If you, like this writer, belong to the species Homo couchpotatus , you probably spent vast chunks of the past year catching up on multiple TV shows at the same time, while waiting with bated breath for the next big superhero film. And now you’re looking to bury yourself anew?
Allow us to offer you a shovel — here’s a delicious line-up of online-only films and shows to look forward to in 2019.
Did you, like us, fall in love with Timothée Chalamet in 2018, somewhere between the third and fourth re-watch of
Chalamet plays a young drug addict, while the evergreen Steve Carell plays his father — another potentially brilliant dramatic turn for one of the most improved actors in Hollywood. The film is based on the (separate) memoirs of David Sheff and his son Nic. Beautiful Boy was released on January 4.
Son of Shaft (Netflix)
Back in the ’90s, with Jackie Brown , Quentin Tarantino subverted the blaxploitation genre (basically, an ‘exploitation film’ — any opportunistic, lurid, over-the-top film with populist ‘trending topics’ as themes — with primarily African-American actors). And now we have Son of Shaft , in which we’ll see up-and-coming actor Jessie Usher alongside not just Richard Roundtree from the ’70s Shaft films but also Samuel L Jackson from the 2000 sequel. That’s three generations of badass African-American cops, reclaiming Harlem from the mob, and, we hope, correcting some of the ’70s films’ problematic racial politics along the way. Son of Shaft releases on June 14.
Good Omens (Amazon Prime)
The 1990 novel Good Omens was itself a gigantic crossover event — the only time Neil Gaiman and the great Terry Pratchett joined forces to give us a part-road-trip, part-apocalyptic-comedy. A simplistic way of describing the story is that an angel (Aziraphale) and a demon (Crowley) — both centuries old — try to stop the coming of the son of Satan, something that was sure to usher in the end of the world. But there is so much else going on in this rollercoaster of a story that one needs a separate article or three to explain all the nuances.
Luckily, the BBC adaptation has pulled out all stops, assembling what can only be described as a dream cast — David Tennant ( Doctor Who , Broadchurch , Jessica Jones ), Michael Sheen ( The Queen , Masters of Sex ) playing Crowley and Aziraphale, respectively, and Jon Hamm (Don Draper from Mad Men ) playing the Archangel Gabriel, the leader of the forces of Heaven. And, perhaps most importantly, Gaiman has written the episodes himself and is the showrunner as well. A release date has not been announced yet for Good Omens , but Gaiman has indicated on Twitter that post-production work is under way, and that the show could be released in the first half of 2019.
High Flying Bird (Netflix)
Steven Soderbergh is one of the most prolific and versatile filmmakers in the world, having directed over 30 films since his sensational debut Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989). And these have been some of the most memorable works to come out of Hollywood — Erin Brockovich , Traffic , Ocean’s Eleven , Magic Mike , the monumental Che , and so on. His latest is an NBA sports drama starring Andre Holland from Moonlight and the dazzling Zazie Beetz from Atlanta , one of the best shows on TV currently. Sonja Sohn (from The Wire ), Zachary Quinto and Kyle MacLachlan make for a very capable supporting cast. High Flying Bird will be available starting February 8.
The Passage (Hotstar)
The Passage is based on a supernatural horror trilogy of novels by Justin Cronin. Ridley Scott was previously attached to adapt the novels into a trilogy of films, but he dropped out, and now we have a TV series in the offing. When federal agent Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) is ordered to bring a young girl called Amy Bellafonte (Saniyya Sidney) to a top-secret medical research facility, little does he know that his protectiveness towards Amy will set in motion a sequence of events that seems more and more apocalyptic by the day. There are super-beings, evil government officials, and jacked-up super-soldiers, so expect an action-packed ride. The Passage premières on January 15.
American Gods Season 2 (Amazon Prime)
Another Neil Gaiman adaptation, this show is based on his Hugo and Nebula-winning novel of the same name, which imagines deities from various cultures living in exile in America, even as a new brand of tech-savvy gods and goddesses threatens to erase them out of existence. The old gods are led by the cryptic Mr Wednesday (a swaggering, scenery-chewing Ian McShane), who is actually Odin (the Norse god of war) in disguise, while the lethal new gods include Media (the ever-brilliant Gillian Anderson) and Mr World (the god of globalisation, played by Crispin Glover). And somehow, a mortal with a god-like name, Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle), is caught up in the middle of it.
The first season only covered about 200 of the book’s 600-plus pages, so expect this season to jump right into the business end of the story, with Mr World and Odin going head-to-head. It is one thing to declare war on your enemy, but it’s quite another when your opponent is, quite literally, the god of war himself.
Stranger Things Season 3 (Netflix)
One of Netflix’s most successful shows, Stranger Things blended ’80s nostalgia, keen genre sensibilities and affectionate homages to Steven Spielberg and Stephen King to create a winning formula.
The second season quickly became the single most watched series on Netflix globally, and with good reason — the Duffer Brothers (creators and still the showrunners of Stranger Things ) kept the action crisp and yet cerebral, with young Millie Bobby Brown giving an astonishing performance as telekinetic/psychokinetic teenager Jane Ives aka Eleven, and the likes of Winona Ryder and David Harbour excelling as well.
What will the third season have in store for us? Come July 4, we’ll know.
Black Monday (Hotstar)
The writing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who, most recently, brought us the uneven but enjoyable Preacher ) are back, this time with a comedy about the 1987 ‘Black Monday’ Wall Street crash, the single most destructive stock market crash in American history. This is the story of how a group of outsiders challenged a group of elite Wall Street power players — and how the ensuing battle ended up causing the fabled crash, about which some questions remain unanswered. The big draw of the series is Don Cheadle (currently caught up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as the superhero James Rhodes aka War Machine), who stars alongside Andrew Rannells and Regina Hall. Black Monday premières on January 21.
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
This one is based on the comics series of the same name, written by Gerard Way and drawn by Brazilian artist Gabriel Ba, two of the biggest talents in the comics world right now. It follows the adventures of six kids born on the same day in 1989, all adopted by the same recluse, all of whom begin to manifest superpowers in their early childhood. After their foster father dies, the children must confront their true identities — the fate of the world might depend on it. Although all of this sounds like well-worn ground, we can assure you it isn’t, not at the madcap, apocalyptic pace at which The Umbrella Academy operates. The show is headlined by Ellen Page ( Juno , Inception ), Tom Hopper ( Doctor Who , Game of Thrones ) and musician Mary J Blige — and will be released on February 15.
Turn Up Charlie (Netflix)
And here’s what is potentially the most exciting star pairing of 2019 — Idris Elba, global sex symbol and the star of Luther , Thor: Ragnarok , Pacific Rim and others, is teaming up with Piper Perabo ( Covert Affairs ) for a Netflix comedy.
The premise itself sounds so very promising — Elba plays Charlie, a down-on-luck playboy British DJ (!) who agrees to become a nanny to his celebrity best friend Sara’s (Perabo) fiery 11-year-old daughter Gabrielle. What can possibly go wrong, right? The prospect of Elba, Mr Stringer Bell (his iconic MBA druglord from The Wire ) himself, chasing a stubborn child around London, is, one has to say, hilarious. Netflix hasn’t announced a confirmed release date yet.
Cobalt Blue (Netflix)
Sachin Kundalkar is going to adapt his own 2006 Marathi novel (also called Cobalt Blue in its 2013 Jerry Pinto-translated English version) as a series for Netflix India.
The novel, which was nominated for the Crossword and DSC Prizes, follows the tragicomic series of events that begin with brother-sister pair Tanay and Anuja falling in love with the same man, a mysterious paying guest who seems to have a sympathetic ear and a treasure trove of stories. Every time he is quizzed on his background, however, he is evasive. Page after page of this book features beautifully crafted sexual frisson, and we can’t wait to find out how that’ll be translated on screen. Netflix hasn’t confirmed a release date yet.
Leila (Netflix)
After the recent Selection Day , the next Indian Netflix Original will be Leila , based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Prayaag Akbar. Dystopia, allegory or plain ol’ speculative fiction — call it what you will, Leila is considered one of the most impressive Indian novels in recent years with good reason. The sentences are immaculate, the characters three-dimensional, and the politics nightmarish (and yet, somehow, not-so-distant from the here and now). The novel, set in the near future, follows Shalini, a woman who marries a Muslim man, Riz. Years after he’s killed and their child, the titular Leila, taken away, Shalini vows to track down her now-teenaged daughter.
With writer Urmi Juvekar ( Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! , Shanghai ) as showrunner, and Deepa Mehta and Gurgaon director Shanker Raman already on the list of confirmed directors, expectations will be running high (actors Huma Qureshi and Siddharth have also been roped in). Netflix has not announced a première date so far.
Aditya Mani Jha is a commissioning editor with Penguin Random House