The 7 Most Exciting Summer TV Shows To Keep On Your Radar

2025 has already been a banner year for television. Severance returned after a three-year break, Daredevil returned after even longer, and The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones are currently giving us a double dose of Walton Goggins over on HBO. However, the best is still to come. While summer is usually a slow time for new TV releases, thanks to streaming, there’s plenty to look forward to, from swan songs and anticipated returns to brand-new adventures.

Here are the seven most exciting series to look forward to, so get ready to mark your calendars and get speculating about what’s to come.

Poker Face Season 2

Poker Face, Rian Johnson’s ode to the detective shows of yore, introduced audiences to Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a brash, BS-detecting detective solving crimes as she wanders through the country. Now, the series is coming back with an even more ambitious plan and a hefty roster of guest stars, ranging from Cynthia Erivo to Giancarlo Esposito to John Mulaney.

Unlike so many other shows airing today, Poker Face is truly episodic, with Charlie encountering and solving a different case each week. So even if you didn’t catch Season 1, you can easily dip into an episode or two to see what’s going on, or dive in and binge to catch up.

Premiere date: May 8 on Peacock.

Murderbot

Apple TV+ has become the home for creative and polished science fiction, from the speculative (For All Mankind) to the classic (Silo) to the contemporary (Severance). Now, it’s adding a kooky book adaptation to its ranks: Murderbot, based on the series The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

The books follow a snarky, cynical assassin droid as it traverses the galaxy, and the series seems to have a similar tone, starring Alexander Skarsgård — arguably the goofiest actor of the Skarsgård dynasty — in the title role. It’s difficult to tell what’s in store with this series, but it will definitely be unlike anything else on the streamer.

Premiere date: May 16 on Apple TV+.

Ironheart

In 2022, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced Marvel fans to Riri Williams, the fun-loving child genius who was plucked from MIT and brought to Wakanda to help out the nation. The creator and pilot of her own Iron Man-esque suit, she fills Tony Stark’s ridiculously overpriced designer shoes with her own brand of spunk and humor.

Now, three years later, she’s finally getting the spotlight to herself with Ironheart, a miniseries starring Dominique Thorne reprising her role of Riri alongside Alden Ehrenreich and Anthony Ramos, who will bring The Hood to life. But there’s more to this series than just a closer look at a brand-new hero: Ironheart also serves as the final project of the MCU’s Phase Five.

Premiere date: June 24 on Disney+.

Squid Game Season 3

Years passed between Season 1 and Season 2 of the massive Netflix sensation Squid Game, but that’s not something that will be repeated with the third and final season — there’s only a six-month gap between release dates. But even that may feel like an eternity, because Season 2 only felt like half the story: We didn’t even see the end of the games themselves.

Season 3 will finally show the conclusion of Gi-hun’s story and what happened in the fall of the player revolt in Season 2. However, there are still more games to come: a post-credits scene from Season 2 revealed a return to the Red Light, Green Light field, which this time has a robotic boy as well as the robotic girl that terrorized the players in seasons past.

Premiere date: June 27 on Netflix.

Eyes of Wakanda

After Marvel Animation’s What If...? ended after three seasons, fans wondered what would come next for that side of the MCU. The answer is Eyes of Wakanda, an animated series that is relatively disconnected to MCU canon but still very much part of it. The series appears to be an episodic, time-hopping epic following Wakandan warriors as they execute missions throughout history.

Much like What If...?, Eyes of Wakanda sounds like a semi-anthological show, but instead of traveling throughout the multiverse, it will travel through time.

Premiere date: August 6 on Disney+.

Alien: Earth

Legion and Fargo’s Noah Hawley is attempting to bring one of the most esteemed sci-fi horror legacies to TV with Alien: Earth, a prequel to the iconic 1979 film. Unlike other Alien prequels, Alien: Earth is set only two years before Alien, something that’s reflected in its retrofuturistic tone and classic technology.

Much like Fargo, Alien: Earth has a massive ensemble cast including names like Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, and Alex Lawther. So much about this series is a risk: It’s a new medium, a new setting, and a new era, but Hawley might just be able to pull it off.

Premiere date: Summer 2025 on FX/Hulu.

Twisted Metal Season 2

We’re in the era of prestige-y, self-serious video game adaptations like The Last of Us and Fallout, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room to have some fun. There’s no better proof than Twisted Metal, a rambunctious smash-’em-up, post-apocalyptic series focusing on John Doe, a delivery driver trying to survive in a world of souped-up demolition derby car combat.

Season 1 established a fiery love story and alliance between John (Anthony Mackie) and Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz). Season 2 will put them face-to-face with a whole new crop of villains, including John’s sister, Dollface, as they enter a new tournament run by the mysterious Calypso.

Premiere date: Summer 2025 on Peacock.