Tuesday, 6 January 2026
Happy New Year to all and welcome back to The Ephemeric. No rest for the weary blogger. It seems like just days ago I finished writing up the Debbie Awards and already it's straight back to the grind with the first installment of The Hot List, this week focusing on the most exciting new TV series set to drop in 2026.
So here it is, your ultimate guide to the year ahead, The Ephemeric's 2026 Hot List. In this first entry we will be looking at the most exciting things happening in the world of television over the next 12 months, with a particular eye cast over the brand new shows hitting your screens in 2026.
Start Date: TBD 2026
Start Date: February 2026
Start Date: February 2026
Start Date: March 2026
11. The Boys - Amazon
Start Date: April 2026
10. Untitled Larry David Historical Sketch Show - HBO (New TV Show)
Start Date: TBD 2026
9. Spider-Noir - MGM+/Amazon (New TV Show)
Start Date: Early 2026
Start Date: TBD 2026
7. Rooster - HBO (New TV Show)
Start Date: March 2026
6. The Boroughs - Netflix (New TV Show)
Start Date: Late 2026
5. Ted Lasso - AppleTV
Start Date: TBD 2026
Start Date: Summer 2026
2. The Boys From Brazil - Netflix (New TV Show)
Start Date: Late 2026
1. Pluribus - AppleTV
Start Date: TBD 2026
So there you have it folks: 2026 in television. Tune in next week for the essential new videogames of the year!
There is objectively too much TV on these days. We are truly spoilt for choice, and 2025 was another year with an abundance of quality, from returning favourites to exciting new series. 2026 looks to be more of the same, and it is notable that most of the entries on this list are, in fact, new shows. What's more, this is only the tip of the iceberg. There's much more to come that couldn't be fit into this list, and the result is what looks to be another great year of content for us all to consume.
At the same time, however, it is worth recognising a darker side of TV in the streaming era. Increased expectations, competition, and budgets has resulted in bloated mega-sized productions more akin to a Hollywood blockbuster than the TV of old. This is why we increasingly see TV series taking multi-year gaps between seasons (which are themselves typically of a truncated 8-10 episode length), something which would have been unheard of in the broadcast era. You take the good with the bad, I suppose. And while I hope creators manage to strike a better balance in future, it is difficult to complain too much when you have a ready overabundance of replacement content ready to step into the gap. So onwards and upwards, then.
So without further ado here are the top 15 essential television shows, both new and returning, that will hit the airwaves and their web-equivalent in 2026:
Stranger Things may be done and dusted, but that doesn't mean we've seen the last of Hawkins. Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 is an animated spin-off that dives headfirst into the weird, pulpy heart of Hawkins at the height of the town’s supernatural troubles, telling standalone stories set between the events of the live-action seasons.
Styled like a lost Saturday-morning cartoon crossed with vintage horror comics, the series leans into neon colors, synth-soaked atmosphere, and creature-feature thrills as familiar faces and new kids on the block encounter Upside Down oddities that never quite made it into the main timeline.
More playful but still unsettling, Tales from ’85 expands the mythology with small-scale mysteries, government experiments gone wrong, and eerie suburban legends, offering fans a nostalgic, bite-sized return to a year when walkie-talkies ruled, bikes were freedom, and Hawkins was never as normal as it pretended to be.
Start Date: TBD 2026
14. American Love Story: - FX (New TV Show)
Next up, we have the latest from a very well known name in television, Mr. Ryan Murphy. American Love Story is the newest addition to a pantheon of TV series that includes American Horror Story, American Crime Story and American Sport story, focused on, you guessed it, famous love stories.
This first season turns its lens on the whirlwind courtship and marriage of John F. Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bassette-Kennedy, with Sarah Pidgeon to star alongside Paul Kelly.
Murphy's work is not for everyone, but his signature blend of energetic filmmaking, high stylisation and ensemble casts generally makes for an entertaining watch, if nothing else. As with the other "Story" series, this will air on FX, and is expected to drop in time for Valentine's day.
Start Date: February 2026
It has finally happened. After years of speculation and rumour, the beloved medical comedy Scrubs returns to Sacred Heart with a new generation of interns navigating the same chaotic mix of medicine, friendship, and absurdity.
This is very much a revival rather than a reboot, with the core cast all returning as the same characters for what essentially amounts to a season 10 of the classic series, some 15 years after its ill-fated ninth.
What have these beloved characters been up to for the past 15 years? Are JD and Elliot still together? We will soon find out. The revival will air on the series' latter-day home of ABC, come February 2026.
Start Date: February 2026
Perhaps the most critically acclaimed adult animation series of the 2020s, Invincible's three seasons to-date have been brilliant, earning widespread praise and awards. Now, the series returns for its fourth season on Amazon.
Season 4 raises the stakes again as Mark Grayson faces the long-term consequences of the choices that saved Earth, but fractured his sense of right and wrong. With the Viltrumite threat evolving and alliances growing more uneasy, the season leans harder into moral ambiguity, asking what it truly means to protect humanity when every victory carries a brutal cost.
Fans can anticipate a deeper exploration of complex themes and high-stakes challenges that push Mark to confront his past and future, all while striving to protect those he loves. Season 4 begins in March.
11. The Boys - Amazon
The final season of The Boys barrels toward an explosive endgame as the line between superheroes and tyrants finally collapses.
With Vought’s grip tightening, Homelander more untethered than ever, and the Boys fractured by compromises they swore they’d never make, the season leans into its bleakest question yet: whether absolute power can be stopped without becoming monstrous yourself.
Darkly funny, viciously political, and unflinching in its violence, the closing chapter promises no clean victories, only reckonings, as the series dismantles its own mythology and asks who, if anyone, deserves to survive the war it started.
Start Date: April 2026
10. Untitled Larry David Historical Sketch Show - HBO (New TV Show)
This unlikely match up sees Barack Obama and Larry David join forces on a new HBO sketch comedy series that takes aim at American history in celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The untitled half-hour project is produced by Higher Ground, the company Obama founded with Michelle Obama after leaving office in 2017. David will co-write the sketches with his longtime Curb Your Enthusiasm collaborator Jeff Schaffer, with reports suggesting appearances from former Curb cast members alongside other high-profile guest stars.
A precise release date is yet to be confirmed, but it is thought that this could air in the latter half of the year.
Start Date: TBD 2026
9. Spider-Noir - MGM+/Amazon (New TV Show)
Ever since the first Spiderverse movie swept the industry, there have been talks of various spin-offs, most commonly in the form of a Spider-Gwen spin-off. However, while that project continues its over-long gestation, it has been beaten to the punch by MGM+'s upcoming Spider-Noir.
The upcoming Spider-Noir promises a bold, genre-bending twist on the Spider-Man mythos when it premieres on MGM+ in 2026 before rolling out globally on Amazon. Set in a gritty, stylised 1930s New York, the eight-episode live-action series stars Nicolas Cage as an aging, down-on-his-luck private investigator who must reckon with his past and the shadows of his old life swinging above the streets.
Drawing on classic comic-book noir and detective drama, Spider-Noir blends superhero action with hard-boiled mystery and visual flair, including black-and-white and colour versions that underscore its period aesthetic.
Start Date: Early 2026
8. Blade Runner 2099 - Amazon (New TV Show)
Amazon bringing a cinematic classic to the small screan in 2026. Blade Runner 2099 is an ambitious new live-action limited series continuing the iconic sci-fi saga roughly 50 years after the events of Blade Runner 2049.
Anchored in the gritty, rain-soaked dystopian future that has defined the franchise, the show sees Michelle Yeoh among its leads and promises to explore the evolving tensions between humans and replicants amid a society still haunted by questions of identity, autonomy, and what it means to be alive.
With Ridley Scott attached as an executive producer and a fresh ensemble cast, Blade Runner 2099 aims to honor the philosophical depth and stylistic legacy of its predecessors while opening the world to new mysteries, characters, and moral dilemmas in a future where the line between the organic and artificial has never been thinner.
7. Rooster - HBO (New TV Show)
Rooster is the latest comedy series from creator Bill Lawrence, best known for Scrubs, Ted Lasso and Shrinking. Lawrence is on a bit of a roll right now with the latter two series achieving a good amount of success on Apple, Ted Lasso in particular, making any new release of his an immediate fixture among the upcoming releases.
This latest, Lawrence's first with HBO, stars Steve Carell as Greg Russo, a celebrated author who winds up deeply entangled in college life after visiting a university campus for a reading. At its heart is a complicated but heartfelt father-daughter relationship with his daughter.
Joining Carrell on the cast list are a number of frequent Lawrence collaborators, including John C. McGinley and Phil Dunster. This is expected to release in March.
Start Date: March 2026
6. The Boroughs - Netflix (New TV Show)
Those Duffer Brothers are busy in the wake of the Stranger Things finale. In addition to not one, but two spin-offs (see number 15 of this list for more on one of these) in development, the brothers have also been hard at work on their next fully original project, The Boroughs.
This new series trades Hawkins for an unlikely battlefield: a seemingly idyllic retirement community in the New Mexico desert. In the series, a diverse group of older residents, played by an ensemble including Geena Davis, Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Bill Pullman and others, must band together to confront an otherworldly threat that aims to steal the one thing they don’t have… time.
Created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews with the Duffers producing under their Upside Down Pictures banner, the show mixes supernatural peril, humour, heart and a bit of nostalgia for genre fans, with themes of misfits and community resilience that echo (but don’t directly connect to) Stranger Things.
Start Date: Late 2026
5. Ted Lasso - AppleTV
Yes, it is officially coming back. Ted Lasso is inarguably one of the biggest series of the 2020s, combining a feel-good comedy and winning characters with a beloved pastime. Originally intended for a three-season run, the strong reception was such that the powers that be were ultimately convinced to extend the run further with a highly anticipated fourth season.
Quite what form this continuation will take, and who from the cast will return, is not currently known. Reports indicate that the new story arc will follow the establishment of the AFC Richmond women's team, something vaguely alluded to during the original run.
Production is underway with many original cast members, including Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein and Jeremy Swift said to be returning alongside some new faces. The story promises the same blend of humour, heart and life lessons fans adore. While plot details and an exact release date are still under wraps, the return to Richmond and this new coaching adventure make season 4 a much-anticipated continuation of the Lasso legacy.
Start Date: TBD 2026
4. How to Get to Heaven from Belfast - Netflix (New TV Show)
An exciting one for fans of the excellent Derry Girls, a new series from writer Lisa McGee.
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast is an upcoming Netflix comedy-thriller series created by Lisa McGee. The show follows three lifelong friends: Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara, who reunite after the death of an old classmate turns a wake into a dark mystery. They embark on a thrilling adventure across Ireland, piecing together enigmatic truths amid complicated lives.
The series stars Roísín Gallagher as Saoirse, Sinéad Keenan as Robyn, and Caoilfhionn Dunne as Dara. Filming began in Belfast in July 2024, with Michael Lennox directing. The eight-part series is expected to premiere on Netflix in 2026.
Start Date: TBD 2026
3. The Bear - Hulu
One of the best series on television right now, The Bear is returning for a fifth season in 2026.
Season 5 promises to pick up the story at a pivotal crossroads for Chicago’s most intense kitchen crew. After Carmy’s stunning decision to step away from The Bear and transfer leadership to Sydney and the rest of the team, the next chapter is likely to explore how the restaurant survives and evolves without its head chef.
With much of the ensemble expected to return and the question of whether Carmy will stay in the drama at all still open, season 5 looks poised to be both a changing of the guard and potentially a culinary reckoning for everyone in and around the restaurant’s chaotic world.
Start Date: Summer 2026
2. The Boys From Brazil - Netflix (New TV Show)
The Boys from Brazil is a new adaptation of the 1976 novel from Peter Morgan. One of the great screenwriters of today, Morgan's work in film, television and theatre has been laden with such awards and critical acclaim that when he delivers a new project, it immediately becomes a must watch.
This historical thriller reimagines Ira Levin’s novel for the small screen. The story spans from the aftermath of World War II into the tumultuous 1970s, centering on Yakov Liebermann, a Holocaust survivor and relentless Nazi hunter, played by Succession’s Jeremy Strong, who uncovers a chilling conspiracy by a supposedly dead Nazi scientist to orchestrate the rise of a Fourth Reich.
As Liebermann races against time to expose and stop this plot, the series weaves personal obsession, vengeance, and the haunting persistence of hatred into a tense, morally charged narrative bolstered by a cast including Gillian Anderson, Daniel Brühl, and Lizzy Caplan. Filming is set to take place across Europe, with no release date announced yet but anticipation building.
Start Date: Late 2026
1. Pluribus - AppleTV
And finally, our top pick for 2026 goes to the second season of last year's winner, Pluribus.
Season 2 will pick up the story after the first chapter ended with major twists and unanswered questions about humanity’s fate under the alien “Joining.” With creator Vince Gilligan and star Rhea Seehorn returning, the next season is expected to expand beyond Carol Sturka’s isolated resistance to the hive mind as she teams up with fellow immune survivor Manousos and grapples with the fallout from last season’s cliffhangers.
Frankly, I'm not so sure this will release in 2026, but production is under way and I, for one, am holding out hope that we will see it this year.
Start Date: TBD 2026
So there you have it folks: 2026 in television. Tune in next week for the essential new videogames of the year!
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