10 Anticipated TV Series of 2024
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
2023 (and the few years before) had many great television series come to a close, and the handful of remaining shows that can keep the Golden Age of Television going, albeit for a little while. With that, we look ahead at what is coming on the small screen in 2024, and we’ve got some great series coming our way. Once again, we’re bracing for the end of beloved shows, prepared to keep up with the best shows that are hitting their stride, and awaiting the new series that have yet to stun us. I’ll be honest when I say that I am a teensy bit apprehensive of what is to come, but after over two decades of the Golden Age’s blessings, I think we’ve had a great run. I don’t think we’re heading into the territory of bad television or anything, and I do think that there are ample opportunities for us to be surprised by the calibre of returning shows and how they improve, or wowed by new shows that are about to grace our living rooms shortly. Let’s dive into the ten series I am most looking forward to in 2024.
Abbott Elementary Season 3
Season 2 of Abbott Elementary took what felt like another American The Office disciple and made it feel like the return of network sitcom glory in the day and age where it felt like an impossibility. With the progression of each character and the twenty-odd episodes that will keep us invested for months on end, Abbott Elementary Season 3 will be the comfort show I’m most looking forward to, and we only have to wait until February to get our fix.
Arcane Season 2
Before The Last of Us, Arcane was the only adaptation of a video game that really worked well in my opinion. The animation is stunning. The storytelling is complex and mature. The tone is gripping. I’ve still not played a single second of League of Legends, and I’m as invested as can be. This second season is one that I have been waiting years for, and we’ll finally get a follow-up to one of the better animated series of the 2020s. Fasten your seatbelts, folks!
The Bear Season 3
Who isn’t excited for more episodes of The Bear? It comes as no surprise that the beloved FX series was renewed shortly after its second season dropped last year. The show feels like it is on an upward trajectory, all while clearly not having used all of its best cards just yet (there is still much ground to cover and story to unravel). Who knows what life will be like for Carmy once he is finally out of that walk-in, as we’ve been forced to grapple with his biggest mistake on his behalf. Arguably the best show on TV right now, it’s safe to say that we’ll all be tuning in. Now, the biggest question is this: will we binge-watch the entire season in one day again? Yes, Chef!
Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 12
While I felt like the previous season of Curb Your Enthusiasm was easily the weakest of the whole series, this upcoming run will be the last of Larry David’s iconic show. Knowing that this is the final season in Curb Your Enthusiasm history opens the floodgates as to what can happen, especially since David is one to poke fun at himself and go dark whenever needed. Regardless, this is the last batch of episodes of one of the great comedy series, and I’ll be there for it, rain or shine. I’m hoping that Curb Your Enthusiasm goes out with a bang, of course.
Fallout
Call me naive — as I most likely am — but I’m hoping that this recent run of great shows based on video games continues with Amazon’s answer to Netflix’s Arcane and HBO’s The Last of Us. What is it? Fallout, of course! Based on the adored video game series that provides ample amounts of narrative goodness to promise that there is a great show that can be made with this material. With all of the potential and buildup that has surrounded this series, I have high expectations for the post-apocalyptic series, and I’m hoping they’re not too high. We’ll find out if Fallout joins the rare echelon of great, video game-based series, or the trash pile of many failures (but I have a feeling it will do well).
House of the Dragon Season 2
Just when House of the Dragon was getting really good, it concluded its first season. Damn. Of course, it’s silly to expect the Game of Thrones prequel to be as good as the prime of the aforementioned series right off the bat (even Game of Thrones wasn’t perfect right away), but the promise that we caught at the tail end of Season 1 has left me wanting more for over a year. The wait is finally (almost) over. It’s time to see where House of the Dragon will go from here: will it take off and soar, or will it plummet underneath its insane expectations? I feel like the sky is the limit with House of the Dragon, personally.
Manhunt
While Apple TV+’s lineup has felt hit-or-miss lately, I still think its highs are quite something, and I’m hoping that Monica Beletsky’s upcoming miniseries, Manhunt, will be a part of this good company. Based on the search for John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, Manhunt promises to dive into the psychological turmoil of such a mission (and the state of peril that citizens may be feeling after the traumatic event). This has the juice to be a show-stopping series this year, so let’s hope for the best.
Masters of the Air
I already expressed my interest in Masters of the Air last year this time, as I was looking forward to the follow-up to amazing war miniseries like Band of Brothers and The Pacific. It appears that we’re all still waiting for this series to drop, although now we’ve gotten right up to the finish line (the series debuts January 26th on Apple TV+). We’re almost there, folks! Will Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and company strike gold again? I can only imagine so, and this prolonged wait leads me to believe that the extra work on Masters of the Air will be beneficial to its quality.
The Regime
I think many of us are jaded, and the start of a new year isn’t going to change that. Enter The Regime: the upcoming British miniseries about the gradual dismantling of the titular sense of order. With a killer cast (led by Kate Winslet, and containing Andrea Riseborough, Hugh Grant, and more notable names) and a promising premise, The Regime may be the heavy-duty drama that you are craving for this year. March 3rd is when the series begins, so it’ll make for some great viewing early on this year.
What We Do in the Shadows Season 6
It felt like What We Do in the Shadows had just begun, and yet it is already on its way out. It feels like Jermaine Clement and company are aiming to quit while they are still ahead, which is a great choice to make for a show that felt like it was maybe microseconds away from running out of ideas. It has been a spooky, hilarious delight for five seasons and fifty episodes, and I have a feeling that everyone has something special cooked up for this final season if they felt like now was the appropriate time to wrap things up for good; I can only imagine what vampiric antics will take place this time around, and how we’ll say farewell to our favourite blood (or energy) suckers in recent memory.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.