We're not going to sit here and wax poetic about 2021, the latest in a series of interminable years where we have clung to television like a life raft.
The good news is our raft is still very much afloat! We can't even begin to predict what life in 2022 will bring, but there is comfort, as always, sitting on the couch in front of a screen. We struggled to narrow down the TV premieres and returns we can't wait for in 2022, and we still have 18 (with some light cheating). What a time to be alive!
In order of release, here are the 2022 television shows we're most excited to watch.
1. Euphoria Season 2
Upon premiering in the summer of 2019, Euphoria became a cultural sensation, known for its ethereal style and emotionally intelligent approach to coming of age. This year, it's back with eight new episodes which, from the looks of the bonkers trailer, will be just as mind-boggling obsession-worthy as the first batch. Seriously, stop at 1:39; what is happening with Cassie (Sydney Sweeney)?
Season 2 comes on the heels of two special episodes, released in late 2020 and early 2021. They chronicle the fallout from Rue (Zendaya) and Jules' (Hunt Schafer) split in the Season 1 finale, so be sure to catch them before the new episodes start airing weekly on Jan. 9. Lexi (Maude Apatow), Fezco (Angus Cloud), Nate (Jacob Elordi), Maddy (Alexa Demie), Kat (Barbie Ferreira), McKay (Algee Smith), and more also return. — Alison Foreman, Entertainment Reporter
Euphoria Season 2 premieres January 9 on HBO Max.
2. This Is Us Season 6
It's hard to believe that it's been six years since the premiere episode of This Is Us delivered its now-iconic "they're related!" twist. In those six years, the Pearson family dynamic has changed and grown in ways few Season 1 watchers could have predicted. We've watched Kevin grow from a self-absorbed sitcom actor into a thoughtful and romantic family man. Kate's perfect marriage with Toby slowly devolved into a mutual separation. Randall is a politician who's actively taking initiative to work on his mental health — the kids are, in fact, mostly all right.
Season 6 of This Is Us will be the show's planned final season and will bring the Pearsons' story to a (hopefully) satisfying conclusion. What will we do when it's gone? How will we guarantee Sterling K. Brown's yearly scheduled Emmy nominations? If Jack Pearson isn't around, who's going to tell us to "get in the corr?" So many questions, and a whole season of answers lies ahead of us…for the last time. — Alexis Nedd, Senior Entertainment Reporter
The final season of This Is Us premieres January 4 on NBC.
3. Peacemaker
Thanks to writer/director James Gunn, we can all pretend that The Suicide Squad (2021) was the first time DC ever made a movie about the all-villain "hero" squad Task Force X. Yup. Nothing came before it. The Suicide Squad introduced a huge roster of DC villains to the on-screen universe, including Polka-Dot Man, King Shark, and John Cena's hilariously deadass take on Peacemaker. Peacemaker is the kind of guy who thinks his single-minded pursuit of peace makes him a hero. The hundreds of people he's willing to murder in order to achieve peace probably disagree. Peacemaker's "hero's journey" will continue in his eponymous HBO Max TV show, which also will explore his origins. — AN
Peacemaker premieres January 13 on HBO Max.
4. The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age showrunner Julian Fellowes is best known for Downton Abbey, his television show about the generationally wealthy upper class of a given society slowly losing their relevance in favor of newcomers and outsiders who threaten their way of life by encroaching on their traditions alongside the slow, inexorable tide of modernity and war.
The Gilded Age is that, but this time they're in New York! If you liked Downton (we liked Downton), you're gonna love it. — AN
The Gilded Age premieres January 24 on HBO.
5. The Afterparty
If you love Search Party or Only Murders in the Building, then your new obsession may quick become this crime-comedy series that's just as stuffed with stars. It's Clue meets the high school reunion from hell when one outrageous reveler turns up dead. Tiffany Haddish, Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Jamie Demetriou, and Dave Franco star. But that's not all. Created by the brilliant genre-bending minds of Chris Miller and Phil Lord (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, 21 Jump Street), The Afterparty reveals the events of that fatal night from the varied perspectives of its guests, tapping into different genre vibes for each telling. Rom-com? Musical? Neo-noir? Action? Nothing is off-limits. And we can't wait! — Kristy Puchko, Deputy Entertainment Editor
The Afterparty premieres January 28 on Apple TV+.
6. Inventing Anna
Anna Delvey’s story is one of those rare few that captivated the entire internet when it broke. For years, Delvey obscured her identity while conning New York’s wealthy and elite (people and establishments) for massive amounts of money. Julia Garner plays Delvey in this Shondaland miniseries, as she awaits her fate in prison and begrudgingly speaks to reporter Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky). We may never know the real Anna, but the idea of her proves endlessly intriguing. — Proma Khosla, Entertainment Reporter
Inventing Anna premieres February 11 on Netflix.
7. Bridgerton Season 2
Netflix and Shondaland’s steamy period drama made us all burn with longing after its 2020 debut, and the tonne shall soon be abuzz with more juicy gossip. Season 2 follows the courtship of the eldest Bridgerton sibling Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), with new arrival Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley). Daphne and the Duke may be gone from our lives (never forgotten, thanks to some distinguished montages that live in our heads rent-free), but the whispers, romance, and buried secrets of the tonne will keep us coming back every season. — PK
Bridgerton Season 2 premieres March 25 on Netflix.
8. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
Regardless of how anyone feels about the team itself, the LA Lakers are the dominant basketball team when it comes to pop culture; they had Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. They had showtime. They had (and have) the world's biggest celebrities sitting courtside for every home game. The story of how the Lakers went from one of several NBA teams to the team that made superstars of its players will be detailed in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. And if you want to catch up on the team's juicy secrets before the show airs sometime in March, it's based on Jeff Perlman's book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s. — AN
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty premieres in March on HBO.
9. The Lord of the Rings
First things first: Don't expect to see Frodo and co. anytime soon, because Amazon Prime's Lord of the Rings is not actually an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic trilogy. Instead, the upcoming series takes place during the Second Age of Middle Earth, which spanned over 3,000 years and saw such events as the rise and fall of Númenor and the forging of the Rings of Power. Just which of these will Lord of the Rings cover? We're not quite sure yet. Prime has played its cards pretty close to its chest, only releasing an image and a cryptic map.
Despite knowing very little about the plot, it will be such a thrill to return to Middle Earth for more high fantasy goodness. (Something Prime has already proven it can do with The Wheel of Time.) Plus, this first season of Lord of the Rings is the most expensive season of television ever made, so you can be sure it'll look gorgeous even if it doesn't quite live up to Peter Jackson's films. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Fellow
The Lord of the Rings premieres September 2 on Amazon Prime Video.
Due to productions schedules and studio commitments, a lot of 2022 premiere dates still aren't fixed or available. So here's eight more shows (or um, families of shows) that we're anticipating — whenever they do drop.
10. House of the Dragon, HBO Max
What do you think, Thronies? Has enough time passed since the laughably misguided final seasons of Game of Thrones that we're ready to give Westeros another chance? If you do think there's been sufficient time to heal, then gear up for the Game of Thrones prequel TV show that didn't get canceled after HBO tanked $30 million on its pilot.
House of the Dragon actually has a lot going for it, as far as Thrones successors goes. It takes place a few hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, so there will be the familiarity of seeing Starks, Lannisters, and their ilk without dealing with the exact characters we knew and loved. It's also supposed to tell the story of a civil war amongst dragon riders, which is objectively awesome. Finally — and this is the most important part — House of the Dragon is based on material that George R.R Martin has already finished, which means no one gets to decide they're bored and finish the show with a bullet-point outline of how the story might go. Imagine that. — AN
11. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Disney+
What will Obi-Wan Kenobi's solo Disney+ adventure even look like?
The series is poised to reunite Ewan McGregor with the Star Wars universe in a story set 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. The Jedi Order is gone, Anakin Skywalker has been reborn as Darth Vader, and a middle-aged Obi-Wan is charged with defending the presumed last and best hope for the future of the Jedi: A young Tattooinian orphan named Luke.
It's a significant point in time for the Star Wars universe, but one where the history and future of the eponymous Jedi Master at the heart of the show is already written. That raises lots of questions about what the string of episodes will explore, but it'll be great to hear McGregor bringing back his stellar Alec Guinness impression. —Adam Rosenberg, Senior Entertainment Reporter
12. Marvel's Phase 4 TV Shows, Disney+
Marvel did not have to go so hard with its Disney+ television debuts in 2021, but go it did. From WandaVision's innovative format and introspection to Falcon and the Winter Soldier's action-movie energy to Loki's mischievous charm and gorgeous visuals and Hawkeye's surprising satisfiaction — Disney+ has ensured our continued subscription based on the MCU alone. 2022 brings Oscar Isaac in and as Moon Knight, which promises darker fare and big Batman energy (perfect timing since we're really itching for more Daredevil); She-Hulk is the closest we'll get to a solo outing for Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, teaming up with his cousin Jessica (Tatiana Maslany); and Ms. Marvel brings the much-anticipated debut of Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani). We get all that while having to emotionally prepare for the comics bonanza of Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. By the time that Guardians of the Galaxy holiday special rolls around in Dec. 2022, we'll need the break. — PK
13. The Mandalorian Season 3, Disney+
For two seasons, The Mandalorian tricked us with its title, because it was The Child (a.k.a. Baby Yoda a.k.a. Grogu) who stole the show. Sure, we loved watching Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) go on space adventures to save his darling bebé, but the Season 2 finale changed everything. Grogu is off to Jedi school and we may never see him again, which means The Mandalorian’s main focus has shifted. Even if it keeps its weekly space caper structure, what is Din’s purpose? He’s master of the Darksaber which means he’s off to Mandalore to rule, but that’s a drastic shift for a show that used to be about an accidental dad. Luckily, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have more than proved their mettle when it comes to expanding the Star Wars universe — we’ll just have to trust the Force as always. — PK
14. Stranger Things Season 4, Netflix
When Stranger Things is back, you'll know it.
The super popular sci-fi dramedy, chronicling a ragtag group of kids' battle with an otherworldly realm and mysterious government organization, wrapped filming on its fourth season in September. The new set of episodes don't have a release date yet. But with a killer cliffhanger finale debuted all the way back in 2019, there's plenty to theorize about in the meantime.
What happened to Eleven's powers? How did the Russians get a Demogorgon? Is that much beloved character dead or alive? Will Mike and Eleven make it through their long-distance romance? A sneak peek dropped in November gives us enough to go on (we're heading to California!), but we can't be sure until we're back in the Upside Down. — AF
15. The Last of Us, HBO
Video games are big business in Hollywood now. Look no further than The Last of Us, which marks a first-time entry into the genre for HBO. This series adaptation stars Pedro Pascal (of The Mandalorian fame) and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, two survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic that's turned most of the world's population into, well, mushroom zombies. (The spores of a deadly fungus triggered the plague.)
With a creator team that includes Craig Mazin, who also created HBO's award-winning miniseries Chernobyl, The Last of Us has all the marks of a serious production worthy of HBO's "prestige TV" originals library. There's no guarantee at this point that it'll actually arrive in 2022, but we can't wait to see how Joel and Ellie's wrenching journey comes to life — and changes — as a filmed story. — AR
16. The Witcher: Blood Origin, Netflix
The streaming audience tossed their coins at Netflix when 2019's The Witcher became a runaway fantasy hit. Now, Netflix is going all in on all things Witcher. In addition to the animated Nightmare of the Wolf prequel that came out in 2021, The Witcher: Blood Origin will be an even more prequel-y prequel that takes place thousands of years before Geralt of Rivia was born. Blood Origin will cover the Conjunction of the Spheres, an historical event in the timeline of the Continent that brought the realms of elves, men, and monsters together for the first time. And since the Conjunction brought monsters, somebody had to come up with the idea to mutate humans into monster hunters…and, now you know where little Witchers come from.— AN
17. Harley Quinn, HBO Max
For many, the best news to come out of 2021's DC FanDome was confirmation that Harley Quinn is coming back for a third season on HBO Max.
Last seen in 2020, the animated action-comedy centered on the baseball bat-swinging anti-hero is an unskippable highlight of the streaming service. Picking up in the aftermath of a brutal break-up with her longtime beau, the Joker, Harley sets out on a journey of self-discovery as she finds out what it means to be independent, work as part of a team, be social, and even love.
Constantly surprising and grounded in a rippling emotional tapestry of carefully constructed relationships, Harley Quinn is a revelation. Its funny and star-studded story of the day-to-day in Gotham City for a girl who just wants to live her supervillain life is one of the best ongoing dramas in the DC Comics library to date, and Season 3 is all-but-guaranteed to be a winner.— AR
18. The Sandman, Netflix
There's a lot going for The Sandman, Netflix's upcoming 2022 adaptation of the beloved Neil Gaiman comic book series. This updated-for-modern-times take introduces Dream (Tom Sturridge), lord of our sleepytime wanderings, into a 2021 world.
During the early 1900s, a dark ritual summons Dream to the Earthly plane. 100 years later, he escapes and sets out to reclaim his rightful domain. But the forces that trapped him all those years ago have other plans. It's not clear how much this Netflix take will diverge from Gaiman's comics, but for a story as loved as The Sandman, the possibilities for this big-budget streaming series are limitless. — AR
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