Clockwise from bottom left: The Terror (Photo: Emily V. Aragones/AMC), Spider-Noir (Photo: Aaron Epstein/Prime Video), Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (Photo: Apple TV), The Boroughs (Photo: Netflix)
As the weather gets warmer, May TV welcomes some highly anticipated projects like the Nicolas Cage-starring Spider-Noir, a Lord Of The Flies miniseries from Adolescence‘sJack Thorne, a sci-fi series co-executive produced by the Duffer brothers, and Nick Kroll’s latest adult animated comedy. Meanwhile, AMC adds a new round of The Terror, Starz takes on Amadeus, and Hulu brings Deli Boys back. And over on Apple TV, get ready for the Tatiana Maslany-led Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed and For All Mankind‘sspin-off. Here is The A.V. Club‘s guide to what to watch on TV next month.
Lord Of The Flies (Netflix, May 4)
“Kill the beast! Cut his throat!” Writer Jack Thorne (Adolescence, Best Interests, and the often great This Is England spin-offs) turns his attention from dangerous boys in Yorkshire to those on a tropical island to tackle William Golding’s classic novel. The Third Day‘s Marc Munden directs the four-parter (which debuted in February on BBC One), and Winston Sawyer, Harry Potter‘s Lox Pratt, and David McKenna lead the cast. [Tim Lowery]
The Terror: Devil In Silver (AMC, May 7)
Seven years after it last spooked viewers, AMC’s horror anthology returns with a fresh setting. Devil In Silver centers on a working-class father (played by Dan Stevens) who is wrongfully committed to a psychiatric hospital. In navigating this nightmare and attempting to escape, he learns the doctors harbor dark secrets that may just pertain to Satan himself. Judith Light and Aasif Mandvi also appear, and Jennifer’s Body‘s Karyn Kusama directs the first two episodes. [Saloni Gajjar]
Amadeus (Starz, May 8)
Starz, the home of Outlander and Spartacus, cannot resist adding another period drama to its slate. And its latest is a very familiar one, in which Mozart (Will Sharpe) arrives in 18th-century Vienna to pursue his creative dreams and meets Salieri (Paul Bettany), who becomes obsessed with him. Gabrielle Creevy and Rory Kinnear co-star in the five-part series. [Saloni Gajjar]
Off Campus (Prime Video, May 13)
Mere months after Heated Rivalry turned into a phenomenon, another hockey romance is set to fire up the small screen. Based on Elle Kennedy’s book series, Off Campus takes place at Briar U and follows the unexpected courtship between an all-star athlete and a shy songwriter. Led by Ella Bright and Belmont Cameli, the show has already been renewed for a second season. [Saloni Gajjar]
Dutton Ranch (Paramount+, May 15)
Another Yellowstone spin-off is upon us. Picking up directly after the events of the original’s finale, Dutton Ranch, which was created by Lawmen: Bass Reeves‘ Chad Feehan, sees married couple Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) leaving their beloved Montana home to settle on a large Texas farm for a fresh start. Like any show in the Taylor Sheridan universe, you can also expect some big names (specifically, Ed Harris and Annette Bening). [Saloni Gajjar]
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (Apple TV, May 20)
David Gordon Green helms this dark-comedy thriller from Sugar scribe David J. Rosen, in which a recently divorced soccer mom (played by Tatiana Maslany) finds herself investigating a crime and trying to keep her head above water as she delves further into a world of bloody blackmail in the ‘burbs. Jake Johnson, Dolly de Leon, Charlie Hall, and Murray Bartlett co-star. [Tim Lowery]
The Boroughs (Netflix, May 21)
Hot off the clever and creepy miniseries Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen comes another Netflix project co-executive produced by the Duffer brothers. In the sci-fi show The Boroughs, dwellers in a posh and sunny retirement community fend off an evil, mysterious entity lurking the grounds. The cast is pretty stacked here, boasting the likes of Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, Clarke Peters, and Alfred Molina. [Tim Lowery]
Mating Season (Netflix, May 22)
The team behind Big Mouth moves from horny teens to lovesick animals in Mating Season. The adult-animated comedy digs into universal issues of romance, lust, first crushes, and dating woes through the lens of a unique friend group comprised of a bear, a raccoon, a deer, and a fox (voiced by Zach Woods, Nick Kroll, June Diane Raphael, and Sabrina Jalees, respectively). [Saloni Gajjar]
Spider-Noir (MGM+, May 25; Prime Video, May 27)
Nicolas Cage makes his TV-star debut in Spider-Noir, playing an older and grizzlier version of Spider-Man in the 1930s. (Per his Esquire interview, he’s channeling Humphrey Bogart and Bugs Bunny.) Set in an alternate universe, the series finds a down-on-his-luck PI forced to take up his old mantle after a personal tragedy. Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, and Li Jun Li round out the cast. All episodes will be released in color and black-and-white versions. [Saloni Gajjar]
Star City (Apple TV, May 29)
If the alt-history series For All Mankind explores the United States’ perspective on the race to the moon, then Star City (also created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi) delves into the Soviet Union’s POV. Led by Rhys Ifans, this spin-off chronicles cosmonauts and engineers propelling their space program in the ’70s and details how intelligence officers embedded themselves into that mission. [Saloni Gajjar]
Other May premieres
May 6 The Other Bennet Sister (BritBox) Citadelseason two (Prime Video)
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