Dune: Prophecy and 8 More Drama Shows to Look Forward to in the Second Half of 2024
The rest of the year will bring us a number of projects that will definitely keep viewers glued to their screens.
In July, the second season of House of the Dragon premiered on Max – one of the most anticipated series premieres of the summer, attracting fans of fantasy and twisted drama.
The next half of the year also promises to be rich in new projects and big returns.
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Season 2
Release Date: August 29 | Platform: Prime Video
The second season of the Lord of the Rings prequel had only a few weeks left to complete filming when the Hollywood strikes broke out. Despite the bans, the producers decided to continue without the showrunners on set.
The series was completed – the second season will drop in August, and will not compete with House of the Dragon for viewers' attention as it did last year.
The new episodes will see the return of Sauron: we will finally see how the exiled Dark Lord creates those very rings. Sauron's dark influence drives old friends apart and unites enemies, and the forces of good need support more than ever.
2. Squid Game, Season 2
Release Date: December 2024 | Platform: Netflix
At the end of the year, we will also see Season 2 of one of the most famous Korean dramas, Squid Game. The main topic of the second season, which has been in development for the past two years, will be revenge, and one of the main characters will be Lee Byung-hun's character, Hwang In-ho or the Front Man – He will get much more screen time than in the first season.
Director Hwang Dong-hyuk even compared the character to Darth Vader. We will learn why he chose the "dark side" and most probably Seong Gi-hun will have to make the same choice.
The plot details are still being kept under wraps, and the exact release date has not been announced either.
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3. The Umbrella Academy, Season 4
Release Date: August 8 | Platform: Netflix
Satire and lots of inventive action scenes make The Umbrella Academy similar to The Boys, another popular anti-superhero show. So fans of Homelander and Butcher shouldn't be upset – when The Boys Season 4 ends, you can almost immediately switch to a slightly less bloodthirsty project due out in early August for its final season.
The main characters are the half-siblings Hargreeves, each of whom has unusual abilities. In the final chapter the Hargreeves family must finally learn to live in harmony – without superpowers and in an entirely new reality.
The release of the final season was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding showrunner Steve Blackman, who was accused of inappropriate behavior on set. In light of these events, Netflix even canceled the development of a spin-off, but let's hope the unpleasant news doesn't spoil the impressions of the finale.
4. The Penguin
Release Date: September 8 | Platform: Max
The new DC comic book series takes place in Matt Reeves' The Batman universe. After the events shown in the movie, Oswald Cobblepot, played by Colin Farrell, tries to strengthen his position in Gotham and take the top of the criminal power.
A confrontation is inevitable: Sofia, the daughter of powerful Italian mobster Carmine Falcone, stands in the antihero's way. The Penguin was created by Lauren LeFranc, producer of such projects as Hemlock Grove and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
5. Dune: Prophecy
Release Date: Fall 2024 | Platform: Max
The second installment of Denis Villeneuve's Dune became the most profitable blockbuster of 2024, second only to Pixar's Inside Out 2. Not surprisingly, Legendary Pictures, riding the wave of the film's success, decided to further expand Villeneuve's cinematic universe with the Dune: Prophecy series, based on the novel Sisterhood of Dune by Brian Herbert.
The protagonists of the series will be the sisters of the Bene Gesserit religious order.
The series was originally called Dune: The Sisterhood, but was renamed. This could mean that the story has expanded beyond the original novel. Perhaps the creators wanted to make the spin-off more ambitious: for example, to tell about the Spacing Guild and the Butlerian Jihad, which are important elements of other books.
6. Lady in the Lake
Release Date: July 19 | Platform: Apple TV+
Lady in the Lake, a crime drama from the Apple TV+, adds to the treasure trove of new screen adaptations – this time of Laura Lippman's popular novel of the same name.
The events of the show take place in Baltimore in the 60s. The main character – a young woman, Maddie Schwartz (played by Natalie Portman ) – leaves her husband and decides to become a crime journalist.
She gets her hands on two strange murder cases that turn out to be unexpectedly connected. Trying to understand what happened, Maddie stumbles upon a real cesspool of prejudice that thrives in a seemingly respectable community.
7. Only Murders in the Building, Season 4
Release Date: August 27 | Platform: Hulu
Only Murders in the Building quickly grew from a satire on the obsession with true crime podcasts to one of the most popular detective series of our time. In the third season, the characters broke the main rule for the first time: the trio investigated a murder that took place outside their apartment complex.
In the fourth season, the characters will leave not only the borders of Arconia, but also New York to go to the sunny Los Angeles. Three amateur sleuths will investigate the murder of the latter's stunt double.
8. Disclaimer
Release Date: October 11 | Platform: Apple TV+
Six years after his Oscar-winning autobiographical drama Roma, Alfonso Cuarón is returning to the screens with a TV show. He directed all six episodes of the drama Disclaimer.
The plot centers on a journalist investigating corporate secrets (played by Cate Blanchett) who discovers that she herself has become the heroine of a scandalous novel in which the author has revealed all of her darkest secrets.
The cinematographer for Disclaimer is Cuaron's longtime creative collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki, who shot such sci-fi masterpieces as Gravity and Children of Men.
9. Those About to Die
Release Date: July 18 | Platform: Peacock
Peacock is set to release the historical epic Those About to Die, starring Anthony Hopkins and made by award-winning director Roland Emmerich.
Those About to Die could be the main competitor to Ridley Scott 's triumphant return with Gladiator II. The series is set in ancient Rome and focuses on the ruthless world of gladiatorial combat, which is the main source of entertainment for both politicians and ordinary people.