Encomium
CHUCKY S3B | First On Showmax | Wednesdays from 1 May
Chucky has moved in with the most powerful family in the world, America’s First Family, into the White House. How did Chucky wind up here? What on Earth does he want? And how can Jake, Devon, and Lexy possibly get to Chucky inside the world’s most secure house, all while balancing the pressures of romantic relationships and growing up?
Chucky was up for Outstanding Drama Series at this year’s GLAAD Awards, as well as Best Horror Series at the 2024 Saturn Awards, as voted by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. As Jake, Zackary Arthur was also up for a 2024 Saturn Award as Best Younger Performer in a TV Series.
This season, look out for Devon Sawa (Final Destination) as President James Collins, Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) as Evelyn Elliot, and Oscar nominee Brad Dourif, who’s voiced Chucky for 36 years and counting, making a rare appearance on screen too.
Season 3 has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Slashfilm calling it “The wildest season yet.”
PRETTY LITTLE LIARS: SUMMER SCHOOL | First on Showmax | Express from the US from 10 May
Following the harrowing events of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, our Pretty Little Liars face a fate worse than death: summer school.
However, Millwood High isn’t the only thing getting in the way of their fun summer jobs and dreamy love interests. A new villain, who may or may not have a connection to A, has come to town and is going to put them all to the test.
Original Pretty Little Liars cast member Annabeth Gish is back as Dr Sullivan in Pretty Little Liars: Summer School.
BLACK OPS S1 | First On Showmax | Binge from Monday, 13 May
Who said infiltrating a criminal gang was going to be easy?
Black Ops is set in East London and follows two inept community support officers, Dom and Kay, who join the police in the hope of cleaning up their community but are instead thrust into the murky world of deep-cover infiltration.
As Dom and Kay, Gbemisola Ikumelo (Famalam, Brain In Gear) and Hammed Animashaun (The Wheel of Time, Cunk & Other Humans on 2019, Pls Like) are nominated for 2024 BAFTAs, for Female and Male Performance In a Comedy respectively.
“Can you really make a hilarious comedy about police racism? … The answer – pretty miraculously – is yes,” says The Guardian’s 5/5-star review, calling the show “a pitch-perfect, star-packed joy.”
THE GILDED AGE S2 | Binge from Monday, 20 May
From Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, The Gilded Age was up for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards, thanks to the likes of Emmy winners Audra McDonald, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, and Nathan Lane, not to mention Emmy nominee Carrie Coon, Critics Choice nominee Morgan Spector, and People’s Choice nominee Robert Sean Leonard, who joins the cast this season.
The opulent period drama has an 8/10 score on IMDb and a 93% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes for Season 2. In addition to myriad nominations for its production design, costume, make-up and hairstyling, the period drama was up for The Hollywood Critics Association award for Best Cable Series, Drama and the 2024 Queerty Award for best TV Drama.
HBO has already ordered a third season.
POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN S3 | Binge from Friday, 24 May
A prequel to the hit crime drama Power, Raising Kanan stars Mekai Curtis as the young Kanan Stark (played in the original series by Emmy and Grammy winner Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson).
Season 3 sees Raq make a life-changing decision in the aftermath of the Mafia’s ambush, but is it too little, too late for Kanan, as he looks to pave his own path free of his mother’s lies?
As Raq, Tony winner Patina Miller (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Madam Secretary) picked up her second Black Reel Award nomination earlier this year.
Black Reel winner Wendell Pierce (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Wire) joins the cast this season, with Teen Choice nominee Omar Epps (House M.D.), Grammy nominee Hailey Kilgore (Respect), and Emmy nominee Tony Danza (Who’s the Boss) all returning.
Raising Kanan has already been renewed for a fourth and fifth season.
THE CLEANING LADY S3 | First on Showmax | Binge from Monday, 27 May
Winner of four international awards, The Cleaning Lady centres on former surgeon Thony De La Rosa (Elodie Yung – Elektra in Daredevil and The Defenders), who travels to America for medical treatment to save her son but encounters a system rigged against her, forcing her to become a cleaning lady for the mob.
In Season 3, the stakes are higher than ever as Thony has to go it alone, risking dangerous new alliances as Fiona (Martha Millan) faces deportation to the Philippines.
Following the tragic passing of series co-star Adan Canto, Season 3 sees award-winners Clayton Cardenas (Mayans M.C.) and Kate del Castillo (Bad Boys for Life) join the cast, along with Santiago Cabrera (Big Little Lies, Star Trek: Picard).
You can watch all these and other exciting international titles including; Quantum Leap S2, Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story, Boiling Point S1, Shadowland S1, Fellow Travelers, Alex Rider S3, and Fires S1 on www.showmax.com.
