The most anticipated TV shows of summer 2024

Summer isn’t all about cavorting in the sun or schlepping out to the theater — it’s also about having a nice time at home, safe in the air conditioning. And the 2024 television slate will definitely help you out in that regard!

The big dogs of fantasy TV are back, with second seasons of House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. We’re getting more Boys, more Bears, more Murders, and even more… Batman?… while Star Wars TV boldly goes where it’s never gone before. Here’s Polygon’s roundup of our most anticipated TV shows of the summer.

Clipped

Release date: June 4
Where to watch: Hulu

Part true crime series, part sports series, Clipped tells the story of the tumultuous 2013-2014 season for the Los Angeles Clippers. At the time the Clippers were owned by billionaire Donald Sterling, but over the course of the next year, a series of revelations about Sterling shocked the NBA world and led to him getting banned from the sport for life. Clipped follows all the twists and turns of the scandal and includes an all-star cast led by Laurence Fishburne. —Austen Goslin

The Acolyte

Image: Lucasfilm

Release date: June 4
Where to watch: Disney Plus

Disney Plus’ newest Star Wars series, created by Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland, is also the first to ever be set in the seemingly idyllic age of the High Republic. But just because the events of The Acolyte take place long before the days of Luke and Anakin Skywalker doesn’t mean that everything is peaceful in the galaxy. Instead, The Acolyte follows the story of a Jedi Master and her former Padawan as they investigate a series of mysterious crimes and accidentally stumble onto something bigger and worse than they could have ever imagined. The series stars Amandla Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Dafne Keen (Logan), Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game), and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix). —AG

The Boys season 4

Photo: Jan Thijs/Prime Video

Release date: June 13
Where to watch: Prime Video

Can’t say much right now, but folks, The Boys is so back — which, after three seasons, feels like a minor miracle. With a new batch of episodes, the adaptation of Garth Ennis’ acclaimed comics series promises more blunt-force satire, more excessive violence, and rapidly escalating stakes for Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and the group of rebels who hope to snuff out the emotionally frail fascist Homelander (Antony Starr) before he laser-eyes the world to dust. Season 3 brought the characters to the edge, with Butcher facing terminal illness due to Temp V abuse, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) properly defecting from Vought, violent psychic Vic Neuman (Claudia Doumit) poised for major political power, and Homelander’s son Ryan (Cameron Crovetti) standing at a superpowered crossroads. Expect season 4 to add more new characters, more twists, and, against modern odds, deliver. —Matt Patches

Bridgerton season 3, part 2

Photo: Liam Daniel/Netflix

Release date: June 13
Where to watch: Netflix

When we left Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), her dreams were all coming true — literally, with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) hooking up with her in her carriage and then committing to spending the rest of his life with her. In most romance stories (or even other seasons of Bridgerton), that would be the happily ever after, roll credits. But Bridgerton split season 3 for a reason: Now, Penelope has to see if Colin will love her at her Whistledown.

Considering all the secrets and pain she’s let loose in the world under her pen name, specifically to his family — well, good luck, Penelope. —Zosha Millman

House of the Dragon season 2

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

Release date: June 16
Where to watch: HBO, Max

Let’s be honest: Things were never really going to get better between the warring Targaryens. But things got decidedly worse when Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) killed Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), and war between the two branches of the family went from “brewing” to “certain.”

Season 2 will follow the early days of the conflict, with plenty of dragons, houses, and Targaryens caught in the scuffle. The fate of Westeros is already set — there’s no way the Greens or the Blacks could know what will happen to their line hundreds of years in the future — but House of the Dragon has succeeded in making the inevitable interesting, and season 2 should hopefully follow suit. —ZM

Make Some Noise season 3

Image: Dropout

Release date: June 24
Where to watch: Dropout TV

Dropout has many funny shows on its streaming platform — Game Changer, V.I.P., Smartypants — and while some of them may be more creative and daring, none are as consistently funny as Make Some Noise. The laugh-a-minute Whose Line Is It Anyway? variant is coming back with a star-studded third season. Rachel Bloom! Ben Schwartz! Pete Holmes! Paul F. Tompkins! All those and more join the fantastic cast of Dropout and Make Some Noise regulars in what should be another riotous season of the show. —Pete Volk

The Bear season 3

Photo: Chuck Hodes/FX

Release date: June 27
Where to watch: Hulu

The evolving series about a Chicago-based restaurant heads into its third season, as probably-still-a-mess chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), his long-suffering business partner Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), and his seemingly much-improved “cousin” Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) try to figure out how to keep the fine-dining establishment they opened in season 2 afloat in an industry where the odds are against them. Expect a lot more yelling, a lot more succulent food porn, and probably a shifted focus again: Where season 1 zoomed in on the effort to keep a traditional Italian beef stand running, and season 2 addressed the expectations, barriers, and challenges involved in opening a restaurant, season 3 looks to be about the problem of finding and maintaining a regular clientele without compromising on vision or ambition. —Tasha Robinson

Dimension 20: Never Stop Blowing Up

Image: Dropout TV

Release date: June 2024
Platform: Dropout TV

We know very little about this summer’s new season of Dropout’s Madison Square Garden-headlining tabletop series Dimension 20. Just that it’ll be 10 episodes long, it’s called “Never Stop Blowing Up,” and — based on the redesigned GM screen in front of game master Brennan Lee Mulligan — the “blowing up” part is very literal. —Susana Polo

Batman: Caped Crusader

Image: Prime Video

Release date: Aug. 1
Platform: Prime Video

The spiritual cousin to Batman: The Animated Series that was announced in 2021, canned in 2022 during Warner Bros.’ restructuring, and picked up by Amazon Studios in 2023 arrives this summer. A collaboration between all-around genre filmmaker J.J. Abrams, The Batman director Matt Reeves, and Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm, Caped Crusader borrows Timm’s indelible BTAS design sense for a series that isn’t exactly canon with the beloved 1990s cartoon, but is definitely evoking your nostalgia for it.

We don’t know a ton about the plot of the new show, but it appears to take place in Batman’s early days before his friendship with James Gordon, with Harley Quinn as a “calculating” serial killer and Catwoman as a spoiled heiress. —SP

The Umbrella Academy season 4

Photo: Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix

Release date: Aug. 8
Platform: Netflix

The Hargreeves siblings face the end of the world… again. But this time it’s for real, since this is the final season of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. Last season left off with the Hargreeves in (another) alternate reality, after pressing a big reset button that recalibrated time and space. But this new reality is a bit different — for one, it seems like none of them have their powers. —Petrana Radulovic

Only Murders in the Building season 4

Photo: Patrick Harbron/Hulu

Release date: Aug. 27
Platform: Hulu

Mabel, Charles, and Oliver head to Hollywood, with a chance for their podcast to be turned into a movie! Oh yeah, there’s also another murder, but the murder part of Only Murders in the Building has been getting looser and looser with each season (as has the “building” part). That’s OK, though, because we’ll gladly watch Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short bumble around together in any and every situation. Hollywood, here we come! —PR

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2

Image: Prime Video

Release date: Aug. 29
Platform: Prime Video

The second of five guaranteed seasons of Amazon Studios’ Rings of Power premieres at the tail end of the summer, bringing us back to the approximated ancient times of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. With last season’s big Sauron-y reveal, the new season appears to be ready to get underway for real, with a trailer teasing the crafting of the Nazgul rings, the temptation of dwarven kings, and giant eagles. —SP