What are you going to be watching this week? We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
The biggies
The Crown (season six, part two on Netflix from December 14)
Aftera pretty middling first half of its final season, I’m truly wondering whether The Crown can nail the landing. Trailers indicate that the focus will shift even further from the Queen to William and Kate, and I can’t say that interests me all too much! Alas, we’ve come this far with Netflix’s (last?) prestige series, so we’ll see it through to the bitter end. / Sam Brooks
Under Pressure: The US Women’s World Cup Team (on Netflix from December 12)
Has women’s football ever been bigger than it has been in the past year? Maybe not! This four-episode docu-series follows the most decorated women’s team in soccer history on their journey towards the Fifa World Cup and then through their matches in New Zealand and Australia. Spoiler: things do not go well. / SB
The Royals (all seasons on ThreeNow from December 11)
Can’t wait until December 14 for the last few episodes of The Crown? Well, can I recommend The Royals? This deeply silly series from about a decade ago stars Elizabeth Hurley as Queen Helena, a fictional queen consort of England, who must struggle with royal family drama in the modern age. It’s a whole lot of fun, and a good deal more campy than The Crown, which may or not make it your cup of tea./ SB
The notables
Reacher (season two on Prime Video from December 15)
This might come as a surprise, but Reacher, adapted from the Lee Childseries of books about a taciturn, abnormally talented former policeman, is genuinely good TV. That’s in no small part thanks to the perfect casting of half-man, half-mountain Alan Ritchson as the beefiest protagonist in airport-lit history. While the first season was an adaptation of Child’s first novel in the series, Killing Floor, this season it’s the 11th book, Bad Luck and Trouble, that is retold through the medium of television. Adjust your expectations accordingly! / SB
The Outcast (on TVNZ+ from December 12)
Adapted by Sadie Jones from her award-winning novel of the same name, The Outcast stars George MacKay (1917) as Lewis Aldridge, who we follow from childhood to adulthood as he wrestles with his tortured relationship with his family and the women in his life. Greg Wise and Jessica Brown Findlay round out this critically acclaimed British drama that has been described as “unmissable”./ SB
Blindspot (all seasons on Neon from December 12)
If you told me that Blindspot ran for five whole seasons, I would first ask you if you’re really sure that’s true, and then ask you to tell me what Blindspot is about, exactly. Turns out it’s pretty wild! The show stars Jaimie Alexander as “Jane Doe”, a mysterious tattooed woman who’s found inside a travel bag in Times Square by the FBI with absolutely no recollection of who she is or where she came from. Wouldn’t you know, her tattoos contain clues to crimes the team must solve. And they got five seasons out of it! / SB
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (on Netflix from December 15)
How blessed are we in 2023 to get a sequel to Chicken Run, unarguably one of the best animated films of the modern era. This is a direct sequel to that film, in which Ginger (Thandiwe Newton) has discovered her ideal place: an idyllic island bird sanctuary where the entire flock can live in harmony, without any risks from humans … or so they think! / SB
The Family Plan (on AppleTV+ from December 15)
Real talk: Do you think there are more films about former assassins than there are actual assassins in the world? Food for thought! Anyway, this action-comedy stars Mark Wahlberg as an average guy who loves his suburban life as a devoted husband, father-of-three and car salesman – but twist! He used to be an elite government assassin. When his past enemies track him down, he flees cross-country with his unsuspecting wife (Michelle Monaghan) and three kids in their minivan. / SB
The Legend of Zorro (on Neon from December 16)
I have no huge amount of affection towards this 2005 movie, the sequel to the 1998′s The Mask of Zorro, but I’d still like to remind everyone it was once seen as entirely appropriate for the Welsh-Irish Catherine Zeta-Jones to be cast as a Mexican woman (no, “Zeta” isn’t Spanish – it’s taken from the name of a ship her great-grandfather sailed on!). Anyway, the Zorro sequel everyone! / SB
