Don’t be an April fool and miss out on the return of your fave shows: whether you’re fanging for more zombies, galactic rebellion, or the mixed bag Black Mirror always offers, this month is stacked with hotly-anticipated sequels.
Add each title to your Flicks watchlist for personalised notifications as new episodes drop: happy watchlisting!
Andor: Season 2
Arguably the high point of the entire Disney/Star Wars experiment, this scintillating sci-fi prequel series from creator Tony Gilroy sees Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor go from an every-man-for-himself chancer, to a valiant martyr for the Resistance.
Fans have been waiting for several years now to see what happens next—and the star claims that the sophomore chapter will have them racing to revisit Rogue One, the film in which the hero was introduced, to appreciate it in a whole new dramatic context. “You’ve seen enough of this man now,” Luna recently promised rewatchers, “that you will go, like, ‘Holy shit, that’s what he meant?'”
Black Mirror: Season 7
A mixed bag of marvellousness and mediocrity with each new batch of episodes, Charlie Brooker’s long-running sci-fi anthology is always worth a watch. As per usual, viewers can dip into any individual episodes that pique their interest, this time meeting dystopian travellers played by Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Awkwafina and Peter Capaldi—but also, in an unusual turn for Black Mirror, there’s also a sequel episode.
It’ll return us to the acerbic fanboy-rebellion of the U.S.S. Callister under new captain Cristin Milioti, which Luke Buckmaster once picked as the peak of the entire series: “It’s the emotional believability of the premise that draws us in; we don’t even necessarily think about the technology. What will this diabolically great villain get up to the sequel, if indeed he’s in it at all?”
The Bondsman: Season 1
Who’s gonna save your Bacon from the eternal grill pits of Hell? This springy, supernatural crime-thriller casts Kev as a bounty hunter, making his living from rounding up sinners. Then again, “making a living” becomes a charged term, when he dies and gets assigned to demon-hunting duties instead. Aussie Damon Herriman co-stars, in a haunting jaunt that looks pretty similar to shows like Supernatural and Preacher, but with Bacon’s six degrees of star power sweetening the deal.
Doctor Who: Season 2
After a soft reset of sorts to herald the arrival of Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor, the new Who is off to a great start. Gatwa is infectiously charming, silly and song-filled plots are introducing youngsters to the show while perhaps appearing a tad too cutesy for elder fans, and fresh companions and friends abound. In season two, we’re getting an episode that’s tantalisingly titled ‘The Interstellar Song Contest’, which I will most certainly tune in for.
Meanwhile, new companion Belinda is desperate to get home to her parents, after glitchy TARDIS trickery keeps her from making an easy return: in the 51st century, nobody even remembers Earth existed. In times like these, you really want the cheery doctor around, for a laugh and a sick costume change.
Dying for Sex: Limited Series
I’ve heard rumours that this miniseries starring Michelle Williams absolutely wrings tears out of you, so make sure you’re watching with a hanky nearby. And not just because the show’s also super steamy and sensual. Williams plays a woman whose metastatic cancer diagnosis sets her free, inspiring her to leave her loveless marriage and seek sexual exploration and pleasure before it’s too late.
The heart of the series is the powerful relationship between Williams and her bestie Jenny Slate, who has the tough task of acting as her mate’s wingman and protector when she should really be settling down into palliative care. A frank, sexy, funny and tearjerking story.
Étoile: Season 1
This ballet drama comes from the folks behind Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel—in short, they’ve entirely earned our time and attention. Luke Kirby, so hypnotically charming as Lenny Bruce in Mrs Maisel, joins Charlotte Gainsbourg as the staff behind two of the world’s most prominent dance companies. In a bold gambit to save both of their studios, they decide to swap dancers. And probably some saliva.
I’m expecting flirtatious workplace tension, very very quick dialogue, and for the whole show to go on for four to five seasons (here’s hoping).
The Last of Us: Season 2
HBO’s zombie epic, based on the hugely successful video game franchise of the same name, has quite a task ahead of itself. Season one knocked everybody’s socks off, following apocalypse survivors Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey to a devastating and complex conclusion. And the second game in the series, adapted here into this latest batch of bloody episodes, was a far more controversial release (God help poor Kaitlyn Dever, who has been cast as the character Abby, so loathed by angry gamer lads).
Can another bout of life-affirming, undead drama live up, picking up five years from where we left off?
The Narrow Road To The Deep North: Miniseries
In his meteoric rise to fame, Jacob Elordi has been too booked and blessed in British and American shows to play an Australian in any of his major screen roles! Starring in a Richard Flanagan adaptation should shake that up, with the towering national talent cast as a doctor and prisoner-of-war during WWII. Odessa Young plays the love of his life, their deep connection constantly thwarted by the cruelties of wartime life and the trauma that develops.
North of North: Season 1
There will always be shows about vibrant young people searching for love—trying to juggle it with their annoying jobs, and chaotic ensembles of friends and family. Sometimes all that’s needed to liven up the formula is a fresh, underseen setting, and Netflix’s latest take has that in spades.
Following young Inuk mum Siaja in the aftermath of a very public breakup, this sweet-hearted new show is set in a tiny Arctic town—not the most ideal spot to meet any new partners. The fifth episode is called “Walrus Dick Baseball”, and Aotearoa talent Jay Ryan is amongst the quirky townsfolk that’ll help light Siaja’s way back to love. Are you on board for a trip up way, way, way north yet?
The Rehearsal: Season 2
If ya fail to prepare, ya prepare to fail. That’s the simple motivation behind Nathan Fielder’s not-so-simple doco-comedy, which takes the anxieties of normal people—how to smash a trivia night, the question of whether or not to have kids—and manipulates them into elaborately organised “rehearsals”, while Fielder’s own existential questions brew furiously in the background.
Season one was a masterstroke of cringe comedy and an underlying tragic loneliness. As much as Fielder is brutally willing to make his subjects look like jerks and fools, it’s always he that ends up looking like the biggest freak. I simply cannot wait for more.
