TV fans will not be disappointed in 2024, with a glut of releases in January following the end of last year’s writers’ strikes. Big names and big shows returning to screens and streaming services include the fourth part of HBO’s True Detective: Night Country, starring Jodie Foster, set in Tsalal Arctic Research Station, and scheduled for 14 January. Fans of Seth McFarlane will be delighted with his return in a Peacock prequel to 2012’s Ted, on screens from 11 January. And from 26 January, on Amazon Prime, Nicole Kidman stars in an adaptation of Janice Y.K. Lee’s best-selling novel “The Expatriates” following three Americans’ trials and tribulations in Hong Kong.
But what else does 2024 have in store?
Netflix
As well as the final installments of Cobra Kai and Umbrella Academy, Netflix subscribers can look forward to the hot smuggery of Andrew Scott in yet another incarnation of one of the characters we most love to hate: Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley. And the streaming giant will also be bringing us A Man in Full, a much-anticipated adaptation of the 1998 novel by Tom Wolfe – best known for The Bonfire of the Vanities. Not forgetting one of the TV events of the year, the new Bridgerton, slated for around midsummer and bound to be one of 2024’s most talked-about releases.
Apple TV+
Giving Bridgerton a run for its money will be Apple TV+ shows such as the Lady in the Lake, in which the always-excellent Natalie Portman brings class to Laura Lippman’s tale of 1960s murder and investigative reporting. Not to mention, of course, the second round of multi Emmy-nominee Severance, directed by Ben Stiller and exploring a science fiction version of the ultimate in work life balance. And, from 12 January, a brilliant cast including Peter Capaldi and Zoë Wanamaker come together on Apple TV+ in a slick yet contemporary-feeling Criminal Record, in which “justice is swift but truth takes time.”
HBO / Max
HBO and Max too meanwhile are lining up a number of corkers. Love him or hate him, it’s hard to remain indifferent to Robert Downey Jr. who will be appearing in an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Sympathizer, a Vietnam-based black comedy. Most commentators predict a spring release, in time for the Emmy window. Colin Farrell in the Batman spin-off The Penguin should also be something to behold.
And with a summer bounty of sporting highs, lows, thrills and spills as the Paris Olympics grabs our imagination, some will find it hard to tear themselves away from the goggle box this year.
