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, Baby Reindeer went from an obscure Netflix miniseries to an Emmy frontrunner, Fallout went from yet another video game adaptation to rewriting what an adaptation could be, and The Penguin proved that superhero spinoffs could compete with the likes of The Sopranos. 2025 will surely include its own fair share of surprises. Here are Inverse’s 15 most anticipated series of 2025, from new stories to monumental endings.
Severance Season 2
Mark S., the “innie” version of Mark Scout, appears to be on his way to an office party in Severance Season 2.
It took three years, but we can soon clock back in at Lumon. Season 2 of Apple TV+’s sci-fi office drama has to deal with the aftermath of the “severed” Outies escaping the Lumon campus and learning their true identities. As the trailer revealed, Season 2 will take its employees to new environs, including a wintry forest, but there are still plenty of scenes set in the sterile white halls we’re used to.
Release Date: January 17, 2025 on Apple TV+
Yellowjackets Season 3
The present-day versions of Tai, Van, Jeff, and Shauna seemingly at Nat’s funeral in Yellowjackets Season 3.
Yellowjackets has upped the ante in both its timelines. In the past, the team has to cope with the loss of the cabin that kept them alive through the winter, and in the present, the survivors have to deal with the demise of Nat (Juliette Lewis). Season 3 will reveal how these huge changes affect the status quo while also giving us a crop of guest stars, including Hilary Swank in a still-mysterious role.
Release Date: February 14, 2025 on Showtime
Zero Day
Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and Connie Britton lend their talents to Zero Day, Netflix’s latest conspiracy drama.
Netflix is taking on yet another political conspiracy thriller with Zero Day, a star-studded series featuring Robert De Niro as a former president diving into an investigation of a massive cyberattack that strikes the country. It’s hard not to see the similarities between it and other Netflix projects like The Night Agent, but there are also flashes of Alex Garland’s latest dystopian film — and not just because Jesse Plemons will be here.
Release Date: February 20, 2025 on Netflix
Daredevil: Born Again
Charlie Cox teased his return as Matt Murdock in 2024’s Echo.
Daredevil: Born Again has been a long time coming. Disney+’s reboot of the Netflix series has undergone several creative shifts and release date delays, but we’re finally in the home stretch. The final product appears to be similar to the original series that concluded back in 2015, but will make good on the plot teased in January 2024’s Echo. Kingpin is back, and he’s starting a run for mayor. Matt Murdock may be the only man who can stop him.
Release Date: March 2025 on Disney+
The Last of Us Season 2
Kaitlyn Dever plays the controversial Abby in The Last of Us Season 2.
The Last of Us Season 1 adapted the complete story of the first Last of Us game and then some, adding new characters and backstories while fleshing out minor figures. But Season 2 is slowing the pace down significantly, only adapting part of the events of The Last of Us Part II. Expect a time jump, Kaitlyn Dever as new anti-hero Abby, and, without spoiling anything, a really bad round of golf.
Release Date: First Half of 2025 on HBO
Andor Season 2
One more season, one way out.
Andor isn’t just the best Star Wars TV series; it’s one of the best sci-fi shows in years. Under the watchful eye of creator Tony Gilroy, the prequel-to-the-prequel depicts the beginning of the Rebellion from the point of view of future hero — and martyr — Cassian Andor. While Season 1 covered a single year, Season 2 has a lot more ground to cover, with a one-year time jump in between its three four-episode arcs. While this will unfortunately be the last we’ll see of Andor, the series will hopefully finish as strong as it started.
Release Date: April 22, 2025 on Disney+
Ironheart
Riri Williams, MIT’s finest, will finally get her own show in 2025.
Marvel fans met Riri Williams all the way back in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but her appearances since then have been limited to What If episodes and cruise ship displays. In 2025, we’ll finally get to see her helm her own series, starring Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, Anthony Ramos as Parker Robbins (aka The Hood), Shea Couleé as Slug, and Sacha Baron Cohen in an undisclosed role. Maybe it’s finally the Mephisto cameo we’ve been waiting on for years.
Release Date: June 24, 2025 on Disney+
Alien: Earth
There’s the alien, and there’s the Earth.
Noah Hawley’s Alien series was first announced in 2020, and four years later, the details surrounding it are still scarce. We know it’s called Alien: Earth, 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
At 6’ 5”, Peter Claffey measures up as Ser Duncan the Tall.
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
Stranger Things has been filming for so long, even this image from Season 4 is more than three years old.
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
The Doctor and new companion Belinda Chandra are traveling through time (and apparently coordinating outfits) in 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
After a bloody rebellion on the twisting Squid Game staircases, anything could happen in 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
After Black Mirror made fun of Netflix in Season 6 with “Joan is Awful,” the sky’s the limit.
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
Pennywise gets an origin story in Welcome to Derry, and it’s likely this creepy smile’s got something to do with it.
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’s joined by Harley Quinn herself, Lady Gaga, in 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
