The top 10 shows of summer 2026

Summer is usually the season to travel, enjoy the weather outside, or go see blockbuster movies, but a stacked lineup of TV shows is making the case for taking some time to relax at home. Some of the biggest franchises have new seasons coming out or are spinning off new shows.

For throwback superhero adventures there’s the return of X-Men ‘97on Disney Plus, along with My Adventures with Superman on Adult Swim, which is adapting the 1993 comic arc Reign of the Supermen. Netflix’s live action version of Avatar: The Last Airbenderheads to the Earth Kingdom for season 2, while civil war comes to Westeros in House of the Dragon season 3 on HBO Max. Star Trek: Strange New Worldsoffers fresh episodic adventures on Paramount Plus and The Legend of Vox Machinabrings more Dungeons & Dragons chaos to Prime Video.

We’ve rounded up the most exciting shows coming up between now and Labor Day so you can start planning how to spend your summer nights and what series you’ll want to binge on vacation (or just over a brutally hot weekend when you'd rather not go outside if you can avoid it).

10 Star City (May 29, Apple TV)

The creators of Apple TV’s hit alt-history series For All Mankindare returning to the beginning of the show’s sprawling timeline to explore the Soviet side of the Space Race. Set in the titular classified base, the series trades sci-fi drama for a tense spy thriller where cosmonauts and engineers work under constant monitoring by KGB agents, who are trying to stop the Americans from stealing their secrets. No one is sure who they can trust, making life behind the Iron Curtain just as stressful as a mission to the Moon. You can get more attached to these characters and plotlines since the showrunners have said they don’t intend to recreate the decade-long time jumps that end every season of For All Mankind.

9 The Legend of Vox Machina season 4 (June 3, Prime Video)

Image: Prime Video/Critical Role

The penultimate season of Prime Video’s adaptation of Critical Role’s first actual play D&D campaign introduces the series’ final antagonist, an ancient evil known as the Whispered One. Vax (Liam O’Brien) and his mysterious patron the Raven Queen will play key roles in this season, where the foul-mouthed heroes of Vox Machina face death cultists and supernatural villains as they prepare for an apocalyptic confrontation. All of the Critical Role founders are returning to the show and they’re joined by Wayne Brady’s artificer Taryon Darrington, who was a fan favorite in the original web series.

8 The Vampire Lestat (June 7, AMC)

Image: AMC

The Vampire Lestat is somewhere between a third season of Interview With the Vampireand an entirely different series. Showrunner Rolin Jones embraces the most outlandish qualities of Anne Rice’s second book, where Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) becomes a rockstar and tells his side of the story. When not belting glam rock bangers written by series composer Daniel Hart, Lestat is the combative subject of a documentary by journalist turned fledgling vampire Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) and battling other vampires who aren’t happy about how he and his messy former partner Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) have exposed their secrets to humanity.

7 My Adventures with Superman season 3 (June 13, Adult Swim)

Image: Warner Bros. Animation

The extremely wholesome anime-inspired cartoon gives Kal-El (Jack Quaid) a lot of competition in season 3. While he and Supergirl (Kiana Madeira) learn to protect Metropolis as a team, Lex Luthor (Max Mittelman) introduces a new guardian for the city – Hank Henshaw (also Mittelman), the pilot shot down fighting Brainiac at the end of season 2. Hank’s gotten some big upgrades that allow him to go toe to toe with the Kryptonians (while spouting xenophobic talking points). Superboy will also make an appearance along with the Green Lantern Jessica Cruz, who will be getting her own show in the My Adventures universe.

6 House of the Dragon season 3 (June 21, HBO Max)

Season 2 of the Game of Thronesprequel ended with Westeros on the brink of war as Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her allies prepare to invade King’s Landing with her new dragonriders. Season 3 promises to pay off all the setup, with forces marching, flying, and sailing into position — and treachery and schemes afoot. This is the show’s penultimate season, so while the Targaryen family drama won’t be fully resolved, it will move the legendary family further towards their inevitable downfall. Hopefully Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) gets more to do after spending most of season 2 slowly losing his mind in Harrenhal.

5 Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 (June 25, Netflix)

Image: Netflix

Aang (Gordon Cormier) continues his quest to master the elements and defeat Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim) by traveling to the Earth Kingdom. His new master is Toph Beifong (Miya Cech), a blind girl who is easily underestimated but loves showing off her skills. Season 2 also takes Aang and his friends to the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se, where they uncover a dark conspiracy as they’re pursued by Princess Azula (Elizeth Yu). Expect lots of big fights, emotional stories, and rock jokes this season. The show’s third and final season has already finished production to keep the young stars from aging out of their roles.

4 Silo season 3 (July 3, Apple TV)

Image: Apple TV

Season 2 of the post-apocalyptic mystery series Siloended with a surprising flashback to a near-future Washington, DC. Season 3 splits its time between life in Silo 18 and the “Before Times,” where Georgia Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) and journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick) investigate a distressingly topical conspiracy involving war with Iran. Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) returned from her cleaning and survived the fires of the incinerator, but she’s forgotten her time in Silo 17.Surrounded by enemies but revered by many of the rebels, she needs to remember who she is to keep the Silo safe. A fourth and final season of the series has already been confirmed.

3 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 4 (July 23, Paramount Plus)

Photo: Jan Thijs/Paramount Plus

The last full season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will eschew season-long threats like the Gorn or Vezda in favor of character-driven episodic storytelling. The first trailer showed off some pretty silly concepts including dinosaurs and a Wild West planet, and this season will also feature an episode using puppets created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. But the series known for its big genre shifts will also offer some high stakes drama. Much of the crew of the Enterprise helmed by Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) aren’t on the version led by Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley), so it’s very possible that some of them will die in the transition, which will be completed with an abbreviated fifth season.

2 Lanterns (Aug. 16, HBO Max)

The DC Universe series Lanternslooks more like True Detective than Martin Campbell’s 2011 Green Lanternfilm.New Green Lantern recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) accompanies veteran Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) to investigate a murder in Nebraska, which Hal thinks involves an extraterrestrial. John needs to show he’s fearless and impress his boss to prove he’s worthy of wearing a Green Lantern ring, one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. After several trailers that looked a little too grounded, HBO finally showed Hal actually using his powers and teased an appearance by Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern played by Nathan Fillion in Superman.

1 X-Men '97 season 2

Image: Marvel Animation

X-Men ‘97is the one show on this list that doesn’t have a confirmed release date, but the world premiere will happen at the Tribeca Festival in June, so the show will presumably hit streaming soon after.Season 1 ended with a wild cliffhanger, with the X-Men divided across time between ancient Egypt, the modern day of 1997, and the far future. They’ll all be facing the same threat: Apocalypse, the ancient archvillain who believes the most powerful mutants should rule the world. This season will explore his origins and likely show how he reacts to the fall of Genosha by assembling the Four Horsemen for some righteous vengeance. A third season of the show has already been confirmed.