The long-lasting but necessary 2023 Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike pushed back the release date of numerous shows, such as The White Lotus Season 3 and Euphoria Season 3. Resultantly, 2024 primes itself to be a jam-packed year for viewers as the productions play catch-up and fans celebrate more programming than they could possibly watch. While the impending returns of major shows dominate the headlines and water-cooler conversations, other high-profile series have gone under the radar, even if they are also due new seasons. There’s nothing worse than suffering the “I didn’t know new episodes were released” feeling, so let’s take a look at the overlooked shows coming back in 2024.
‘Genius’ Season 4 | February 1 | National Geographic/Disney+
Pardon the pun, but the concept behind Genius is, well, genius. Each season of the biographical anthology series follows the lives of famous figures who have had a seismic impact on history. Season 1 focused on Albert Einstein (Johnny Flynn/Geoffrey Rush), while the second and third seasons shined the spotlight on Pablo Picasso (Antonio Banderas) and Aretha Franklin (Cynthia Erivo) respectively. However, Season 3 last aired in 2021, so the average viewer would think Genius‘ time had come and gone. Not so. The fourth season was greenlit back in 2020 and finally arrived in February 2024. This time around, the show pivots to the lives of two seminal liberation and civil rights leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Malcolm X (Aaron Pierre).
‘Tokyo Vice’ Season 2 | February 8 | Max
While not as heralded as other 2022 debuts such as House of the Dragon and Andor, Tokyo Vice Season 1 proved to be one of the best series of the year. Based on the memoir of the same name written by Jake Adelstein, the story sees Jake (played by Ansel Elgort) move to Japan and become a journalist for the major newspaper, Meicho Shimbun. While inexperienced and unprepared in his new surroundings, Jake is resourceful and tenacious. He strikes up a friendship with Detective Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe), who helps the young reporter learn about the deep roots of corruption and the undeniable influence of the yakuza in Tokyo. The neo-noir show shimmers with a polished and moody aesthetic, evoking comparisons to Michael Mann’s unmistakable filmmaking style, and establishes itself as a treat for those who savor crime dramas but despise the procedural format of network television.
‘Halo’ Season 2 | February 8 | Paramount+
Halo is one of the largest video game franchises in the world, but the sci-fi show adaptation shot blanks in its first season. Die-hard fans weren’t happy to see Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) take off his helmet so often or display emotional vulnerability, nor were they pleased about the other deviations from the beloved source material. Regardless of the criticism, Halo became Paramount+’s most-watched series premiere, as per Deadline, and a social media conversation starter. While the cast and crew defended the first season’s controversial choices, they declared Season 2 to be more in line with the video games and feature darker, grounded storytelling. Time will tell if this connects with the long-time fans or not. Halo hasn’t been a cheap series to produce – reportedly, the first season cost somewhere in the region of $200 million – so the expectation will be that the new season continues to reel in the same viewership numbers (or preferably exceed them) on the streaming service.
‘Resident Alien’ Season 3 | February 14 | Syfy
It’s safe to say casting Alan Tudyk in anything makes the production infinitely better. The same holds true for the sci-fi comedy Resident Alien. Based on the Dark Horse Comics series by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse, the show sees Tudyk portray Harry Vanderspeigle, an alien who arrives on Earth with a plan to destroy humanity. However, Harry ends up stealing a doctor’s identity and developing a soft spot for the living, breathing meat sacks living on the third rock from the Sun. While Resident Alien dipped below 600,000 U.S. viewers in its second season and never translated into a widespread pop-culture sensation, the series holds a whimsical charm and allows Tudyk a platform to showcase his comedic genius as a fish-out-of-water character.
‘Arcane’ Season 2 | November | Netflix
While video game adaptations have come a long way since the days of 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and 1999’s Wing Commander, fans harbor cautious optimism whenever a popular franchise receives the television or film treatment. Nobody, though, predicted how incredible Netflix’s Arcane, which is set in the League of Legends world, would turn out to be. From the cutting-edge steampunk designs to the layered and evolving relationship between sisters Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Jinx (Ella Purnell), the animated series punched above expectations to produce a binge-worthy masterpiece that appealed to both the general audience and hardcore gamers. Arcane Season 1 took six years to materialize, but the second season is taking half the time, with a release date of November 2024 on the cards.
‘Interview with the Vampire’ Season 2 | Release Date TBC | AMC
Considering how beloved the 1994 film adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire is, there were a few twisted noses when the show was announced. However, Season 1 quickly won over the audience and critics in 2022, as it embraced the queer relationship between vampires Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) and Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), rather than simply alluding to it like the movie. Moreover, Interview with the Vampire didn’t overstay its welcome, dishing out more killer than filler in seven strong episodes that explored many powerful themes such as codependency, gaslighting, and racism. The second season aims to sink its teeth into the characters of Louis and Armand (Assad Zaman), whom Louis dubbed “the love of my life.” However, Lestat might bite back against this statement.
‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 4 | Release Date TBD | Netflix
Based on the quirky comic book series created by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy lit up Netflix when it debuted in 2019. The show follows the adventures of the superpowered Hargreeves siblings and their motley brand of outrageous action, dark humor, and gut-punching family drama. When Season 3 premiered in July 2022, many fans feared it to be the end of the road, especially since the story embraced even weirder paradoxical elements of time travel and Netflix shows don’t often receive anything past a three-season run. However, a shortened fourth and final season entered production and wrapped up before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. As of the time of writing, there’s no announcement regarding when these six episodes are scheduled to arrive on the streaming platform, apart from the fact that it will be sometime in 2024. All that’s known for certain is this will be the last time that fans see Viktor, Luther, Diego, Klaus, Allison, and Five in this iteration.
‘The Diplomat’ Season 2 | Release Date TBD | Netflix
Political thrillers hit differently in this day and age. Created by Debora Cahn, who helmed the final two seasons of Homeland, The Diplomat serves up a tense story following Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), who becomes the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom. It’s a tumultuous time for Kate, as not only does she navigate the waters of an international crisis, but she also has to deal with her failing marriage to fellow diplomat, Hal Wyer (Rufus Sewell). The first season of the Netflix show might not be as highbrow or well-written as The West Wing, but it knows how to squeeze the drama and leave the audience salivating for the next episode. The Diplomat Season 2 is on the horizon for 2024, promising more drama and the inclusion of the sensational Allison Janney as U.S. Vice President Grace Penn.
