Spring is here and along with the good weather an infinite number of new TV shows and films are arriving this April. Once again, we’ll help you decide what to watch and how to spend your free time in front of the big or small screens.
We’ll tell you what new shows to stream and what returning TV series to look forward to — plus we’ll let you know what movies will be available digitally and the few titles you’ll only be able to enjoy in movie theaters for the time being.
If you want even more options, take a look at our Coming Soon guides for the months of March and February.
Some of April’s Most Anticipated New Shows
Slow Horses (April 1), Apple TV+: Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas star in this espionage drama with hints of dark comedy about Slough House, a department of British intelligence service MI5 where agents find themselves after making a career-ending mistake. Here, Oldman plays Jackson Lamb, the irascible boss at Slough House.
Harry Wild (April 4), Acorn TV: Jane Seymour (Medicine Woman) plays the titular character Harry Wild in this Acorn TV Original murder-mystery thriller. The eight-episode series sees the retiring university literature professor taking a new interest in life. After being mugged, she agrees to recover at her son’s Charlie (Kevin Ryan) home. He’s a senior police detective and she’ll soon start interfering with one of the murder cases he’s investigating. She’ll also enlist the kid who mugged her (Rohan Nedd) as her sidekick.
61st Street (April 10), ALLBLK, AMC+ and AMC: Emmy-winner Courtney B. Vance (The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story) stars here as the lawyer Franklin Roberts. “61st Street is a propulsive thriller which courses through the dark heart of the infamous Chicago criminal justice system as police and prosecutors investigate a deadly drug bust that threatens to unravel the police department’s code of silence,” reads AMC’s official synopsis of the show. Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard) also stars.
Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (April 12), Britbox: This three-part limited series is based on the 1934 Agatha Christie novel of the same name. It stars and has been adapted, directed and executive produced by Hugh Laurie (House M.D.). Will Poulter (The Revenant) and Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody) also star in this story about the local Vicar’s son (Poulter) and his socialite friend (Boynton) who discover the body of a dying man whose final words are, “Why didn’t they ask Evans?” They’ll try to solve the mystery behind those words.
The Garcias (April 14), HBO Max: This reboot of The Brothers Garcia, which includes six cast members from the original show, centers on an American family living in San Antonio, Texas, who all gather at a fancy beach house in Mexico for the summer. Ada Maris, Carlos Lacamara, Alvin Alvarez, Jeffrey Licon, Bobby Gonzalez and Vaneza Pitysnky are the original cast members who’ve returned for this new iteration.
Roar (April 15), Apple TV+: This eight-episode anthology series stars Issa Rae, Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Merritt Wever, Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Meera Syal, Fivel Stewart and Kara Hayward. They are the main characters at the center of each one of these episodes, which portray what it means to be a woman today. The show tells the story of the woman who disappeared, the one who ate photographs, the one who found bite marks on her skin, the one who was fed by a duck, the one who solved her own murder, the one who was kept on a shelf, the one who returned her husband, and the girl who liked horses.
Anatomy of a Scandal (April 15), Netflix: This six-episode limited series is a psychological thriller that stars Sienna Miller, Michelle Dockery and Rupert Friend. “James (Friend) and Sophie Whitehouse (Miller) live in a blissful and rarified world. A Minister in Parliament, a loving family at home, James’ trajectory appears without limits. Until a scandalous secret suddenly comes to light. Barrister Kate Woodcroft (Dockery) has a trajectory of her own, and her prosecution threatens to tear into Westminster, the Whitehouse marriage, and her own personal esteem,” reads Netflix’s official synopsis.
The First Lady (April 17), Showtime: This show is executive produced by and stars Viola Davis — she plays Michelle Obama — and focuses on first ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford and Obama. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Ford and Gillian Anderson is Roosevelt. Danish director Susanne Bier helms all 10 episodes of this story.
Gaslit (April 24), Starz: Julia Roberts stars as the Arkansas socialite Martha Mitchell in this political thriller about the Watergate scandal. She was the whistleblower who busted the scandal open and also ended up becoming the target of a White House smear campaign enacted in part by her husband, Attorney General John Mitchell (Sean Penn). Dan Stevens rounds out the cast.
The Man Who Fell to Earth (April 24), Showtime: Based on the Walter Tevis book of the same name and the iconic 1976 film starring David Bowie, this new series stars Academy Award-nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) as the alien who arrives on Earth at a particular moment in human evolution. But confronting his past may determine humanity’s future. Naomie Harris, Clarke Peters, Kate Mulgrew and Bill Nighy round out the cast.
We Own This City (April 25), HBO: David Simon and George Pelecanos’ new show for HBO shares a lot of DNA with The Wire. Not only is it set in Baltimore, but it features some of The Wire’s alums like Domenick Lombardozzi, Jamie Hector and Delaney Williams. This new miniseries — which is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton — is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard) and also stars Jon Bernthal, Wunmi Mosaku, Josh Carles and Dagmara Domińczyk. The show “chronicles the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work,” according to HBO’s synopsis.
The Offer (April 28), Paramount+: If you’ve been celebrating The Godfather’s 50th anniversary, you may want to check out this 10-episode limited series that tells the story of how the movie, and the Mario Puzo book from which it was adapted, first came to be. Dan Fogler plays director Francis Ford Coppola. Patrick Gallo is Puzo. Miles Teller and Matthew Goode are Albert S. Ruddy and Robert Evans, respectively — the producer of the film and the head of production at Paramount when the movie was greenlit.
Under the Banner of Heaven (April 28), Hulu: This FX seven-episode limited series is inspired by the true-crime book by Jon Krakauer. It tells of the murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her baby daughter in 1984 in suburban Utah. Andrew Garfield plays the detective in charge of the investigation, who also uncovers truths about the origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk), who was brought up as mormon, created the show and serves as showrunner.
Shining Girls (April 29), Apple TV+: Queen of Peak TV and Emmy-winning Elisabeth Moss stars, executive produces and even directs in this metaphysical thriller based on the novel of the same name by Lauren Beukes. Moss plays Kirby Mazrachi, a Chicago newspaper archivist and aspiring journalist who has recently endured a traumatic assault. When she realizes a recent murder shares similarities with her case, she partners with veteran reporter Dan Velazquez (Wagner Moura) to investigate. Phillipa Soo and Jamie Bell round out the cast.
Must-See Returning TV on Streaming
The Kardashians (April 14), Hulu: This new reality TV series focuses on the lives of Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall and Kylie from the Kardashian-Jenner family as they invite the cameras back into their lives after the 20 seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2006–2021). “From the intense pressures of running billion-dollar businesses to the hilarious joys of playtime and school drop-offs, this series brings viewers into the fold with a rivetingly honest story of love and life in the spotlight,” reads Hulu’s synopsis.
Better Call Saul, Season 6, Part 1 (April 18), AMC and AMC+: The sixth and final season of Breaking Bad’s spin-off show will be 13 episodes in total and roll out in two parts, with Part 1 comprising the first seven episodes. Part 2 will debut on July 11. The show will conclude the complicated journey and transformation of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) into criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.
Russian Doll, Season 2 (April 20), Netflix: Natasha Lyonne stars and serves as showrunner and executive producer in this second season set four years after her character, Nadia, and Alan (Charlie Barnett) escaped mortality’s time loop. The new episodes “will continue to explore existential thematics through an often humorous and sci-fi lens. Discovering a fate even worse than endless death, this season finds Nadia and Alan delving deeper into their pasts through an unexpected time portal located in one of Manhattan’s most notorious locations,” according to Netflix.
The Flight Attendant, Season 2 (April 21), HBO Max: This dramedy and international thriller based on Chris Bohjalian novel of the same name returns for an eight-episode second season in which Cassie (Kaley Cuoco) finds herself in Los Angeles and sober. She moonlights as a CIA asset while still very much donning the flight attendant uniform, court heels and rolling suitcase. The new season was shot in Los Angeles, Berlin and Reykjavik. Besides Cuoco, expect to see Zosia Mamet, Griffin Matthews, Deniz Akdeniz and Rosie Perez again.
Gentleman Jack, Season 2 (April 25), HBO: Based on the memoir The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister, season two of Gentleman Jack takes us back to Yorkshire in 1834. Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) and Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) move in together at Shibden Hall to combine their states, becoming a power couple and living as wife and wife. But going against convention is never easy.
Movies on Streaming
Here, we’ve included an array of titles that will debut on streaming as well as movies that first premiered in theaters and are now available digitally.
The Bubble (April 1), Netflix: Judd Apatow writes, directs and produces this comedy about a group of actors trapped inside of a pandemic bubble at a hotel while trying to complete the shooting of a sequel to an action film about dinosaurs that fly. The star-packed cast includes Leslie Mann, Pedro Pascal, Karen Gillan, Iris Apatow, Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny and Keegan-Michael Key.
The Contractor (April 1), theaters and buy it on digital: Chris Pine stars here as Special Forces Sergeant James Harper. He’s involuntarily discharged from the army with no pension or healthcare. In debt and without options, he accepts a job as a contractor with a private underground military unit. But the first assignment proves to be much more complicated than he anticipated, leaving him hunted and on the run. Also starring Kiefer Sutherland, Ben Foster and Gillian Jacobs.
All The Old Knives (April 8), Prime Video: This is the second Chris Pine movie to be released in April. This one co-stars Thandiwe Newton. They both play CIA agents and former lovers. Pine is veteran operative Henry Pelham, assigned to find the mole among his former colleagues at the agency’s Vienna office. The investigation takes him from Austria to England to California, which is where he’s reunited with Celia (Newton). Laurence Fishburne and Jonathan Pryce also star.
The Batman (April 18), HBO Max: Robert Pattinson dons the cape and the pointy-eared mask in this new reboot of the bat franchise that first debuted in theaters in March. Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) co-writes and directs the movie, which also stars Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Jeffrey Wright and John Turturro. Don’t miss our review of The Batman.
Uncharted (April 26), Video on Demand (VOD): After its theatrical debut in February, this film based on the eponymous action-adventure video game series will be released digitally. The movie stars Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Victor Sullivan. The duo embark on an epic international adventure in pursuit of “the greatest treasure never found.” Meanwhile, Nathan starts discovering new details about his long-lost brother. Plus, Antonio Banderas plays a seasoned treasure hunter and the movie’s baddy.
The Survivor (April 27), HBO and HBO Max: In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, HBO debuts this movie based on the book Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano by Alan Haft. Ben Foster plays Haft. Barry Levinson directs. Vicky Krieps, Billy Magnussen, Peter Sarsgaard, Danny DeVito and John Leguizamo round out the cast. “The film is an examination of one man’s journey from unspeakable horrors to freedom, forgiveness and redemption,” reads the HBO synopsis.
And a Few Movies You’ll Only Be Able to Watch in Theaters
Morbius (April 1): Set in the same universe as Venom, Morbius stars the chameleonic Jared Leto (you may or may not have recognized him in House of Gucci) as Dr. Michael Morbius. He suffers from a rare disease and, while trying to find a cure for himself and others, he ends up transformed into someone with an urge for blood and other vampiric tendencies.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (April 8): We mentioned this title when we told you about superhero films that fall outside of the popular Marvel and DC canons. Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) stars here as an exhausted Chinese American woman who can’t seem to finish her taxes and finds herself swept up in the multiverse.
Ambulance (April 8): Michael Bay produces and directs this film starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Candyman) as Will, a vet desperate to pay for his wife’s medical bills. His adoptive brother, Dany (Jake Gyllenhaal), is a professional criminal. When Will asks him for help, Dany enlists Will in a $32 million bank robbery. The two of them end up in an adrenaline-fueled chase through the streets of Los Angeles, inside of an ambulance driven by EMT Cam (Eiza González).
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (April 22): Nicholas Cage stars as a version of himself in this action-comedy. “Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal). Things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Tiffany Haddish) and forced to live up to his own legend, channeling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones. With a career built for this very moment, the seminal award-winning actor must take on the role of a lifetime: Nick Cage,” reads Lionsgate synopsis of the film.
