The 15 Most Exciting TV Shows For Fall 2026

Fall has, traditionally, been the height of the TV season. As temperatures cool, folks are more likely to spend their nights in, so it’s often when the most exciting shows premiere. This may be an era where you can catch up on your shows on the bus or in line at the bank, but that hasn’t changed the traditional TV seasons.

This fall is especially great for genre TV, as massively popular series return after long hiatuses, beloved franchises get new TV expansions, and brand-new stories have the potential to become the next big thing. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s coming up in the next few months, including what dates to mark on your calendar and where you can find everything on streaming.

Slow Horses Season 6

Slow Horses, true to its name, has slowly amassed both a rabid fan base and a star-studded cast of British breakout actors. Joining regulars Sir Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Olivia Cooke, and Jack Lowden this season is BAFTA winner Lenny Rush, who has previously appeared on Doctor Who.

According to Apple TV, Season 6 “sees the Slow Horses on the run as Diana Taverner embroils them all in a fatally high-stakes game of retaliation and revenge,” in a story inspired by the sixth and seventh books in Mick Herron’s Slough House series. Even after five seasons and four years, this series is still finding ways to make its classic spy story seem fresh and new.

Release date: Sept. 16, 2026, on Apple TV.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story

Among Ryan Murphy’s many, many projects is the Monster anthology series, which adapts the stories of real-life murderers in stylized (and often exaggerated) light. So far we’ve seen him tackle Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez brothers, and Ed Gein. Now it’s Lizzie Borden’s turn, the legendary woman accused of double homicide in 1892 when her parents were discovered with multiple axe wounds.

Lizzie Borden was actually acquitted of her parents’ murders, but Monster has always been more concerned with these figures’ places in pop culture than the verifiable truth: Sarah Paulson was recently revealed to appear in the series as Aileen Wuornos, the serial murderer who slayed multiple men about a century later.

Release date: Sept. 17, 2026, on Netflix.

American Horror Story Season 13

Speaking of Ryan Murphy, his flagship series American Horror Story is returning for an unlikely Season 13 with a series that acts like a greatest-hits album of seasons past. But because Murphy is such a fan of a repertory cast, this means that we’ll see some familiar faces quite a few times. Sarah Paulson is expected to play at least six roles, Jessica Lange will play all four of her roles, and Evan Peters will play five different roles.

And those are just the returning actors. There are plenty of new guest stars, including cult filmmaker John Waters, Cara Delevingne, and Tig Notaro. Whatever Murphy has in store for this auspicious season, it’ll definitely be worth checking out.

Release date: Sept. 24, 2026, on FX/Hulu.

Bass X Machina

What’s better than an animated Western? An animated cyberpunk Western show with a star-studded voice cast. That’s what we’re getting with Bass X Machina, an upcoming Netflix Original Series. According to Variety, Bass X Machina is set in “a lawless steampunk West overrun by brutal outlaws, machines, and supernatural terrors, where a father is forced to become judge, jury, and executioner — knowing that every act of justice meant to protect his family may ultimately cost him the very people he’s fighting to save.”

Brian Tyree Henry plays the protagonist, but he’s joined by Janelle Monáe as Glory, Tati Gabrielle as Dana, Cree Summer as Ahni, Chaske Spencer as Lighthorse, Currie Graham as Rivenbark, and Starletta DuPois as Etta. Netflix animation is always exciting, but this show looks like a hit waiting to be discovered.

Release date: Oct. 6, 2026, on Netflix.

Carrie

Probably the closest relationship in Hollywood right now is the one between Mike Flanagan and Stephen King. The director has now adapted multiple King works, but in this Prime Video series, he’s tackling one of the most famous King novels ever: Carrie.

But this isn’t your typical Carrie adaptation. Not only is it set in the present day, but there are a number of big divergences from the Brian De Palma movie that made the story a pop culture phenomenon. But knowing Mike Flanagan’s long history with adaptations, it should be in good hands.

Release date: Oct. 7, 2026, on Prime Video.

Avatar: Seven Havens

Avatar: The Last Airbender is in a period of expansion. The hit Nickelodeon animated series has only this year seen a new season of its live-action adaptation, an animated movie following Aang, and now, with Avatar: Seven Havens, we’re flashing forward beyond The Last Airbender and even beyond The Legend of Korra. It follows Pavi, a young girl and successor to Korra, as she deals with a very different world.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Seven Havens “is set in a world shattered by a devastating cataclysm. A young earthbender discovers she’s the new Avatar after Korra — but in this dangerous era, that title marks her as humanity’s destroyer, not its savior. Hunted by both human and spirit enemies, she and her long-lost twin must uncover their mysterious origins and save the Seven Havens before civilization’s last strongholds collapse.”

Release date: Oct. 9, 2026, on Paramount+.

VisionQuest

When we last saw Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he was facing off against himself and musing about the Ship of Theseus in the WandaVision finale. Now, after Agatha Harkness got her own WandaVision spin-off, it’s Vision’s turn, and he’s bringing along a few friends. James Spader returns as Ultron, but he’s appearing in his human (and bearded) form alongside a human Paul Bettany.

VisionQuest is showrun by Star Trek veteran Terry Matalas, so whatever Vision and his motley crew of human androids come across in this series, it’s sure to be an epic adventure.

Release date: Oct. 14, 2026, on Disney+.

Crystal Lake

At a certain point in a horror franchise’s lifespan, there’s only one place to go: television. Scream had a TV show on MTV, Chucky wreaked havoc on the Syfy and USA channels, even Silence of the Lambs had Hannibal. Now it’s the turn of Friday the 13th, which is getting the prequel treatment from Peacock.

Crystal Lake stars Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, Jason’s mother, and reveals her tragic backstory that led to her son’s murderous fate. With beloved movie producer A24 working behind the scenes, this could be the horror fan’s hidden gem during the Halloween season.

Release date: Oct. 15, 2026, on Peacock.

Where’s Wanda? Season 2

You may not have heard of Where’s Wanda?, but it’s one of those shows you can’t stop thinking about once you start watching. Apple TV’s first German-language series followed a family as they searched for their teenage daughter, eventually resorting to some drastic measures that dip into Black Mirror territory. In Season 2, instead of finding their daughter, the Klatts will instead have to prove her innocence when she’s seemingly caught red-handed standing above a corpse.

Where’s Wanda? has exactly what you want in an international TV series: plot twists, dark humor, and a gripping story. It’s not quite as dark as the Scandinoir you get up north, so the tone remains balanced throughout.

Release date: Oct. 21, 2026, on Apple TV.

Nocturne

Nocturne was actually based on the Scandinoir novels Lazarus and The Sandman, written by the husband-and-wife team Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril under the name Lars Kepler. But while its source material may be very Swedish, this show is actually set in Pennsylvania. It follows Jonah Lynn, a former homicide detective (Liev Schreiber), as he moves to a small town, only to find himself on the tail of a serial murderer. Pennsylvania has been quite the hotbed for these gritty crime thrillers, with HBO series like Mare of Easttown and Task.

Schreiber is joined by Stephen Graham, who will play the serial murderer Jurek Walter, and Zazie Beetz, who will play Saga Bauer, Lynn’s adopted daughter and an FBI agent. So, much like its fellow PA-based crime thrillers, this one’s a real family affair.

Release date: Oct. 30, 2026, on Apple TV.

The Rings of Power Season 3

The Lord of the Rings spin-off The Rings of Power is getting bigger and better in its third season, and we already know one major event to expect. “This is the season where Sauron makes the One Ring in the volcano,” co-showrunner Patrick McKay told Empire. But beside that monumental moment in Middle-earth history, there are still more surprises to come.

When Stranger Things star Jamie Campbell-Bower was cast in this new season, fans immediately began speculating on who he could be playing. The true answer is actually incredibly exciting: He’ll be playing Celeborn, which means we may finally see him reunite with his wife, Galadriel. If those are just the reveals from before the show premieres, there should be more coming soon.

Release date: Nov. 11, 2026, on Prime Video.

The Body

In a plot synopsis that seemingly combines The Crucible and Bring It On, The Body follows a dance team at a Catholic school who, after an initiation gone wrong, begin seeing visions and causing mass hysteria that quickly sweeps over their community. This is clearly a series that doesn’t take itself too seriously — Gabby Windey, reality star and winner of The Traitors, will play a supporting role — but it’s still got some grit, as it comes from Under the Bridge’s Quinn Shepherd.

We have only a few first-look images at this series so far, but it looks like the kind of show that could become the center of conversation for weeks. Plus, with eight episodes, it’s perfectly sized for a weekend binge.

Release date: Nov. 11, 2026, on Netflix.

Yellowjackets Season 4

On Yellowjackets, The Wilderness beckons for the last time. Throughout the first three seasons of the Showtime series that often gets compared to Lost, we’ve seen the young survivors in the Canadian forest lose friends, sacrifice others, and make it through their first winter. At the end of Season 3, it seemed like rescue was imminent, but it’s unlikely that reintegration will go as smoothly as they expect. Meanwhile, in the present, the survivors have to cope with the loss of a friend.

But in Season 4, the final season for the series, there’s about to be a wild card added to the deck. “As the survivors race to bury their sins before rescue arrives and an old flame roars back into town with plans of her own, turns out not every homecoming is a joyous one, and this one’s going to sting,” the official synopsis reads. But just who is this old flame, and how will all of our lingering questions get answered? We’ll have to wait and see.

Release date: Nov. 20, 2026, on Paramount+.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 3

Rick Riordan’s hit young-adult mythology series Percy Jackson and the Olympians may have been adapted into two movies in the 2010s, but with Season 3, Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians officially laps the movies. Season 3 adapts the third book, The Titan’s Curse, and while it may not be a faithful adaptation of a specific Greek myth as the first two books were, it’s full of the mythological references — and character development — that fans have come to love.

The most notable thing about Percy Jackson and the Olympians isn’t what it shows but actually when it premieres. Season 2 only ended in January of this year, meaning the fans only had to wait a few months for more episodes, something that’s exceedingly rare in an era of yearslong hiatuses.

Release date: Nov. 20, 2026, on Disney+.

Blade Runner 2099

Blade Runner focused heavily on the power balance between humans and Replicants, but Blade Runner 2099, the upcoming Prime Video miniseries, takes that a step further. Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer star in the series set in the far-off year of 2099, where “Replicants are the power brokers in the city, while humans have become second-class citizens.”

Yeoh plays Olwen, a Replicant reaching the end of her lifespan, while Schafer plays Cora, a human pretending to be a Replicant. Together they must cooperate to take down a gang of Replicants. There may not be any Harrison Ford, but that does sound like a story worthy of a Ridley Scott movie.

Release date: Nov. 25, 2026, on Prime Video.