As we gear up for spooky season, get set for quirky mysteries, historical dramas, and brand new iterations of iconic titles. Here are the new shows coming to New Zealand’s streaming services in September that Jenna Guillaume is most excited about…
Devil in Ohio: Season 1
Based on the book of the same name by Daria Platin, who also serves as showrunner on this limited series, Devil in Ohio is a suspenseful thriller about a psychiatrist who takes in a young girl who has recently escaped a satanic cult. Naturally, her family’s lives are turned upside down in dangerous, devilish and deadly ways. Starring Emily Deschanel, Madeleine Arthur, and Sam Jaeger, it’s a suspenseful and creepy ride.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 1
Surely this series needs no introduction? Already dubbed the most expensive television series ever made, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, but it’s set thousands of years before the main events of the story: during the Second Age of Middle Earth, when the Rings of Power were forged and Sauron rose to power. Filmed right here in New Zealand, the show looks as beautiful and epic as the massive budget would have you expect. A must-watch for both The Lord of the Rings fans and zeitgeist enthusiasts.
Recipes for Love and Murder: Season 1
The highly watchable Maria Doyle Kennedy takes the lead in this very fun and quirky crime series, which is based on the book of the same name by Sally Andrew. Tannie Maria (Doyle Kennedy) is a recipe-creator-turned-advice-columnist who gets caught up in a murder mystery based on one of the letters she receives for her column. Teaming up with an investigative journalist to get to the bottom of the case, the pair clash with local police as they run amok across crime scenes.
Wedding Season: Season 1
Not to be mistaken for the recent Netflix movie of the same name, this Wedding Season is a British action thriller romantic comedy (yes, all of those genres at once) about Katie (Rosa Salazar), an engaged woman who falls for a guy named Stefan (Gavin Drea) at someone else’s wedding two months before her own. But we haven’t even gotten to the good part yet: at Katie’s own wedding, her new husband and his entire family are murdered, leaving both Katie and Stefan as top suspects. They go on the run, and things only get more ridiculous (and entertaining) from there.
Heartbreak High: Season 1
Are you ready to rack off to Hartley High all over again? Netflix reboots the iconic Australian 90s teen soap as an 8-episode drama starring a cast of exciting fresh faces including Ayesha Madon, James Majoos, and Chloe Hayden, with the wonderful Rachel House as the school principal. The series promises to explore what being a teen in Australia is like right now, with all the fun, flirting, angst, and very specific slang that entails.
The Empress: Season 1
The life of Elisabeth (best known as Sissi), the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary in the second half of the 1800s, is rife for adaptation: full of petty family drama, court intrigue, romance, adventure, and more than one tragedy. There have been several on-screen versions of her story in the past, but this new German language series is sure to appeal to global audiences who can’t resist a visually beautiful and well-acted historical drama.
