TV Trailers of the Week: The Bear: S5, Little House on the Prairie, Ride or Die, Elle, Lioness: S3 and More
📺 Take a peek at some of the latest trailers for upcoming TV shows.
📺 “The Bear: Season 5” Trailer: Carmy Walks Away as Syd, Richie, and Sugar Fight to Keep the Doors Open in Final Season — Premiering Wed, June 25th on FX on Hulu/Disney+
Here’s a thought: the success of The Bear was never really about audiences suddenly becoming fascinated by the subtle idiosyncrasies of fine dining. Or about whether a neighborhood sandwich shop could somehow become one of Chicago’s most talked-about eateries.
The show’s success, at least we believe, came from how it challenged our understanding of what success really is and how it should be measured. Personal growth, professional ambition, family baggage, creative fulfillment... all of it gets sifted into a bowl of anxiety, pride, and hard-earned self-discovery. Success isn’t a damn Michelin star.
It was the simple, brutal acknowledgment that Carmy, Syd, Richie, Tina, Sugar, Neil, Marcus, and the rest of the crew are all struggling in one form or another, yet still have to figure out how to work as a unit just to survive the day. Success is honoring that struggle without letting it burn the whole place down. Success is understanding that no one in that kitchen is worth less or more than anyone else.
And as much as Carmy is a culinary wunderkind, the kitchen he has built might very well close up shop sooner than anyone expected. But the true measure of success might be how everyone on that staff has grown, not just as cooks or workers, but as people learning how to trust themselves, trust each other, and keep showing up when the pressure feels impossible.
Something to think about as the fifth and final season prepares to debut later this month, capping off a phenomenal show that was never really just about food, but about the messy, painful, deeply human work of becoming better together.
That seems to be the idea sitting at the center of the final season, which picks up after Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy walks away from the restaurant business, leaving The Bear in the hands of Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Sugar (Abby Elliott). And because this show has never been interested in giving anyone an easy shift, the team is immediately staring down a financial crisis, a possible sale, a delivery cutoff, and even a flood threatening to wash away whatever stability they had left.
With Sydney now in a new position of authority, stepping into the role of head chef, Richie appears to be stepping up as the kitchen’s biggest cheerleader as everyone fights to keep the place alive. Carmy, meanwhile, is still the tortured chef who seems to have buckled under the pressure of perfection, and his words of encouragement sound more like a confession than a victory lap.
Created by Christopher Storer, who also serves as executive producer alongside Joanna Calo, Josh Senior, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson, and Matty Matheson, the final season once again brings back Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Matty Matheson, Oliver Platt, Jon Bernthal, Ricky Staffieri, Molly Gordon, and more. Storer also serves as the season’s primary director, with Hiro Murai returning to direct as well.
Will The Bear stay open, or will it fail to keep its doors from closing? Maybe the real victory was never the menu, the reviews, or the Michelin star. The true accomplishment isn’t just the food on the plate, but the people who found a way to stand beside each other long enough to serve it.
The final season premieres Wednesday, June 25th on FX on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+. Bon appétit, cousin!
📺 “Little House on the Prairie” Trailer: Netflix Reimagines the Ingalls Family’s Journey West in a Sweeping Frontier Drama Series Starring Luke Bracey and Alice Halsey — Streaming Thurs, July 9th on Netflix
Anyone raised on late-1970s and early-’80s television would know — and likely watched — Michael Landon’s classic TV series Little House on the Prairie, one of the pivotal shows of its era to offer American audiences a romantic vision of 19th-century frontier life, where grit, decency, and family values were enough to carry people through even the hardest stretches of hardship.
It was a family show meant to reassure viewers that goodness, faith, and perseverance could still hold a family together, even when life on the frontier kept testing them at every turn. Which just might make it the perfect show to bring back, as today’s audience seems hungrier than ever for comfort viewing that still wants to believe old-fashioned resilience can carry us through hard times.
Featuring Australian actor Luke Bracey (Hacksaw Ridge) in the Michael Landon role of Charles “Pa” Ingalls, Netflix’s new Little House on the Prairie series offers a fresh adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved semi-biographical books about her family establishing a homestead on the American frontier during the 1870s. The story begins with the Ingalls family setting out to build a new life in the West, following their journey across the frontier, where the beauty of the open prairie comes with isolation, danger, uncertainty, and the daily struggle to survive.
As seen in the trailer, this appears to be a heartfelt reimagining that keeps the focus on family, sacrifice, and the fragile idea of home. It also gives Netflix a chance to revisit a familiar American story with a broader scope, leaning into a more historically grounded setting and character landscape without drifting too far from the core principles of family struggle, resilience, and communal harmony.
Alice Halsey, of the soap series Days of Our Lives, steps into the shoes of young Laura Ingalls, once played famously by Melissa Gilbert in the original TV series. Laura is the heart and eyes of her family’s frontier experience, traveling across the plains in search of a better life.
Halsey is joined by Crosby Fitzgerald and Skywalker Hughes as Caroline and Mary Ingalls, along with Jocko Sims as Dr. George Tann, Warren Christie as John Edwards, Wren Zhawenim Gotts as Good Eagle, Meegwun Fairbrother as Mitchell, and Alyssa Wapanatâhk as White Sun.
Whether this new version can capture the warmth and staying power of the original remains to be seen. But the timing might be better than ever for a revival built around the stubborn belief that home is something worth building.
Little House on the Prairie premieres Thursday, July 9th on Netflix.
📺 “Ride or Die” Trailer: Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham Go on the Run After One Best Friend Turns Out to Be an Assassin in Amazon’s New Buddy-Comedy Action Series — Debuting Wed, July 15th on Prime Video
Some friendships come with baggage. Others come with aliases, getaway routes, and a body count that definitely should have come up over brunch.
That’s the setup behind Ride or Die, a new Prime Video series starring Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Emmy Award winner Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) as Debbie Claybourne and Judith Burton, two lifelong best friends whose relationship hits a very unusual speed bump when Debbie discovers Judith has been living a secret life as an international assassin.
Naturally, this is the kind of revelation between close friends that leads to a little anger and some awkward tension. But those group hugs will have to wait after a hit goes wrong and a mysterious figure from Judith’s past resurfaces, putting both women in immediate danger. With Judith’s secret blown and Debbie’s husband seemingly tied to some very bad people, the ladies are thrown into a frantic race across Europe, with law enforcement, trained killers, and dangerous criminals closing in from every direction.
The success of the show appears to rest heavily on Spencer and Waddingham, whose onscreen pairing seems primed for a little comedic friction. Put them together in a cross-continental buddy comedy with bullets flying, and the series has plenty of room to play both the friendship angle and the spies-on-the-run hijinks.
Created by Tessa Coates, with Matt Miller serving as showrunner, Ride or Die also features a strong supporting cast led by Bill Nighy as a stern British operative running operations from base, alongside Ed Skrein, Sylvia Hoeks, Calam Lynch, Savannah Steyn, and Jamie Parker.
Filmmaker Peyton Reed, best known for Bring It On and the Ant-Man films, is among the directors helming episodes.
Sometimes besties forever simply means dodging bullets and bad guys. We’ll see if Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham are truly “ride or die” buddies when the series debuts Wednesday, July 15th on Prime Video.
📺 “Elle” Trailer: This ’90s-Set Legally Blonde Prequel Series Rewinds Elle Woods Back to Her Grunge-Era High School Years Starring Lexi Minetree — Premiering Wed, July 1st on Prime Video
Before Harvard Law, courtroom victories, and one of the most famous bend-and-snaps in movie history, Elle Woods was just trying to survive high school. And yes, apparently even Elle had to deal with messy friendships, questionable romances, unwelcoming cliques, and the deeply unfair emotional warfare of teenage life.
Set in 1995 at the height of the grunge era, Elle rewinds the Legally Blonde universe back to Elle’s formative years, with Lexi Minetree stepping into the role of the future pink-powered legal icon. This time, Elle is navigating family friction, a major move, and the kind of fashion choices only the mid-’90s could fully justify.
The series also puts a strong focus on Elle’s family, especially her bond with her mother Eva, played by June Diane Raphael. Tom Everett Scott co-stars as Elle’s father Wyatt, who moves the family from the sunny hills of Southern California to the rainy gray of Seattle, during a time when grunge was in and glitz was out. While Elle struggles to fit into her new high school environment, she doesn’t let the flannel-clad locals break her stride, leaning into her sunny disposition to turn the whole experience into a very Elle Woods kind of reinvention.
Jacob Moskovitz, Gabrielle Policano, Chandler Kinney, Zac Looker, Amy Pietz, and the late James Van Der Beek help round out the ensemble cast of this ’90s-era comedy throwback, as this fish-out-of-water story gets bedazzled with a little Beverly Hills sparkle.
Created by Laura Kittrell (High School, Insecure), who co-showruns and executive produces alongside Caroline Dries, the streaming series also has Reese Witherspoon onboard as an executive producer.
Elle premieres Wednesday, July 1st on Prime Video.
📺 “Lioness: Season 3” Teaser: Zoe Saldaña Returns to Taylor Sheridan’s CIA Thriller as the War Comes Closer to Home — Returning Sun, August 2nd on Paramount+
Zoe Saldaña is one of those rare actresses probably best known for playing space-age heroines, from Avatar to the Guardians of the Galaxy films. And despite winning an Oscar for the wildly divisive narco-musical Emilia Pérez, Saldaña has quietly been delivering some of her strongest work in Taylor Sheridan’s military action-thriller series Lioness.
She stars as Joe, the station chief of the Lioness program, a no-nonsense CIA operative responsible for training and leading female undercover agents through some of the government’s most dangerous missions. The balance between mother and warrior is nothing new for Saldaña, but the difference here is obvious: she isn’t hidden beneath motion capture or alien makeup. She’s raw, lethal, and quietly intimidating, proving she can still do the heavy lifting herself, no special effects required.
In Season 3, Joe finds herself surrounded by hidden networks, foreign operatives, and personal betrayals as the war she’s been fighting begins reaching into every corner of her life. That means the line between duty and home gets thinner, especially as she tries to protect her family while managing a program built for deception, sacrifice, and impossible choices.
Morgan Freeman returns as U.S. Secretary of State Edwin Mullins, with Nicole Kidman as CIA official Kaitlyn Meade, Michael Kelly as Deputy Director Byron Westfield, Dave Annable as Joe’s husband Neal, and Hannah Love Lanier as their teenage daughter. Also returning are Laysla De Oliveira and Genesis Rodriguez, with Yellowstone alum Ian Bohen joining the Season 3 cast.
Lioness: Season 3 is slated to premiere Sunday, August 2nd on Paramount+.
📺 “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness” Trailer: Larry David Takes on American History in HBO’s New Limited Sketch Comedy Series Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary — Premieres Fri, June 26th on HBO Max
America’s 250th anniversary is getting a history lesson, which naturally means Larry David has arrived to complain about it. Executive-produced by David, Jeff Schaffer, and Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, this seven-episode HBO limited sketch comedy revisits the country’s past through awkward misunderstandings, petty grievances, and social discomfort. With Schaffer directing and familiar Curb Your Enthusiasm faces expected to appear, this looks like a very Larry David way to celebrate history: by turning national reflection into one long, uncomfortable argument.
📺 “The Walking Dead: Dead City: Season 3” Trailer: Maggie and Negan’s Uneasy Alliance Faces a Major Reset in AMC’s Zombie Spin-Off with Lauren Cohan & Jeffrey Dean Morgan — Returns Sun, July 26th on AMC and AMC+
Maggie and Negan may never fully outrun their brutal history, but survival has a strange way of rewriting the rules. Season 3 brings Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan back into a walker-filled world where their reluctant partnership continues to shift from bitter necessity into something closer to trust. With the new season teasing a major twist, an alternate-reality episode set in a very different version of New York City, and another test of their complicated dynamic, this spin-off looks ready to ask whether two former enemies can ever truly become allies.
📺 “Trying: Season 5” Trailer: Hard-Pressed Couple Nikki and Jason Face a New Family Storm in Apple’s British Comedy Series Starring Esther Smith, Rafe Spall & Charlotte Riley — Premieres Wed, July 8th on Apple TV
Parenting is hard enough before someone from the past knocks everything sideways. Season 5 of Apple’s heartfelt British comedy finds Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall) facing a new wave of complications after Princess and Tyler’s biological mother Kat (Charlotte Riley) suddenly reenters their lives. With their carefully built family thrown into fresh emotional confusion, the new season looks set to keep balancing messy parenting with the kind of domestic mayhem that comes from trying to hold everyone together.
📺 “Human Vapor” Trailer: Toho’s Classic Sci-Fi Horror Gets a Modern Reboot as a Killer Turns Fear Into a Deadly Force in Netflix’s New Japanese Sci-Fi Thriller Series — Premieres Thurs, July 2nd on Netflix
A villainous vapor is about to make society hold its breath. This new eight-episode Netflix series follows suspended detective Kenji Okamoto (Shun Oguri) as he’s pulled into a bizarre murder investigation after a college professor suddenly swells and explodes on live television. When a man calling himself the Human Vapor (UTA) announces more killings, Kenji teams with reporter Kyoko (Yu Aoi) to uncover the truth behind a culprit who seems impossible to contain. Based on the classic 1960 Toho film, this new version brings in Japanese director Shinzo Katayama and Korean writers Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) and Ryu Yong-jae (Parasyte: The Grey), with visual effects by Shirogumi, the Academy Award-winning team behind Godzilla Minus One, for a bold new visual spectacle.
📺 “Notes from the Last Row” Trailer: A Failed Novelist Finds Dangerous Inspiration in His Student’s Writing in Netflix’s Korean Psychological Drama Starring Old Boy’s Choi Min-sik — Arrives Fri, June 26th on Netflix
A great piece of writing can change a life, though maybe not always for the better. Old Boy’s Choi Min-sik stars as a failed novelist turned literature professor who becomes fascinated by the work of a quiet student whose writing carries an unsettling kind of power. What begins as private instruction soon slips into obsession, as teacher and student blur the line between mentorship, control, and creative possession. Adapted from Juan Mayorga’s play The Boy in the Last Row and directed by Kim Gyu-tae, this Korean psychological drama series turns literary ambition into a slow-burning mind game.
📺 “Fightland” Teaser: A Former Boxer Turned Newly Released Convict Seeks Redemption and Revenge in This 50 Cent-Produced Crime Series Starring Howard Charles and Nicholas Pinnock — Debuts Friday, July 31st on STARZ
Boxing has always had a dirty side, and this new STARZ crime drama looks ready to throw every punch from inside the criminal machine. Executive-produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, the series stars Howard Charles as Duke Kilroy, a British-born boxer whose world heavyweight title win turns tragic when his brother is killed and Duke’s own fallout sends him to prison for eight years. Once released, Duke returns home chasing vengeance against the vanished criminal kingpin and former promoter Kingsley Marshall (Nicholas Pinnock), only to find Kingsley’s family, including Joy (Deborah Ayorinde), the love of Duke’s life, left behind in the wreckage. With cartels, boxing money, and old betrayals closing in, Duke has to turn the instincts that made him a champion into weapons for revenge.
📺 “The Map of Longing” Trailer: A Final Gift Sends One Young Woman (Alícia Falcó) Through Grief, Self-Discovery, and Unexpected Romance in This Spanish Miniseries Based on Alice Kellen’s Bestselling Novel — Streams Friday, July 17th on Netflix
Grief becomes a map in this emotional Spanish miniseries based on Alice Kellen’s bestselling novel. Alícia Falcó stars as Greta, a young woman who has spent her life believing she was born to save her sister Lucy, only to be left lost when Lucy dies unexpectedly. But before her death, Lucy leaves behind “The Map of Longing,” a deeply personal game meant to guide Greta through her pain, push her toward self-discovery, and lead her to Will (Pablo Álvarez), a mysterious young man carrying heartbreak of his own.
📺 “Camp Snoopy: Season 2” Trailer: Snoopy Leads the Beagle Scouts Into the Wild for a New Round of Summer Camp Adventures — Streams Fri, June 26th on Apple TV
The Beagle Scouts are back on badge duty. Season 2 finds Snoopy and his troop heading into nature after learning their group may be on the verge of disbanding, using the Beagle Scout Manual as their guide through the Great Outdoors. While Snoopy chases merit badges, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang settle into summer at Camp Spring Lake, where hiking, swimming, campfires, and classic camp mishaps are all part of this new season.
📺 “The Doomies” Trailer: Two Best Friends Accidentally Open a Portal to Evil in Disney’s New Animated Creature Comedy Series — Debuts Thurs, June 26th on Disney+
Friendship gets a serious stress test when the underworld comes knocking. Disney+’s new animated adventure comedy follows Bobby (Max Mittelman) and Romy (Madison Calderon), two best friends who accidentally open a portal to evil and turn their peaceful coastal town into a playground for creatures of doom. With monsters let loose and Bobby becoming a major target, the duo must chase down the mystery while dealing with the kind of inner demons that don’t always come with fang and claws.
📺 “Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston” Teaser: Tom Hiddleston Revisits the Final Hours of Pompeii in National Geographic’s New Historical Documentary — Coming Soon to NatGeo, Hulu, and Disney+
Sometimes to understand the present, we have to dig through the ash of the past. Loki star Tom Hiddleston produces and narrates this National Geographic documentary, which revisits the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the ordinary people caught in Pompeii’s final hours. Tracing the disaster minute by minute and hour by hour, this new TV special looks at the choices, panic, and survival stories buried beneath one of history’s most infamous natural disasters.
📺 “Worst Neighbor Ever” Trailer: Netflix’s True-Crime Series Turns Next-Door Tension Into Stories of Violence, Harassment, and Fear — Streams Wed, July 1st on Netflix
Bad neighbors are one thing. Lethal ones are another. Netflix’s true-crime series returns with firsthand accounts of neighborhood disputes that spiral into violence, intimidation, and deadly obsession. Using testimonials, bodycam footage, and animated reenactments, this docuseries digs into the unsettling possibility that the biggest threat on the block may be living right next door.
📺 “The American Experiment” Trailer: Netflix’s Five-Part Documentary Series Reexamines the Radical Question Behind American Democracy — Premieres Wed, June 24th on Netflix
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this five-part American history docuseries looks back at the country’s founding through one deceptively simple question: can a people govern themselves? The series brings together historians, political figures, legal voices, tribal chiefs, military experts, and thinkers across the political spectrum to explore how America’s original debates still echo today. With Tom Hanks involved among its executive producers, this looks like a broad, serious-minded civic history lesson with the present very much in view.
📺 “Hammerhead Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory” Trailer: National Geographic Heads Into Mexico’s Pacific Waters for a Rare Shark Encounter — Premieres Sun, July 5th on NatGEO, Hulu/Disney+
Fearless wildlife filmmaker Bertie Gregory heads into Mexico’s Pacific waters in this new National Geographic documentary focused on one of the ocean’s most recognizable predators. The special follows Gregory as he investigates why hammerhead shark sightings have become increasingly rare and how protected waters may offer a path forward. The journey builds toward a rare encounter that proves the ocean still has plenty of ways to make humans feel very small.
📺 “Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2” Sneak Peek: Netflix Introduces Toph Beifong as Team Avatar Enters the Earth Kingdom — Debuts Thurs, June 25th on Netflix
Team Avatar gets a major new ally in this behind-the-scenes sneak peek at this new season of Netflix’s hit fantasy adventure series based on the beloved anime franchise. The preview introduces Toph Beifong (played by Miyako Cech) as Aang, Sokka, and Katara continue their journey into the Earth Kingdom. With Aang needing to master earthbending and the larger war still pressing in, Season 2 looks ready to open up a more complicated battlefield of politics, secrets, and alliances.
