these younglings have to find their way back home and figure out who they can trust. They should probably be wary about Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), a charming con man who appears to have the power to access the Force.
Hulu
Paris Has Fallen (2024)
6.5/10Paris Has Fallen is technically a spinoff from the Has Fallen film series, but don’t expect to see Gerard Butler on this show. It has a thematic connection to the movies, rather than sharing characters in common. French security officer Vincent Taleb (Tewfik Jallab) is at the center of this series alongside MI6 agent Zara Taylor (Ritu Arya). As the title implies, the French government is the target of terrorists this time.
Jacob Pearce (Sean Harris) is the man behind the attacks, and he has a very personal ax to grind over some terrible things that happened to him. Regardless of Jacob’s justifications for his actions, more people will die if Vincent and Zara can’t bring him down in time.
Say Nothing (2024)
77%
8.0/10Between Shogun and The Bear, FX was already having a banner year in 2024. The cable network — and by extension, Hulu — continues that hot streak with Say Nothing, an adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s nonfiction book about The Troubles, a three-decade struggle for freedom in Northern Ireland that gave way to acts of terrorism.
This nine-episode miniseries chronicles four decades of The Troubles, largely through the eyes of sisters Dolours (Lola Petticrew) and Marian Price (Hazel Doupe). The girls have been raised in the IRA by their parents, but they aren’t content to take a back seat in what they see as a war against their oppressors. The Price sisters want to be on the frontlines of the conflict, even if that means taking up arms and making terrible sacrifices along the way.
Max (formerly HBO and HBO Max)
Creature Commandos (2024)
78%
8.0/10Creature Commandos is the first project in James Gunn’s new DC Universe film and TV continuity. Although, strangely enough, the animated series also maintains continuity with Gunn’s The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, both of which were in the DCEU as well.
Since Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) was exposed as the power behind the Suicide Squad/Task Force X, she’s resorted to sending monsters on covert missions under the command of Rick Flagg Sr. (Frank Grillo). Now, Eric Frankenstein (David Harbour), the Bride (Indira Varma), G.I. Robot (Sean Gunn), Doctor Phosphorus (Alan Tudyk), and the rest have to figure out how to be a team when facing impossible odds and magical powers beyond their comprehension.
Dune: Prophecy (2024)
63%
7.5/10Dune gets its own Game of Thrones-style series with Dune: Prophecy, a prequel story set 10,000 years before the films. For generations, the Sisterhood has amassed power and influence in the galaxy. But just when Mother Superior Valya Harkonnen (Emily Watson) and her sister, Tula Harkonnen (Olivia Williams), are on the verge of achieving their ambitions, their fortune and luck start to suffer.
Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) openly opposes the Sisterhood’s agenda and accuses them of working against Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong). That wouldn’t be a problem if Hart didn’t have access to the Emperor. Now, Hart has the inside track at convincing the Emperor to act against his perceived enemies, even if the Sisterhood isn’t actually trying to overthrow him.
Paramount+
Landman (2024)
61%
8.2/10While Paramount+ would surely love to be streaming the new season of Yellowstone right about now, it does have yet another Taylor Sheridan-created drama. Landman features Billy Bob Thornton as Tommy Norris, an amoral fixer for an oil company called M*Tex, which is owned by Monty Miller (Jon Hamm).
Tommy deals with obscene amounts of money to keep the oil flowing, which involves crossing ethical lines on a weekly basis. It’s all part of the job for him. But at least Tommy can control that part of his life. Dealing with his kids Cooper (Jacob Lofland) and Ainsely (Michelle Randolph), as well as his ex-wife, Angela (Ali Larter), is more of a challenge.
Lioness (2023)
56%
7.7/10Lioness is back for its second season on Paramount+, and Zoe Saldaña’s Joe is once again at the forefront as the leader of the CIA’s Lioness program, which sends female operatives in undercover where no male colleague could follow. This season, the primary new recruit for Lioness is Captain Josephina Carrillo (Genesis Rodriguez), a woman whose family connection to a Mexican cartel may help her locate a kidnapped American congresswoman south of the border.
Series creator Taylor Sheridan is actually joining the cast as former Delta Force operative Cody Spears. However, Joe remains the heart and soul of the show. Her responsibilities to her family and her women in the field weigh heavily on Joe, especially when her boss, CIA officer Kaitlyn Meade (Nicole Kidman), warns her that their latest mission has more unwanted government attention than usual.
Netflix
Cobra Kai (2018)
71%
8.5/10Cobra Kai season 6 part 2 finds the dojo’s best students in the Sekai Taikai, the world championships of karate. Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is distracted by revelations about his late mentor, Mr. Miyagi. The rest of the dojo is stunned by the resurgence of Cobra Kai with Tory Nichols (Peyton List) now representing that dojo in the tournament.
Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) has also found a new rival, Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan). The bigger issues facing the dojo lie beyond the tournament and the return of some old enemies. Fans will have to wait until 2025 to see the grand finale of Cobra Kai, but things are left in a very interesting place by the end of season 6 part 2.
Arcane (2021)
9.0/10Although Arcane is technically an adaptation of the League of Legends video game, it works incredibly well as a standalone story without that connection. The animation is some of the best ever produced for television and rivals Pixar for detail and emotion. The story revolves around two estranged sisters, Violet (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell), who been separated from each other for years.
In the present, the sisters find themselves on opposite sides of a brewing conflict between the cities of Piltover and Zaun. War is inevitable thanks to Jinx, with Zaun declaring her a hero for striking against their oppressors. As for Violet, she now finds herself among Piltover’s defenders, and the battle between the sisters may decide the fate of the two cities and everyone around them.
Amazon Prime Video
Cruel Intentions (2024)
37%
4.5/10Hollywood has been trying to reboot Cruel Intentions as a TV show for the better part of the last two decades. We would have preferred the 2015 incarnation that had Sarah Michelle Gellar attached to reprise her role from the movie, which was loosely adapted from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses.
In Prime Video’s Cruel Intentions, The names and settings are slightly different from the movie, but the dynamic between step-siblings Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess) should seem very familiar. Caroline needs Lucien to seduce Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), the daughter of the vice president of the United States, to help save her sorority. If Lucien pulls it off, Caroline will sleep with him. And if he fails, Caroline gets his car. But as Lucien goes forward with the plan, his feelings for Annie may become genuine.
Cross (2024)
61%
7.0/10Leverage‘s Aldis Hodge gets his biggest showcase to date in Cross. Hodge portrays James Patterson’s Alex Cross, a brilliant detective previously played on the big screen by Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry. In Washington, D.C., Cross’ talent for breaking cases has already made him a minor celebrity.
Cross’ perfect life comes crashing down when he suffers a personal tragedy, leaving his partner (Isaiah Mustafa) and an FBI agent Kayla Craig doubtful that he can perform his job. Police Chief Anderson (Jennifer Wigmore) also wants to use Cross to deflect some of the controversy away from the murder of an anti-police advocate. Yet, Cross has bigger problems to face, including a serial killer and a mystery linked to one of his previous cases.
Apple TV+
Silo (2023)
80%
8.1/10Silo‘s second season could have been called Silos, because the narrative splits off now that Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) is out of her Silo and trapped in a new one. Juliette also learned the hard way that she may have made a serious mistake. Now, she needs to find her way back home to prevent others from following in her example.
In the meantime, Juliette’s actions in the first season have led to rumblings of revolution at her original silo. Bernard (Tim Robbins) is the new mayor, and it’s his job to keep the population under control. Even if Juliette can’t make it back, there may not be any way to hold back this revolution.
Bad Sisters (2022)
7%
8.3/10The Garvey sisters are returning to Apple TV+ on November 13, and they’ve gotten away with murder … kind of. In Bad Sisters season 1, Eva (Sharon Horgan), Ursula (Eva Birthistle), Bibi (Sarah Greene), and Becka (Eve Hewson) helped Grace (Anne-Marie Duff) cover up the murder of her odious husband, JP (Claes Bang), who really got what was coming to him. But suspicion fell on the sisters as a whole, and they had to make a deal to keep the truth from coming out.
Season 2 picks up two years later, and the Garvey sisters are moving on with their lives … right up until a fresh corpse arrives on their proverbial doorstep and once again thrusts them into a world of trouble. Did one of the sisters murder the new victim? And if not, who is throwing the Garvey family to the wolves in order to get suspicion away from them?
Peacock
The Day of the Jackal (2024)
74%
8.1/10You won’t be thinking about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them when you see Eddie Redmayne in The Day of the Jackal. Redmayne completely sheds his likable good guy persona as The Jackal, a ruthlessly efficient assassin. No Time To Die‘s Lashana Lynch co-stars as MI6 agent Bianca Pullman, who conducts her own investigation into The Jackal.
What Bianca doesn’t know is that The Jackal has a wife, Nuria (Úrsula Corberó), and a child. He’s also facing some intrigue of his own when a client neglects to pay him for a successful hit. Another client tries to shortchange him for a very dangerous assignment to take out billionaire Ulle Dag Charles (Khalid Abdalla). It’s a serious mistake to cross The Jackal, and even Bianca risks her own life to track him down.
