The best new TV shows to stream in August

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It’s a big month for prequels, with both Outlander and Alien expanding their universes. But there are promising new titles too, including another animated series from the BoJack Horseman team, a historical drama featuring Jason Momoa and an Australian mystery about a teenage séance gone wrong.

Netflix

Jenna Ortega cements her reputation as a major new star playing Wednesday Addams.

My top Netflix recommendation is Wednesday (August 6).

As the second season of one of Netflix’s biggest ever hits, Wednesday is getting the two-part release treatment – the first batch of episodes on August 6, the second on September 3. A multiple Emmy winner, the series brought The Addams Family franchise into the 21st century and confirmed lead Jenna Ortega as a major new star for her portrayal of the macabre teenage menace. The setting is once again the supernatural Nevermore Academy where this time Wednesday must forestall visions of a tragic loss. And, alongside Ortega, all the key voices return, including creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and filmmaker Tim Burton as lead director. New to the cast? Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire) and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) as Wednesday’s grandmother.

Also on Netflix: The complicated history between Britain and France gets even messier in Hostage (August 21), a halls-of-power political thriller where a summit between the leaders of the two nations – British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton (Suranne Jones) and French President Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy) – is derailed when the former’s husband, a doctor working abroad for a charity organisation, is kidnapped, and the latter is blackmailed. Creator Matt Charman, who co-wrote Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, has all the ingredients for a wild ride in the vein of Scandal and The Bodyguard.

An animated tragicomedy set in a Hollywood populated by anthropomorphic animals, BoJack Horseman was one of Netflix’s first original triumphs. Debuting in 2104, the acclaimed series ran for six seasons. Now, creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg has a new animated show, Long Story Short (August 22), in which he’s dialled down the fantastical and instead focused on the different eras of a family’s complicated dynamic. The voice cast includes Paul Reiser (Mad About You), Abbi Jacobson (Broad City) and Dave Franco (The Studio).

July highlights: Eric Bana mounted up for the American murder mystery Untamed; Girls creator Lena Dunham upended the romantic-comedy with Too Much; and Adam Sandler doubled down on fan service with Happy Gilmore 2.

Disney+

Earth, which is a prequel to the Alien film franchise.

My top Disney+ recommendation is Alien: Earth (August 13).

Alien is the definitive science-fiction horror franchise, which is a polite way of saying that anyone attempting to add a streaming series to the nine films about the nightmarish Xenomorph creatures has their work cut out. Enter Noah Hawley, who has impeccable credentials: he created the Fargo series out of the Coen brothers’ film. With a substantial budget, Hawley’s story is set in 2120, two years prior to Ridley Scott’s original masterpiece, and follows a doomed spaceship’s return to Earth from deep space with the worst cargo imaginable. There are new creatures as well as the gleaming Xenomorphs, but also new kinds of people – Wendy (Sydney Chandler) is the world’s first Hybrid, a human mind transplanted into a machine body. All kinds of terrifying ideas are at work here.

Also on Disney+: It’s 10 years since former American exchange student Amanda Knox was definitively acquitted by Italy’s Supreme Court over her wrongful conviction for the 2007 murder of her roommate, British exchange student Meredith Kercher, in the Italian city of Perugia. Hopefully that’s long enough for some perspective on what became a true-crime saga. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox (August 20) is a limited series about Knox’s arrest and multiple trials – by the world’s media and Italy’s courts. Created by K.J. Steinberg (This Is Us), this limited series stars Grace Van Patten (Tell Me Lies) as Knox, a young woman thrown into the maelstrom. There’s huge name recognition here, but hopefully this show adds some detail and clarity.

July highlights: Discovery and wonder underpinned the 19th century adventure Washington Black, as a brilliant young boy escapes slavery, while the 17th season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia brought back a perennially funny cult sitcom.

HBO Max

Vivian Oparah is Jess and Bilal Hasna is Elliot in Dead Hot.

My top Max recommendation is Dead Hot (August 18).

Twisty mysteries are the Coben family’s trade. The dad, Harlan, is churning out paperback bestsellers and limited series adaptations for Netflix including Safe, Missing You and Shelter. Having collaborated with her father on the latter, daughter Charlotte now strikes out on her own with this British thriller about best friends Elliott (Bilal Hasna) and Jess (Vivian Oparah), left behind after the disappearance of a young man they’re both linked to. So far, so Coben. But Charlotte’s vision is decidedly more eclectic, with idiosyncratic humour, twenty-something angst and even some ghostly flourishes in the mix.

Also on Max: Peacemaker (August 22) is where Hollywood’s superhero supremo, James Gunn, goes to let off some steam. The Superman and Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker spun the DC Comics character off from his 2021 movie The Suicide Squad. As played by John Cena (Heads of State), Peacemaker, a.k.a. Chris Smith, is a vigilante American superhero whose righteous beliefs often result in disastrous consequences. The show’s first season was comically ultra-violent and punctuated by absurd events. Gunn has written every episode of the new season, which adds inter-dimensional travel and Frank Grillo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) as a vengeful adversary.

July highlights: Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss shines in the idiosyncratic 1940s murder mystery Bookish; When No One Sees Us was a gripping Spanish crime drama; and documentary Billy Joel: And So it Goes unfolded one of music’s highest-selling artists.

Apple TV+

Jason Momoa as exiled Maui chief Ka’iana in the historic epic, Chief of War.

My top Apple TV+ recommendation is Chief of War (August 1).

Steeped in authentic detail, this historic epic from Hollywood star Jason Momoa (Dune, The Minecraft Movie) uncovers the history of the Hawaiian Islands. Set over a century before annexation by the United States in 1898, Chief of War tells the story of how four warring kingdoms were united into a single monarchy. Momoa’s Ka’iana, an exiled Maui chief drawn back into the conflict, is central to the story, which features notable Polynesian actors such as New Zealand’s Temuera Morrison (The Book of Boba Fett) and Cliff Curtis (Avatar: The Way of Water), alongside native Hawaiian newcomers. There are large battles and diplomatic deceptions, but also deep family bonds and centuries-old traditions.

Also on Apple TV+: The hilarious first season of Platonic confirmed what the madcap Bad Neighbours films had previously suggested: Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen are one of the best comedy duos in Hollywood. As forty-something best friends who had fallen out of touch and then reconnected as their mid-life crises reared up, her Sylvia and his Will swapped trash talk, made riotously bad decisions, and ran wild right up until their appalled repentance. With creators Francesca Delbanco and Nick Stoller (Friends from College) returning, the new season (coming August 6) finds Sylvia and Will trying to maintain their friendship while being supposed grown-ups. Fingers crossed they fail.

July highlights: The third season of Foundation brought one of streaming’s best science-fiction series back to prominence.

Stan*

Jamie Roy as Brian and Harriet Slater as Ellen – Outlander original Jamie’s parents – in the prequel Blood of My Blood.

My top Stan recommendation is Outlander: Blood of My Blood (August 9).

Outlander fans will not be denied. The eighth and final season of the historical fantasy is currently in production, bringing an end to the adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s series of novels about a 20th century English nurse, Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), who finds herself transported to 18th century Scotland and in love with a rebel clansman, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). But this prequel will further the story (and its complicated family tree). The dual timelines focus on characters who will become the parents of Outlander’s star-crossed lovers: Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy) and Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) in the early 1700s; Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine) and Julia Moriston (Hermione Corfield) during World War One. The spin-off sounds complex, but if it has Outlander’s defiant passion it will work.

Also on Stan: John Grisham’s legal thrillers have legs. The books spawned a run of Hollywood movies in the 1990s including The Pelican Brief, The Client and The Rainmaker. In the latter, Matt Damon played a young law school graduate who finds the case of his life while working for an ambulance-chasing firm. Francis Ford Coppola’s film did so-so at the box-office, but The Rainmaker (August 16) is now a limited series with Milo Callaghan (Rivals) as the raw but determined attorney Rudy Baylor. The story gets updated to the present day, with action aplenty both inside and outside the courtroom. A big plus: Rudy’s former boss and current adversary, Leo Drummond, is played by Mad Men’s John Slattery.

July highlights: Mother and son get some high-powered weaponry in the action-comedy The Assassin; Such Brave Girls continues to be a genre-bursting triumph; The Institute was the latest Stephen King horror adaptation; plus documentary Joh: Last King of Queensland gave us a telling history lesson.

Amazon Prime

No longer lost, Daniel Dae Kim is back in front of the camera in Butterfly on Prime Video.

My top Amazon Prime recommendation is Butterfly (August 13).

Ever since his breakthrough role in Lost, the South Korean-born and American-raised actor Daniel Dae Kim has been linking the screen culture of the two countries. While co-starring in the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, Kim was also setting up American remakes of South Korean hits such as The Good Doctor. He’s now back in front of the camera in this global espionage thriller, which he also produces, as David Jung, a former CIA agent living in South Korea who discovers that his estranged daughter (Reina Hardesty) has joined the family trade. Expect some Bond, some Bourne, and hopefully a little beyond.

Also on Amazon Prime: While it was a major 2022 hit in Amazon Prime’s key demographic of muscular, morally upright action-thrillers, the body count in The Terminal List didn’t leave many opportunities for a sequel. The solution? A prequel. The Terminal List: Dark Wolf (August 27) focuses on a key supporting player from the first season, Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch), a US Navy Seal and CIA operative who served alongside original protagonist James Reece (Chris Pratt). Pratt returns as Reece, but the focus is on how the murky world of covert operations dragged Edwards down. Very Zero Dark Thirty.

July highlights: Bosch fans got the spin-off they wanted as Maggie Q took the title role in the crime drama Ballard.

ABC iview

Jane Harber and Maria Angelic in The Family Next Door.

My top ABC iview recommendation is The Family Next Door (August 10).

Everyone needs good neighbours, but the truth is decidedly more complex in this domestic drama about a woman, Isabelle (Teresa Palmer), who arrives in an idyllic Victorian coastal town in search of something or someone. Isabelle’s presence intrigues the women of Pleasant Court, the cul-de-sac they all call home, but also brings their own doubts and struggles to the surface. This adaptation of Sally Hepworth’s 2018 novel is in good hands, via writer Sarah Scheller (Strife) and director Emma Freeman (The Newsreader), with the ensemble cast including Bella Heathcote (The Man in the High Castle), Catherine McClements (Apple Cider Vinegar) and Daniel Henshall (How to Make Gravy).

July highlights: A new batch of Austin episodes confirmed the British-Australian comedy about a young autistic man’s discovery of his birth father as a big-hearted success.

SBS On Demand

Alfie Allen stars as Tobias in Safe Harbor, a film inspired by real-life events.

My top SBS On Demand recommendation is Safe Harbor (August 21).

American creator Mark Williams follows up his lauded Netflix crime drama Ozark with a European variant on the genre. Inspired by real-life events, Safe Harbor is the story of a pair of tech start-up hopefuls, Tobias (Alfie Allen) and Marco (Martijn Lakemeier), who naively accept the illegal job of hacking Rotterdam’s port, the busiest in Europe, so shipments from an Irish drug syndicate can pass official scrutiny. It puts the two into business with a menacing pair of siblings, Sloane (Charlie Murphy) and Farrell Walsh (Jack Gleeson), as well as making them targets for Dutch criminals unhappy at the Irish gang’s intrusion. Per Ozark, Williams should know how to make these many moving pieces matter.

July highlights: Big Backyard Quiz was the Indigenous history quiz show we all needed, while true-crime drama Under the Bridge delved deep into a tragic Canadian murder case.

Other streamers

Harriet Walter and Morganna Reilly in Playing Gracie Darling.

My top recommendation for the other streaming services is Paramount+’s Playing Gracie Darling (August 14).

The past and the present are in dangerous collusion in this Australian mystery, which follows psychologist Joni Gray (Morgana O’Reilly), whose best friend Gracie Darling disappeared 27 years ago following a teenage séance. When another Darling teenager goes missing in the present day, Morgana returns to her hometown to confront the recurring curse. This is the first series from Australian filmmaker Miranda Nation (Undertow), and it has supernatural menace, teenage flashbacks and the imposing presence in the supporting cast of Dame Harriet Walter (Silo, Succession). It’s a popular genre, so it’s up to Nation and director Jonathan Brough (The End) to make the limited series stand out.

Also: Binge’s The Twelve: Cape Rock Killer (August 4) continues to be a sturdy showcase for Sam Neill, whose defence barrister, Brett Colby SC, is the recurring element in this courtroom drama anthology. The show’s third season finds Colby defending the husband of a long-time friend, who has been accused of murdering a young woman who was digging into a historic cold case. Per the show’s title, the narrative is split between the duelling legal teams and the jury members who bring their own issues to the jury box each day. Those joining the cast for the new season include Eryn Jean Norvill (Preppers), Ewen Leslie (Prosper) and Danielle Cormack (Jack Irish).

July highlights: Paramount+’s Dexter: Resurrection proved that television’s favourite vigilante serial killer still had life in him, plus sibling rivalry got way out of hand in BritBox’s period drama Outrageous.

* Nine owns Stan and this masthead.

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