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HBO Max released its annual "Coming Soon" sizzle reel on May 24, and the network is doing what it tends to do every year now: stacking the calendar with enough prestige to make the rest of the streaming wars look like sad. Dragons in June, a Larry David–Obama hybrid in late June, a Big Bang Theory multiverse spin-off in July, Green Lanterns in August, and — saving its biggest swing for last — a brand-new Harry Potter on Christmas Day.
Here's what we know.
When: June 21
The Targaryens kick the year off. Season 2 left Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) trying to broker a deal with Alicent (Olivia Cooke) to head off all-out war, Aegon flat on his back recovering from Rook's Rest, and Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) running the place as Prince Regent. Season 3 has to deliver on the dragon-on-dragon mayhem the show has been promising since season one.
When: June 26
This is a seven-episode sketch comedy created by Larry David and Jeff Schaffer, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama through their Higher Ground banner, ostensibly about the Obamas trying to honour America's 250th birthday before Larry David calls and ruins everything. The premise is cool, and we love watching Obama on screen. You can expect weekly episodes through August 7.
When: July 23
A Big Bang Theory spin-off that I’m sure plenty of people will watch. Kevin Sussman is back as Stuart Bloom, the perpetually beleaguered comic-book-store owner, now tasked with fixing a multiverse that Sheldon and Howard broke with some kind of device. Lauren Lapkus plays his girlfriend Denise, and the gimmick is that they keep bumping into alternate-universe versions of the original cast. Multiverse fatigue is real, but if anyone can wring sitcom mileage out of it, it's Chuck Lorre's bench.
When: August 16
This is the first proper television series under James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Studios reboot, and the most interesting tonal bet of the year. Created by Chris Mundy (Ozark), Damon Lindelof (The Leftovers), and Tom King (the comics writer whose run on the character this is loosely based on), it pitches Kyle Chandler's Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre's John Stewart as two intergalactic cops investigating a murder in the American heartland. This is less cape-and-tights, and more True Detective with power rings.
When: December 25
Well, this is the one we’re clearly all on edge about. HBO's decade-long, book-by-book adaptation of J.K. Rowling's series begins on Christmas Day with the first stone unturned. Dominic McLaughlin is Harry, Arabella Stanton is Hermione, Alastair Stout is Ron. The adult bench is stacked: John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as McGonagall, Nick Frost as Hagrid. Whether the world needs another Hogwarts is a separate question from whether the world will watch it. But before that, I’ll probably need another re-run of the original Harry Potter.