The 10 Most Anticipated TV Shows and Movies to Stream in August 2026

It’s August, and you know what that means: Never go outside ever again. It’s too hot! Stay inside instead in the AC, streaming the latest and greatest shows (and movies!) to your little heart’s content. And there are a ton of highly anticipated shows and movies hitting streaming this month, including the much-belated return of an iconic comedy that has a lot to prove, a superhero series which has the hopes of an entire cinematic universe riding on it, and even a taping of a transcendent live concert featuring a certain vampire.

Want to check out our picks for the 10 most anticipated shows and movies on streaming in August 2026? Sure you do, that’s why we’re here! So without any further delay, let’s get into the list faster than you can say “I eat stickers all the time, dude.”

(Note: This list is presented in release date order.)

SOULM8TE (August 1)

Way back in 2024, Universal announced they were working on a spin-off to the hit horror movie M3GAN, focusing on a man who buys an android to get over the grief of his dead wife. Titled SOULM8TE, the movie was supposed to be released back in January, but kept shifting down the schedule as — pure speculation here — the underperformance of M3GAN 2.0 likely led to a little less confidence in expanding the M3GAN Cinematic Universe (MCU… Oh sorry, I believe that’s taken).

Now the movie finally is here, but as direct to rental/purchase versus in theaters or on “free” streaming; though given the Universal of it all, it will likely hit Peacock sooner rather than later. The resulting movie looks like a cross between Obsession and the pretty excellent Companion — which has an eerily similar premise — with a dash of M3GAN’s weird dancing movements thrown in for good luck.

Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi (August 5)

Before you start counting Jedi on your fingers (Luke, Rey, Obi-Wan…), just know that this eight-episode series premiering simultaneously on Disney+ and Hulu is a spin-off of Star Wars: Visions, a series that tosses George Lucas’ galaxy to studios across the world to get their own, continuity-free takes on the franchise.

One of the most popular tales from the anthology was The Ninth Jedi, and its sequel, The Ninth Jedi: Child of Hope, focusing on young Jedi Lah Kara years after both the Jedi and Sith have disappeared. The new show amps up the conflict between Lah Kara and seeming Sith Nawaam, though promises plenty of twists and surprises in the anime series. Overall, Visions has been an exciting addition to Lucasfilm’s franchise, and seeing it expanded through fresh eyes in this new spin-off series is exactly the sort of direction Star Wars should be heading in. May the Force be with them!

Read our Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi Season 1 review.

Ted Lasso Season 4 (August 5)

Somehow, Ted Lasso has returned. After becoming a viral sensation during the height of the COVID pandemic, Apple TV’s massive hit comedy hit a brick wall with a third season that featured massive behind-the-scenes delays and reported acrimony, bloated episode running times, and a general sense that star/co-creator Jason Sudeikis and company may have forgotten this show is a sports comedy and not an experimental art installation.

If you feel similarly, great news: Ted Lasso is back to basics with its surprise return for Season 4, coming three years after the end of the mixed reception to the conclusive Season 3. This time around, Ted gets re-recruited by Richmond to coach the first all-woman team the football club has ever hosted. Other returning cast members include Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, and Brett Goldstein as the eternally gruff Roy Kent, while a whole new team gets assembled, much to the consternation of the English town surrounding them.

At its best, Ted Lasso was a zippy, positive comedy that would make you laugh out loud one minute and tear up the next; fingers crossed they’ve recaptured that Season 1 magic in Season 4.

Read our Ted Lasso Season 4 premiere review.

One Hundred Years Of Solitude Season 2 (August 5)

After nearly a year and a half (though thankfully not 100 years), Netflix’s adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s best-selling, universally loved novel is back for its second and final season. Split into two parts, the eight episodes will conclude the magical realist tale of a town called Macondo, a family that lives there, and the people around them with seven episodes on August 5 followed by a movie-length finale on August 26.

Despite the odd release schedule, this is no Stranger Things, there’s no “Conformity Gate” here, and it will likely avoid accusations that there’s Another One Hundred Years Of Solitude on the way. Instead, the Latin American production has faithfully adapted the novel to universal critical acclaim. Now that’s some solid dudes! 100 years, solid dudes!

See everything coming to Netflix in August.

Alley Cats (August 7)

Ricky Gervais is back, but this time he’s an animated cat. That’s basically the whole concept of Netflix’s Alley Cats, which channels Gervais’s profane, raunchy humor into the body of an overweight tabby and then pairs him with a bunch of other stray cats as they walk around town and occasionally get into scrapes.

If you’re familiar with Gervais’ previous shows like The Office and Extras, you generally know what to expect here, though this adult animated series is seemingly more similar in tone to Gervais’ contemplative After Life, as the cats are often thinking and talking about their ultimate demise (despite having nine lives). Also, they’re very aware that they’re cats.

You either like Gervais’ humor or you think he’s a washed-out hack coasting on his early reputation, with likely nowhere in between. So you already probably have a good sense of whether Alley Cats is for you; watch accordingly. Meow.

The Last House (August 7)

There’s a horror trope going around that’s all about people trapped inside their own houses, and this August’s Deep Impact/Armageddon for this trend (that almost assuredly spun out of COVID, or at least was partially inspired by the pandemic)? The End of Oak Street, which hits theaters on August 14, and Netflix’s The Last House, which hits the week before on August 7.

We’ll let you discover whether a dinosaur eats Anne Hathaway in Oak Street for yourself, as well as let you decide which is Deep Impact and which is Armageddon (or Antz and A Bug’s Life if you prefer). But The Last House has a wild premise that makes it worth a watch all on its own: One day a family of four wakes up, and they can’t leave their house. The family, led by Greta Lee and Wagner Moura, must first learn to keep their chins up and figure out how to grow food inside the house, as the days, weeks, months, and years wear on, with things getting wilder, weirder, and more terrifying.

Directed by Louis Letterier (The Transporter, Fast X) with a script by Matthew Robinson (Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die), this is the sort of streaming movie that will likely make you say “hey, how about we take a walk outside?”

Reacher Season 4 (August 12)

Why does Reacher, the largest Prime Video star, not eat the others? That’s the big question going into Reacher Season 4, as Alan Ritchson returns for another round of “can we find someone larger than Alan Ritchson?”

The answer, as usual, is “probably,” as this season adapts Gone Tomorrow, the 13th novel in Lee Childs’ best-selling series of novels. According to Prime Video’s official synopsis, “when a chance encounter with a distraught stranger on a subway goes horribly wrong, Jack Reacher (Ritchson) is drawn into a complex and deadly game that pits him against ruthless foes from the highest echelons of power.”

Alongside the regular cast, Season 3 also welcomes Buffy the Vampire Slayer veterans Kevin Weisman and Marc Blucas to the team. Amazon is also showing a ton of faith in Reacher, with a fifth season already greenlit and spin-off series Neagley premiering the same day as the Reacher Season 4 finale. Watch out, Jack Ryan: Reacher is gonna eat ya!

See everything coming to Prime Video in August.

Lanterns (August 16)

Hey, who wants an unfair amount of pressure layered on top of an already ambitious HBO series? That’s exactly the position Lanterns is in, as — after the underwhelming box office and critical response to Supergirl — all eyes turn to the Green Lantern TV series to see if James Gunn’s DCU has the juice. Add in that the previous live-action take on GL was so loathed that hating on it essentially relaunched Ryan Reynolds’ career, and a promotional roll-out that has suffered its own non-stop criticism for muted colors and a grim tone, and you’ve got a lot of crossed arms and squinting eyeballs going into this.

But! With Aaron Pierre as rookie space cop John Stewart, Kyle Chandler as grizzled veteran Hal Jordan, and a veritable hydra of talent behind the scenes courtesy of showrunner Chris Mundy and his back-up dancers, Damon Lindelof and Tom King, there’s every chance this show — originally pitched as True Detective with superpowers — will be a big, twisty hit.

Worst case? Pierre can make hating on the show his whole personality and become the new Deadpool in 15 years.

See everyting coming to HBO Max in August.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 18 (August 17)

What is there to say about the longest running live-action comedy on TV ever, other than: Can I offer you an egg in this trying time?

The Paddy’s Pub gang are back for a longer-than-usual 10 episode season of hijinks, and based on the synopsis for the season, among other things they’ll be dealing with “salvaging inheritances from a dead woman, surviving tent encampments and the great inside-outside divide between the haves and have-nots, withstanding job loss at the hands of workplace automation, embracing a newfound appreciation for neurodivergence, questioning the fabric of society against conspiracy theories, and of course — the biggest elephant in the room — outlasting the public’s pendulum swing against drinking. Not to mention battling nerds, LARPers, and a particularly petulant McPoyle clan at the Renaissance Faire or sportswashing their way back into the good graces of their community by sponsoring a Little League team. All the while trying to maintain order in their personal lives and at Paddy’s, which have become increasingly lawless and erratic.”

Whew! As usual, you can expect plenty of celebrity cameos, and as has been par for the course the past few seasons, parodies and riffs on other TV shows: Alongside last season’s Abbott Elementary crossover, the show also parodied Succession, and even put Danny DeVito’s Frank Reynolds on the Golden Bachelor. Not only is FX’s It’s Always Sunny the longest running live-action comedy on TV, it’s still somehow the funniest?

The Vampire Lestat: One Night Only LIVE (August 23)

Back in June, a lucky few thousand fans of AMC’s Anne Rice adaptation, The Vampire Lestat, were treated to a live concert at the season premiere from Sam Reid, who plays — who else — Lestat, performing songs that would be peppered throughout the superb seven episodes of the show. While the filmed version of the concert got a premiere for another few thousand lucky fans in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, the rest of the world will finally get to see “Lestat” rock New York’s Beacon Theatre thanks to the premiere of One Night Only LIVE.

Running about 30 minutes (or at least it did when presented live in the room), the concert features Reid in costume and in character, with a full band including composer Daniel Hart, who worked in the season’s writer’s room and crafted the songs Lestat sings on tour which ultimately lead to the end of the world (it’s a whole thing). While it might not be quite the same experience as being in the room where it happened, at least it’s coming to AMC+ for longer than one night only.