Our watch might have ended on House of the Dragon season 2, but there are plenty more exciting shows to stream on Max this year and next.
In a new teaser released on the streaming giant following the House of the Dragon season 2 finale, viewers were treated to a two-minute sizzle reel of highly anticipated series that'll arrive over the next 12 months. Chief among the trailer's footage are our first looks at The Last of Us season 2 and the next Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is currently shooting in Northern Ireland.
If post-apocalypse-led or high-fantasy shows aren't your idea of a good time, there are numerous other great series that'll debut on Max, aka one of the world's best streaming services, in the not too distant future. Leading the charge is The Penguin, a spin-off from The Batman that'll see Colin Farrell reprise his role as Oz Cobb from the acclaimed 2022 film in a gritty and brutal neo-noir crime thriller. It'll be released on Max (US) on September 19, and Sky/Now TV (UK) and Binge (Australia) on September 20.
In fact, UK and Australian audiences won't miss out on any of the aforementioned and soon-to-be-mentioned HBO-produced shows. The Last of Us' sophomore season, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and practically every other series shown in the new Max teaser will debut on these nations' previously mentioned platforms, so non-US residents will be able to watch them alongside their American counterparts.
Other shows teased in the trailer that I'll be keeping my eye on include season 3 of acclaimed anthology dark-comedy drama The White Lotus, the first official project in James Gunn's rebooted DC Cinematic Universe (DCU) in Creature Commandos, It prequel horror series Welcome to Derry, and Dune: Prophecy, another prequel series set hundreds of years before the events of the Denis Villeneuve-directed Dune films.
When will The Last of Us season 2 be released on Max?
Unfortunately, we still don't know when The Last of Us will return to our screens. Filming is ongoing on the award-winning TV adaptation of Naughty Dog's wildly popular video game series, but a new document on the Director's Guild of Canada website suggests that principal photography will wrap on August 21. If it does. and as long as there are no post-production hiccups, I predict that we'll see one of the best Max shows return sometime in early 2025.
Other big-budget shows, including A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, The White Lotus season 3, and Welcome to Derry don't have official launch dates, either. According to the Max sizzle reel teaser, this trio also won't arrive on the streaming platform until 2025, so you and I have got a long wait on our hands to get our fix of high-fantasy, comedic melodrama, and supernatural horror.
Still, with the likes of DCU Chapter One's Creature Commandos, the return of its animated sibling in Harley Quinn, a two-part documentary on The Sopranos' creation, and more besides, there are plenty of options for TV aficionados to enjoy between now and the end of 2024. I, for one, will be tuning in to as many as I can.
