Squeaking in right at the end of the year, here are the most compelling must-sees streaming this month—perfect for a binge over the Christmas break.
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The Abandons: Season 1
If Yellowstone or one of its mopey prequel series had simply cast the iconic Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey as its scowling Stetson-topped frontierswoman, I would’ve been onboard a long time ago. Set in 1850s Washington, this period drama is another of those angsty, epic, dust-burnished tales of succession and betrayal.
Our gals are both playing widowed matriarchs, one a “have” and the other a “have-not.” Their steeliness will be tested in a lawless Old West landscape. Showrunner Kurt Sutter apparently drew inspiration from the historical origins of the American Mafia, so it’ll be fascinating to see how this western context feeds into that.
Born to Be Wild: Season 1
This tender nature doco was filmed across three continents and over several years, and doesn’t just show off endangered animals returning to their natural habitats. Oh, no. It’s about adorable baby animals returning to their natural habitats, discovering the wild worlds they were always meant to belong within.
Hugh Bonneville narrates episodes about cheetah cubs, an elephant calf, a few penguins and a ring-tailed lemur pup, among others, all of them the product of painstaking rescue and rehabilitation efforts. I suspect that you’ll come away from the series adoring the humans who are making their repatriation possible, too.
Emily in Paris: Season 5
Emily not in Paris? Okay, why don’t they just rename the show Girl in A Place?! In season four, Lily Collins’ perky expat made romantic and professional links beyond Paris—moving into a Roman apartment to open her agency’s new office, and exploring the spark between herself and Italian Stallion Marcello.
By now you certainly know whether or not this flirty, frothy, fashion-filled show is your bag or not: no jaunt across a European border or two is likely to convert streaming skeptics. Everyone else, get dressed to the nines and let the ultimate marketing maven girlboss power fantasy whisk you away wheeeeee!
Fallout: Season 2
What happens in New Vegas does not stay in New Vegas, which is precisely where our heroes are headed in the sophomore season of Fallout. That’s Ella Purnell’s Vault voyager Lucy, Aaron Moten’s squire Maximus, and the tremendous Walton Goggins as noseless maverick The Ghoul—a bizarre nuclear found family, sure, but one that promises black buddy comedy and apocalyptic discoveries aplenty.
The series earned praise for its expansive worldbuilding, drawing on the 23rd century setting of the phenomenally popular video game series it’s adapting. As someone with less than no knowledge of that franchise, I (and seemingly many other viewers) was still able to get real invested real quick, making this one of 2025’s most anticipated returning shows.
Heated Rivalry: Season 1
I know it’s technically dropping riiiight at the end of November and not December, but how could we miss a steamy BookTok Canadian hockey romance series? HOW?! From creator Jacob Tierney, it’s an adaptation of Rachel Reid’s eyebrow-raising and viral book series Game Changers, following rival hockey players whose competitiveness spirals into an outright love story.
Could this be just the thing, to finally unite jock BFs and romance-reading GFs in finding something frothy to watch? We are hoping for bro-on-bro chemistry so hot it burns a big hole through the ice, causing real logistical issues for the poor zamboni custodian.
Irish Blood: Season 1
Already renewed for a second season, this transatlantic drama follows Alicia Silverstone from LA to a knotty mess of secrets and danger in Ireland. Her character is a hotshot American divorce lawyer, long estranged from the Irish father who abandoned her when she was just 10. But when he seemingly sends over a mysterious package, is she going to miss out on the opportunity to find answers, closure, perhaps even the missing piece of herself? In Silverstone’s own, iconic words: “as if!”
This looks like another entry in the cozy crime category, more focused on twisty family drama and maybe a few cold cases, than heavy themes and suspense. You may also be happy to learn that our yankee heroine stumbles into more than a few hunks while in Ireland, offering up some swoony romantic subplots amidst the hereditary detective work.
Man Vs Baby
He faced off against a Bee in 2022, and now is back to battle (okay, care for) a baby. Rowan Atkinson doesn’t need high concepts or intricate writing to make viewers laugh. Over four 30-minute-long episodes, this slapstick series follows a buffoonish Atkinson as he gets saddled with an infant companion over the Christmas break, presumably encountering a lot of dirty nappies and babyproofing shenanigans.
In his review, Luke Buckmaster considered Man Vs Bee a “minor but joyful series”, praising that “there’s no denying the appeal of this funny and—notwithstanding a bit of “face in poo” humour—gracefully executed production rests on the milking of a simple scenario for all its worth.”
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Season 2
Heaps of kids go through a Greek mythology phase at some stage, for whatever reason (*meekly raises hand*). Rick Riordan’s kid-friendly novels were right there to inflame that curiosity into teen obsession. In this episodic adaptation’s sophomore series, Percy Jackson (son of sea god Poseidon, one of Olympus’s many deadbeat dads) must take a dip into the Sea of Monsters, bond with his cyclops half-brother, and find the Golden Fleece.
These are all epic, mythic, very familiar elements, reimagined for today’s imaginative youngsters to feel like any other expansive YA world—with a camp for chosen-one children, monsters, and adventures in friendship and destiny to be had.
Simon Cowell: The Next Act
Somehow, Palpatine returned. The tight-shirted head honcho of British pop makes an unlikely comeback, for this docuseries following Cowell’s attempts to create a brand new boy band from scratch. They could be called: Two Directions? Take This? Eastlife? Apparently he is “risking it all” to see if he’s still got what it takes—to select some fresh faces who can carry a tune, market the bejeezus out of them, and rake in a lotta cash.
Considering KPop’s industry dominance, there’s seemingly a vacuum of power when it comes to Western boybands. I am wary of Cowell but if he can spark a second coming of bleached tips and earnest 00s harmonies, then maybe this will be a must-watch.
Stranger Things 5: Volume 2
Netflix literally crashed for five minutes all across the world, when the first half of Stranger Things‘ final season dropped in November. This month, expect Hawkins’ last stand to make a similar impact come Christmas Day. (So if any of your family members sneak away from the turkey and ham for an hour or four, don’t assume they’re having a secret smoko).
Episode eight, meanwhile, arrives on New Years Eve: a feature-length finale entitled ‘The Rightside Up’. It’s the grandest goodbye possible, for what began as a tween nostalgia-grab streamable and ended as a long-in-tooth-20-something nostalgia-grab phenomenon.
