2024 TV show preview: amazing series to look out for this year

Fans of Band of Brothers and The Pacific rejoice: the stellar production team is back (in conjunction with Apple TV+) to produce a third tribute to the heroes of World War II. This time the focus is on the 100th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Force, which saw a scarcely believable amount of action during the conflict. Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are executive producers, and a cast of hot young actors destined for major things (including Austin Butler and Barry Keoghan), this is appointment TV for the streaming age.

Release date: January 26

While superheroes no longer seem to be de rigueur in movie theatres, they’re still a big draw over on the small screen. Or at least, shows that portray superheroes as amoral jerks and fascists are (see also: Invincible). As we join The Boys for its fourth season, it’s never been further away from its comic book source material. In this case that isn’t necessarily such a bad thing, as every depraved twist in the tale serves as a vicious surprise for all.

Release date: June 13

The first season of this Game of Thrones spin-off surprised everyone by rolling back the disappointment, anger, and ennui that accompanied the final seasons of the original show. It had all of the arch political manoeuvrings and gleefully despicable characters of prime GoT, but with a much tighter focus. Season two continues to follow the escalating family feud between various factions of the Targaryen dynasty. After all the subtle manoeuvrings of season one, we suspect the conflict is about to get much bigger and louder.

Release date: Summer 2024

It’s no secret the first season of True Detective, the anthology crime drama from Nic Pizzolatto, is by far the best of the bunch. Even so, this forthcoming fourth season has done a lot to get us invested, including casting Jodie Foster as the lead investigator and shifting the setting far north to a frozen Alaska. It’s the first True Detective season not to be written by Pizzolatto himself, and a fresh perspective could be just what this spluttering (but never less than intriguing) series needs.

Release date: January 15

Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley novels come to the small screen, and there’s reason to hope they’re going to make the journey successfully. While The Talented Mr Ripley set a very high bar back in 1999, this new Netflix adaptation has hit the ground running by casting Andrew Scott as the titular shape-shifting psychopath. That Ripley is written and directed by legendary Hollywood writer Steve Zaillian, who also previously made 2016's The Night Of, is a further sign that this is going to be good.

Release date: 2024

The Last of Us showed TV studios that video game IP can be used in a way that is both faithful to the source material and artistically pleasing, not to mention commercially viable. The next show to attempt this hat-trick will be Fallout, an adaptation of the beloved Bethesda RPG franchise. Set in a post-apocalyptic world of fallout bunkers, crazed cults, and hideously mutated creatures, the series would do well to emulate the source material’s dark sense of humour. It bodes well that Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan are behind the adaptation.

Release date: April 12

An HBO limited series directed by Park Chan Wook (Old Boy, Decision to Leave), featuring Robert Downey Jr., based on a Pulitzer price-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen? The Sympathizer has pedigree leaking out all over the place. It concerns a Viet Cong spy (played by Hoa Xuande) operating in the US towards the end of the Vietnam war. Intriguingly, Downey Jr. appears to be playing several antagonistic roles in what promises to be a deeply distinctive satirical drama.

Release date: 2024

We know, we know. Star Wars series have somewhat lost their lustre of late. But for every The Mandolorian season 3 or The Book of Boba Fett, there’s a The Mandalorian season 2 or Andor. Lightsabers crossed, The Acolyte will belong among the latter group. The setting is certainly promising. It takes us back 100 years before Anakin Skywalker was immaculately conceived during the end of the so-called ‘High Republic’ era. With the Jedi at their most powerful, shadowy forces are starting to converge.

Release date: 2024

We’ve been tracking this reboot of the 2005 Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt movie for several years, chiefly for the dual involvement of Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The Fleabag star has since dropped out, and the series release date has been pushed back from 2022. Our enthusiasm remains undimmed, however, with Donald Glover remaining onboard and Maya Erskine joining him as a pair of super spies who find themselves coupled up as part of their latest assignment.

Release date: February 2

Could this be the live action treatment fans of the original 2005 Nickelodeon animated series have been crying out for? It can’t be any worse than the terrible 2010 M. Night Shyamalan movie, that’s for sure. Netflix is well experienced with this sort of conversion process by now, so we have a reasonable measure of faith Avatar won’t be completely awful. The story itself takes place in an Asian-inflected fantasy world filled with telekinetically empowered warriors, and one all-powerful Avatar who can control the all four of the elements.

Release date: February 22