The 25 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2025

The Pitt (January 9, Max)We have to wait only nine days in 2025 for some beef in the streaming wars! If you’re unfamiliar, a few ER heavyweights—Noah Wyle, John Wells, and R. Scott Gemmill—created a new medical procedural for Max called The Pitt, in which Wyle stars.

The widow of ER creator Michael Crichton, Sherri, filed a lawsuit that essentially alleges that The Pitt is a rip-off of ER. (There’s more to the story, which you can read about here.) The legal battle between Crichton and Warner Bros. Television is still very much ongoing, but in the meantime? The Pitt sounds like ER crossed with 24—its 15-episode season will cover a single shift in the emergency room of a Pittsburgh hospital. And I would not miss a Wyle-starring medical drama under any circumstance.

Severance (January 17, Apple TV+)Don’t even get me started. Fans have waited so long for Severance season 2 that Esquire has a nearly 2,000-word explainer about the next batch of episodes. Following one of the best season finales in recent memory, Apple TV+ has been characteristically quiet about what’s next for Lumon’s heroic innies. But that’s the way we like it. Just tell us what’s up with the goats, okay?

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Yellowjackets (February 14, Showtime)Yellowjackets season 2 landed Showtime’s breakout series in the doghouse I like to call When Are You Giving Us Some Damn Answers?! (Previously inhabited by Lost, Heroes, and Outer Range.) With Hilary Swank joining the cast, I hope that season 3 will bring the series back to the heights of its first season.

Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special (February 16, NBC/Peacock)Saturday Night Live’s 50th-anniversary season has been a hair disappointing so far, even if it gifted us not one but two great Marcello Hernandez characters (Domingo and Don Francisco). My guess is that Lorne Michaels is holding his punches for his three-hour (!) anniversary special, which I bet will bring together every living SNL great not named Chevy Chase.

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The White Lotus (February 16, HBO)The White Lotus is back! In Thailand! Season 3 will introduce a new batch of one-percenters, played by Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, and more. Series creator Mike White previously told HBO that the new season will be “a kind of satirical and funny look at death in Eastern religion and spirituality—it feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.” Sounds perfect, but I’ll still miss Tanya.

Reacher (February 20, Prime Video)If you’re reading this list and playing “Guess Esquire’s Guilty Pleasure,” you’re at the right place. It’s Reacher. Season 3 of the Prime Video series will presumably see the hulking Jack Reacher (a stellar and also-hulking Alan Ritchson) fuck up many, many more people. And I am very excited to see how that plays out.

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Zero Day (February 20, Netflix)There’s zero chance that I would leave Robert De Niro’s debut as a television regular from this list. He’ll front Netflix’s Zero Day, which, per the streamer, “asks the question on everyone’s mind— how do we find truth in a world in crisis, one seemingly being torn apart by forces outside our control?” Okay!

1923 (February 23, Paramount+)Advertisement – Continue Reading Below

Dope Thief (March 14, Apple TV+)

Jessica KourkounisOver the holidays, I saw the great Claressa Shields biopic, The Fire Inside, so I’m very much on a Brian Tyree Henry kick. (He plays the boxing trainer.) Add to that Esquire’s deep appreciation of Wagner Moura and Apple TV+’s Dope Thief officially makes my 2025 watch list. The series will star the two actors as, per the streamer, “Philly friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern Seaboard.” Sign me up.

The Studio (March 26, Apple TV+)I’m one of the many critics who was disappointed by HBO’s The Franchise, which satirized the superhero-ification of modern cinema by following the making of a fictional Marvel-esque film. It didn’t quite work, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Then I saw the trailer for the The Studio, a satire of modern Hollywood through the lens of a studio head (Seth Rogen)—and I knew it right away. Real people! The Studio tracks a fictional studio, but the stars and references are very real. Created by a host of great comedy minds (including Rogen and Evan Goldberg), just watch the way Martin Scorsese mutters, “Spineless!” in the preview and you’ll know what I mean.

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Your Friends and Neighbors (April 11, Apple TV+)

Apple TV+Every time I write this most-anticipated list, there’s a moment when I simply have to drop the logline and tell you I’m watching it without a single hesitation. This year, it’s the Jon Hamm-starring Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV+:

After being fired in disgrace, a hedge fund manager still grappling with his recent divorce resorts to stealing from his neighbors’ homes in the exceedingly affluent Westmont Village, only to discover that the secrets and affairs hidden behind those wealthy facades might be more dangerous than he ever imagined.

Andor (April 22, Disney+)

Disney+When Andor season 1 ended in the ancient times of November 2022, it felt like a fork in the road: Will this show everyone how to foster great franchise storytelling in the streaming era, or is it just a blip? I genuinely believed the former, but in the following years, I’ve seen some things. (*Cough* Agatha All Along, *sneeze* The Acolyte, *hack* the trailer for the monstrous-looking Inside Out spin-off series.) Where was I? You know, I’m just happy that I have the chance to see my boy Cassian Andor stick it to some Stormtroopers one last time in season 2.

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Squid Game (Netflix)The Last of Us (HBO)If you haven’t played the Last of Us video games, I hate to say that nearly anything I write about season 2 will ruin the story for you. Here’s what I can relay: Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, and Pedro Pascal’s killer jacket will return, along with new additions Kaitlyn Dever and Catherine O’Hara. Let’s leave it at that—just click here if you want to know more.

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Chad Powers (Hulu)I love Glen Powell, but I really need to see the man in something where he’s simply maxing out his big doofus energy. Chad Powers is exactly that project. The Hulu series will follow the same general premise of Eli Manning’s 2022 “Chad Powers” prank, during which he went undercover as a walk-on at Penn State and proceeded to look like his Super Bowl–winning self. Chad Powers will track a burnout quarterback as he dons prosthetics to join a new team under a different name. Thank you for hearing my plea, Glen.

Alien: Earth (FX)It feels like I’ve read about the production of Noah Hawley’s Alien series for as long as I’ve authored this list, which is a not-insignificant amount of time. We’ll finally see it this year—and it sounds pretty damn awesome. Read the logline for yourself:

When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman (Sydney Chandler) and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat in FX’s highly anticipated TV series Alien: Earth from creator Noah Hawley.

Between this series and Alien: Romulus, life is good right now if you’re an Alien fan.

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Stranger Things (Netflix)A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO)

Steffan HillHow many more Game of Thrones–verse series will HBO deliver before George R.R. Martin even mumbles a release date for The Winds of Winter? Too many. The next show will adapt Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, which follow a knight and his squire’s adventures in Westeros. Spoiler alert: Martin hasn’t finished writing this series either! And the author says that he won’t continue Dunk and Egg until he wraps The Winds of Winter. Help.

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Hacks (Max)

HBO/MaxTo everyone who said I ranked Hacks too highly in my year-end television list, I say: Are you watching Hacks? HBO’s comedy about the comedy world is the best comedy on television right now. Season 4 will see Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) feud on a much bigger stage—as the former’s late-night career truly begins.

The Bear (FX)

FX/Hulu