10 shows arriving in June that we’re excited about

Three is a magic number this month, with hits The Gilded Age and Squid Game returning for a trifecta—meanwhile, The Bear enters its fourth instalment. If you want to start something brand new, though, there’s intriguing arson drama; Aussie-made cold case mystery; a fresh entry to the MCU and much more.

Add each hot show to your Flicks watchlist to get notified when new episodes drop! June is going to be a big one, and you wouldn’t want to miss out.

The Bear: Season 4

When we last saw stressed-out chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), he was tackling a mediocre review for the revamped restaurant that has been sapping his energy (and frankly, will to live) for seasons on end. At the same time, FX’s hit restaurant drama itself was garnering its first negative reviews, for a season that was considered uneventful and repetitive compared to the explosive first two chapters. Eh, what do critics know about anything?

Filmed concurrently with season three, this latest batch of episodes is hopefully cooking up some change. I just want to see the family business take off, dammit, and I want Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) to get the attention and respect she deserves so that she doesn’t jump ship and take a better gig somewhere else. I want everyone to be happy! It would be bad TV, but I want the Berzatto clan to thrive and eat sandwiches! Is that so much to ask?

The Gilded Age: Season 3

My beloved and nonsensical And Just Like That… is currently airing its third season, but another bitchy drama set in New York’s high society is the one racking up rave reviews and converting new fans with every corseted chapter. Transporting us back to the 1880s, a period of massive cultural and industrial upheaval and upstairs-downstairs havoc, The Gilded Age is period TV gold.

As rising woman-about-town Bertha, the tremendous Carrie Coon is setting sights higher for her family, as her husband takes a new gamble on the nascent railroad industry. Right across the cobbled street, legendary grand dammes Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon are still trying to coax their estranged and penniless niece into her proper position. Created by Julian Fellowes, it’s still neatly fitting that hole left behind by his previous work Downton Abbey.

Ironheart: Season 1

The MCU has been left in a weird spot with Iron Man’s passing (barely a spoiler—statistically, you certainly saw his sacrificial snap in Avengers: Endgame, come on now). Even Robert Downey Jr. himself feels the RDJ-shaped hole in the franchise, quickly getting recast as Victor Von Doom for the next big team-up. Until then, how about another tale of a plucky engineering genius strapping on a next-level mech suit?

Dominique Thorne is Riri Williams, a rising young genius from Chicago ready to make her own mark on the superhero mythos—until she’s waylaid by mysterious newcomer The Hood, played by Anthony Ramos. The sprawling cast includes drag stars, Alden Ehrenreich, Sacha Baron Cohen, Aussie Zoe Terakes and much more.

The Mortician: Docuseries

The death industry: it’s a livin’! As someone who has seriously considered learning the tools of the mortician trade (if I didn’t just love my life as a pop culture writer so dang much, that is), this engrossing and probably a bit gross docuseries should be a window into a dark and corrupt world.

Following a trusted family-run funeral home that became driven by profit and devolved into inhumane and unethical practices, Joshua Rofé’s three-episode expose illuminates a segment of work, life and blood relations that most of us would rather not dwell on. If you’re in the mood for a true crime doco with blood still pumping in its veins, scroll down. But if you’d rather peer into a quirkier coda—where the victims are already dead and on their way to eternal rest—this gripping and morbid account will be your (body)bag.

Sherri Papini: Caught in the Lie

Stranger-than-fiction tales of murder, crime and con artistry are a dime a dozen on streaming services. But when a project like this secures the involvement of the controversial figure at its centre, it shoots right to the top of my to-watch list.

The titular enigma here is a young California mum who emerged from a devastating abduction ordeal, bruised and even branded—only for her slippery story to completely slide apart when the FBI poked holes in the story. Papini has since undergone a media firestorm and been sentenced to prison time for her falsities, and so it’s a huge get that HBO managed to plonk her on the couch; ready to hear her side of the story and perhaps emboss it with a little more empathy, or to expose a bizarre lie in greater detail than ever before.

Smoke: Limited Series

Where there’s smoke, there’s…well, you know, and the two arson investigators at the centre of this smoldering crime-mystery can be counted on to extinguish a trail of devastating serial arson attacks. Jurnee Smollett is a magnetic screen presence, and Taron Egerton’s more buttoned-up vibe should balance out their pair of detectives nicely.

Created by author Dennis Lehane and based on the podcast Firebug, the show also features John Leguizamo, Rafe Spall, Anna Chlumsky and Greg Kinnear to flesh out its atmospheric Pacific Northwestern setting. We’re hoping for nine episodes of rigorous clue-collating, and perhaps even some steamy romantic tension burning away in the background?

Stick: Season 1

To me, golf is just about the most tedious sport on the planet, with cricket a close second. Maybe Owen Wilson’s shaggy charms as a washed-up coulda-been golfing pro could change my mind.

After tanking his career via very public meltdown on the green, Wilson’s over-the-hill puttmaster takes on the challenge of mentoring a promising new prodigy. It’s a big swing (golf joke Ha Ha Ha), but perhaps putt-ing his experience to use can help heal the wounds of our hero’s failed marriage and bankrupt sporting goods business. Should be feel good, sports-comedy fun, and it’s nice to see Wilson in a lead role, too.

The Survivors: Limited Series

A sleepy seaside town; a tragic cold case; a body washed up on the beach, bringing all that darkness and secrecy from the past ashore with it. This brand-new Aussie-made drama is built of familiar elements, to be sure, but super-showrunner Tony Ayres has pulled off similarly juicy mysteries for Netflix before (see: Clickbait), and it’s based on yet another bestseller from author Jane Harper (see: The Dry).

With that pedigree and a compelling cast of relative unknowns, it should be an absorbing combo of family melodrama and whodunnit, following a young couple who expected a homecoming with their difficult parent and instead get drawn into a chilling murder mystery. It’s set in Tasmania, too, making it just about as “Down Under” as possible without crossing over to Aotearoa.

Squid Game: Season 3

Six more episodes: that’s all we’re getting from creator Hwang Dong-hyuk and his stream-stealing dystopian phenomenon, after last year’s somewhat disappointing second season. After the mammoth success of the first season—which was only intended to be a one-and-done affair—the second and third seasons feel like one extended wrap-up of all those gnarly ideas and themes.

Halfway through his return to the bloodthirsty Games, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) might be regretting his campaign to set things right, since the show’s last cliffhanger showed his rebellion ending in massive teal-suited casualties and a very pissed-off Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). Is six episodes enough time to bring down the whole nasty game-of-death operation, or could we be in for a massive downer ending? All signs point to yikes, considering the series’ cynical social messaging.

We Were Liars: Season 1

Kind of like a combination between I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Summer I Turned Pretty, this juicy mystery-drama sees the sunny season as a total bummer: sunbathing, way too much time off, and companions who aren’t what they seem. It’s based on the best-selling novel by E. Lockhart, and follows the heir to a fabulous New England estate—and her pack of best friends, who paradoxically call themselves “the Liars.” Could one of them (gasp!) be lying about the dark events that happened during their fifteenth season together?

Neatly packing away a monster twist for its last few episodes, this secretive series should also just offer a well-needed bit of aspirational glam, considering its Kennedy-esque setting and cashed-up protagonists. You can even watch it in the dead of winter, wishing you were at the end of a sunny dock on a lake with some very…very trusted pals.