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It’s a bit too early to do our usual complete most anticipated list for new and returning series coming in 2026, so instead, we’re going to do an early guide to some of the shows that are currently highest on our radar and are either confirmed or expected to debut next year. We’re sticking to English-language shows only for this guide.
We’ve already published a similar article on our most anticipated new movies coming up in 2026. There, we featured Greta Gerwig’s new Narnia movie and David Fincher’s The Adventures of Cliff Booth, plus some smaller titles like Ladies First and Pookoo.
The Altruists
Picture Credits: BackGrid
Julia Garner being attached to any project is enough to get us excited, but the talent alongside her and behind the camera is equally excited. Filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, from July 1 through November 24, 2025.
The series, produced by Higher Ground Productions and Vox Media, follows the FTX collapse from a slightly different perspective. The series homes in on the Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison relationship, two hyper-smart, ambitious idealists who set out to remake the global financial system in a blink, then seduced, coaxed, and teased one another into stealing eight billion dollars.
Anthony Boyle leads casting as Sam Bankman-Fried and Garner as Caroline Ellison. Series regulars include Madison Hu as Constance Wang, Alex Lawther as Sam Trabucco, Naomi Okada as Claire Watanabe, Matt Rife as Ryan Salame, Karan Soni as Nishad Singh, and Eugene Young as Gary Wang. Recurring players include Maddie Hasson as Lauren Platt, Marianna Phung as Lily Zhang, Paul Reiser as Joe Bankman, and Robin Weigert as Barbara Fried.
We’ve got more on The Altruists in our full preview for the new series here.
The Undertow
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There was some expectation that The Undertow could release on Netflix UK in 2025, but as the months tick by, it’s looking increasingly unlikely, and as of right now, remains undated. Produced and filmed in the United Kingdom, the series is helmed by Jamie Dornan, best known for roles on The Fall and the Fifty Shades movie franchise.
The logline for the new drama reads, “Suffocating in a loveless marriage to Adam, Nicola’s life takes a dramatic turn when Adam’s long-estranged identical twin brother Lee comes crashing back into her life, and their tangled romantic past threatens to destroy the present.”
We already know filming has wrapped with Dornan playing the roles of twin brothers Adam and Lee Walsh. Alongside him are Mackenzie Davis, Gary Lewis, Iain De Caestecker, and Claire Brown.
Complete Fiction (co-founded by Nira Park, Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, and Rachael Prior) is producing alongside wiip.
Man on Fire
Picture: Fox / IMDb
Let’s be honest, it’s going to be a massive task for this to meet the expectations set by the excellent movie headlined by Denzel Washington and a young Dakota Fanning 20 years ago, but fingers crossed, this does the film and book justice.
Amongst the impressive cast assembled for the series, which filmed on location in Mexico, Brazil, and Italy, are Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as John Creasy, Billie Boullet asPoe Rayburn, Alice Braga as Valeria Melo, Paul Ben-Victor as CIA Director, Moncrief, Scoot McNairy as Henry Tappan, and Bobby Cannavale as Paul Rayburn.
East of Eden
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If you love your period dramas – this is one for you. East of Eden is a limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s epic novel. The project was picked up for a series on September 26, 2024, and filmed in New Zealand from mid-October 2024 through mid-March 2025 with Anonymous Content and Fifth Season producing.
Zoe Kazan serves as executive producer, pilot writer, and showrunner, partnering with Jeb Stuart as executive producer and showrunner. The producing bench is stacked, Florence Pugh, Garth Davis, Antoine Douaihy, Zack Hayden, and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre are on board as executive producers, with Davis directing the pilot and Douaihy also listed as line producer. The creative mandate leans prestige drama, a coming-of-age and family epic that stays intimate even as history presses in.
The cast brings together Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames, Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask, Mike Faist as Charles Trask, Joseph Zada as Cal Trask, and Joe Anders as Aron Trask, with Ciarán Hinds as Samuel Hamilton, Tracy Letts as Cyrus Trask, Martha Plimpton as Faye, and Hoon Lee as Lee. The ensemble signals a character-first approach that matches the book’s knot of rivalries and loyalties.
Per the logline, the series explores trauma and repair, love and betrayal, duty and free will, sketching an intimate portrait of the Trask family against large historical forces. Or, in Steinbeck’s own terms, it is “the story of my country and the story of me.”
We’ve got more on East of Eden in our full preview for the show here.
Thumblite
Picture Credits: Netflix / Alamy
Thumblite is a tech drama Netflix from Media Res and Wandering Jew. The series is created by Scott Z. Burns, who is set as writer, showrunner, and director. Executive producers include Burns, Scott Galloway, Rosamund Pike, Michael Ellenberg, Greg Jacobs, and Lindsey Springer.
The logline describes this as a Silicon Valley thriller that opens with a crisis engulfing the controversial founder of Deinde, a Big Tech behemoth whose name is Latin for “Next.” In the fallout, a top female CEO is recruited to steady the company. Expect corporate knife-fights over power and influence, an espionage engine driving the plot, and a tonal blend that evokes House of Cards, Billions, and Michael Clayton, promising a window into tech culture that the screen has not tackled at this scale.
The cast is currently led by Rosamund Pike, who is set to star as Estelle Donald. Estelle is envisioned as the incoming chief executive, a force who must navigate boardroom intrigue while untangling the mess left behind.
No word on a production start for this one, but Scott Galloway, one of the executive producers on the series, has repeatedly hinted on his podcasts that they’re aiming for a Fall 2025 launch, so fingers crossed we get some meaningful updates soon.
The Boroughs
Picture: Upside Down Pictures
Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews are helming this new interesting sci-fi series, which is made all the more alluring with The Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things) serving as executive producers. Confirmed for a 2026 slot, the series does appear to have some of that Stranger Things DNA, with the plot taking place in a retirement community and a group of unexpected heroes coming together to stop otherworldly creatures.
Bill Pullman and Geena Davis are the big names leading the cast, with the series having filmed in the latter months of 2024 at Netflix’s expansive Albuquerque production hub.
Trinity
Pictures : iamdanielchai/Instagram & Netflix
Trinity is an eight-episode series that looks to be the long-awaited follow-up to the excellent BBC miniseries Bodyguard. Production has been ongoing for this one since early July 2025 and is scheduled to wrap up in late October. Our understanding is that the series is targeting a Summer 2026 release (possibly July). The project hails from 20th and Hat Trick Productions.
Jed Mercurio is the creator, writer, and showrunner, with Michael Cuesta directing. Executive producers include Mercurio and Wendy Mericle, with Jimmy Mulville and Michael Cuesta on the non-writing side. The cast has been assembled with Richard Madden playing the role of Secretary of Defense Webb Preston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw playing Commander Katherine Decker, and Marcia Gay Harden playing Margaret Vandenburg. The cast is rounded out with JD Pardo, Kirk Acevedo, Ben Cotton, Bruce Greenwood, Mark O’Brien, Jason Ralph, James Remar, and Robert Wisdom.
This series follows a heroic female naval officer who becomes involved with the outwardly charismatic Secretary of Defense, only to discover that he may be at the heart of a dangerous conspiracy.
Stranger Things: Tales from ’85
Picture: Meybis Ruiz Cruz / Instagram
How on earth do you follow up Stranger Things season 5, the most ambitious and high-profile final season in Netflix history? The answer is you probably can’t… Hopefully, though, this new animated series will get halfway in being as good, and if it manages that, we’re in for a treat.
Following a big presentation at Annecy Film Festival, we’ve got a pretty good idea of the direction of Tales from ’85, with the story taking place directly between seasons 2 and 3. The art style blends elements of Arcane with Netflix’s Jurassic World series, and the story expands on the established timeline and universe, with most of your favorite characters set to return. We’ve got high hopes based on what we’ve seen thus far but can it ultimately deliver? We’ll find out in 2026.
Legends
Picture Credit: BACKGRID UK
Another new UK project on our radar is Legends, which wrapped up filming in the United Kingdom in mid-2025. Based on a true story, this six-part series follows a high-stakes criminal investigation run by a small team of British Customs officers. Dispatched on a top-secret mission, they go undercover to infiltrate some of Britain’s most dangerous drug gangs, where every meeting, phone call, and exchange risks blowing their cover. The show promises tense tradecraft, knotty moral choices, and the slow burn pressure of living a double life.
The project was greenlit in August 2024 with Neil Forsyth serving as creator, executive producer, and pilot writer, with additional executive producing from Richard Bradley and Ben Farrell, and Charlie Leech as producer.
The ensemble cast features Aml Ameen, Jasmine Blackborow, Tom Burke, Steve Coogan, Johnny Harris, Douglas Hodge, Tom Hughes, Gerald Kyd, Charlotte Ritchie, and Hayley Squires.
The Kennedys of Boston
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Ever since The Crown came to an end two years ago, Netflix has been missing that biopic prestige series, but that looks to change soon with The Kennedys of Boston, previously only known as Untitled JFK Project. The one-hour drama is in development at Netflix with Chernin Entertainment, with production currently targeting to commence shooting in January 2026 in London.
Adapted from Fredrik Logevall’s JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, the series aims to present John F. Kennedy in a fresh light, tracing his life from his late teens through the pivotal years that set up his national profile. The story spans from his birth in 1917 through the 1956 vice-presidential nomination loss that paradoxically boosted his political trajectory.
Oscar winner Eric Roth is the creator and writer, with Sam Shaw as the showrunner. Executive producers include Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Eric Roth, Sam Shaw, and Anya Epstein.
Given the current production timeline, a 2026 release seems unrealistic, as it’s scheduled to run through July 20th. Nevertheless, we’re putting a lot of chips on this one being a potential awards magnet.
Honestly, making this list only 10 entries feels like doing a huge injustice given what’s on the way so we’re looking forward to diving into more in the near future. Are any of these series on your radar for 2026? Let us know in the comments and keep an eye on our full preview for the 2026 calendar here.
