We round up everything coming to streaming services over the holidays, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
From shifting audience habits, to tightening budgets, to Netflix’s $144 billion purchase of Warner Bros, it’s been a brutal year for global and local screen industries. As we look to 2026, with more countries introducing laws requiring streamers to invest in their local industries, will Aotearoa respond to the seismic changes that streaming platforms have brought about? Or will we remain forgotten? The future is uncertain, but at least there’s comfort to be found in these great titles coming to streaming services over the holiday period.
The Pitt (Neon, 9 January)
Picking up 10 months after the final hour of its first season, The Pitt (one of the Spinoff’s favourite TV shows of 2025) is back for a highly-anticipated second season. Set on the fourth of July, and taking place again over a single 15-hour shift, Emmy-award winning star Noah Wyle returns as Dr. “Robby” Robinavitch. Faced with a new set of heart-palpitating emergencies, will this medical procedural remain “the finest example of the genre” in more than a generation?
Cover-Up (Netflix, 26 December)
Premiering to rave reviews at the Venice Film Festival, Laura Poitras’s and Mark Obenhaus’s Cover-Up chronicles the explosive career of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. For more than 50 years, Hersh has exposed a chronology of “American malfeasance that spans from the Vietnam War to the Gaza genocide.” and it’s taken Poitras 20 years to get the iconoclastic and indefatigable reporter to talk. Decades in the making, this “rare and unmistakably urgent documentary” is a first-rate nail-biter.
Shameless (Prime Video, 31 December)
Christmas day is full of family drama, but take comfort in knowing that the Gallaghers aren’t there to stir the pot. Led by William H. Macy, with an ensemble cast that includes pre-superstardom Jeremy Allen White, Shameless charts one dysfunctional families tumultuous quest for a better life. As they navigate the minefields of poverty and addiction, often running up against the law, the Gallaghers do whatever it takes to keep a roof over their heads. “Surprisingly appealing, crude, funny and also touching,” Shameless is a rare American remake that surpasses its original British source material.
His & Hers (Netflix, 8 January)
Directed by Lady Macbeth’s William Oldroyd, this adaptation of the 2020 Alice Feeney novel stars Jon Bernthal and Tessa Thompson as estranged spouses brought back together by a murder case. Set in a sweltering small town in Georgia, the thrilling series follows the dour detective and nosey news anchor as they try to uncover the truth behind the crime. They eventually accuse each other of the heinous murder but, with two sides to every story, who is lying and who is telling the truth? Tune in to find out.
People We Meet on Vacation (Netflix, 9 January)
In the very first big screen adaptation of an Emily Henry novel, Tom Blyth and Emily Bader are Poppy and Alex, longtime best friends oblivious to their romantic spark. Unfolding over an epic decade, the charming film follows their romance from their small town beginnings to New Orleans, Barcelona and beyond. If you’re without a summer fling and a sucker for the friends-to-lovers trope, People We Meet on Vacation is the rom-com for you.
Pick of the Flicks: Boiling Point (Neon, 25 December)
Before the global success of Adolescence, Philip Barantini and Stephen Graham collaborated on Boiling Point, a tense one-shot drama set at a high-end restaurant on its busiest day of the year. More stressful than an episode of Hell’s Kitchen, Graham is on-the-edge chef Andy Jones, whose restaurant’s food hygiene rating has just dropped from a five to a three. As conflict brews in the kitchen and dining room, Boiling Point doesn’t let up, staying the course as a “spicy nerve-jangler,” served up with a “chargrilled side order of jet-black gallows humour.”
The rest
Netflix
Sicily Express (22 December)
Elway (22 December)
King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch S3 (23 December)
Goodbye June (24 December)
Us (25 December)
Stranger Things S5 V2 (26 December)
Cashero (26 December)
Murder At The End Of The World (26 December)
Happy and You Know It (26 December)
12 Years A Slave (27 December)
Gambit (27 December)
Day of Reckoning (27 December)
Murder Before Evensong (28 December)
Members Only: Palm Beach (29 December)
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (30 December)
Ricky Gervais: Mortality (30 December)
Jellystone! S3 (29 December)
Yellowstone S3 (27 December)
Four Letters of Love (31 December)
Hacksaw Ridge (31 December)
Jurassic World (31 December)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (31 December)
Rick and Morty: S1-S8 (31 December)
Love from 9 to 5 (1 January)
My Korean Boyfriend (1 January)
Run Away (1 January)
Stranger Things S5: The Finale (1 January)
Time Flies (1 January)
Dr. Seuss’s Red Fish, Blue Fish S2 (1 January)
Carrie (1 January)
21 (1 January)
Pokémon Horizons S3-Rising Hope P1 (6 January)
Unlocked: A Jail Experiment S2 (7 January)
Marcello Hernández: American Boy (7 January)
HIS & HERS (8 January)
Love Is Blind: Germany: S2 (8 January)
People We Meet on Vacation (9 January)
Alpha Males S4 (9 January)
How to Train Your Dragon (9 January)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (9 January)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (9 January)
Longlegs (10 January)
TVNZ+
Jamie’s Cook Ahead Christmas (22 December)
Amanda and Alan’s Spanish Christmas (22 December)
Mary Makes Christmas (22 December)
Christmas with Delta 2025 (22 December)
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (22 December)
I Feel Pretty (22 December)
The Royal Variety Performance 2025 (24 December)
Together at Christmas 2025 (25 December)
The Chase Christmas Special 2025 (25 December)
Call the Midwife Christmas Special
Blankety Blank S4 (27 December)
The Voice USA S28 (28 December)
Attenborough’s Parenthood (28 December)
Absolutely Fabulous: Inside and Out (28 December)
Ripple (28 December)
Farmer Wants a Wife S14 (29 December)
The Celebrity Bake Off S7 (29 December)
Border Patrol: Sex, Lies and Videotape (29 December)
Border Patrol: How Bizarre (30 December)
Boy George & Culture Club (31 December)
Freddie Mercury: A Secret Daughter (1 January)
The Road (1 January)
Wild Cherry (1 January)
Westside S1-S6 (1 January)
Head High S1-S2 (1 January)
Step Dave S1-S2 (1 January)
800 Words S1-S3 (1 January)
Nothing Trivial S1-S3 (1 January)
Go Girls S1-S5 (1 January)
The Almighty Johnsons S1-S3 (1 January)
Vanderpump Rules S5 (1 January)
Southern Hospitality S2 (1 January)
Below Deck Mediterranean S9 (1 January)
Below Deck S5 (1 January)
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills S12 (1 January)
Sunny Nights (2 January)
America’s Got Talent S20 (3 January)
Grand Designs House of the Year S8 (4 January)
Idris Elba’s Fight School (4 January)
The British Airways Killer (4 January)
Destination X USA (5 January)
Citadel (7 January)
The Piano (7 January)
Taskmaster New Year’s Treat 2026 (7 January)
Shark! Celebrity Infested Waters (8 January)
Australia’s Most Identical (8 January)
The Amazing Race Australia: Celebrity Edition S9 (10 January)
The Guest (11 January)
ThreeNow
Rookie Blue S1-S6 (28 December)
Karen Pirie S1-S2 (1 January)
Offspring S1-S7 (4 January)
Summerwater (7 January)
Neon
Barney’s World (22 December)
The Tech Bro Murders (22 December)
Beyond The Gaze: Jule Campbell’s Swimsuit Issue (23 December)
Boiling Point (25 December)
Hard Home (26 December)
Murder At The End Of The World (26 December)
Happy and You Know It (26 December)
12 Years A Slave (27 December)
Gambit (27 December)
Day of Reckoning (27 December)
Murder Before Evensong (28 December)
Jellystone! S3 (29 December)
Four Letters of Love (31 December)
Hacksaw Ridge (31 December)
The Middle S1–S9 (1 January)
The Disaster Artist (1 January)
The Goonies (1 January)
The Lego Ninjago Movie (1 January)
New Year’s Eve (1 January)
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (1 January)
Joey S1-S2 (2 January)
A Minecraft Movie (2 January)
The Unholy Trinity (2 January)
The Cult of the Real Housewife (4 January)
Mountain Rescue Romance (4 January)
The King of Kings (6 January)
Longmire S1-S6 (7 January)
Critical Incident: Death at the Border (8 January)
Lawless (8 January)
The Pitt S2 (9 January)
Aussie Gold Hunters S10 (9 January)
Valiant One (9 January)
Mirror Mirror (10 January)
A Nice Indian Boy (10 January)
The To Do List (10 January)
The Place Beyond the Pines (11 January)
Prime Video
Ocean’s 8 (23 December)
Arrow S1-S8 (31 December)
Shameless S1-S11 (31 December)
Trap House (31 December)
Spring Fever (5 January)
Beast Games S2 (7 January)
Disney+
Little Angel S8 (31 December)
The Bourne Identity (1 January)
The Bourne Supremacy (1 January)
The Bourne Ultimatum (1 January)
The Bourne Legacy (1 January)
Jason Bourne (1 January)
Cheetahs Up Close with Bertie Gregory (2 January)
Land of Sin (2 January)
Chicago Fire S1-S11 (7 January)
A Thousand Blows S2 (9 January)
Apple TV
Made in Korea (24 December)
Tehran S4 (9 January)
Shudder/AMC+/Acorn/HIDIVE
Steeltown Murders (Acorn TV, AMC+, 22 December)
Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale S1 (Acorn TV, AMC+, 26 December)
My Life Is Murder S4 (Acorn TV, AMC+, 29 December)
The Ritual (Shudder, AMC+, 1 January)
A Desert (Shudder, AMC+, 1 January)
The Draft! (Shudder, AMC+, 1 January)
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (Shudder, AMC+, 1 January)
Fear the Walking Dead S1-S6 (Shudder, AMC+, 1 January)
Love After Lockup: Crime Story (AMC+, 1 January)
The Walking Dead S10 (Shudder, AMC+, 2 January)
Mystery Road: Origin (Acorn TV, AMC+, 5 January)
Chained Soldier S2 (HIDIVE, 8 January)
Chain Reactions (Shudder, AMC+, 9 January)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Shudder, AMC+, 9 January)
HELL MODE: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing (HIDIVE, 9 January)
DocPlay
Welcome to Yiddishland (22 December)
Doubters to Believers: Liverpool FC – Klopp’s Era (5 January)
Revenge-Our Dad the Nazi Killer (8 January)
Hayu
The Valley: Persian Style (9 January)
