What Are The Most Anticipated Genre Shows For 2018?

Another Strong Year For Genre?

♦ 2018 is looking like another big year for TV dramas and here’s just a few of the new and returning shows on the big screen worth watching. Thanks to Variety for tipping us off…

The Alienist (premieres 22 Jan.)
TNT
The Turner cabler has a great deal at stake for this 1800s period drama based on Caleb Carr’s best-selling novel of the same name. Fictionalizing history through Teddy Roosevelt (Brian Geraghty), at the time a police commissioner, the show is a psychological thriller following a secret investigation into a series of gruesome murders. Including characters that represent an early look at criminal psychology, the media, and the bureaucracy of law enforcement, the show is designed to touch on gender and other political issues.

Black Lightning (premieres 16 Jan.)
The CW
While the CW already has four other DC superhero shows, the backdrop for this new offering is a very grounded, realistic world that taps into issues of the day like racial tension and gang violence. The heroes of this story are a multi-generational African-American family who have other worldly powers — a father just getting back into the superhero game after promising his wife years ago that he’d get out because of the inherent dangers.  We also have his two daughters embarking on their own origin story, as they are about to come into some very powerful abilities of their own. The show hails from Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil. Marvel has had Luke Cage and now DC has its own starring African-American superhero character.

Castle Rock
Hulu
Very little is known about the upcoming 10 episode series created by JJ Abrams and based on the stories of Stephen King, but the teaser trailer drops eludes at the inclusion of classic characters, locations, and themes from everything from It to The Green Mile to Misery. But those little hints, combined with the streaming service’s track record for groundbreaking original dramas of late, is more than enough to build anticipation.

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 2 (premieres April 2018)
Hulu
There may be no series — new or returning — more anticipated that the Emmy winner for drama that manages to strike all the right nerves in today’s uncertain political climate. The second season of Bruce Miller’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel will expand upon the world of Gilead to introduce the next generation — many of whom are “true believers” of the patriarchal, oppressive way.

Heathers (premieres March 2018)
Paramount Network
A present-day reboot of the 1980s cult film which starred Winona Ryder, the series features fresh faces as the title characters and updates some of the backstories for these more inclusive times — one of the Heathers, for example, is a male who identifies as gender-queer — but will still tap into the timeless themes of popularity and power. Shannen Doherty, who starred in the film, is set to guest star. This could just be the show that puts the new network on the map.

Maniac
Netflix
Cary Fukunaga (True Detective season one’s director) is coming back to TV in the new year with two big projects, but this streaming service drama is the one that is attracting people’s attention right now due a combination of star power: actors Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Justin Theroux, Julia Garner (The Americans and Ozark), Jemima Kirke, and Sally Field, as well as its subject matter. The show follows two patients at a psychiatric hospital who dive into fantasy worlds, allowing the show to push genre boundaries more than the average dark comedy.

Marvel’s Jessica Jones Season 2 (premieres 8 March)
Netflix
The series has been off the air for over two years, so no return may more highly anticipated than that of Jessica Jones, the private investigator with a very unique set of skills. The sophomore effort promises to be even more personal as Jessica struggles to put her life back together after the murder of Kilgrave (yes, David Tennant is expected to make a comeback).

Mosaic (premieres Jan. 22)
HBO
Steven Soderbergh has already released an interactive version of this verite style murder mystery via the aptly-named Mosaic mobile app, allowing the audience to follow one or multiple character journeys through this complicated tale. But the auteur director will debut his vision for the story through the six-episode limited series.

The X-Files Season 11 (premieres Jan. 3)
Fox
First out of the gates for 2018 is a second new season for Chris Carter’s perennial cult show. The 10th season of Chris Carter’s groundbreaking, genre-bending sci-fi FBI drama was a revival that saw Agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) facing down new seemingly paranormal activity and government conspiracy. But it ended with a huge cliffhangers, as a pandemic swept the country and threatened to claim Mulder, while Scully was literally staring up at a bright light in the sky that could have been a UFO. A second season was all but guaranteed from the ending alone, and now the time is coming to see if it can stick the landing.

Westworld Season 2
HBO
Bouncing back after first season production delays, the show made a massive splash in its debut, scoring 22 Primetime Emmy nominations (tying for the most noms of the year). The ambitious nature of the storytelling — multiple worlds, multiple timelines, themes of questioning, consciousness, and what it means to be human — promises to deliver even more in the second season with the introduction of new worlds for its audiences.