Like clockwork, another slew of huge new movies and TV shows has arrived on streaming services to clog up your already stacked watchlist for 2022.
This weekend is a particularly unique case, mind you, since the headline series – Peaky Blinders season 6 – has already aired in certain parts of the world. The final outing for the BBC-produced show began streaming in the UK way back in February, but now it's finally come to Netflix for overseas audiences to enjoy. Elsewhere, new superhero adventure Ms. Marvel arrives on Disney Plus, while critically-acclaimed sci-fi series, For All Mankind, returns to Apple TV Plus.
Below, we’ve rounded up eight of the biggest new movies and TV shows available to stream on the likes of Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and more this weekend.
Peaky Blinders season 6 (Netflix)
After a string of pandemic-induced delays, Peaky Blinders season 6 hit BBC iPlayer in the UK earlier this year. However, US audiences have had to wait for Steven Knight's beloved period drama to return, and it does so for the final time on Netflix this weekend.
In the interest of avoiding spoilers, all we’ll say is this: the gangster series’ new episodes find some familiar faces (including Tom Hardy’s Alfie Solomons) picking up the pieces left by Tommy Shelby’s actions in the show’s explosive season 5 finale. The shadow of a looming Second World War now hangs over proceedings, too, so expect Peaky Blinders season 6 to up the bullet (and body) count even further.
As mentioned, these episodes have been confirmed as the Blinders’ last on TV – but fear not: creator Knight has pledged to continue their story in a future movie.
Now available to stream on Netflix in the US.
Ms. Marvel (Disney Plus)
Arriving hot on the heels of fan-favorite MCU series Moon Knight this weekend is Ms. Marvel, the latest piece in the superhero studio’s ambitious (but still developing) Marvel Phase 4 puzzle.
This six-episode show tells the tale of Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a Pakistani-American teenager and Avengers superfan who comes into possession of a strange ancestral bracelet that grants her superpowers. Naturally, though, some folk aren’t too keen on Khan’s ability to manipulate the world around her, and the young high schooler finds herself pursued by two mysterious organizations that threaten her once normal existence.
In our review, we said that Ms. Marvel “is a fun, colorful, fantastical and optimistic series that the MCU needs after the weightier feel of other recent productions”, so we’d definitely recommend it for those seeking a break from Marvel’s more serious Phase 4 stories. Episode 1 is available to stream now on Disney Plus (you can read our post-credits scene explainer, too, once you're done), with the remaining five entries arriving weekly every Wednesday.
Now available to stream on Disney Plus.
For All Mankind season 3 (Apple TV Plus)
2022 is fast becoming a supreme year for Apple TV Plus subscribers, and hoping to ride on the coattails of critical hits Severance and Pachinko is space drama For All Mankind, which returns for its eagerly-awaited third season.
Picking up directly after the events of the Cold War-set series’ dramatic second run, new episodes find the show’s warring astronauts jetting off to Mars for the first time, with a new player – an ambitious tech company called Helios – in tow as fresh competition.
Rolling Stone (opens in new tab) named For All Mankind season 2 as the best television of 2021 (preferring the Apple drama to pop culture behemoths Succession and Squid Game), so we’re excited to see whether the show’s third outing can continue its critical hot streak.
Now available to stream on Apple TV Plus.
Hustle (Netflix)
One of the biggest new Netflix movies of 2022 is Hustle, an Adam Sandler-starring basketball drama that appears to be defying expectations with audiences and critics alike.
After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past abroad, a down-on-his-luck Philadelphia 76ers scout, Stanley Sugerman (Sandler), takes it upon himself to bring the young phenom to the States without his team's approval. Against the odds, the pair must work to prove that they both deserve to make it big in the NBA.
That synopsis might sound like standard sports drama fare, but Hustle is earning unexpectedly glowing reviews – in our own assessment, we called the movie a “rousing redemption tale that provides further evidence of Sandler’s ability as a damn fine actor.” Trust us: this is no Jack and Jill.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Queer as Folk (Peacock)
A stateside reimagining of the 1999 British LGBTQ drama series of the same name, Queer as Folk makes its bold return on Peacock this weekend.
Counting original creator Russell T. Davies among its producers, this Stephen Dunn-directed show follows a diverse group of twenty-somethings (fronted by Devin Way, Fin Argus, Ryan O’Connell, Johnny Sibilly and Jesse James Keitelas) as they come to terms with a shared tragedy in modern-day New Orleans.
Recurring guests in the new-look Queer as Folk include Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall, Better Call Saul’s Ed Begley Jr. and Euphoria breakout Lukas Gage. Suffice to say, there’s a lot of talent in this Peacock-exclusive production.
Now available to stream on Peacock.
First Kill (Netflix)
Netflix loves a cheesy supernatural drama, and First Kill looks like it could be the streamer’s corniest for some time.
Based on the short story of the same name by V. E. Schwab, this eight-episode show adapts Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet storyline into a tale of a vampire, Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook), and a vampire hunter, Calliope (Imani Lewis), whose forbidden romance sparks a series of bloody consequences.
Despite its typically teenage premise, though, First Kill’s same-sex throughline marks another important step for on-screen representation, and fans of similar young adult Netflix dramas like Fate: The Winx Saga and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will likely find plenty to enjoy here.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Fairfax season 2 (Prime Video)
Fairfax, Amazon’s adult animated comedy series focusing on the “pulsing heart of hypebeast culture,” gets a second season on Prime Video this weekend.
The show’s new episodes continue the never-ending quest for clout of four middle schoolers on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, and Fairfax season 2 once again features the voice acting quartet of Skyler Gisondo, Kiersey Clemons, Peter S. Kim and Jaboukie Young-White.
Although its humor is pretty on-the-nose, Fairfax occasionally resembles a smart skewering of today’s internet-obsessed young people, and we’d recommend that fans of Netflix’s comparable Neo Yokio series give it a try.
Now available to stream on Prime Video.
The Janes (HBO Max)
Closing out this week’s recommendations is a customary documentary offering from HBO Max.
Produced by factual filmmakers Emma Pildes and Tia Lessin, The Janes takes a microscope to the little-known Jane Collective, an underground Chicago-based group that provided over 11,000 illegal abortions to women prior to America’s historic Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.
This feature-length documentary premiered at Sundance to rave reviews, shining a fascinating light on an issue that continues to rear its controversial head in 2022. We’re not yet sure when The Janes will become available to stream for UK audiences, though we’d anticipated its arrival on Sky and Now TV in the near future.
Now available to stream on HBO Max.
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