The Best New and Returning TV Shows to Watch in 2019

A number of popular shows like Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, Homeland, Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin are coming to an end in 2019. Hopefully these shows will answer lingering questions and offer satisfying conclusions to fans. Some of the series will even get spinoffs.

But don’t despair: there are plenty of new shows to fill the empty void. Apple and Disney are each launching streaming services with a morning show drama starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon and a Star Wars epic, respectively. Popular series like True Detective and Big Little Lies are getting new seasons. Fans will even be treated to a fresh version of Les Misérables—this time, without the music. And major stars continue to flock to the medium with the likes of Cate Blanchett, Daniel Radcliffe and Zendaya starring in their own series in 2019.

Here are all the new shows and shows entering their final seasons to look forward to in 2019.

Surviving R. Kelly

Jan. 3 on Lifetime

The three-part documentary will feature 50 interviews with survivors and experts who allege R. Kelly has a long history of sexual violence.

You’re the Worst

Byron Cohen—FX

Jan. 9 on FX

The show began when two horrible people hooked up. Now, the worst couple in history plans to tie the knot in the final season of the insightful comedy.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Tyler Golden—The CW Network

Jan. 11 on The CW

Rachel Bloom’s musical dramedy about a woman struggling with mental health issues embarks on the second half of its final season.

Sex Education

1
Jon Hall—Netflix

Jan. 11 on Netflix

The British comedy centers on a socially awkward high schooler with a sex therapist for a mother (Gillian Anderson). He and a friend open up a clinic to deal with their classmates’ sexual problems.

True Detective

Jan. 13 on HBO

Love it or hate it, True Detective is back. This time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali and Steven Dorff star as Arkansas detectives investigating the disappearance of two children. Like the first season, this iteration will span decades.

A Discovery of Witches

Jan. 17 on Sundance Now

Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer play a vampire and a witch, who of course are also star-crossed lovers. The series is based on Deborah Harkness’ bestselling All Souls trilogy.

Carmen Sandiego

Netflix

Jan. 18 on Netflix

Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez lends her voice to the reboot of the educational cartoon. The new show promises to dive into how Carmen Sandiego became an international thief.

Black Monday

Jan. 20 on Showtime

Don Cheadle, Regina Hall and Andrew Rannells star in a Wolf of Wall Street-esque take on the years leading up to the 1987 stock market crash. Seth Rogen and frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg serve as executive producers.

Broad City

From left: Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer in Broad City.
Comedy Central

Jan. 24 on Comedy Central

The irreverent comedy starring duo Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer comes to a close after five seasons. But don’t despair: both women have signed contracts to develop several other shows for Comedy Central.

The Other Two

Jan. 24 on Comedy Central

Former Saturday Night Live head co-writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider wrote and produced this new series about two struggling siblings who cling to the coattails of their younger brother when he suddenly becomes uber-famous.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Tituss Burgess and Ellie Kemper in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Eric Liebowitz—Netflix

Jan. 25 on Netflix

The last season of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s comedy was split into two halves, with the first part airing in 2018. The final episodes drop on Netflix in January—though Fey and Carlock have hinted at a possible movie.

Rent Live

Jan. 27 on Fox

The live musicals trend continues with a 20th anniversary celebration of Rent starring Vanessa Hudgens, Brandon Victor Dixon, Jordan Fisher, Tinashe and Kiersey Clemons.

I Am the Night

January on TNT

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins reunites with Chris Pine for a miniseries based on a true story. Pine plays a journalist investigating a gynecologist accused of killing the Black Dahlia. He locates a girl, given away at birth and searching for her identity, who may help him crack the story.

Russian Doll

1
Netflix

Feb. 1 on Netflix

Orange Is the New Black star Natasha Lyonne appears as a woman who can’t escape her own birthday party in a comedy co-created by Amy Poehler.

Miracle Workers

Feb. 12 on TBS

Miracle Workers joins a handful of other celestial television comedies (The Good Place, God Friended Me). Steve Buscemi plays God and Daniel Radcliffe one of his angels.

Desus & Mero

FYC Event for VICELAND's DESUS & MERO
Charley Gallay—Getty Images for VICELAND

Feb. 12 on Showtime

After ending their Viceland series, popular podcast hosts snag a new late night slot. The duo will riff about sports, pop culture and politics in front of a studio audience every Thursday night.

The Umbrella Academy

1
Christos Kalohoridis—Netflix

Feb. 15 on Netflix

Netflix brings the popular and strange comic book series to television. Ellen Page plays one of a group of children who were born under mysterious circumstances and raised by an eccentric millionaire to be superheroes.

Shrill

Episode 103
Allyson Riggs—Hulu

March 15 on Hulu

Saturday Night Live star Aidy Bryant finally gets her own show. She stars in an adaptation of Lindy West’s bestselling memoir about becoming a writer in Seattle.

Les Misérables

April 14 on BBC & PBS

Many people think of Les Mis as a musical—whether they saw it on stage or screen. But Masterpiece Theater’s upcoming adaptation of Victor Hugo’s famed novel will be a drama without song. The six-part show boasts an impressive cast, including David Oyelowo, Olivia Colman and Dominic West.

Game of Thrones

HBO

April on HBO

The final season of Game of Thrones might be the most anticipated finale in the history of television. Not even book readers know how the story will end.

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory
CBS via Getty Images

May on CBS

Chuck Lorre’s uber-popular sitcom comes to a close this spring, capturing the title of longest-running multi-camera series in television history with 12 seasons and 279 episodes.

Veep

Julia Louis-Dreyfus in season 6 of Veep.
Justin M. Lubin—HBO Julia Louis-Dreyfus in season 6 of Veep.

Spring on HBO

Julia Louis-Dreyfus returns for the final season of Veep, a political comedy that hits ever closer to home.

Homeland

Showtime

June on Showtime

Brilliant CIA agent Carrie Mathison’s adventures—and many ethically dubious decisions—draw to a close. Homeland will debut its eighth and final season this summer.

Grand Hotel

June on ABC

Eva Longoria steps behind the camera as executive producer, director—and occasional guest star—in an upstairs-downstairs drama about a family-owned luxury hotel in Miami Beach.

Big Little Lies 2

HBO

TBA on HBO

None other than Meryl Streep joins the already formidable cast—Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz and Laura Dern—for a second season of the hit mystery series.

Central Park Five

Ava Duvernay
Vince Talotta—Toronto Star/Getty Images. Ava Duvernay

TBA on Netflix

Ava DuVernay will serve as both writer and director for the miniseries about the five black and Latino boys who were accused of attacking and raping a jogger in Central Park in 1989. The boys were eventually exonerated, but not before they were vilified by the media—and none other than Donald Trump.

The Deadwood Movie

Everett

TBA on HBO

The long-gestating film follow-up to the beloved Western series is finally happening. Creator David Milch has said that the movie is set 12 years after the series’ end.

The Eddy

Damien Chazelle at Venice Film Festival for First Man
Filippo Monteforte—AFP/Getty Images

TBA on Netflix

The Eddy is another musical from La La Land director Damien Chazelle, this time about a jazz club in Paris.

Euphoria

Zendaya attends the 5th Annual Beautycon Festival Los Angeles on August 12, 2017.
Amanda Edwards—WireImage

TBA on HBO

Zendaya stars in an American adaptation of an Israeli TV series about a group of high schoolers navigating sex, drugs and social media. The music ought to be good: Drake is producing.

First Wives Club

Neilson Barnard—Getty Images for ELLE

TBA on BET

Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver reimagines the beloved 1996 film about three friends who join forces after their husbands leave them for younger women. Jill Scott, Michelle Buteau and Ryan Michelle Bathe star in the roles once played by Diane Keaton, Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn.

Fosse/Verdon

Amanda Edwards—WireImage/Getty Images. Actor Lin-Manuel Miranda

TBA on FX

Hamilton writer and star Lin Manuel Miranda and Hamilton director Tommy Kail produce a drama about the backstage relationship between famed choreographer Bob Fosse, played by Sam Rockwell, and dancer Gwen Verdon, played by Michelle Williams.

Four Weddings and a Funeral

The Mindy Project - Season 4
Jordin Althaus/Universal Television—NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

TBA on Hulu

Consummate rom-com fan Mindy Kaling is turning the classic Richard Curtis film into a television series. Game of Thrones’ Nathalie Emmanuel is set to star—hopefully the weddings in this show turn out better than those in Thrones.

The Gilded Age

Julian Fellows Downton Abbey Exhibition
Suhaimi Abdullah—Getty Images

TBA on NBC

Fans will get a chance to go back to Downton Abbey when movie version of the beloved series hits the big screen in September. But Abbey creator Julian Fellows is keeping busy. His long-awaited costume drama about millionaire titans of New York City in the 1880s is headed to NBC.

Good Omens

TBA on Amazon

Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel gets an adaptation with an all-star cast. David Tennant plays a demon and Michael Sheen an angel who team up to try to stop the apocalypse so they can mess with humans a little longer. Jon Hamm, Nick Offerman and Frances McDormand round out the cast.

Jane the Virgin

160512_EM_JaneVirgin2
Patrick Wymore—The CW

TBA on The CW

The fifth and final season of the Peabody-winning show will reckon with that big twist at the end of season 4 and set the stage for a planned spin-off.

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon comedy

Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston
American Broadcasting Companies

TBA on Apple

Apple elbows its way into the streaming service wars with two of America’s sweethearts. They star alongside Steve Carell as morning show hosts and producers in a cutthroat battle for ratings dominance.

Luther

TBA on BBC America

It’s been nine years since Idris Elba last played the fan-favorite detective Luther on television. The long-awaited fifth season of the show will premiere on Jan. 1 in England before eventually making its way to America.

The Mandalorian

Pedro Pascal at Kingsman Premiere
Carlos R. Alvarez—WireImage/Getty Images

TBA on Disney+

Disney is launching its own streaming service in 2019, and hopes that a Star Wars TV show helmed by Iron Man director Jon Favreau and starring Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) will pull in subscribers. Pascal plays a lone gunman operating on the outer edges of the galaxy after the fall of the Empire.

Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot - Season 3
USA Network—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

TBA on USA Network

The conspiracy-laden drama that launched the career of Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek will come to a close with its fourth season, according to creator Sam Esmail.

Mrs. America

US-OSCARS-ARRIVALS
Mark Ralston—AFP/Getty Images

TBA on FX

Cate Blanchett stars as Phyllis Schlafly, a self-described housewife activist who led the opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, the pro-choice movement and second-wave feminism in the 1970s.

NOS4A2

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meet charlie manx.

A post shared by Zachary Quinto (@zacharyquinto) on Dec 20, 2018 at 8:14am PST

TBA on AMC

The horror novel with a sinister twist on Christmas gets an onscreen adaptation. Zachary Quinto is set to star.

Orange Is the New Black

The ladies of Litchfield lined up
Cara Howe / Netflix

TBA on Netflix

After seven seasons, Netflix will wrap up one of its first critical hits, Orange Is the New Black. The show will diverge from previous seasons by spending more time following certain characters’ lives after they are released from Litchfield.

The Red Line

Elizabeth Morris—CBS

TBA on CBS

Ava DuVernay serves as an executive producer on this drama about a black doctor who is shot by a white policeman. The story spins out from there, examining the ensuing drama from various perspectives.

Undone

Amazon

TBA on Amazon

BoJack Horseman fans rejoice: writers Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy are bringing another animated adult dramedy to television starring Rosa Salazar as a woman who radically changes her life after a near-fatal car accident.

Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars
Robert Voets—Warner Bros. Entertainment

TBA on Hulu

After three seasons and a movie, everyone’s favorite teen detective is all grown up and back for another eight episodes.

Watchmen

Damon_Lindelof-interview
Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty Images

TBA on HBO

Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) brings the iconic comic book series about morally compromised superheroes to television. He promises his version will respond to Trump in the same way the original story was specific to the Reagan era.

What We Do in the Shadows

TBA on FX

Most know director Taika Waititi from his triumphant take on Thor in Ragnarok. But before that, Waititi and his creative partner Jermaine Clement earned cult status with their mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows about 300-year-old vampires trying to navigate modern life. Now that movie is being fleshed out into a television show.

The Witcher

TBA on Netflix

Henry Cavill is trading in Superman’s cape for Gerhalt’s grey wig in The Witcher. The adaptation of the popular Polish fantasy saga—and blockbuster video game—aims to capture the attention of Game of Thrones fans.

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