The 10 Most Anticipated Movies and Shows to Stream in April 2026

Streaming never really slows down in this day and age… We’re a far cry from the typical fall to spring broadcast schedule of yesteryear. But things are heating up significantly in April of 2026. And that’s all because of Emmys, baby!

Wait, what? Aren’t the annual TV awards in the fall? Yes, that’s true, but – not to get too in the weeds here – shows must broadcast at least six episodes by the end of May in order to be eligible, and submissions are due by the end of this month. That means the amount of Prestige TV is ramping up starting on the ol’ April Fool’s Day, and won’t stop until around Memorial Day.

Don’t worry, there are plenty of non-Emmys-bait shows that are hitting everything from Disney+ and Prime Video to Netflix and HBO Max throughout the month of April… It’s not all incredibly serious stuff that you must respect. But there are also some huge debuts, including the beginning of the end of The Boys, the long-awaited/dreaded return of Euphoria, and even the semi-surprise continuation of Stranger Things (hey, didn’t that just end)?

So with that in mind, let’s break down 10 of our most anticipated streaming shows and episodes coming throughout the month of April, and consider this your list of some of the best new TV shows to stream in April of 2026. Got a Top 10 pick of your own? You can let us know in the comments below.

(Note: This list is presented in release date order.)

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord (April 6)

Other than the anthologies Visions and Tales, it’s been a minute since we got a legit, serialized Star Wars animated series. That all changes this month on Disney+ with Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, which flips the script from The Bad Batch to bring on one of the baddest bad guys the franchise has ever seen.

Created by Dave Filoni, the new series finds Sam Witwer reprising his voice role as Maul after the end of the Clone Wars – and to be clear, after the end of the Clone Wars TV series, as well, since this is set in the same corner of the galaxy. As Maul begins to rebuild his criminal empire, he’s joined by a new potential Sith apprentice, Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon, who you may know from her role in Blockers, or as being yet another Pamela Adlon child alongside Odessa A’zion). Also in the series are Wagner Moura and Richard Ayoade as a detective and his droid partner who may come into conflict with Maul’s plans.

What’s perhaps most interesting about this series, and an unfair level of hype to throw on it, is that this is the first Star Wars TV show/movie from Filoni since he took the reins of Lucasfilm. Yes, it was created well before, and a lot more eyes will be on the theatrical release of The Mandalorian & Grogu (which is also probably not fair). But heavy is the head that wears the crown of Dathomirian bone horns.

See everything else coming to Disney+ in April.

The Boys (April 8)

Oh boy (pun intended), where to start? This is the fifth and final season of the massive hit Prime Video series, so there’s a lot of nervous anticipation around the ultimate showdown between Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Homelander (Antony Starr). When we pick up in The Boys Season 5, America is under fascist rule as superhuman rights are – according to Homelander – under attack, and he’s therefore suppressing the Starlighter resistance (led by, who else, Erin Moriarty’s Annie January) and throwing people in detention centers.

That’s just the tip of the Compound V-berg, though, as pretty much every actor who has been in the franchise, from the Gen V kids to Giancarlo Esposito’s machiavellian Stan Edgar and Jensen Ackles’ demented Captain America-esque Soldier Boy are back in the mix. Add in a Supernatural reunion with Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins (and maybe Jim Beaver?) and hype is through the roof.

Somewhat tempering that hype? Showrunner Eric Kripke has been careful to explain that the show won’t have Game of Thrones-level battles because of budgetary restrictions. Somewhat puncturing that protective bubble? Urban has teased big character deaths right from the start of the season.

Look, for five seasons (plus spin-offs), The Boys has been one of the most eerily prescient, profane, outrageous, and often heartfelt shows on TV. If Kripke and company can stick the landing here? It’ll be fucking diabolical.

The Testaments (April 8)

First announced in 2019 (!!!), the upcoming sequel series to Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale is based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. It’s set years after the end of the original series, and transports the action to a prep school for future wives.

Before you think this is The Handmaid’s Tale: The Teen Years, well… It sort of is, as it stars Chase Infiniti (hot off her turn in One Battle After Another) alongside Lucy Halliday, Rowan Blanchard and others at least initially living and sparring in this school. But it also features the return of Ann Dowd as the iconic Aunt Lydia. And it comes from original Handmaid’s Tale showrunner Bruce Miller, who stepped back from the OG show before the final season to focus on developing this spinoff.

While Handmaid’s Tale fever (please see your doctor if you are suffering from symptoms) may have cooled a bit over the past few years, the themes, ideas, and stark warnings presented by the now-franchise are as pressing as ever. Given Atwood’s novel was widely lauded and award-winning, and Miller has spent at least three years or more carefully developing The Testaments, this may just be the injection of relevance Hulu needed.

Euphoria (April 12)

Speaking of long-gestating seasons of TV, Euphoria finally returns for a third season at HBO and HBO Max, and it’s been so long the characters aren’t even in high school anymore. In fact, for a good long while, given the, shall we generously say “intense” creative process show creator Sam Levinson goes through (and the insanely busy cast), it looked like this might not happen. Well, it is – or at least as of this writing we presume it is… Filming finished in November of 2025, but Levinson famously tinkers until the last second, so we’ll see what happens.

Picking up several years after the end of Season 2 (which aired over four years ago), Rue (Zendaya) is in serious trouble with various drug dealers, while Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) is making a living as an OnlyFans creator while getting ready to marry Nate (Jacob Elordi). Meanwhile, Jules (Hunter Schafer) is at school and exploring the world of sugar daddies.

Also returning for the third season are Alexa Demie, Maude Apatow, Martha Kelly, and Chloe Cherry, as well as Colman Domingo. Eric Dane, who sadly passed away in February from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), filmed scenes for Season 3 and will be included, while Angus Cloud, who played the soulful drug dealer Fezco, passed away from an accidental drug overdose in 2023, so will unfortunately not be featured. (Barbie Ferreira and Storm Reid, who were in the previous two seasons, will not be returning as well.)

Look: Euphoria looks and feels like nothing else on TV, and features jaw-dropping performances by Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney, as well as the rest of the cast. Whether any of this works devoid of the initial premise of the series is TBD, but we’ll certainly be there to find out.

See everything else coming to HBO Max in April.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles (April 15)

Based on the novel by Rufi Thorpe, Apple TV’s new series stars Elle Fanning as the titular Margo, a stellar student who suddenly finds herself with the also titular money troubles when she becomes pregnant after an affair with her English professor. So naturally she turns to OnlyFans (maybe she can get some tips from Cassie?).

Behind the scenes you’ve got David E. Kelley, one of the most consistent showrunners in TV history, while in front of the camera alongside Fanning are Michelle Pfeiffer as her Hooters waiter mother and Nick Offerman as her ex-wrestler father. Plus Nicole Kidman, who is clearly cloning herself to star in all these TV shows lately, Greg Kinnear, and more.

While this has the potential to be either too maudlin or too quirky (modes Kelley has delved into time and again), the trailer looks extremely charming and Fanning has a knack for choosing interesting projects. The big question, though, is whether the Predator will show up. Probably not, but it would certainly make those money troubles feel less important!

See everything else coming to Apple TV in April.

Beef (April 16)

One of the more surprising second seasons in recent history, Netflix returns to the world of the hit series Beef for a second round of spiraling anger and fighting. In the first season created by Lin Sung Jin, Steven Yeun and Ali Wong tangled after a road rage incident. In Season 2? It’s a whole new fight-game.

This time around we’re getting eight binge-worthy episodes instead of 10. But as compensation, the cast is wild, including Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton, and Cailee Spaeny. Per Netflix, “a Gen-Z couple witnesses an alarming fight between their Millennial boss and his wife.”

What characterized the first season beyond the propulsive pace and engrossing performances was the show’s nuanced explorations of class and race, which looks to continue in Season 2: The main setting is a country club, with a focus on the billionaire owner, the members a level lower, and the people who work at the club.

The big question? Whether Beef Season 2 can avoid the outside beef that overshadowed the conversation about the series itself, due to controversy about statements offered by the artist, David Choe, who crafted the credits.

See everything else coming to Netflix in April.

The Pitt Season 2 Finale (April 16)

A massive hit for HBO Max, the second extended shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center ends (potentially) with one of the most anticipated motorcycle rides since Evel Knievel attempted to jump Snake River Canyon.

So far this season on The Pitt, we’ve seen a potential cyberattack make the Emergency Department (ED) go analog, a waterslide collapse, and surprisingly only one firework injury (as of this writing) on the July 4-set season. But with mere hours left to go before Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) heads off on a three-month sabbatical that he’s strongly implied he may not return from, fans are on tenterhooks to know what will happen when we hit the end of hour 15.

Given that HBO Max has already picked up the hospital drama for Season 3, and Wyle has indicated they’re fleshing out character arcs, we shouldn’t expect Robby to die. But there are a lot more balls in the air this season, including what’s going on with new attending Dr. Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi) spacing out, what’s up with that abandoned baby they seem to have forgotten about, whether Dr. Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) is going to have a total breakdown, and most importantly, what fun new nicknames everyone can come up with for Dr. Whitaker (Gerran Howell), though we’re probably not going to top “fuckle-berry.”

Look, there’s nothing like The Pitt on TV – engrossing, heartfelt, propulsive – and while Season 2 may not have been as streamlined as Season 1 (which IGN gave a 10 out of 10), we just want everyone in the ED to be okay by the end of the season. And for Robby to remember to wear his helmet.

Invincible Season 4 Finale (April 22)

Prime Video’s animated adaptation of the comic from Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley doesn’t really hold back on the violence or gore. But the finale episodes really let loose, so get ready for the red on your TV to get maxed out by the end of the month, thanks to likely copious amounts of blood.

Without getting into any spoilers from the book, it’s pretty clear that Invincible Season 4 is heading to all-out war with the Viltrumite Empire, something that’s been promised and teased since the first episode of the series. With everyone’s lives in the balance, and the season already (as usual) challenging Mark’s (Steven Yeun) morality, how far will he go to protect his friends and family?

And there’s one other big thing beyond the show’s usual 50,000 subplots to deal with: Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs) is pregnant. Will Mark find out? Will they have the baby? And will we ever find out how babies are made (let us know in the comments below!)? With Season 5 already in production, there’s plenty of show to go, but it’s that core relationship which keeps Invincible going… So beyond seeing yet another Viltrumite smash Mark’s face through a crowded populace, we need to get some sort of closure on the emotional storyline.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 (April 23)

Is it too soon for more Stranger Things after the series ended (or did it? No, it did) just a few months back? Netflix clearly doesn’t think so, as they’re already releasing a new, 10-episode animated spinoff series, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, set between the events of Seasons 2 and 3.

The in-canon show depicts what happened in the winter of 1985, after the gate was closed in Hawkins Lab, and before the kids had a horrible summer featuring a rat-infested Mind Flayer attacking them in the Starcourt Mall. While the spinoff media has often avoided the supernatural entirely, this series from showrunner Eric Robles will somehow bring back aspects of the Upside Down to Hawkins for a season that has alternately been described as monster-of-the-week, inspired by classic animated ‘toons like The Real Ghostbusters, and a lost season of the show. Square those two ideas, friends!

While none of the live-action cast are voicing their characters, Odessa A’zion (big month for the Adlon sisters!) voices a new character named Nikki Baxter who joins the gang, alongside Janeane Garofalo and Lou Diamond Phillips in mystery roles.

If you are hankering to find out more about this intriguing project, the first two episodes will premiere in theaters in limited release on April 18.

Man on Fire (April 30)

Into every generation, a Man on Fire is born. Or at least, after film adaptations in 1987 and 2004 (starring Scott Glenn and Denzel Washington, respectively), Netflix is getting in on the A.J. Quinnell adaptation game with this seven-episode series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.

Also starring Bobby Cannavele, Scoot McNairy, Alice Braga and more, the series stars Abdul-Mateen II as John Creasy, a former special forces mercenary with PTSD who spends a quiet life gardening, and that’s it. Just kidding, he gets sucked back into the game, bent on revenge.

For what, exactly, we don’t know, as this show seems to have tweaked or ditched entirely the “hard-edged merc becomes the bodyguard for a precocious little kid” premise that characterized the previous two film adaptations. Instead, we’ve got 20-year-old Billie Boulet as Poe, who is the sole witness to a “tragic incident” and is protected by John.

Abdul-Mateen II is on a hot streak with the debut (and second season renewal) for Marvel’s Wonder Man… Based on title alone, Man on Fire should keep that hot streak going.