House of the Dragon and 40 other sci-fi/fantasy shows to look forward to in 2024
By Dan Selcke
18. House of the Dragon season 2 (summer 2024, HBO and Max)
Three years after Game of Thrones ended in 2019, HBO debuted the prequel series House of the Dragon, and in some ways, it was like we’d never left. The new show has all the high drama, sumptuous costumes and well-developed characters of its forebear, plus a lot more dragons.
House of the Dragon is set over 100 years before Game of Thrones, back when the Targaryen dynasty was at the height of its power. And lucky us: we get to watch the family destroy itself from the inside. The second season of the show will pick up where the first left off: Lucerys Velaryon, the son of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, is dead, slain by his own uncle Aemond Targaryen. Queen Rhaenyra wants blood. If we know this franchise, she’ll get it.
19. The Umbrella Academy season 4 (August 8, Netflix)
Speaking of endings, season 4 will mark the end of The Umbrella Academy, Netflix’s loopy action series about a family of dysfunctional superheroes who find themselves having to stop one apocalypse after another. Season 4 will be shorter than the first three seasons, but at least we’ll get to say a proper goodbye to the Hargreeves siblings.
20. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 2: The Book of Carol (summer 2024, AMC)
The Ones Who Live isn’t the only Walking Dead spinoff we’re getting next year. AMC is also giving us another season of Daryl Dixon, which follows the adventures of the show’s favorite crossbow-toting redneck badass. Although this new season will be all about Daryl’s friend Carol. Hopefully they’ll share a scene or two together this time around.
21. Tales of the Jedi season 2 (October 2024, Disney+)
And we’re back to Star Wars. Tales of the Jedi is an animated anthology series where each episode follows a different Jedi. Past episodes have followed characters like Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu and Ahsoka Tano. There’s no overarching story, so you can jump into this one at any point.
22. Outlander season 7 part 2 (2024, Starz)
Outlander is approaching the finish line! The first half of season 7 aired in 2023, and ended with perennially unlucky lovers Jamie and Claire Fraser leaving the Americas for Europe. Fans hopefully won’t have to wait too long to see more of this time-traveling romance series.
After that, Outlander will wrap up with season 8. There are only a couple more Droughtlanders to endure before the end.
23. Arcane season 2 (November 2024, Netflix)
The first season of Arcane was a surprise hit when it debuted on Netflix in 2024. Few expected a TV show based on the PvP video game League of Legends to be this dense, exciting, and visually spectacular, but Arcane pulled it off. Season 2 will return us to this steampunk dystopia and continue the story of Vi and Jinx, sisters who find themselves on opposite sides of a conflict in a futuristic, deeply divided city.
24. Beacon 23 season 2 (2024, MGM+)
Beacon 23 is a new sci-fi show starring Game of Thrones veteran Lena Headey as a lighthouse keeper in distant space. When a rogue AI starts getting up to no good, there’s no tell what could happen. And I mean that literally; the first season is still airing as I write this and I don’t know how it ends.
Normally, I wouldn’t have much hope that a show airing this late in the year could return in 2024. However, when we talked to Beacon 23 producer Glen Mazzara, he told us that the first and second seasons of this show were filmed back to back. So season 2 is already shot. If MGM+ decides to renew the series, it should be ready to air next year.