Spooky season has finally arrived, and the TV agenda is responding accordingly even though September’s crop of arrivals aren’t fully out of the picture yet, Halloween programming is switching to the front burner. Expect James Wan to scare the hell out of you and those FX vampires to make you laugh it off, but don’t worry, horror isn’t the only game this month. Comedies, dramas, and thrillers represent as well.
Here are the must-see shows (in order of premiere date) for October 2024:
Abbott Elementary: Season 4 (ABC series premiering 10/9)
Fans of Quinta Brunson’s barrier-smashing mockumentary/sitcom have one pressing question on their minds: what will happen after Janine and Gregory kissed? After Tyler Jesse Williams’ Emmy win, he fielded questions this way: “You’re definitely gonna get an answer as to what’s going on with them…. You’ll know in the first episode.” Now there’s no excuse but to tune in live or when the show streams next-day on Hulu.
Teacup: Season 1 (Peacock series streaming 10/10)
James Wan must not believe that he has enough on his plate because he added this Peacock horror series to his revolving door of tasks. This horror series stars Yvonne Stahovski and Scott Speedman and according to the synopsis, “follows a disparate group of people in rural Georgia who must come together in the face of a mysterious threat in order to survive.” The story is based upon Robert McCammon’s Bram Stoker Award-nominated Stinger with a more minimalistic, stripped down take that Strahovski might have found more stressful than her entire Handmaid’s Tale run.
Outer Banks: Season 4 (Netflix series streaming 10/10)
This season takes the Pogues in time after that 18-month leap into the future that came with an eye toward Blackbeard’s treasure. As such, this season follows the El Dorado gold discovery and subsequent attempts for the group to be “normal” and run a tour-based business at their “new safe haven,” which they are calling “Poguelandia 2.0.” Good luck? This season will see them group facing off with dangerous new forces, including a character portrayed by Pollyanna McIntosh of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live. It’s not quite a Jadis crossover, but it will probably be that unsettling.
NCIS: Origins: Season 1 (CBS series debuting 10/14)
Journey back to 1991, a full decade before NCIS first introduced us to the enigmatic Leroy Jethro Gibbs. This prequel series will trace his earlier investigative days and those personality solidifying moments surrounding the death of Gibbs’ (Austin Stowell) wife and daughter and his fraught relationship with dad Jackson. Will we meet a young Ducky, too? CBS hasn’t given that detail away, but we will get to know the younger Special Agent Michael Franks as portrayed by Kyle Schmid. This is no NCIS: Tony and Ziva, and that’s alright.
Shrinking: Season 2 (Apple TV+ series streaming 10/16)
Harrison Ford’s other streaming series is gearing up to return with more psychologically-oriented humor. By the power of Taylor Sheridan, Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, and Brett Goldstein, the man who embodied Han Solo and Indiana Jones has now officially become a TV dude.
The Lincoln Lawyer: Season 3 (Netflix series streaming 10/17)
LA’s most sensational defense attorney will begin a third season based upon Connelly’s fifth The Lincoln Lawyer book, The Gods of Guilt. As executive producer Ross Fineman hinted following the second season finale, Mickey will go up against “the toughest case he’s ever had,” and “and there’s a nagging sense that he might have been responsible in some way.” Of equal (or potentially even greater) interest to viewers is how much of Neve Campbell’s character, Maggie ^^^ (Mickey’s ex wife), will be in this season. Sure, this might be due to flashback scenes, but some Neve is better than none.
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 6 (Hulu series streaming 10/21)
It’s the final season for these vampire roommates and their human familiar, Guillermo, who has been doing through some stuff changes. This season will also follow up on Guillermo choosing to hang more with Laszlo rather than Nandor, along with those strange changes. Surely, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi devotees will view the series finale in a bittersweet way, especially after the premature loss of Max’s Our Flag Means Death, but never fear, these two will always have more humorously absurd TV up their sleeves.
Like a Dragon: Yakuza: Season 1 (Amazon series streaming 10/24)
This action-crime series will soon be under high scrutiny by those who love the Yakuza series of Sega games. The show revolves around Kazuma Kiryu, “a fearsome and peerless Yakuza warrior with a strong sense of justice, duty, and humanity,” and will (to some degree) follow Yakuza, the first game from 2005, which follows the title character after a ten-year prison sentence.
Lioness: Season 2 (Paramount+ series streaming 10/27)
One of several Taylor Sheridan stories/sequel seasons is on the way back to screens in what happens to be one of many Curren Nicole Kidman streaming shows (and she ain’t done yet). Zoe Saldana, however, is most front and central in this series about a secret CIA program that is inspired by upon the real-life Marine Corps. all-women Lioness program, and Saldana’s Joe, who is tasked with infiltrating terror cells and helping to dismantle them at the source. This season, the CIA moves to “infiltrate a previously unknown threat,” according to Paramount, but Joe is now faced with regret for “the profound personal sacrifices she has made as the leader of the Lioness program.” Yikes.
The Diplomat: Season 2 (Netflix series streaming 10/31)
Netflix already answered a question on viewers minds by confirming that the infuriating Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) is still alive. That complicates matters even more for Kate (Keri Russell), and they will display a united front against the onscreen debut of Allison Janey as Vice President Grace Penn while Kate will wrestle with how to prove that Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) was behind the season finale catastrophe. What does this mean for the Dennison (David Gyasi) situation? Oh, the soap operatics of this drama are only getting started.