12 New Shows to Watch This Weekend on Netflix, Max, Hulu, Prime Video, More

Don’t let the title fool you — Murderbot is actually a comedy rather than the dark sci-fi tale you’d expect. While the titular android (played by Alexander Skarsgård) doesn’t much care for the human scientists he’s assigned to help, he’s more interested in watching trashy TV shows like The Rise & Fall of Sanctuary Moon than killing them. Over time, he grows to begrudgingly tolerate them, but when one of the scientists discovers Murderbot has overridden its programming, will he live up to his name and kill to gain his freedom?

Based on the popular novel series The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, Murderbot is written and directed by Chris and Paul Weitz, who made American Pie and About a Boy. That should tell you what kind of show Murderbot is — fun, irreverent, a little raunchy and somewhat sentimental. Skarsgård has fun with his role, showcasing a deadpan comic delivery not seen since his True Blood days. 

t’s 1972, and Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson) wants nothing more than to see Ezra Saxton (Keith David) behind bars. He’s the head of a crime family in Phoenix, and she’s an FBI agent who is tasked with capturing him. She needs help, though, and she finds it with Jim Ellis (Lost‘s Josh Holloway), Saxton’s loyal getaway driver. Together, they might take down Saxton once and for all, but the kingpin won’t go down without a fight.

Duster is a charmingly retro buddy cop show that doesn’t reinvent the genre so much as it executes all of its elements very well. The story isn’t really anything new, but the lead performances by Hilson and Holloway make it seem fresh and appealing. If you’re a fan of ‘70s crime movies like The French Connection and Southwestern murder mysteries like Dark Winds, give Duster a try. Season 1 has 8 episodes, with a new installment released every Thursday.

Everyone’s favorite casino-worker-turned-amateur-sleuth is back on the case in Poker Face season 2. Actually, make that several cases as Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) has to solve mysteries involving murderous quintuplets (all played by Wicked actress Cynthia Erivo), a missing funeral owner’s wife and a female mob boss who needs help finding a mole within her gang.

Much of what made season 1 so entertaining is present in season 2, including a still-terrific Lyonne as the sarcastic gumshoe, a cavalcade of unusual guest stars (John Mulaney, Haley Joel Osment and Katie Holmes all show up at some point), and a case-of-the-week plot structure that feels both retro and different from other mystery shows. Poker Face season 2 has 10 episodes; the first three are now streaming.

In numerous movies and TV shows, the French are portrayed as excelling at three things: making food, having sex and fighting wars. In Carême, the lead character, Antoine Carême (Benjamin Voisin), engages in all three as one of the first celebrity chefs ever. (Gordon Ramsay has nothing on this guy.) Antoine’s skills in the kitchen are matched by his prowess in the bedrooms of the elite, which makes him the perfect spy for those with revolution in mind.

The eight-episode series plays fast and loose with history, but when a show is this sexy and fun, you don’t mind the slight exaggerations of fact. Voisin portrays Carême as a sort of punk rock chef, a Sid Vicious with a butter knife and an endless appetite for whatever pleases him. The show is somewhat similar to Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette in that it emphasizes mood and style over substance, and it works incredibly well here. 

What happens when the whole world changes overnight and you don’t know how it happened or why? That’s the central premise of The Eternaut, an outstanding new sci-fi series from Argentina that’s already one of Netflix’s most popular shows. Based on a popular 1950s graphic novel, the six-episode series begins with a beautiful but deadly snowfall that wipes out most of humanity.

The survivors are left to pick up the pieces, and that includes Juan Salvo (Ricardo Darín), who wants to find his missing daughter and ex-wife. But first, he’ll have to figure out a way to venture outside without touching the lethal snow. Will Juan find his family? And more importantly, will humanity’s survivors find answers to why this apocalyptic event happened in the first place?

The Eternaut is a riveting sci-fi show that finds new ways to explore its end-of-the-world scenario. At only six episodes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome, and provides just enough closure to end on a satisfying, if somewhat ambiguous, note.

Have you ever felt the desire for Conan O’Brien to go away? Well, the famous comedian has, too, and he’s made a successful travel show out of fleeing America to visit other countries. While season 1 saw the late-night host venture to Norway, Thailand, Argentina and Ireland, season 2 begins with Conan herding sheep in New Zealand with Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi. 

Conan then joins Oscar-winning Javier Bardem in Spain, where the two visit a museum and paddle in a river before the 2025 Oscars host hits the ski slopes in Austria. No matter where he is, though, O’Brien retains the same zany humor and adventurous spirit that made him so famous in the first place.

Are you ready to go back to the Werk Room? It’s only been a couple of weeks since RuPaul’s Drag Race crowned its latest queen, but that won’t stop RuPaul and her Pit Stop crew from returning to TV with yet another edition of All Stars. 

This time around, the drag competition show adopts a tournament structure with 18 returning queens placed into three brackets, where they will compete before advancing to the semi-finals and then a final with the last three remaining competitors. Some notable contestants include Jorgeous, Ginger Minj, Aja, Bosco, Daya Betty, Olivia Lux and more. Expect gag-worthy runways, wig reveals and lip-syncs that will bring the house down.

The world of competitive ballet has been the inspiration for lots of great movies like 1977’s The Turning Point, 2000’s Center Stage and 2010’s Black Swan. It’s now the subject of the new eight-episode Amazon Prime Video series Étoile, which stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and Luke Kirby as the heads of competing French and American ballet companies who agree to swap their top dancers to save their jobs.

Things don’t go according to plan as clashing egos, secret backstage romances and inter-office politics threaten to end the ambitious experiment before it ever really begins. Gilmore Girls and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel masterminds Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino created Étoile, so expect a lot of witty banter and random pop culture references between the pirouettes and heartbreaks. The show is breezy and fun, and gives the talented French actress Gainsbourg a rare lead role in an American TV series. 

It’s been three years since Andor first premiered, but fans can relax now that the second and final season has finally premiered. (The end of Andor will lead directly into the beginning of Rogue One.) This season picks up one year after the events of last season’s jaw-dropping finale, with Maarva’s death (Fiona Shaw) and Cassian’s (Diego Luna) breathless escape into space. Cassian is still fighting Rebel troops while Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) engages in covert diplomatic battles in the political realm. Ben Mendelsohn joins the cast this season, reprising his Rogue One role as Orson Krennic, and Adria Arjona returns as Cassian’s partner-in-arms, Bix Caleen.

Season 2 is structured in four three-episode parts released weekly. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 are available to watch now, while episodes 4, 5 and 6 will be out on April 29, episodes 7, 8 and 9 will be released on May 6 and episodes 10, 11 and 12 will stream on May 13. Season 2 promises to be just as good — if not better — than season 1, making Andor one of the best Star Wars stories ever told.

Who knew the zombie genre had some life left in it? After years of mediocre Walking Dead sequels, spinoffs and ripoffs, TV audiences fell back in love with the undead, or in this case, “the infected,” in early 2023 with The Last of Us. The first season was a fairly faithful adaptation of the 2013 Naughty Dog game, telling the story of outbreak survivors Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they cross a postapocalyptic United States.

Season 2 appears to be adapting only part of The Last of Us Part II, with Ellie now in her late teens and Joel still as world-weary as ever. Some major new characters this season include Isabela Merced as Ellie’s love interest Dina, Catherine O’Hara as Joel’s therapist and Kaitlyn Dever as the soldier Abby. The latter plays a pretty big role in the game, and it will be interesting to see how the series interprets the divisive character. Season 2 starts streaming on April 13, with weekly episodes every Sunday until May 25.

Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Jon Hamm) has it all: a nice house in the country, a fancy car, two kids in private school and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife, Mel (Amanda Peet). But all that is threatened when he loses his job, and his savings won’t sustain his luxurious lifestyle for more than six months. Jobless and desperate, Coop decides to steal from the rich — his friends and neighbors — to give to himself. How long can Coop keep selling chic Chanel handbags and stolen jewels on the black market before someone finds out?

Your Friends & Neighbors has an intriguing hook, but what makes the show so watchable is what it does with it. The show works best as a social satire of the wealthy class, who are oblivious to one of their own stealing from them. As Coop, Hamm has his best role since Mad Men’s Don Draper. Like Don, Coop is amoral and reckless, even if his intentions are good. Your Friends & Neighbors is nine episodes long and streams a new installment every Friday until May 30. 

One of the best comedies around is Hacks, HBO’s hit series about the combative relationship between a veteran comedian and her Gen Z writer. Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) has been a successful stand-up for decades, but her jokes have become too routine and irrelevant. Enter Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), who has a quick wit and her pulse on the zeitgeist. The two women don’t really like each other, but they need to team up to succeed in a business that’s often cruel and unforgiving.

Season 3 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger with Ava blackmailing Deborah to land the head writer job that her boss had promised her. The fragile friendship the two forged all last season is now destroyed, so what happens when they have to work together to make Deborah’s new late show a hit? Hacks season 4, which begins streaming its 10-episode season on April 10 through May 29, promises new developments in that complicated relationship, plus appearances by Jimmy Kimmel and Carol Burnett as themselves.