10 Upcoming TV Shows to Look Forward to in 2022
Written by Sabera Surovy
Like 2020, 2021 was a year of COVID-19. But we all got vaccinated (more or less), and the world came to its normal pace, kind of. In 2021, we have watched many amazing films and TV shows. The world was taken aback by Netflix’s most viewed TV series in History, Squid Game which has taken the K-Drama industry to a new dimension. We got to see Kate Winslet’s amazing performance in Mare of Easttown.
The new phase of the MCU also started in 2021, we got movies like Dune, and the year ended with a blast with movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Matrix: Resurrection.
But enough of 2021. As we are in the avenue of December, it is normal to feel a little sad and nostalgic. But nothing cheers us cinephiles like the anticipation of some great upcoming TV shows, does it? Let’s look at the top 10 Upcoming TV shows that we must definitely be prepared to watch.
10. Euphoria (2019–), Season 2
Creator: Sam Levinson (Also Created Malcolm & Marie)
IMDb Rating: 8.4
Star-Cast: Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Eric Dane
Streaming Platform: HBO Max
Airing Date: January 9
I remember the day I finished the first season of Euphoria. I had a bad headache and was going to take paracetamol. But trust me I felt like a crack addict. Euphoria is a TV show that shows the side effect of drug addiction to its raw core— how it destroys life, a family, how it makes it complicated to start a relationship, and how hard it is to quit when you don’t want to quit in the first place.
Zendaya has earned enough praise for playing the lead role of Rue along with a Primetime Emmy. But Jacob Elordi’s performance in Euphoria will make you see the color of his acting spectrum. The first season of Euphoria is only 8 episodes long, there are two special episodes. The season ended with a vague cliffhanger. Though the theme is pretty dark, this show will give you a nice outlook on the daily lives of some twisted high-school kids.
9. The Continental
Star-Cast: Mel Gibson, Jeremy Bobb
Streaming Platform: Starz
Possible Airing Date: Before May 21
Imagine a chain of hotels scattered around the globe that shelters all the notorious criminals in the world. Seems pretty interesting to me. The TV show The Continental is a spin-off to the very popular Keanu Reeves starred franchisee John Wick. The story outline is still under wrap so is the airing date. But it is possible that the show will be airing before the fourth installment of the movie series comes out. Because this series will also be a prequel to the films, kind of.
Mel Gibson will be starring in The Continental and the series will have 3 or more episodes.
8. What We Do in the Shadows (2016–), Season 4
Creator: Taika Waititi (Also Created Jojo Rabbit)
IMDb Rating: 8.6
Star-Cast: Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou
Streaming Platform: Hulu
Possible Airing Date: Sometime in 2022
The third season of What We Do in the Shadows ended with a four-way cliffhanger. So thank God, it has been officially confirmed that the show will be coming back for another season.
The series is actually a spin-off to a movie that goes by the same name. If you still haven’t watched What We Do in the Shadows, you are missing a great and very underrated dark comedy. This series has only 30 episodes by far with a duration of 25 minutes. I would recommend you to watch the movie first that came out in 2014.
The story of What We Do in the Shadows revolves around the nightly lives of 3 vampires (or is it four?), the familiar of one of those vampires. It is very funny, has lots of dark humor and adult language. So don’t watch it with kids.
7. The Witcher: Blood Origin
Creator: Declan De Barra (Also Created The Originals, Iron Fist)
Star-Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Jacob Collins-Levy
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Possible Airing Date: Sometime in 2022
After the disastrous series finale of Game of Thrones, we fantasy freaks have to admit that we were kind of suffering from an identity crisis. The Witcher covered that emptiness by a lot, I would say. I mean who wouldn’t appreciate a white-haired Henry Cavil showing amazing sword skills?
The Witcher comes in three forms— TV shows, novels, and video games. All three of these forms are extremely popular. The second season of The Witcher has already hit streaming platforms and it is getting a tremendous response from the audience.
The Witcher: New Blood is set 1200 years prior to Geralt’s timeline. This series will tell the story of the first-ever witcher, also the glory of the Elven nation before its fall. The specific release date has not been announced yet. So be patient and keep waiting.
6. The Sandman
Creator: Neil Gaiman (Also Created Coraline, Lucifer, American Gods)
Star-Cast: David Thewlis, Gwendoline Christie, Charles Dance, Stephen Fry
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Possible Airing Date: Sometime in 2022
Then Sandman is a comic series created by Neil Gaiman that made him who he is today. After decades of being left alone, Netflix finally gathered the courage to make an adaptation of The Sandman which was considered unadaptable for a long long time. The cast of The Sandman consists of two former Game of Thrones stars, a former Harry Potter actor, and some other great actors and actresses from Hollywood.
Now, why should you look forward to watching the Sandman? If you have read the comic you probably know already. If made properly and with care, the Sandman can become the next genre-defining fantasy series. The storyline is extremely unique and the comic series is several volumes long. So if the first season gets a good audience and critique response we can hope for a long-running series. So let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best.
5. The Lord of the Rings
Creator: J.R.R. Tolkien (Also Created The Hobbit)
Star-Cast: Benjamin Walker, Peter Mullan, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Maxim Baldry
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Possible Airing Date: September 2
We may wonder what more superb adaptation of the Middle Earth franchisee can be made after Peter Jackson’s work. We have practically seen it all. For me, I am kind of uncertain, excited, and terrified about the new The Lord of the Rings series.
The main two creators (Patrick McKay and John D. Payne) of this show are completely new, I mean their IMDb profile page is practically empty. The plotline says this series will have both old and new faces. Well, I am not seeing anybody familiar in the cast list.
But the way Amazon won the bidding war against Netflix over this series is what caught my attention. Jeff Bezos himself is involved and according to him, Amazon will make a Game of Thrones level fantasy TV series. There are already words in the air that this series will be at least 5 seasons long and it will be the most expensive TV show in history. Amazon is willing to spend as much as 1 Billion US Dollars on the production of The Lord of the Rings. The writers will have the freedom to modify the stories as much as they want. So we can guess that the story won’t be as accurate as of the novels. The show will not focus on the main story rather they would work with some new stories whose timeline is set prior to the main LOTR trilogy. Also, unlike the movies, this show will not be kid or family-friendly. So, yeah, you have to watch the new The Lord of the Rings to see what all the fuss is about.
4. Sex Education (2019–), Season 4
Creator: Laurie Nunn
IMDb Rating: 8.3
Star-Cast: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Emma Mackey
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Possible Airing Date: September
Laurie Nunn is a very impressive writer considering Sex Education is her first major work. Sex Education season three was a big highlight of 2021 before Squid Game broke all the records in Netflix history. Season 2 of Sex Education ended with a painful cliffhanger. Season 3 resolved some misunderstandings, reignited some relationships, ended with a promise and a ‘See you soon’. The best part of season 3 was the development of the characters, especially Adam. Amy and Ruby.
Sex Education is a show that gets better and better with every upcoming season. And in my personal opinion Sex Education season 3 is the best TV show I have seen in 2021 and after finishing the season female, the waiting for the next season felt so crucial, I can’t explain.
I will definitely look forward to watching the fourth season and you should too. If you haven’t watched the first three seasons, you have no idea what you are missing out.
3. Dune: The Sisterhood
Creator: Jon Spaihts (Also Created The Darkest Hour, Prometheus, Doctor Strange, Passengers, The Mummy)
Star-Cast: Still not announced
Streaming Platform: HBO Max
Possible Airing Date: The latter half of 2022
Director Denis Villeneuve has again proved his charisma by gifting us another amazing hardcore sci-fi movie, the movie that will make Timothee Chalamet’s name remembered among the audience for a long time. A sequel movie is already on the way, so is a spin-off TV series.
Jon Spaihts will be writing for this show. As Denis Villeneuve is famous for directing sci-fi films (Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), Jon Spaihts is also known for writing sci-fi and fantasy films.
Well, most of the vital information about Dune: The Sisterhood is still under the wrap, like the release date and the star cast. But words are in the air that Rebecca Ferguson will be available for the show.
Dune: The Sisterhood will tell you the story of the Bene Gesserit, the secretive female Jedi group version of the Dune franchisee. Denis Villeneuve is said to be directing the pilot episode. There is still not a teaser out.
2. This Is Us, Final Season
Creator: Dan Fogelman (Also Created Cars (I & II), Tangled, Crazy, Stupid, Love., Bolt)
IMDb Rating: 8.6
Star-Cast: Stars Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Possible Airing Date: January 4
Creator Dan Fogelman is known for writing multiple famous Hollywood animated movies. We all know how wholesome these animated movies can be. So when the same writer creates a TV series called ‘This Is Us’ about a triplet and their parents, we can predict it will be very much fulfilling and heart-touching as well.
This Is Us revolves around the lives of Jack and Rebecca and their three wonderful and unique children. The story flows from different timelines which might be a little hard to follow. Some episodes are very emotional. And I am pretty sure the series finale will make most of us bawl like babies.
Some fun facts about This Is Us:
- Oscar-winning actresses Regina King and Halen Hunt, both have directed one episode each of this series.
- The music composer of this show Siddhartha Khosla has also worked in Looking for Alaska (2019), and Love, Victor (2020–).
- Sterling K. Brown won a Golden Globe in the category of Best Actor in a Drama TV Series for playing Randall Pearson in This Is Us. He is the first black actor to win an award in this category in Golden Globe history, in 75 years of history that is.
1. House of the Dragon
Creator: Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin (Also Created Game of Thrones)
Star-Cast: Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith, Graham McTavish
Streaming Platform: HBO Max
Possible Airing Date: Sometime in 2022
“Dreams didn’t make us Kings. Dragons did.”
We all were heartbroken by the disappointing finale of Game of Thrones. It was rushed and the plot line was way out of order. Despite all that, we have to agree that we shall never see its like again. The hype, the melodrama, the waiting— Game of Thrones had it all.
Not too long after the series finale, HBO announced a prequel to Game of Thrones and the hype has been up since then.
We know almost nothing about the house Targaryen. (At least those who haven’t read the books). The Targaryens have ruled over Westeros for more than two centuries. But what about before that? What happened before Cersei conspired and Killed John Arryn, before Ned Stark went to the west, before everything went absolute berserk?
Before Westeros, Valyria was the residence of the Targaryens. Aegon the Conqueror along with his two sisters Visenya, Rhaenys, and their three dragons Balerion, Vhagar, and Meraxes conquered all the seven kingdoms of Westeros. The place where Aegon first landed with his dragon was named the King’s Landing.
The cast of House of Dragons doesn’t have an ensemble of famous stars. The first teaser is already out and I think it's pretty dope. So in my list House of Dragons will definitely be in the number one position.
Honorable Mentions
While researching for this article here is what I found out. In 2022, there will be many TV shows coming out which will be spin-offs to some very famous movies.
- Star Wars will have multiple spin-off series in 2022— Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, Star Wars: Lando, Star Wars: A Droid Story, Star Wars: Detours, Star Wars: Underworld (I know, a lot of them are coming.)
- Some classic and popular Disney movies will be getting TV shows as well: Zootopia+, Moana
- Avatar: The Last Airbender— There has already been a not-very-successful movie adaptation of this comic series. Netflix is going to make a live-action TV series out of it this time. (Let’s just hope, if not better, the show would be as good as the animated series.)
- The Devil in the White City— Leonardo DiCaprio will be playing the role of one of the most notorious serial killers in history Dr. H. H. Holmes and it will be directed by none other than Martin Scorsese. (I know this title should’ve been on the list. But practically no information about this show has been made public till now)
- Alien— based on the original Alien movie franchisee.
So this was our list of the top 10 most anticipated TV shows coming out in 2022. 2021 was a hell of a year. We may have lost someone dear to us, done some very regrettable deeds, or had some very precious memories. But the thing is nothing is absolute, not even our emotions. So let’s try to shake off the bad memories and look forward to the New Year with hope and joy. And of course, don’t forget to watch the shows on this list.
Take care and a happy new year.
About The Author
Sabera Surovy
Khulna University of Engineering and Technology
Bachelor of Engineering (BEng),
Industrial Engineering 2017-2021
"Psycho-trillers and paradoxes are my jam. I spend my free time watching true crime documentaries."
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