Our most anticipated TV shows of 2020

Charlotte Whyatt • 09 Jan 2020 Features

Ten series we're excited to binge-watch this year.

The Boys season 2

In a world completely oversaturated with superheroes, Amazon’s brilliantly subversive and very funny series felt like a breath of fresh air. It follows the titular vigilante team in their attempts to take down The Seven, an Avengers-style group who’ve become horribly corrupted by their celebrity status.

A teaser trailer released at the end of last year didn’t really give anything away in terms of plot but did promise the same kind of hyperactive, gleefully violent action. It’s also been confirmed that You’re The Worst’s Aya Cash will play neo-nazi villian Stormfront. 

Westworld season 3

HBO’s mind-bending sci-fi series finally heads out of the park for season 3 as robot host Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) escapes out to the futuristic real world, described as “neo-Los Angeles”, and begins a relationship with Aaron Paul’s new character Caleb. 

Co-creator Jonathan Nolan has promised that this season will be a “little less of a guessing game” which hopefully means we’ll get some resolution to season 2’s many complex mysteries, including what happened to the Man in Black (Ed Harris) and which personality is inside the host body of Delos executive Charlotte (Tessa Thompson).

The Stand

Many Stephen King adaptations are due to hit our screens this year and The Stand is definitely one to get excited about. Starring James Marsden, Alexander Skarsgård and Whoopi Goldberg, the post-apocalyptic series follows an epic battle of good and evil between the survivors of a deadly flu.

This era of prestige TV is the best time for an adaptation of The Stand given its thoughtful dissection of complex themes, ambition and huge amounts of detail. Longtime fans will also be intrigued to know that King has written a new ending specifically for the show. 

Snowpiercer season 1

Based on Bong-Joon Ho’s 2013 film of the same name, Orphan Black creator Graeme Manson’s upcoming Snowpiercer series is set in on a perpetually moving train which carries the last remnants of humanity after efforts to reverse climate change ushered in a new ice age.

Snowpiercer is a film that’s perfectly suited to the medium of TV which allows for a greater, exploration of its unique, intriguing world where there’s a constant threat of violent rebellion against its incredibly strict class system. 

WandaVision 

Weird title aside, Disney’s second exclusive Marvel series has an interesting premise following Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and android Vision (Paul Bettany) living in what appears to be some kind of twisted 1950s suburbia.

Specific plot details are being kept tightly under wraps, but fans have speculated that the setting could be a venture into one of the many multiverses mentioned in Avengers: Endgame or her attempt to cope with Vision’s death by creating a whole new reality.

Killing Eve season 3

In keeping with tradition, Fear The Walking Dead’s Suzanne Heathcote has replaced Emerald Fennell as head writer and showrunner for the third season of BBC America’s quirky spy-thriller which is due to hit UK screens sometime this spring.

Photos confirm that MI5 agent Eve (Sandra Oh) survived the shooting and is likely back on the trail of assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Their unique relationship and sparkling chemistry has always been one of the most fascinating parts of the show and it’ll be interesting to see how this affects it.

Falcon and The Winter Soldier

Falcon/new Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and the former Winter Soldier Bucky (Sebastian Stan) get their chance to shine in Disney’s new six-part series. Set in the MCU, it follows on directly from Avengers: Endgame and will have real consequences for later films.

Co-written by John Wick’s Derek Kolstad, expect a mix of both epic action as they once again battle against a returned Captain Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) and more thoughtful soul searching while Bucky attempts to forge his own identity now he’s free of Hydra’s sinister mind-control.

Star Trek: Picard season 1

It’s a great time to be Star Trek fan with both a third season of the excellent Discovery and the eagerly-anticipated Picard, which sees Sir Patrick Stewart step back into his iconic role after nearly 20 years away, set for release this year.

Fans will be treated to a great mix of new and old faces, including Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spinner as fan-favourite android Data, as Picard is quickly pulled back into action by the mysterious ­Dahj (Isa Briones).

Better Call Saul season 5

The highly-acclaimed Breaking Bad spinoff is set to get even closer to becoming its parent show in this upcoming fifth season as Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) is finally adopts the persona of seedy criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.

One of TV’s best ever villains Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) will continue to expand his meth empire alongside this season’s Big Bad Lalo (Tony Dalton) who assumes control of Hector’s (Mark Margolis) drug empire.

After Life season 2

Ricky Gervais’s poignant After Life is a drastic but very welcome departure from his usual hilariously cringe-worthy sitcoms. Struggling to cope with the death of his wife, Tony (Gervais) decides to do and say whatever he wants to those around him, what he labels a superpower.

This second outing will continue to perfectly balance a sensitive exploration of grief and its different stages, as Tony considers trying to date again, with Gervais’s trademark humour. Following his promise at the end of last season, he’ll now only use his “superpower” to punish bad people.