The 15 Most Exciting TV Shows Of 2025

As streaming has allowed TV to take bigger swings and explore more niche stories than their big-budget, high-stakes counterparts on the silver screen, television has quickly become the Wild West. In recent years, we’ve seen everything from streaming spinoffs of blockbuster hits, to trashy reality TV, strike gold — making the question of what becomes a hit far more intriguing than what has the biggest marketing budget.

In 2024, , and a cryptic teaser suggests something may be lurking beneath the planet we call home, but it looks like fans will have to tune in to see exactly what’s in store. The bar is high for the Alien franchise after Alien: Romulus, but this series may be what it takes for it to make the jump to TV.

Release Date: Summer 2025 on FX on Hulu

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Game of Thrones hasn’t had the best luck with its TV spinoffs. All sorts of series have been announced, from animated prequels to Jon-Snow-centric sequels, but only House of the Dragon made it to air — to great acclaim. In 2025, that will change with A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, an HBO series based on the relatively light-hearted Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. Rugby-player-turned-actor Sam Claffey plays Ser Duncan the Tall, a wandering knight with a young squire named Egg, played by Dexter Sol Ansell. Like House of the Dragon, it’s set before Game of Thrones, when the Tagaryens were still on the Iron Throne.

Release Date: Late 2025 on HBO

Stranger Things Season 5

It’s been almost a decade since we first met the Hawkins gang, but it’s now time to say goodbye. The Duffer Brothers have teased an extraordinary farewell to Stranger Things, even though Season 4 already set the bar high with feature-length episodes (with feature-sized budgets). It looks like Season 5 will include a trip down memory lane, as old sets — including the Christmas light alphabet wall — have been spotted in behind-the-scenes videos.

Release Date: 2025 on Netflix

Doctor Who Season 2

To celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2023, Doctor Who rebooted itself again, moving to Disney+, bringing back showrunner Russell T. Davies, and casting Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor. The newly rebranded Season 1 showed the Doctor trying out standalone episodes, Black Mirror-esque dystopias, and an encounter with a decades-old villain. In Season 2, The Doctor is joined by a new companion, Belinda Chandra (played by Varada Sethu from Andor), but Season 1’s companion, Ruby Sunday, will appear as well.

Release Date: 2025 on Disney+

Squid Game Season 3

Squid Game Season 2 only just premiered, but according to showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk, the third and final season could arrive as soon as Summer 2025. It can’t come soon enough, as Season 2 only felt like half the story, ending on a massive cliffhanger and only showing three of the six games. This time, the Front Man disguised himself as a player, but finally revealed his true colors in the last moments. Now, everything is leading to a final confrontation between him and Seong Gi-hun, the man trying to take down the games altogether.

Release Date: 2025 on Netflix

Black Mirror Season 7

Charlie Brooker has critiqued the role technology has played in society for more than a decade now, but the world keeps giving him and his anthology series more material to work with. In the upcoming Season 7, a new crop of episodes with star-studded casts will take on new facets of its twisted universe, including a much-anticipated sequel to the fan-favorite episode “USS Callister.”

Release Date: 2025 on Netflix

It: Welcome to Derry

HBO and Max found success with a movie-to-prestige-TV pipeline with The Penguin and Dune: Prophecy, and next in the queue is It: Welcome to Derry, a prequel series set decades before the most recent adaptations of the King doorstop. By bringing the action back to Derry in the ‘60s, the series will explore the creepy origins of Pennywise the Clown.

Release Date: 2025 on Max

Wednesday Season 2

Wednesday is one of Netflix’s biggest-ever hits, thanks in no small part to Jenna Ortega’s ultra-dour performance. In Season 2, Wednesday is back at Nevermore Academy for a more ambitious story that boasts big names like Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, Billie Piper, and Thandiwe Newton. Even Lady Gaga is slated to appear, but the jury’s still out if she’ll perform “Bloody Mary,” the song made famous not by Wednesday herself, but a TikTok fan edit.

Release Date: 2025 on Netflix