Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+: 10 of the best new shows to stream in August

Irish Times

2 days ago

Chief of War
From Friday, August 1st, Apple TV+
Jason Momoa
is the star, writer and executive producer of this series telling the turbulent story of the Polynesian kingdom of
Hawai'i
in the late 18th century. This is a passion project for Momoa, who has Hawaiian heritage. The story, based on historic events, is told from the perspective of indigenous people as they face colonisation by western armies and are forced to unite to protect their culture and heritage. Momoa stars as the warrior Ka'iana, who sets out to bring the warring factions of Hawai'i together so they can defend themselves against the white marauders, with a mostly Polynesian supporting cast.
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday in season 2 of the eponymous series. Photograph: Jonathan Hession/Netflix
Wednesday
From Wednesday, August 6th, Netflix
From the moment
Jenna Ortega
did her awkward zombie/corpse/skeleton/whatever dance in the first series of Wednesday, Netflix had a hit on its hands, and fans are eagerly awaiting the second series – particularly Irish fans, as this series was filmed in Ireland.
Tim Burton
is in the director's crypt once again, and Ortega returns as ubermoody Gen-Zer Wednesday Addams, with
Catherine Zeta-Jones
and Luis Guzmán as her parents, Morticia and Gomez Addams. Wednesday is starting another term with her fellow outcasts at Nevermore Academy, and she faces a chilling new mystery to solve, and new threats to neutralise, including a serial killer who is under the delusion that Wednesday is his next victim. This year the school has a gung-ho new principal, Dort (
Steve Buscemi
), who's on a mission to make Nevermore great again. Other star additions include
Joanna Lumley
as Wednesday's flamboyant, formidable grandmama, Hester Frump, Billie Piper as Nevermore's head of music, Isadora Capri, and
Lady Gaga
as the 'mysterious and enigmatic' Rosaline Rotwood.
Platonic
From Wednesday, August 6th, Apple TV+
Will and Sylvia are made for each other: they've got the chemistry, the almost-psychic bond and an uncanny ability to spark mayhem whenever they meet up. No surprise to learn that they're not actually a couple, although, to all intents and purposes, they may as well be.
Seth Rogen
and
Rose Byrne
return as the two best friends trying to navigate their way through one midlife crisis after another, and doing their best to support each other through relationship ups and downs, and numerous disasters at home, work and weddings, not to mention on the golf course.
Alien: Earth
From Wednesday, August 13th, Disney+
It's 2120, and the world is ruled by just five big corporations. So no change there. But at least
artificial intelligence
has come on a bit, and humans now share the planet with synthetics, which is to say humanoid robots fitted with AI, and cyborgs, or humans with lots of mechanical parts added in. And the world is on the verge of another breakthrough: a new tech that allows robots to be fitted with human consciousness. Wendy (Sydney Chandler) is the prototype of this new hybrid species, but when a deep-space research vessel crash-lands on Earth, letting loose species collected on its travels, it doesn't matter whether you're human, synthetic or hybrid: you're bound to have some nasty things gripping your face and bursting out of your chest. This new show – the first TV series in the Alien franchise – is created by Noah Hawley, with original Alien director
Ridley Scott
in the executive producer's chair. While the Alien films long ago lost all sense of cohesion, here's a chance to reset the dial and get back to sci-fi horror basics: humans (and cyborgs, synthetics and hybrids) battling to stop the xenomorphs before they kill everybody on the planet.
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Love Is Blind: UK
From Wednesday, August 13th, Netflix
How far would you go to win the grand prize in a reality dating show? Snog? Have it off in the hot tub? How about marrying someone before you've even seen what they look like? This is the challenge facing the singletons in this second series of the UK version of the hit TV series. They'll spend 10 days in their own pods, where they'll be able to chat to each other via speaker, but the only visual they'll get is a sort of blurry outline through a blue translucent barrier. They'll have to rely on their lively personalities and scintillating conversation to attract a potential partner. So it's basically Blind Date retooled for millennials. To meet your beau or belle face to face, though, you'll have to propose marriage. The betrothed couples will then move in together, to plan their wedding – and find out if they actually fancy each other. The final stage is the wedding day: will they go through with it or chicken out before going up the aisle? The hosts are the husband-and-wife duo of Matt and Emma Willis, who I believe actually clapped eyes on each other before they got hitched.
Reina Hardesty and Daniel Dae Kim in Butterfly. Photograph: Juhan Noh/Prime Video/© Amazon Content Services LLC
Butterfly
From Wednesday, August 13th, Prime Video
David Jung is a former US intelligence operative who now lives in South Korea. No surprise to find that his retirement is shattered by the arrival of a ruthless young assassin, Rebecca, who is working for a mysterious espionage organisation named Caddis, and is assigned to kill him for something he did in the past. And even less surprise when he learns that the assassin is actually his daughter, who he hasn't seen for years and who thought her dad was long dead. 'I can't let you live the same life I left behind,' Jung tells Rebecca, unsurprisingly. And absolutely zero surprise to see that father and daughter now have to team up and try to get along in order to come out of this spy caper alive. Daniel Dae Kim stars as Jung, with Reina Hardesty as Rebecca.
Limitless: Live Better Now
From Friday, August 15th, Disney+
The actor
Chris Hemsworth
resumes his quest for the holy grail of healthy, happy, holistic living in this second series for National Geographic, and this time he's taking on some head-spinning challenges, including scaling a 180 metre climbing wall in the Swiss Alps, being electrocuted and pepper-sprayed as part of special-forces training, and learning to play the drums in time to perform with
Ed Sheeran
in front of 70,000 screaming fans. Hemsworth enlists help from an army of experts, including the cognitive scientist Dr Maya Shankar, the free-solo climber Steph Davis, the MMA fighter Kim Dong-hyun and the drummer Ben Gordon.
Hostage
From Thursday, August 21st, Netflix
The brilliant Suranne Jones makes her Netflix debut in this explosive political thriller, in which she plays British prime minister Abigail Dalton, with Julie Delpy as the visiting French president, Vivienne Toussaint. Abigail prides herself on her toughness and refusal to negotiate with or give in to terrorists, but her resolve is put to the ultimate test when her husband is abducted and the price for saving his life is that she step down as PM. With Abigail facing an impossible choice, and Vivienne facing a blackmail plot, both leaders must find common ground if they are to deal with this threat to country and family.
Invasion
From Friday, August 22nd, Apple TV+
While waiting for the next episodes of Alien: Earth, why not catch up with this Apple+ series featuring more fast-moving alien horrors with flesh-shredding appendages that seem to go everywhere? But never mind them: this is 'character driven' sci-fi, so we're supposed to focus more on the interpersonal relationships and emotional arcs of the characters than on the 'Look out! It's behind you!' moments. So far we've watched the invasion through a number of perspectives in different parts of the globe. Season three sees the main characters converge with one goal in mind: to get inside the alien mothership and blast these bugs into oblivion.
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf
From Wednesday, August 27th, Prime Video
The action-drama series The Terminal List, starring
Chris Pratt
and
Taylor Kitsch
as the US navy Seals James Reece and Ben Edwards, was a big hit for Prime Video in 2022, and the streamer is hoping that lightning strikes again with this prequel series. The first season was a revenge tale, as Reece uncovered a huge conspiracy following the murder of his family; this season the focus shifts to Reece's fellow Seal Edwards, telling his violent, explosive origin story. Pratt will still be in it, but this one mostly follows Edwards as he becomes immersed in ever more clandestine missions with the CIA's special operations, and is pulled into the darker, deadlier side of espionage.