What are you going to be watching in October? With thanks to our friends at Nando‘s, we round up everything coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand.
The biggies
Succession (season 3 on Neon weekly from October 18)
The favourite show of everybody with a Twitter account is back! After last year’s explosive cliffhanger concluded with Kendall Roy (Emmy winner Jeremy Strong) ambushing Logan Roy (Golden Globe winner Brian Cox) by way of a coup, this season finds the grizzly patriarch-tyrant securing his future through any means possible: political alliances, financial alliances and, of course, family alliances. The first two seasons of this series have presented so many indelible moments, and I have no doubt that the third season will present many more for the Twitter crowd to share endlessly amongst each other until next year’s Emmys. / Sam Brooks
Inked (on Neon from October 7)
Inked is a history-making series: the first bilingual English-Chinese series to be produced in Aotearoa. After being uprooted from Nanjing to Auckland, Jiayue (a member of the 1.5 generation) is failing a medical degree that her father Rong chose for her. Her real dream is to become a professional tattooist. After being ghosted by her ex-boyfriend and kicked out of her flat, she has to return to her overbearing father’s house while trying to carve out her own life, and her own art. / SB
You (on Netflix from October 15)
If you were worried that moving the third season of Netflix’s stalker dramedy You to the suburbs would see the body count drop – don’t be. This is a wild ride from beginning to end. Penn Badgley is back as the adorably creepy, monologuing serial killer Joe Goldberg. After a second season that started to swerve into the predictable, season three ups the soapiness, doubles down on the violence, and will keep you thoroughly entertained for the length of its 10 episode run. / Stewart Sowman-Lund
The Babysitter’s Club (season two on Netflix from October 12)
Grab your landline and your appointment book, because Ann M. Martin’s beloved babysitters are back for another heartwarming season. This is a children’s show I watch again and again with my own daughters. It’s such a loyal adaptation that it feels like you’re stepping into the books, but it’s also a show about five clever, independent young women who are ready to take over the world. It’s a sweet and charming celebration of friendship, and with two new members joining the club, season two promises to be just as delightful as the first. / Tara Ward
The notables
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O67pizJ6Fig
Insecure (season 5 on Neon from October 25)
The show with the best soundtrack on TV returns for its fifth and final season. After the fate of Issa and Lawrence’s relationship was left hanging at the end of last season, we finally get some answers. More importantly, we get to see Issa and her irresistible group of friends (Yvonne Orji, Natasha Rothwell and Amanda Seales) navigate love, friendships and what the point of being a millennial is anyway. Stream it, save the playlist on Spotify, enjoy./ SB
The Pact (on TVNZ OnDemand from October 18)
This new series, created by writers Harry McNaughton and Natalie Medlock, revolves around the question “Who has the right to end their own life?”. It follows elderly matriarch Betty (Irene Wood) who decides that she wants to end her life, and the fallout when her family realises they share fundamentally different beliefs about the world. Each episode is told through the eyes of a different member of her family as they struggle to come to terms with her decision. / SB
Invasion (on Apple TV from October 22)
At first, Apple TV+ felt like an afterthought, a neat freebie that came with your new iPhone. There wasn’t a lot to watch. That’s changed. Recently, the service has powered ahead of rivals with a slate of big budget content. Foundation, which took four years and cost squillions, landed in September, and Finch, a film featuring Tom Hanks doing his Castaway thing with a homemade robot, comes in November. A news show with Jon Stewart is due soon too. But it’s Invasion that really might bring the masses in, a widescreen epic about an alien invasion. Civilisation is at stake. The planet might not survive. You know the drill. Worried? Don’t be. Sam Neill is there to help guide you through it all. / Chris Schulz
I Know What You Did Last Summer (on Amazon Prime Video from October 15)
For those of you who had “an adaptation of a 1973 novel that spawned a hit 1997 film” on your 2021 new-TV bingo card, I ask why on earth you had a bingo card in the first place? But in all seriousness, this is the same story you know from the film – teenagers start being hunted one year after they cover up a car accident in which a man was killed – with a new twist. Horror megaproducer James Wan is involved with this one, so that promises some semblance of quality, but if this new version doesn’t sate your slasher thirst, you’ve always got the original and the two increasingly ridiculously named sequels to go back to! / SB
The films
Diana: The Musical (on Netflix from October 1)
Just when you thought they’d made every kind of TV show about Princess Diana, up pops Diana: The Musical. It’s a filmed version of the Broadway show postponed by Covid-19, and tells the story of “the most famous woman of the modern age as she struggles to endure a spotlight brighter than any the world had ever known”. We all know what happens, but will some spirit fingers and a few snazzy grapevines add any new insight into Diana’s life? Who cares, I’m here for every questionable second. / TW
Free Guy (on Neon from October 24)
Imagine The Matrix meets The Lego Movie and you have something like Free Guy, a super high-concept comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer, with Taika Waititi and Stranger Things’ Joe Keery in supporting roles. Reynolds plays an unremarkable bank teller who discovers he’s actually a background NPC (non-player character) in an open-world video game, and much saving-the-world and getting-the-girl ensues. Though packed with video game shout-outs and Easter eggs, it’s worth a try even by the non-gamers among us, thanks to a big-hearted story and top-flight comedic cast./ Catherine McGregor
The Green Knight (on Amazon Prime Video from October 28)
The first thing to know about The Green Knight is that despite appearances, this isn’t another bog-standard medieval fantasy action-adventure. It’s something far stranger than that. Based on the 14th century chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the film stars Dev Patel as Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew, who sets off on a quest to slay a mysterious giant known as the Green Knight. This is a film that has divided critics, with some ridiculing its slow pace and artistic pretensions and others hailing it as an atmospheric, poetic masterpiece. You be the judge./ CM
This post is made possible by our friends at Nando’s.
The rest
Netflix
October 1
MAID
Paik’s Spirit
Diana: The Musical
Swallow
The Guilty
Forever Rich
A Sinister Sect: Colonia Dignidad
Scaredy Cats
The Seven Deadly Sins: Cursed by Light
Seinfeld: Seasons 1-9
John Wick
In My Blood It Runs
The Secret River
October 2
Venom
October 3
Upcoming Summer
Scissor Seven: Season 3
The Lighthouse
October 4
On My Block: Season 4
October 5
Escape the Undertaker
October 6
The Five Juanas
Baking Impossible
Love is Blind: Brazil
There’s Someone Inside Your House
Bad Sport
October 7
The Billion Dollar Code
Sexy Beasts: Season 2
The Way of the Househusband: Season 1 Part 2
October 8
Pretty Smart
Family Business: Season 3
Grudge
A Tale Dark and Grimm
Pokemon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
October 9
Blue Period
October 11
The King’s Affection
The Baby-Sitters Club: Season 2
October 12
Making Malinche: A Documentary by Nacho Cano
The Movies That Made Us: Season 3
Convergence: Courage in a Crisis
Mighty Express: Season 5
Bright: Samurai Warrior
Bohemian Rhapsody
October 13
Reflection of You
Hiacynt
Fever Dream
October 14
Another Life: Season 2
One Night in Paris
October 15
You: Season 3
My Name
Little Things: Season 4
The Forgotten Battle
The Trip
The Four of Us
Sharkdog’s Fintastic Halloween
Karma’s World
October 16
Misfit: The Series
October 19
In for a Murder
Gabby’s Dollhouse: Season 3
October 20
Night Teeth
Stuck Together
Found
October 21
Sex, Love & Goop
Insiders
Life’s a Glitch with Julien Bam
Flip a Coin – ONE OK Rock Documentary
Go! Go! Cory Carson: Season 6
Komi Can’t Communicate
October 22
Locke & Key: Season 2
Inside Job
Adventure Beast
More than Blue: The Series
Dynasty: Season 4
Little Big Mouth
Roaring Twenties
Maya and the Three
October 25
Frayed
The Cry
Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds
October 26
Sex: Unzipped
October 27
Sintonia: Season 2
Hypnotic
Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight Part 2
October 28
Luis Miguel – The Series: Season 3
The Motive
October 29
Colin in Black and White
The Time it Takes
Mythomaniac: Season 2
Army of Thieves
Dear Mother
October 30
The Gentlemen
Neon
October 1
Betraying the Badge
Pocoyo: Terror Show
October 2
The Powerpuff Girls
Monster Beach
Ben 10: Season 4
Outlandish
Nanny McPhee
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
Dragon Rider
October 3
Murder at the Cottage
The Brighton Miracle
October 5
Louis Theroux: The Return of America’s Most Hated Family
Hot Fuzz
October 6
Andy’s Aquatic Adventures
I Don’t Know How She Does It
October 7
Inked
Growing Dope
Regular Show: Season 8
Moonrise Kingdom
October 8
The Silencing
Maya the Bee 3: The Golden Orb
October 9
Summerland
October 10
Nancy Drew: Season 3
Wonder Woman 1984
October 11
Love Island: Australia: Season 3
October 12
Louis Theroux: The NIght in Questions
October 13
We’re Here: Season 2
Pitch Perfect
October 14
My World Kitchen: Season 3
Her
October 15
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow: Season 7
Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage
Money Monster
October 16
Misbehaviour
October 17
The Dry
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
October 18
Succession: Season 3
Fear the Walking Dead: Season 7a
October 19
Louis Theroux: By Reason of Insanity
Anger Management
October 20
Battle: Los Angeles
October 21
Work in Progress: Season 1-2
Wanderlust
October 22
We Own the Night
Promising Young Woman
October 23
Paula
Love, Weddings and Other Disasters
October 24
Free Guy
October 25
Insecure: Season 5
Sex Tape
October 26
Arrival
October 27
Brokeback Mountain
October 28
The Empty Man
October 29
The Call
October 30
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Heist and Seek
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Reunited and it Feels So Deadly
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: How to Con a Con
Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries: A Beautiful Place to Die
Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries: Riddled with Deceit
Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries: Ships in the Night
Gourmet Detective Mysteries: Roux the Day
October 31
The Marksman
TVNZ OnDemand
October 1
Back to Life
Three Busy Debras
Mariposa
Park
Flight for Space
The Hunt for Transylvanian Gold
Uncharted Amazon
On Any Sunday
Return to Zero
Toni Braxton: Unbreak my Heart
Abducted: The Mary Stauffer Story
Talen: The Search for Sophie Parker
Wardens: Season 2
Xscape: Season 2
Face to Face with David
Iconic Justice
The Villberg Chronicles
Boy Boy Montreal
The Great Museum
October 2
Bludgeon: Orcas of the Land
The Dakota Entrapment Tapes
Repeat Attenders
October 8
Young Sheldon: Season 5
October 9
Superstore: Season 1-6
The Mindy Project: Season 1-6
October 14
Batwoman: Season 3
October 15
Legacies: Season 4
October 18
The Pact
October 20
The Bachelorette
October 22
Mr. Robot
October 26
All American: Season 4
October 28
Love Life: Season 2
October 30
Two Weeks to Live
October 31
Chapelwaite
Disney+
October 1
LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales
Just Roll with It: You Decide Live!
October 6
Among the Stars
Black Widow
9-1-1: Lone Star: Season 1
October 8
Muppets Haunted Mansion
Under Wraps
Mickey’s A Tale of Two Witches
October 13
Just Beyond
October 15
Generation YouTube
Hot Tub Time Machine
Disney Insiders
Disney Magic Bake-Off
October 22
Bad Times at the El Royale
Amazon Prime Video
October 1
My Name is Pauli Murray
All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs
Black as Night
Do, Re and Mi
Bingo Hell
October 4
The Walking Dead: World Beyond
All The Money in the World
October 5
Maggie’s Plan
Miles Ahead
October 7
Promising Young Woman
October 8
Justin Bieber: Our World
Kids in the Hall: Season 1-5
Jessy and Nessy
October 12
Movie 43
Supernatural: Season 14
October 14
Edge of Tomorrow
October 15
I Know What You Did Last Summer
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Arrival
October 21
WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn
Penguin Bloom
Deepwater Horizon
The Big Wedding
The Hurt Locker
October 22
After
After We Collided
After We Fell
October 25
I, Tonya
October 28
The Green Knight
Monster Hunter
I Am Legend
October 29
Unheard
October 30
Crisis
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Apple TV+
October 8
Get Rolling with Otis
October 15
Puppy Place
October 22
Invasion
October 29
Swagger
Acorn TV
October 4
Republic of Doyle: Season 5
Vera: Season 8
Lost Letter Mysteries: Season 3
October 11
Fallen Angels
Family Business: Season 2
October 18
Mayday
Vera: Season 9
October 25
Murder Investigation Team: Season 2