2025 Film and TV Preview
24 interesting releases coming to your screens
In short: If you’re a fan of watching things on a screen, 2025 has got you.
12 Movies I’m Excited to See
You should know up front that my cinematic tastes skew big and often dumb. The first step is admitting you have a problem. However, in my defense—the 2025 film release schedule is a wasteland of reboots and sequels. Just hot garbage. One of the ugliest in living memory.
We’ll get into that in a separate piece; for now, here’s what looks good to me.
Captain America: Brave New World (Feb 14)
Though it never landed quite as well as I’d hoped, I really enjoyed The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That’s thanks mostly to the love/hate charisma between Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky (Sebastian Stan). The show also gave us dancing Zemo, a gift in the truest sense of the word.
4 years ago, I was excited to see Sam Wilson wield the shield in a feature film. In 2025, I’m having a hard time feeling enthusiastic, even if Brave New World co-stars Harrison Ford as a president with breathtaking rage issues.
Sinners (March 7)
Writer-Director Ryan Coogler teams up again with Michael B. Jordan in this fresh take on vampires. Set in prohibition era Louisiana, Jordan plays twin brothers who return home to discover evil has rooted in their absence.
Jordan wields a Tommy gun. Take my damn money.
Black Bag (March 14)
Steven Soderbergh, Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett. Need I go on?
Fine.
Take the basic premise of Mr and Mrs Smith—married assassins/spies—dispense with the sexual theatrics, and drill into the core conflict. How do you trust someone who lies professionally? How do you know when they’re telling the truth? Where do your true loyalties lie?
Mickey 17 (April 18)
The best parts of Edge of Tomorrow are the increasingly funny scenes of Tom Cruise dying. Mickey 17 looks like a zany take on that, with a dash of Multiplicity and a smidge of Fallout’s hyperreality. Could be hilarious, could be weird.
Thunderbolts (May 2)
The MCU version of Suicide Squad includes Bucky, Natasha Romanoff’s sister (Florence Pugh), the fat Russian Captain America knock-off (David Harbour, exquisite), the unstable Captain America knock-off (Wyatt Russell), the woman from Ant-Man 2 who could turn invisible (Hannah John-Kamen), and the woman from Black Widow who isn’t a woman anymore (Olga Kurylenko). It’s the Island of Misfit Superheroes.
The trailer gives me Winter Soldier / Civil War vibes. Cautiously excited.
Mission Impossible—The Final Reckoning (May 23)
Will this actually be the final reckoning? As in, the end of the series? I hope so. Mission Impossible is the premiere action franchise but at some point, Ethan Hunt has gotta pay the ultimate price. Otherwise, this is all just a lot of expensive pretend.
The movie I’m most looking forward to seeing in theaters.
28 Years Later (June 20)
Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland reunite for the long-awaited next chapter of this zombie franchise. Per the title, the story picks up nearly 3 decades after the first two films. People are even grimier and more desperate. Imagine a morose Station Eleven with fast zombies.
The trailer is a piece of atmospheric art. Even better: This film is the first of a new trilogy.
F1 (June 27)
Moneyball: F1 edition.
Brad Pitt plays a racing guy who proposes radical changes to the sport. The cinematography looks incredible, though the idea of a 60-year-old behind the wheel of a F1 race car is ridiculous. Will still watch.
Superman (July 11)
Our first true taste of the James Gunn DC Experience.
For those who haven’t been keeping score at home, DC is on the verge of re-relaunching their cinematic universe, after the last crashed and burned under Zack Snyder.
I’m skeptical Gunn is the right guy, tonally, for Superman, though the trailer looks pretty great and more importantly, makes me feel things. I’m not familiar with the new Superman (David Corenswet) but the film also stars Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) as Lois Lane and Nathan Fillion as an amazing bowl cut.
I do question the role of superheroes in an America that has embraced authoritarianism; Superman, as a concept, seems especially outdated. All the more reason to see this.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25)
People lost their minds when Marvel reacquired the film rights to the Fantastic 4. I was not one of them. We’ve already had 2 other iterations of Marvel’s first family and they were not great movies.
However. This cast, bro. Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach… they’ve even got Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer! (Please, please Marvel: use the PG-13 rating to give us one, “I don’t know shit about fuck.”)
Here’s my level of excitement for the four 2025 superhero movies, from most to least:
Superman
Thunderbolts
Fantastic Four
Captain America
The Battle of Baktan Cross (August 8)
Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, and Benicio del Toro star in this new film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. That’s all we know about it. That’s enough.
Good Fortune (October 17)
Keanu Reeves plays a guardian angel who swaps the lives of a down-on-his luck guy (Aziz Ansari) and a stupidly-wealthy one (Seth Rogan). Keanu is then stripped of his wings and ends up rooming with Rogan. Imagine a modern take on Trading Places.
I wish I had more to say but there’s no trailer yet, so all we have is a brief synopsis. However, the premise and talent definitely piqued my interest.
12 Shows I’m Excited to See
There’s a lot of great stuff on tap this year. The era of Peak TV shows no sign of stopping.
New seasons of Severance and The White Lotus release in January and February, respectively. I mention them here because they’re both notable shows I haven’t yet dipped into, so they obviously can’t make my list.
The Night Agent: Season 2 (January 23)
This propulsive hit was one of the surprises of 2023. Whatever money they saved with a cast of unknowns was put into the writing because this baby hums. It harkens back to 24, both in tenor and in how the show deploys twists at practically every turn. But it never feels forced.
I’m a little skeptical the second season can run it back but I’ll be tuning in all the same.
Streaming on Netflix
Paradise (January 28)
This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman reunites with perennial my-guy Sterling K. Brown in this tight-looking thriller about a Secret Service agent who is suspected of killing the president he’s entrusted to protect. There’s also a conspiracy and shadow games. Sign me the eff up.
In a year stacked with great shows, I think Paradise is the dark horse. Could be the best one of all.
Streaming on Hulu
1923: Season 2 (February 23)
Season 1 didn’t end so much as it just stopped. I’m anxious for the continuation, by which I mean I really want to see the nephew from Africa finally arrive in Montana and start regulating. Harrison Ford is pushing 80, for crying out loud. Only so much he can do.
Streaming on Paramount+
Daredevil: Born Again (March 4)
The 3-season Netflix Daredevil run is perhaps the greatest superhero TV arc we’ve ever had. People forget because it was nearly a decade ago (it ran from 2015-2018), and the impact was blunted by the clumsy effort to establish a mini-MCU with Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones. But the core Daredevil series was consistently outstanding.
Initial plans to bring Daredevil to Disney+ jettisoned practically everything from the original. Fortunately, Marvel came to their senses. The principal players return—Matt Murdock, Karen Page, Foggy Nelson, Wilson Fisk; even better, the original actors reprise the roles. The cherry on top: another my-guy, Jon Bernthal is back as Frank Castle.
They could let Chris Terrio write this and I’d still be excited.
Streaming on Disney+
The Last of Us: Season 2 (April)
Season 1 is really good. Like, "it shouldn't be this good" good. The video game was exceptional. The adaptation is far better. Even in the midst of all these TV riches, shows like this don't come along often.
This would easily be my most anticipated 2025 show if not for the next one.
Streaming on HBO, which I refuse to call Max
Andor: Season 2 (April 22)
Simply put, Andor is my favorite Star Wars since 1980.
There’s a depth to the characters and a maturity to the story that no Star Wars has ever managed. Not even The Empire Strikes Back. Of course, Andor is 4 times longer than Empire. As Yoda famously said while comparing lightsabers with Luke, “size matters not, but how you use it.” Or something like that.
Andor uses its 12 episodes judiciously. I think there are maybe 3 fight scenes across the entire runtime. But it’s never boring. As much as I love Cassian, Luthen, and Mon Mothma, my favorite thing about Andor is its pace. Unhurried and deliberate, tension builds across episodes until it feels almost excruciating.
Season 2 promises to fill in the gaps between Season 1 and Rogue One, which means we’ll see characters like Krennic and K-2SO. As if I needed more reasons to be excited.
Streaming on Disney+
Premiere Dates Uncertain
The following shows don’t have an official release date but google assures me it’s sometime in 2025.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Much like with House of the Dragon—the other Game of Thrones spin-off—A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is a story GRRM wrote when he should’ve been working on A Song of Ice and Fire.
It’s actually a novella—I believe he’s published 3 of them so far, with plans for more—that follows a hedge knight (read: sword for hire) who wanders Westeros with his squire, looking for work and righting wrongs. The novellas are PG-13 in tone and more of an adventure versus the bloody realism of Game of Thrones. Tonally different, still great.
Streaming on HBO
Wednesday: Season 2
I’m off two minds about this.
I’m thrilled we’re getting a second season. Season one was a revelation. I never cared for any version of The Addams Family, but loved this modern, dark yet cutely gothic feminist manifesto. It was so endearing and fun.
But by the time this airs, it’ll have been 3 years since season one released. That’s just too long to wait between seasons. I can’t name a single plot point from the first season. That’s probably a me-problem but maybe not.
Part of the delay is due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. But it’s also endemic of the Netflix model. For whatever reason, Netflix shows follow their own schedule, which seems to be no schedule at all. Stuff disappears and resurfaces after you’ve kinda forgot about it.
Streaming on Netflix
The Bear: Season 4
Season 3 was a mess. It works in a meta sense, and also as a manifestation of Carmy’s whole deal. But taken as entertainment, it wasn’t super entertaining. I mean, yes—thank God for the Faks (Francie Fak, when?)—but it was a lot of angry energy. Again: How was this show nominated for comedy Emmy? It’s literally chaos and stress with just enough Fakness to keep you watching.
But it is a brilliant show. And even though it’s clear we’re not going to get the catharsis we want—Carmy with Claire Bear and running The Bear with Sydney—I’m committed to the characters and need to see where they go. Even if it’s just driving themselves into a ditch, over and over.
Streaming on Hulu
Hacks: Season 4
Season 3 made my list of favorite 2024 things, so of course I’m thrilled to be back with Debra and Ava. Hacks is on my short list of the best shows currently on TV—he says with assured authority, while acknowledging that only someone who’s seen everything can make such a claim, and he hasn’t even watched Severance or The White Lotus, but not caring because Hacks is self-evidently great.
Season 3 was delayed a year due to the strike, but we’re getting seasons 3 and 4 in successive years, as nature intended. This is exactly what I’m talking about, Netflix. Get your shit in order.
Streaming on HBO
The Paper
The Office is a modern classic, so of course the pressure to reboot/recreate it eventually became too great. Money talks, and sometimes it screams.
Series creator Greg Daniels returns to lead this spin-off. This time, the fictional documentary crew follows a declining Midwestern newspaper. Still in the paper game, new venue. Domhnall Gleeson stars, presumably as the new boss.
The chances of this recapturing the magic of The Office is low, but I’m glad they aren’t revisiting the Scranton storyline. This, at least, gives the show the chance to be its own thing.
Streaming on Peacock; finally a reason to subscribe
Stranger Things: Season 5
It’s been 3 years since Season 4 aired, and nearly a decade since Season 1. At this point, the kids are no longer kids—they’re all at least 20 years-old. And that, for me, means some of the magic is gone.
Part of the charm was always The Goonies flavor—kids in way over their heads, dealing with stuff adults can’t or wouldn’t or wouldn’t believe, but still being kids. There’s something special and very real about the kids growing up before our eyes, but given the long delays between seasons, it’s more like the strange unreality when you see a kid for the first time in years; just yesterday you were eating boogers and now you’re smoking cigarettes?
All that said, I love Stranger Things. Yes, the D&D of it. But more so the characters. I need to see how this ends, even though I’m secretly afraid they’ll kill my favorite.
Streaming on Netflix
That’s it. That’s my list. What are you dying to see? Let me know in the comments!
Are you still moved by the promise of Superman, even after all this time?
Is there a Stranger Things character you’re afraid the show is gonna kill? And is it also Steve?
Desperate for Andor Season 2. Agree with everything you said about the first season. I’ll add that the reason I think it stands out is because it’s Star Wars for adults, which is a very rare thing. Rogue One got close but they used the android to add brevity. But the genuine tension in Andor was remarkable, and I feel like the show went under most people’s radar.
28 Years Later…let’s go!!!