2025 TV preview: A hotel stay in Thailand, along with the requisite monsters and aliens
CNN
The new year is almost upon us, and – regardless of the endless watchlists of content we all have yet to tackle – with it comes a glut of showy new titles destined for our at-home screens of varying sizes.
The new year is almost upon us, and – regardless of the endless watchlists of content we all have yet to tackle – with it comes a glut of showy new titles destined for our at-home screens of varying sizes. While many of the selections below are not new shows, the desire to revisit familiar and beloved characters and storylines to see where things go next is evidence of the great work accomplished by those who made these returning series. Below is a selection of just some of the most-anticipated entertainment set for the new calendar year on TV and streaming: After a fiendishly scary, engrossing and musical Season 4 way back in 2022, it’s time to return to Hawkins to revisit whatever’s lurking Upside Down – namely one Vecna. Like with “Euphoria” (which won’t be back until 2026), between the pandemic, Hollywood strikes, other cast commitments and more, a lot of time has passed since we last saw Eleven and her friends. Netflix has not yet specified a date for “Stranger Things” Season 5 – its final – to debut. Another highly anticipated returning show is “White Lotus,” from the mind of “Enlightened” craftsman Mike White. The first Hawaii-set season was a master class in how to portray strained, awkward racial tension and class relations, while 2022’s second season, set in Italy, was a bedroom farce that built to a viral crescendo, thanks to Emmy-winner Jennifer Coolidge’s gleefully clueless Tanya. The third go-round, taking place in Thailand, will welcome back Belinda (the excellent Natasha Rothwell) from Season 1. “White Lotus” Season 3 premieres on Max on February 16. (Max, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.) This show is new, at least in the television format. One of cinema’s ultimate extraterrestrial baddies, the Xenomorph first introduced in Ridley Scott’s iconic 1979 sci-fi/horror “Alien,” will be back to terrorize audiences in this FX/Hulu series. The subtitle hints at another truly novel angle in this concept; perhaps on Earth, no one will be able to hear you scream either. It remains to be seen how much of the original universe’s story DNA will be findable here. “Alien: Earth” is coming sometime over summer 2025.
