At the beginning of 2026, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Bait, Half-Man, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Spider-Noir and Big Mistakes were among the year’s most anticipated new TV shows. Every single one delivered.
With 2026 almost halfway through, what else should be on your must-see list between now and 2027?
Here are 10 small-screen highlights to look out for – not including East of Eden, First Day on Earth, Blade Runner 2099 and Prodigies, which we’re still as excited about seeing as we were when they were on our list in January.
Best TV shows in 2026 – quick links
Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness
There’s no-one in comedy like Larry David. As fans of both Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm know, there’s no-one as awkward about social conventions and niceties, either.
For his new series Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness, his first since CYE’s pitch-perfect ending in 2024, David is bringing that energy to satirising US history – timed for the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, and complete with help from executive producers Barack and Michelle Obama.
The squabbles are as petty as ever. So, classic David. Among those getting exasperated with him in the improvisation-heavy sketch comedy’s cast are Jerry Seinfeld, Jon Hamm, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Isla Fisher, Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski.
Streams via HBO Max, premiering 27 June.
Human Vapour
Colony, the Cannes-premiering latest movie from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho, is newly in Australian cinemas. Come early July, however, the Korean filmmaker’s next project will be available to stream as well.
Japanese-South Korean series Human Vapour is also the first Netflix series from Toho, and the first of their two highly anticipated releases this year (the other: cinema’s Godzilla Minus Zero). Yeon not only adds to his small-screen slate but his Netflix line-up too, which has spanned Hellbound, The Bequeathed and Parasyte: The Grey since 2021.
Based on the 1960 film The Human Vapour, his latest episodic effort, keeps him in the sci-fi realm, this time following a detective and a reporter on the case of a literally vanishing (hence the title) killer.
Streams via Netflix, premiering 2 July.
Lucky
The last time that Anya Taylor-Joy led a TV series, chess drama The Queen’s Gambit became everyone’s new viewing obsession. Six years later, the Furiosa and Dune franchise star now headlines and executive produces crime-thriller Lucky, another page-to-screen adaptation.
As the eponymous con artist, Taylor-Joy gets caught up in a heist gone wrong, then stuck on the run with the FBI and a crime head honcho on her tail.
After creating the excellent Your Friends and Neighbours, Jonathan Tropper is behind the series, while the cast also features Annette Bening in just her third major, ongoing, live-action TV series role (after Apples Never Fall and 2026’s Dutton Ranch), plus Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Drew Starkey.
Streams via Apple TV, premiering 15 July.
Sterling Point
With 2024 dramedy My Old Ass, Megan Park demonstrated her deep understanding of coming-of-age stories, writing and directing one of the underseen movie gems of that year. Margot Robbie was clearly impressed; she produced the film, and now her production company LuckyChap is also onboard for Park’s new coming-of-age series Sterling Point.
This time, there’s no mushroom trip-induced meetings between a teen and her older self – but there is a 17-year-old, Ella Rubin’s Annie Jacobson, inheriting a Canadian island from her grandfather.
Prime Video has already seen both The Summer I Turned Pretty and 2026’s Off Campus become huge coming-of-age hits. Here’s hoping that Sterling Point, which co-stars Keen Ruffalo (son of Mark) and Jay Duplass, continues the pattern.
Streams via Prime Video, premiering 5 August.
The Airport Chaplain
Cast just one of Hugo Weaving, Claudia Karvan or Thomas Weatherall in an Australian TV series and it is instantly worth a look. Add Aussie The Pitt star Shabana Azeez, too, and The Airport Chaplain is one of the homegrown must-sees of the year.
Off-screen, the eight-part drama’s impressive roster of talent continues, including Stateless’ Elise McCredie and her The Clearing colleague Jude Troy as the show’s co-creators.
Weaving plays the series’ unconventional namesake, who is immersed Melbourne Airport’s hustle and bustle, but clashes with Azeez as his new boss. Before its arrival on SBS on Demand later in the year, The Airport Chaplain is fittingly making its world premiere at the 2026 Melbourne International Film Festival, which runs 6 to 23 August.
Lanterns
For most DC Comics fans and superhero aficionados, the less said about the Ryan Reynolds-led 2011 Green Lantern film, the better. The same applies for viewers in general.
Thankfully, Lanterns appears set to erase its predecessor’s lingering bad memories, with HBO’s third DC Universe series (after the animated Creature Commandos and action-comedy Peacemaker) looking every bit the prestige detective drama. That The Leftovers and Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof is one of its creators is also a positive sign.
In dream casting for any show – caped crusaders or otherwise – Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre play seasoned Green Lantern Corps member Hal Jordan and new recruit John Stewart, respectively, who team up for a murder investigation. James Gunn favourite Nathan Fillion rounds out the series’ main trio of intergalactic peacekeepers, returning as Guy Gardner from 2025 movie Superman.
Streams via HBO Max, premiering 17 August.
Last Seen
Once chasing cases but now taking calls, Ian Ridley is haunted by the daughter who went missing 11 years ago, and still determined to do everything that he can to find her.
Filmed in Victoria, the six-episode thriller Last Seen stars Patrick Brammall, British actor Maxine Peake, and fellow Aussie talents Brendan Cowell, Daniel Henshall, Jessica Wren and Zahra Newman.
Add Apple TV’s first original Australian drama to the list of projects that’ve been keeping its lead incredibly busy of late, then, which also includes his recent role in smash-hit sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2, the deserved local and international success of rom-com sitcom Colin From Accounts, and US supernatural series Evil.
On Brammall’s resume, it also brings No Activity (including the US adaptation) and Glitch to mind, however, given that he’s playing a former detective-turned-police dispatcher.
Streams via Apple TV, premiering 9 September.
Crystal Lake
After turning in one of the best performances of her career in 2026 miniseries DTF St Louis, Linda Cardellini will be back on the small screen before the year is out, this time stepping into Pamela Voorhees’ shoes in Crystal Lake.
Not content with boasting one of the year’s biggest and best horror flicks, aka Backrooms, on its filmography, A24 is also embracing the genre in its latest TV series – a Friday the 13th prequel with the 12-movie franchise’s original villain its centre.
Despite Hollywood’s love of seemingly endless horror sequels, in general and to the 1980 classic, it has been 17 years since a fresh chapter in the slasher saga arrived. It isn’t new to television, courtesy of 1987’s Friday the 13th: The Series, but Crystal Lake’s focus is firmly on telling Pamela and young Jason’s (played by Callum Vinson) backstory.
It premieres 15 October in the US, though an Australian streaming platform and release date have yet to be announced.
The Good Daughter
While ‘twisty, suspense-filled dramas about complicated family ties and unearthed secrets’ might be much too long for a category title on any given streaming platform, it’s a popular-enough setup to fill one.
The best examples are compulsively gripping even when working with such a familiar premise – often aided by a stellar cast, which The Good Daughter has secured in 2026 Oscar and Tony-nominee Rose Byrne as Samantha Quinn, plus Meghann Fahy as her sister Charlotte.
Which sibling truly earns the show’s title? Readers of Karin Slaughter’s novel already know the answer. Everyone else will find out when the six-episode series, which also features the ever-reliable Brendan Gleeson, digs into the sisters’ ongoing efforts to grapple with a violent incident from 20 years earlier.
Streams via Stan, premiering 13 November.
My Brilliant Career
As a novel, My Brilliant Career cemented its status as an Australian masterpiece over a century ago. As a film, Gillian Armstrong’s adaptation of Miles Franklin’s tome did the same nearly five decades back.
Whether Netflix’s version will match their feats and also prove a TV great is yet to be seen, but it obviously has the source material and the story to try, once again charting Sybylla Melvyn’s dreams of a writer’s life far beyond her rural upbringing.
The period drama sports outstanding leads to help, too, with Territory scene-stealer Philippa Northeast and Slow Horses gem Christopher Chung following in Judy Davis and Sam Neill’s footsteps as Sybylla and Harry. The fact that Barons’ Liz Doran is behind the series, and that Anna Chancellor, Genevieve O’Reilly, Kate Mulvany and Sherry-Lee Watson are among its on-screen ensemble, is equally promising.
Streams via Netflix, release date to be announced.
