The 31 Best TV Shows to Binge-Watch in 2023
Courtesy of Netflix/HBO/Amazon Studios
How do you follow a year in TV that gave us Severance, Wednesday, more White Lotus? According to 2023’s slate, a Bridgerton prequel, the return of Succession and Yellowjackets, and some big bestselling book adaptations just might do the trick. While the year ahead promises new seasons from hit series like The Mandalorian, You, and And Just Like That…, it’ll also mark some exciting, highly anticipated premieres, like Daisy Jones and the Six and The Last of Us, to name just a couple. Below, we’ve rounded up the TV shows to look forward to in 2023.
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RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15
Start your engines! Drag Race returns for its 15th (!) season, this time on MTV, with a whopping 16 queens vying for the crown and a $200,000 cash prize. Guest judges include Ariana Grande, Janelle Monáe, Meg Stalter, and more, plus Ts Madison as a rotating judge. Apparently there are no chocolate bar twists this go-around, but there is “a little bit more spice.”
Premieres on MTV January 6.
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches
Following the well-received adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, AMC is expanding its Anne Rice Immortal Universe with a series based on her Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy. Alexandra Daddario stars as neurosurgeon Rowan Fielding, who discovers her witchy powers and ancestry.
Premieres on AMC January 8.
This marks the final season of M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller series. (He’ll be directing some of the final episodes, too.) Expect an emotional and dramatic conclusion as Leanna Grayson continues to threaten the Turner family and the world outside their Philadelphia brownstone. Lauren Ambrose, Toby Kebbell, Nell Tiger Free, and Rupert Grint all reprise their roles one last time.
Premieres on Apple TV+ January 13.
Amazon’s conspiracy thriller executive produced by Jordan Peele follows a group of Nazi hunters in ’70s New York. In its second and final season, The Hunters’ next target is, uh, Adolf Hitler, who is apprarently still alive and hiding somewhere in South America. Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Jerrika Hinton, Lena Olin, Josh Radnor, Tiffany Boone, Carol Kane, and more star.
Premieres on Prime Video January 13.
One of the year’s most anticipated dramas—let alone one of the year’s most anticipated video game adaptations—The Last of Us carries on its shoulders immense expectations from a bastion of passionate fans. Thankfully, a strong creative team led by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and the video game’s original co-creator Neil Druckmann should ensure that the tale of Joel and Ellie’s journey through a fungus-ravaged wasteland is as compelling as the source material it sprang from.
Premieres on HBO January 15.
It’s 1995 and Leia Forman (Callie Haverda), Eric and Donna’s daughter, is spending summer at her grandparent’s house. Under Kitty (Debra Jo Rupp) and Red’s (Kurtwood Smith) roof, Leia makes friends with the neighbors and forms her own basement blunt rotation. Look out for appearances from OGs like Topher Grace (Eric), Laura Prepon (Donna), Ashton Kutcher (Kelso), Mila Kunis (Jackie), and Wilmer Valderrama (Fez).
Premieres on Netflix January 19.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is back, baby. Two decades after Buffy, the beloved scream queen will star in this adaptation of Edo van Belkom’s book about a group of teenagers who are mysteriously brought together after surviving separate werewolf attacks.
Premieres on Paramount+ January 26.
Pultizer Prize winner Nikole Hannah-Jones hosts this six-part docuseries adapted from her New York Times Magazine initiative and bestselling essay series, which takes a deeper look at America’s history of slavery and its ongoing consequences. Oprah Winfrey serves as executive producer.
Premieres on Hulu January 26.
If you’re craving more whodunnits after watching Glass Onion, allow Rian Johnson to test your sleuthing skills yet again. Created, written, and directed by the Knives Out filmmaker, Poker Face follows Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), a woman who can tell if anyone is lying, as she encounters a different mystery every week of this 10-episode series. Guest stars include Adrien Brody, Benjamin Bratt, Chloë Sevingy, Dasha Polanco, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Light, Lil Rel Howery, and more.
Premieres on Peacock January 26.
This new 10-episode comedy follows a grieving therapist (Jason Segel) who abandons his ethics and training and starts telling his patients how he really feels, which sets off major ripple effects in their lives. Shrinking is written by Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and star/writer/producer Brett Goldstein, along with Segel. The cast includes Harrison Ford, Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, and Lukita Maxwell.
Premieres on Apple TV+ January 27.
If you miss On My Block, this spinoff series will have you falling for a new core four: Gloria (Keyla Monterroso Mejia), Ines (Bryana Salaz), Cam (Tenzing Norgay Trainor), and Demi (Ciara Riley Wilson). The eight-episode comedy follows two sibling rivals and their friends as they accidentally set off a curse that messes with their lives.
Premieres on Netflix February 2.
From Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver, Harlem follows four best friends in the city as they navigate love and relationships in their thirties. Season 2 finds Camille (Meagan Good) trying to put her life and career back together; Tye (Jerrie Johnson) weighing out her future; Quinn (Grace Byers) on a journey of self-discovery; and Angie (Shoniqua Shandai) rising in her career.
Premieres on Prime Video February 3.
An early pandemic sensation and now a bona fide Netflix hit, Outer Banks is The Goonies’s soapier sister, set along the North Carolina coast and featuring some of the wildest plot twists since The O.C. There’s alligator wrestling, gun fights, sunken ships, and gold—lots of it—but the true appeal is the ensemble cast, who return for the third chapter later this year. Prepare for Poguelandia.
Premieres on Netflix February 3.
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) really said “new year, new me.” In the upcoming season of You, our leading stalker and serial killer ditches the California suburbs and starts over in London, where he’s taken up his latest alias: a refined academic named Professor Jonathan Moore. He’ll be rubbing elbows with a new crowd in the U.K., but from the teaser, it seems he’s still got his eye on last season’s love interest, Marienne (Tati Gabrielle).
Part 1 premieres on Netflix February 10. Part 2 premieres on March 10.
While the rest of the world is happy to claim Pedro Pascal as their Internet Dad, Baby Yoda—ahem, Grogu—had to say goodbye to Pascal’s father figure Mando during the second season of the hugely popular Star Wars series. Surprise cameos from Luke Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano spoke of an ambitious future for the little green guy, as well as for Mando himself, whom we hope unites with his alien son when The Mandalorian season 3 debuts this year.
Premieres on Disney+ March 1.
Taylor Jenkins-Reid’s bestselling novel about a Fleetwood Mac-inspired ’70s rock band is finally getting the screen treatment, starring Riley Keough as Daisy Jones and Sam Claflin as Billy Dunne. The series dives into the fictional group’s rise and their infamous split, and Suki Waterhouse and Camila Morrone round out the cast. Expect plenty of original songs and shaggy wigs.
Premieres on Prime Video March 3.
Perhaps the second season Yellowjackets will answer our burning questions about the high school girls soccer team that survived a plane crash in the wilderness in the ’90s—and who’s tormenting them about it in present day. Cast favorites like Juliette Lewis, Tawny Cypress, Melanie Lynskey, and Christina Ricci are set to return, joined by new additions like Lauren Ambrose as adult Van, Simone Kessell as adult Lottie, and Elijah Wood as a new character.
Premieres on Showtime March 24.
Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux star respectively as E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, two of Nixon’s fixers and masterminds behind the Watergate burglary, in this five-episode limited series directed by Veep showrunner David Mandel. The sprawling cast includes Domhnall Gleeson, Lena Heady, Judy Grier, Kiernan Shipka, and Ike Barinholtz.
Premieres on HBO in March 2023.
Adapted from Alexis Schaitkin’s debut novel of the same name, Saint X revolves around a young woman’s death during a family vacation in the Caribbean. Years later, her younger sister, now grown-up, is drawn to search for answers. The story is told through multiple timelines and points of view, and promises not to be just another girl-gone-missing story.
Premieres on Hulu April 26.
Lizzy Caplan takes over Glenn Close’s famous role as Alex Forrest in this Paramount+ reboot of the infamous Fatal Attraction, this time told from Alex’s point of view, and with a deeper insight into what—or who—made this supposed villain who she is.
Premieres on Paramount+ April 30.
In this adaptation of Cheryl Strayed’s bestselling novel, Kathryn Hahn stars as Clare, a writer who launches a successful advice column while struggling with her own life behind the scenes. Liz Tigelaar (Little Fires Everywhere) serves as showrunner, and Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern are among the executive producers.
Premieres on Hulu in spring 2023.
A barely recognizable Olivia Colman stars as Miss Havisham in this adaptation of Charles Dickens’ famous novel from Steven Knight (Spencer, Peaky Blinders). Produced by FX in partnership with BBC, the limited series also features Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk) as the orphan Pip and Shalom Brune-Franklin (The Tourist) as Estella, Havisham’s daughter.
Premieres on FX in spring 2023.
Everything Everywhere All at Once stars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan will reunite in this action comedy based on Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel (Stephanie Hsu will even guest star). But the story centers on Jin Wang (Ben Wang), a teenager just trying to handle high school—and a slew of Chinese mythical gods.
Premieres on Disney+ in 2023.
Picking up shortly after Tom’s betrayal and the season 3 finale, season 4 follows the Roy family as the sale of Waystar Royco to tech boss Lukas Mattson (Alexander Skarsgård) approaches. The looming deal “provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys,” according to HBO, which is exactly what they do best.
Premieres on HBO in 2023.
After hitting a few hiccups, this new title from The Weeknd (or rather, Abel Tesfaye), his creative producer Reza Fahim, and Euphoria’s Sam Levinson is expected to hit our screens this year. Touted as “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood,” The Idol is set within the music industry and follows a self-help guru and cult leader (Tesfaye) who develops a “complicated relationship” with a rising pop star, Jocelyn (Lily Rose-Depp). Jennie of Blackpink, Troye Sivan, Dan Levy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Rachel Sennott also star.
Premieres on HBO in 2023.
Elizabeth Olsen is Candy Montgomery, a churchgoing housewife who, in 1980, brutally killed Betty Gore, her friend, neighbor, and her lover’s wife. Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, and Kristen Ritter are also cast in this true crime limited series.
Premieres on HBO Max in 2023.
Already dark and only getting darker, Bill Hader’s acclaimed comedy drama Barry is as hilarious as it is startling, constantly catching its audience off-guard with touching pathos, gut-twisting violence, and laughs we’re not sure we should be enjoying. Now that hitman Barry has officially passed the point of no return—again—we can only expect Hader to ratchet up the tension by another 10 degrees. And if history is any indicator, the result will be brilliant.
Premieres on HBO in 2023.
And Just Like That… Season 2
Expect a few big comebacks in the next chapter of Sex and the City’s divisive spinoff: like Aidan (yes, really), Carrie’s famous wedding dress, and, of course, Che Diaz. We don’t know much about the season 2 plot yet, but we do know from behind-the-scenes photos that the looks are more extravagant than ever.
Premieres on HBO Max in 2023.
True Detective: Night Country
Jodi Foster leads the fourth season of HBO’s crime drama. She stars as detective Liz Danvers, while Kali Reis co-stars as Evangeline Navarro, who are both on the case when six men go missing at a research facility in Ennis, Alaska.
Premieres on HBO in 2023.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
While we wait for Bridgerton season 3 to arrive, Netflix is holding us over with a prequel series, also from Shonda Rhimes. It follows a young Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) and her romance with future husband, King George (Corey Mylchreest). Other famous Bridgerton characters appear in their youth, including Lady Danbury (Arsema Thomas) and Violet Ledger (Connie Jenkins-Greig), who would later become the Viscountess Bridgerton.
Premieres on Netflix in 2023.
Reservation Dogs Season 3
Season 2 of Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo’s groundbreaking series ended with a beautiful, gutting finale, as our four Rez Dogs finally head out to California in honor of their late friend Daniel. But what comes next? (And will Bear go off on his own?) Details are still slim, but Harjo aims to bring more “laughter and love” next season, which is truly what the show does best.
Premieres on FX on Hulu in 2023.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more.
Lauren Puckett-Pope is an associate editor at ELLE, where she covers film, television, literature and fashion.
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