The 20 Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2019

At its best, a TV show creates a thrilling world with authentic characters, allowing us to live an alternate life for a short amount of time to help us get through the dull daily grind. With a surge in streaming services over the past several years, quite a number of quality TV shows have been produced with cinematic editing and captivating performances. Some incredible TV shows are coming to a close this year, some are in their prime trying to keep the momentum going, and others are trying to stand their ground in the Colosseum of pop culture for the first time. Every year, TV shows have to prove they’re worth our precious and limited free time, which is a monumental task for any crew.

There is a sea of TV shows to look out for and even more to continue watching, so we’ve decided to choose the cream of the crop for you to catch. Some of our picks are obvious choices and others may be ones you’ve only heard of from friends or co-workers. Our list is filled with shows across all genres, so you can laugh hysterically, dangle from the edge of your seat, cheer like you won the lotto, or hold back with a manly gaze — you won’t be bored

Atlanta

Donald Glover is a multi-talented artist and his show Atlanta may be one of the best of all time if it keeps up its imaginative, engaging storylines. The show is a shape-shifting, incredible slice of life for two cousins trying to make it in the rap game. It subverts expectations, has the ability to draw laughs with ease, grounds you in reality, and even frightens you at times. The sobering show cuts into relationships and what holds various ones together, especially when life smiles with sharp, vicious teeth. The adventures of Earn and Paper Boi keep getting better, and season three can’t come soon enough.

Black Mirror

Netflix recently released Bandersnatch, which is a choose-your-own-adventure Black Mirror movie, as an appetizer to season five; it was an innovative, interactive piece of reality. Well, now we’re ready for the fifth season of this generation’s The Twilight Zone. Last year, Black Mirror gave us more nihilistic drama with episodes like “USS Callister,” but also changed it up with a more positive outlook on life with “Hang the DJ.” Charlie Brooker isn’t saying much right now, but you can expect more stories about the cold digital world and the humans plugged into it. We’ve never been so excited to be depressed and melancholy.

BoJack Horseman

BoJack Horseman continues to earn rave reviews, as the anthropomorphic horse with a drinking problem always manages to make audiences laugh. Netflix’s first animated comedy is a bold Hollywood satire, biting into tough issues including addiction, depression, and abuse. Season five saw BoJack become enthralled by prescription painkillers, which led him to some surprising actions. The show continues to grow and become more ambitious with its complex themes and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for BoJack. If you haven’t jumped on this show yet, it’s a series worth binging.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Reminiscent of Adam McKay’s The Other Guys, Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows the skilled but immature N.Y.P.D. Detective Jake Peralta as he butts heads with his stern commanding officer. Andy Samberg, Andre Braugher, Stephanie Beatriz, and Terry Crews star in this ridiculous sitcom. Last year, Fox cancelled the show with the disapproval of just about everybody on the planet. However, NBC picked it up for a sixth season and you can almost hear a collective sigh of relief after the news dropped. The new season premiered on January 10.

Catch-22

Based on Joseph Heller’s classic novel, the Catch-22 limited TV series will tell the satirical story of Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Force B-25 bombardier who’s angry that everyone’s trying to shoot him dead and the army keeps increasing his missions. The TV series will be directed by George Clooney, who is also co-starring in the project as Scheisskopf. Christopher Abbott will play Yossarian and Kyle Chandler will take on the role of Colonel Cathcart. With a talented cast, a veteran director in Clooney, and a popular novel fueling the project, this TV series has all the ingredients to be a hit.

Devs

Alex Garland gave us two of the most thought-provoking Sci-Fi films in the last decade with Ex-Machina (pictured above) and Annihilation. Garland now has a sci-fi murder mystery greenlit and we’re all in. This limited TV series revolves around the mysterious happenings at a tech company. The roster for the show is a cast of heavy-hitters, including Nick Offerman of Parks and Recreation, Alison Pill from Goon, and Sonoya Mizuno of Ex-Machina. The series will follow a young computer engineer named Lily Chan as she probes the eerie development division of her tech company, that she believes is responsible for the murder of her boyfriend.

Game Of Thrones

One of the best shows of all time will have its epic finale this year and it will be a bittersweet, thrilling ride. Winter is coming soon and the white walkers will be infesting Westeros as Jon Snow, Khaleesi, and the surviving players try to strategize a plan for victory without murdering each other like savages first. When death comes knocking at their door, what will they say? We can’t wait to see what happens and how it will all come to a close. If we know anything about Game of Thrones, it’s to have no expectations because they will most likely be shattered like a white walker thrust with a Valyrian steel sword.

Mindhunter

It feels like Mindhunter season one was released ages ago, but it was only 2017 when we were graced with the gritty true crime series directed by David Fincher. Production wrapped in 2018 and the series will have eight brand new episodes for you to wrap your minds around, and we’re assuming they’ll drop in October as season one did. Jonathan Groff, who plays Holden Fold, looks to be back, but this time the series will jump forward a bit to 1979 in order to cover the Atlanta Child Murders. It’s also expected to delve into the minds of two infamous serial killers: Son of Sam and Charles Manson.

Rick And Morty

Rick and Morty is one of the smartest, craziest cartoons we’ve seen in a while and we’re hoping season four is plenty more of the same. Production of the fourth season started in June and it should drop later this year. In addition to being one of the most ingenious shows on TV, it’s also the deadliest show on TV, averaging 26.1 deaths per episode. We’re eager to see where this dynamic duo will get schwifty next.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian

We didn’t get a Boba Fett standalone movie, but this bounty hunter TV show in a galaxy far away is a worthy compensation prize. This is the first live-action Star Wars TV show and it’s helmed by veteran director Jon Favreau. Favreau is the man who sparked the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with a little movie called Iron Man back in 2008. The story will be set after the fall of the Empire but before the rise of the First Order, and will follow the adventures of a lone gunslinger. Pedro Pascal will play the lead bounty hunter and he’ll be joined by Gina Carano, Omid Abtahi, Nick Nolte, Giancarlo Esposito, and Carl Weathers.

Stranger Things

The most popular show on Netflix is heading into its third season and the hype is in full force. Millie Bobby Brown and the rest of the gang have been picking up more projects, which left us without any Stranger Things action in 2018, but now it’s back in business. The band is back together, as the original cast members are all onboard. The new additions include Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride and Maya Thurman-Hawke, who will also be starring in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In addition to a new mall for the kids to run loose, there’s also a dangerous new threat plaguing the residents of Hawkins.

The End Of The F***ing World

The Emmy-nominated coming-of-age road trip dark comedy series will pick up right where it left off at the open-ended conclusion of the first season. The odd adventures of a self-proclaimed psycho named James and a loud-mouthed rebel named Alyssa came to a proper end in the first season and captured the tone of the Charles S. Forsman graphic novel. Fans wanted more of the twisted, angsty teens and we’ll have to wait and see where they take the story. Alex Lawther and Jessica Barden will be returning, but the rest of the cast is up in the air for now.

The Passage

A shady U.S. government experiment gone wrong dubbed Project Noah turns a group of death row inmates into ravenous, infectious vampires. And the only shot to stopping them may be a young orphan girl. The federal agent tasked to recover the orphan girl helps her escape instead, in turn becoming somewhat of surrogate father. Based on Justin Cronin’s novels, this show is penned by Friday Night Lights writer Liz Helden and will star Mark-Paul Gosselaar of Saved by the Bell fame. The interesting premise and cast tugs at our curiosity.

The Punisher

Although season one was a bit sluggish for some, Jon Bernthal gave an intense performance and proved why he is the quintessential actor to play Frank Castle. The show also gave audiences plenty of hard-hitting R-rated action you can’t quite find anywhere else in Marvel productions. Castle is like the heavy-metal version of Captain America because he too is a man in need of a war to have a purpose in life. For the second season, Castle will be pitted against a devout Christian named John Pilgrim played by Josh Stewart.

The Twilight Zone

If you’ve seen Get Out, you probably could guess that Jordan Peele is a fan of one of the greatest sci-fi TV shows of all time: The Twilight Zone. Creator Rod Serling crafted stories of ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary scenarios where rationality and the recognizable, comforting world we know were warped. Well, Jordan Peele is bringing the beloved TV show back. The original sci-fi show shed much-needed light on issues of Serling’s time, while also predicting affairs of the future. With the creative mind of Peele behind this project, we take comfort in knowing this classic show is in good hands.

The Umbrella Academy

Coming off like a slightly grittier version of the X-Men, this new TV show follows a disbanded group of superheroes who have to reunite to save the world after their adoptive father dies. The group of heroes has to deal with their traumatic pasts as they try to work together in battling heinous villains. Aside from Ellen Page, the cast isn’t immediately familiar, but there could be some breakout stars in this Netflix comic book series. Marketed as a new take on the superhero genre, this could be a refreshing change of pace from what the MCU juggernaut has been pumping out.

True Detective

Stephen Dorff and Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali join the gritty crime drama for season three. After a middling second season, this current one is earning some favorable reviews and critics are praising Ali’s mesmerizing performance. Ali plays a retired detective who is asked to help a true-crime documentary producer by looking back at an unsolved case in which he was involved. This season, the show dives into real-world events and finds the groove that made the first season so compelling.

Watchmen

Watchmen is one of the most praised graphic novels of all time and Zack Snyder did do a decent job with the 2009 film. However, a Watchmen TV show starring Yahoo Abdul-Mateen II, Regina King, Jeremy Irons, and Don Johnson sounds intriguing. The show’s creator claims he’s not out to adapt the sacred graphic novel but rather remix it. The details are still murky but this will be the New Testament. Nonetheless, this is an ambitious project you should keep an eye on. Who watches the Watchmen? We’ll definitely tune in for the premiere.

Westworld

Based on the 1973 film of the same name, Westworld continues to captivate audiences around the world with dark themes and an eerie sense of wonder. Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul will be joining the cast for season three, which the creators have been appropriately secretive about. With an A-list cast, key players may have other priorities at the moment, but our fingers are crossed for a late-year premiere.

What We Do In The Shadows

Taika Waititi, director of Thor: Ragnarok, made a hilarious film in 2014 about vampires struggling to live in the modern world. Fans have been clamoring for a sequel to What We Do In The Shadows, and they’ve been gifted a TV show, which is even better. Waititi will be part of the team as an Executive Producer and the show will follow three vampires who have been roommates for hundreds of years. Hitting the scene with 10 half-hour episodes, you can expect this show to hit screens this spring. In the meantime, you can check out the underrated film.

20 Best Netflix Original TV Shows

Plenty of TV shows are still being released one episode at a time, so you could definitely slip in a streaming show or two while waiting for the next episode. Here are our picks for the 20 best Netflix original TV shows to watch.