8 New TV Shows Worth The Wait This August

From returning seasons of 'Dark Matter', 'My Life with the Walter Boys', and 'Ted Lasso', to brand new series 'Blood Sacrifice' and 'Lanterns', there’s so much to watch this August.
By Jaanaavi Wasade May 8, 2026

With both The Bear finale and the World Cup behind us, does your TV remote feel like a useless object? Before you throw it in the top drawer to mingle with the cables and cords belonging to every electronic device you’ve ever owned (just in case, right?), take a peek at August’s program.

From the mind of Lupin and Hijack creator George Kay comes Swedish crime thriller Blood Sacrifice, while the True Detective of superhero spinoffs arrives in DC Universe’s Lanterns.

Joel Edgerton-led sci-fi thriller Dark Matter returns for a second season, while Zoe Saldaña’s Lioness and Jason Sudeikis’ Ted Lasso are back for third and fourth seasons. Add another side to the My Life with the Walter Boys triangle and a scandalous adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel The Shards, and you’ll be looking to replace those remote batteries in no time.

1. Blood Sacrifice

Where Can I Watch it? On Netflix

If Lupin and Hijack taught us anything, it’s that creator George Kay sure knows how to pen a good thriller. And also to never trust anyone on a train. In his new series, Blood Sacrifice, Kay takes the Scandi noir crime drama route on a dark journey through the streets of Stockholm. The five-ep Swedish series follows a reunited father-son cop duo as they work together to find a serial killer brutally murdering police officers.

2. Dark Matter Season 2

Where Can I Watch it? On Apple TV

The first season of sci-fi multiverse thriller Dark Matter took its directions from Blake Crouch’s 2016 novel of the same name. But with no second novel to adapt, Crouch has written these next ten episodes specifically for Season 2. Picking up with married couple Jason and Daniela Dessen (played by Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly) in their seemingly safe world, it’s not long before they’re forced to flee once more. Honestly, never a dull moment with the Dessens.

3. Lanterns

Where Can I Watch it? On HBO Max

Dubbed ‘The True Detective of superhero spin-offs’, Lanterns brings the DC Universe’s fan-fav Green Lanterns to planet Earth to solve a mystery or two. Kyle Chandler (AKA Coach Taylor to all those with clear eyes and full hearts) plays veteran cop Hal Jordan working alongside maverick rookie John Stewart (played by Aaron Pierre). Split across two timelines and eight episodes, the two are tasked with cracking a case they suspect may be alien in origin.

4. Lioness Season 3

Where Can I Watch it? On Paramount+

With so many Oscars between them, it’s a wonder the cast of Lioness don’t go thirds in a storage unit. Starring Zoe Saldaña, Morgan Freeman, and Nicole Kidman, the military action drama is back for a third season full of hidden networks, foreign operatives, and fearless undercover agents. With a war that now affects every aspect of her life, Joe McNamara (Saldaña) seeks to balance duty and her personal life, despite both seeming to be set on paths to destruction.

5. My Life with the Walter Boys Season 3 

Where Can I Watch it? On Netflix

We’ve been left balancing on a cliff for almost a year, but now we should finally get the answers My Life with the Walter Boys’ season 2 finale left us seeking. The coming-of-age drama based on Ali Novak’s YA novel of the same name follows a suspiciously similar triangular-shaped plotline to TSITP, swapping out brothers Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher for Alex and Cole Walter. But with episodes equally as addictive, there’s no complaints here. #TeamCole!

6. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Cien años de soledad) Part 2

Where Can I Watch It? On Netflix

Following the huge success of Part 1’s release in 2024, the sweeping Spanish-language adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s magnum opus returns for its second and final act. Covering the last 50 years of the century, Marleyda Soto and Claudio Cataño reprise their roles as Úrsula Iguarán and Colonel Aureliano Buendía, bringing the mythical Macondo and its inhabitants to life. The first 7 eps will drop before a two-hour cinematic grand finale follows three weeks later, though ironically, the wait may feel closer to one hundred years.

7. Outer Banks Season 5

Where Can I Watch it? On Netflix

A fifth season of Outer Banks was always dependant on the viewership numbers of Season 4, and obviously they arrived in droves. People can’t get enough of the coming-of-age action drama, but the time has officially come to wave goodbye to the Pogues once and for all. This fifth and final season promises a farewell that’s as heartwarming as it is pulse-pounding, with the crew setting out on one last treasure hunt.

8. The Shards

Where Can I Watch it? On Disney+

Does Ryan Murphy ever sleep? Or does he share some kind of TV-series-fuelled hyperbaric oxygen chamber with David E. Kelley? The Shards, Murphy’s eighth release in two years, is an adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' 2023 semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Set in 1980s LA, the mystery thriller follows a group of privileged teens who’re fixated on sex and popularity until they’re dealt a heavy dose of dark reality when a serial killer transfers to their school.