10 Anticipated Series of 2023
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Last year was a massive year for television, but it’s time to look ahead and see what great series await us. Of course, if 2022 was a strong year for the small screen, then the shows that will continue into 2023 will also enhance it; we’ve got quite a few stellar series that are returning this year (and some that are wrapping up for good in 2023, so we have those to look forward to as well). Regarding new series, it can be tough to pinpoint which shows will wind up being hits, especially with the high volume of releases that we now see in the day and age of streaming, cable, and network juggernauts amid heavy competition. I still have a couple of brand new series tossed in here, particularly ones where I have some sort of yardstick as to how they may be because of who is working on each project. Let’s see what the year has in store for us. Here are ten television series I am looking forward to in 2023.
Warning: each entry may contain spoilers of past seasons and/or source materials. Reader discretion is advised.
Attack On Titan: Season 4 Part 3
Will 2023 be the year that Attack on Titan finally finishes? On one hand, I don’t want this anime masterpiece to ever finish. On the other, I’d like for this epic tale of the monstrosities of humanity to finally conclude. The manga that Attack on Titan is based on is actually finished, although the ending there has polarized readers. Maybe MAPPA is working toward correcting how the story resolves and not destroy one of the greatest animated series of all time (mind you, I can’t see how even an incredibly weak ending would fully nullify how astounding Attack on Titan has been thus far for nearly ninety episodes). If this year’s batch of episodes labeled season 4 part 3 (yeah…) isn’t actually the end of Attack on Titan, I’d like to think that we’ll be informed ahead of time (most likely not). Either way, I’m set for more episodes in this unsettling, jaw-dropping tale of hypocrisy and damnation.
Barry: Season 4
Barry always seemed like the recipe for a great dark comedy series (a hitman that wishes to rectify his life and become an actor via night classes), but Bill Hader and company have taken this premise to the extreme. After season 3’s insane cliffhanger (where Barry Berkman gets arrested once he has gotten carried away with his dark side via arrogance), it didn’t seem like there was much room left for Barry. I was a little concerned that the show would start to burn itself out with the titular character getting out of any jam he found himself in. Once it was announced that season 4 was definitely the final season, my worries were gone. There are only a handful of episodes left for Barry to either fix his life or be swallowed whole by his sins. I’m actually stupidly excited to see where this last season is willing to go, because the build up to this point allows it the opportunity to cement Barry as one of the great black comedies in television history.
The Bear: Season 2
The Bear was the sleeper hit, new discovery of 2022. Great. That’s old news now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get intrigued by what will come next for this FX dramedy series. Now we are aware of the series, and we were left with an answer as to what the show’s name means (outside of the opening dream chef Carmy has): the restaurant built from the ashes of a sandwich shop fuelled entirely by pain and grief. Not all of the issues in season 1 have been tended to (great, so Carmy and company now have this fortune that the former stumbled upon that got them out of this hole: surely this money will be tied to the wrong people, right?), so we can expect some more stressful storytelling to come. Either way, The Bear was unanimously adored and I don’t doubt that it will continue to be one of TV’s most harrowing series, especially after it had one season to figure itself out (and it did so with flying colours).
The Crown: Season 6
While I haven’t really discussed The Crown a lot on this site, I do consider it to be a solid historical drama at the very least. Its inclusion here is because season 6 is going to be the very last season, and we are also getting quite close to the present regarding the Royal Family. Do I think this season will be the best of the series? Not necessarily, but I do want to take the time to point out that an acclaimed show is going to be gone for good in the near future. If it maintains at least a modicum of the detailed character studying it has showcased thus far, I don’t doubt that the final season of The Crown will be worthwhile.
The Last of Us
A couple of years ago, I would have been extremely apprehensive about Naughty Dog’s masterful The Last of Us being adapted in any capacity, since the track record for video game adaptations has been… well, abysmal. Firstly, Arcane happened and proved that a video game can be a great series (scratch that: a terrific series). Secondly, Neil Druckmann — creative director and writer of the original The Last of Us video game — has worked on this HBO adaption as a creator and head writer, alongside Craig Mazin of Chernobyl fame (one of the best miniseries of recent memory, and its approach to a deteriorating society after a disaster seems quite fitting here as well). All of the stars seem to be aligning for The Last of Us. I just hope it’s at least decent so this video-game-adaptation curse continues to dissipate, but this could very well be a great series.
Masters of the Air
Amblin Entertainment, Playtone, and Parliament of Owls have given us epic war miniseries each decade, with Band of Brothers released in 2001 and The Pacific coming out 2010. The 2020s are here, and so is the next miniseries: Masters of the Air. Focusing on the Eighth United States Air Force during World War II, this show also boasts a large cast like its predecessors (including Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, and many more). Given the success we’ve seen in the past for this kind of formula, I can only expect that Masters of the Air will be riveting; at the most, we could be seeing another gigantic war series that constitutes as essential viewing.
The Rehearsal: Season 2
After Nathan Fielder concluded the first season of The Rehearsal with an overwhelmed sigh (that life may be forever impossible to figure out), it seemed like his experiment was done. That wasn’t the case, as The Rehearsal was renewed for a second season. I don’t even know where Fielder is going to go from here (when he was simulating a second life for himself and even playing God at times), but I do know that he always knows how to use studio money as best as he can (just watch any show he’s worked on and you’ll know exactly what I mean). I already wasn’t sure what The Rehearsal was going to be like once it first premiered. The fact that I feel even more in the dark as to what I can expect from this second season speaks volumes. The sky’s the limit for this existential docuseries, and I think it’s best to just not think too much about how it will be: letting The Rehearsal pull me to where it wants to go was one of the best television experiences of last year, and I can only predict the same effect will happen this year.
Severance: Season 2
The largest cliffhanger was given to us via Apple TV+’s Severance, once the team of aware Lumon Industries employees are flipped back to their “outie” states. Is their plan instantly kaputt? Will they remember any of what happened before? I’m not sure, but I do know that this science fiction drama is presented with endless possibilities. If we already got so much philosophical substance from the first season (regarding our places in society, our careers, and in our own minds as individuals), I can only imagine how much larger Severance gets from here. Of course, I mainly want answers, but I am a sucker for sci-fi done right, and Severance has so far been a glowing example of such.
Succession: Season 4
Firstly, I think it’s safe to call Succession my favourite series on TV at this very point. For the past three seasons, I have been yanked around by the Roy family and their never-ending bullshit. I find all of these people despicable, and yet I am continuously an inch away from my screen and trying to figure out who will come out on top. Once season 3 dropped the bombshell that one Mr. Tom Wambsgans is quite a snake and has screwed over all of the Roy children (including his own wife, Siobhan), the rug was instantly pulled from underneath all of us. What does this even mean for Succession? Is this just yet another smokescreen by patriarchal tyrant Logan? Does Greg “the egg” stand a chance to have one of television’s great character arcs? Will there finally be blood? Who knows. Succession has been quite difficult to figure out, and I don’t think that will change this deeply into the game. I await the sadism of this satirical opus.
Yellowjackets: Season 2
I liked the first season of Yellowjackets quite a bit, but I felt like it was mostly expository. Sure. A lot of series go through these first seasons to establish a connection between the characters, setting(s), and plot and the audience at home. Yellowjackets is a highly mysterious show full of traumatized women that survived an awful plane accident and isolation in the Canadian outdoors. We saw a little bit of what transpired post accident, as well as how the survivors are faring years later. Then again, both of these plot lines felt like a taste of what is to come. Season 2 of Yellowjackets can confirm whether or not this series is truly worthwhile. Are we going to just get standard television drama from here, or will the show dive deeper into its twisted, tormented essence? I’m calling it now: season 2 of Yellowjackets will be what makes or breaks this series. With the possibility of something great coming out of these next episodes, I cannot help but be interested in what is coming our way.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.