The year ahead in television

Sabina Graves covers genre TV and film for Gizmodo, with an emphasis on animation, fantasy, science fiction, superheroes, mythology, and horror. Her writing advocates for streamers to keep paying attention to their creative collaborators in order to give audiences better art that will represent a lot and not be canceled after just one season. It also covers immersive entertainment, theme parks and interactive experiences that take you into your favorite fandom worlds. You can follow its coverage here.

The top story

Strange things The fifth season premieres this year and it will be interesting to see if the series finale will be satisfactory for the Netflix giant with all the delays and aging cast members. If the show doesn’t stick the landing (bring Eddie back), we expect to be distracted Wednesday season two and maybe a look at Chopper going forward One piece season two.

What are we waiting for?

As we approach another year in dystopia, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale will end with its sixth season as it hardly ever comes true in the real world. on Netflix Squid game 2 left us hanging in December with a shorter season designed to build up to the series’ final arc this year, as audiences wondered why there weren’t too many games this time around, as if that was the whole premise of the show and not quite the real dangers of late capitalism indeed. Hopefully it will be released sooner rather than later.

The Xenomorphs come home to Noah Hawley Alien: Earth on FX on Hulu. If only our UAPs could let us know how realistic reddit chest explosions are, or if a mushroom can really make us clickers. Lots of doom and gloom there with HBO too The last of us returning for a second season. Hey, at least Apple TV+ Dismissal returns later this month!

There’s something going on with Disney and the BBC Studio; waiting for them to announce more Bluey seasons with Ludo Studio, although they will be without creator Joe Brum, who is hard at work on Bluey feature film due for release in 2027. (expected to be his last work on the franchise). Will there be more minisodes this year? Or maybe just an announcement about an upcoming season? The feeling is very incomprehensible that there will be no more new ones Bluey for two years.

The state of animation on TV continues to change as the industry works for a better deal in the face of AI taking jobs and creativity away from the medium. Cartoon Network’s website shut down and for some strange reason Warner Bros. Discovery has stopped airing new episodes of Gremlins: The Wild Batch and Tiny Toons Looniversity of Max suddenly last fall, leaving fans on the edge of the Amblin spin-off movie and without the Tiny Toons holiday specials. Someone get Spielberg on the phone to fix this and check tinted, his friend Robert Zemeckis’ animated hybrid show, due out this year on the streamer as well. At Disney, the studio is facing scrutiny for removing a trans character and their storyline from Pixar’s upcoming film Win or lose series – it’s a shame and a huge L that Disney and Pixar are taking by pandering to the bigots.

On a more exciting Disney+ note, Andor season two is on the way for more Star Wars rebels against fascism. Daredevil is back Daredevil: Born Againas well as Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor Doctor Who. DC will continue to tease its new universe A peacemaker second season of Max, which will introduce characters introduced in Commando creature animated film but in live action and will be released in July alongside James Gunn’s big screen Superman.

The shows that follow

Strange things Season 5 – Netflix

Dismissal – Apple TV+

Harley Quinn Season 5 – Max

Doctor Who Season 2 (Episode 15) – Disney+

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 6 – Hulu

Squid game Season 3 – Netflix

A peacemaker Season 2 – Max

Alien: Earth – FX on Hulu

Tooned Out – Max

Wednesday Season 2 – Netflix

Win or lose – Disney+

Andor Season 2 – Disney+

The last of us Season 2 – Max

Daredevil: Born Again – Disney+

A miracle man – Disney+

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – Disney+

Welcome to Derry – Max

The Witcher Season 4 – Netflix

Cobra Kai (Latest Episodes) – Netflix

Goosebumps: The Extinction – Hulu

Ironheart – Disney+

The eyes of Wakanda – Disney+

Marvel Zombies – Disney+

People to follow

The animators behind all your favorite shows need us now more than ever; the wearer must be protected by the AI ​​(who could never think of the running gag of Nosferatu from Spongebob Squarepants)

Creator Tony Gilroy with actors Diego LunaStellan Skarsgård and Adria Archona for Andor season two

Wednesday season two Jenna Ortega and Lady Gaga

Daredevil: Born Again as Charlie Cox, Jon Bernthaland Vincent D’Onofrio

James GunnDC Studios co-head and director

One piece Straw Hat Crew: Anyway Godoy, Emily Rudd, Mackenue, Jacob Romero, Taz Skyler teasing the next season alongside creator Eiichiro Oda and the showrunners Matt Owens and Joe Tratz

Companies to watch

Warner Bros. Discovery should be put under scrutiny if it continues to break up and sell off its scripted TV properties piecemeal.

Netflix is ​​moving more into the immersive fan experience space to promote its shows, and we could see it doing in-theater screenings of episodes for Stranger Things, Squid Game, Wednesday, and One piece with questions and answers.

Disney is banking Bluey meet and greets at Disney parks and Disney cruises to keep fans: it won’t do. You should also spend time thinking about Jim Henson Studios The Muppets future: stop screwing them up and give us more parody retellings. Imagine a Muppets die hard with Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso, Shrinking) like Hans Gruber. Better yet, have Goldstein come up with an adaptation to tackle and star in it.

Far bet

There are no more franchise films planned for direct transmission after the success of Moana 2.

Want more io9 news? See when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Warsand Star Trek releases, what’s next for DC Universe on film and televisionand everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.