What to expect from Doom Patrol , Irreverent , Slow Horses , and more shows coming later this year
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
As fall marches on, the shows just keep on coming! Looking ahead to some of the series premiering later this year, EW's Fall TV Preview is dishing out intel on 11 new and returning shows, from scoop on what to expect from the new season of Mythic Quest to a first look at a new Doom Patrol character, and much more.
Check it all out below!
Elizabeth Morris/NBC Mayan Lopez and George Lopez on 'Lopez Vs. Lopez'
Lopez vs. Lopez (NBC, Nov. 4)
George Lopez returns to episodic TV in what could truly be called a family comedy: He stars with daughter Mayan in a show (from The Conners' Debby Wolfe and Bruce Helford) that's loosely based on Mayan's child-of-divorce POV and TikTok. Lopez vs. Lopez pits two strong-willed personalities — one Gen Z, one Boomer — against each other as they try to transition from estrangement to reconciliation, mining past tensions in their own relationship for therapeutic laughs. "It'll definitely be a boxing match," says Mayan of their onscreen energy. "In our lives, it's always kind of been Lopez versus Lopez. There's going to be punches thrown. There's going to be education involved…. If I have to lose a couple of battles to win the war, then I am willing to do that. It's a long game." Returns George: "And if I'm losing, I'll drink so much, I can't remember in the morning." What's the best part of father and daughter working together? "The best part will be her paying her own bills," quips George. Offers Mayan: "The best part is just being able to continue to build a relationship. And also if anything does happen, I have HR. I kid. Sort of." —Dan Snierson
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin (Peacock, Nov. 23)
Aca-scuse me? The a cappella world of Pitch Perfect is back, and this time it's headed to the small screen. Peacock's new original series Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin follows Bumper Allen (Adam Devine) several years after we last saw him in Pitch Perfect 2, as he moves to Germany to revive his music career when one of his songs is a hit in Berlin. Though the films followed the singing adventures of a cappella group the Bellas, showrunner Megan Amram says she was excited to center the series on Devine's character. "I was specifically excited to create a vehicle that would showcase [Devine's] incredible comedic talent while busting out his heartfelt acting chops as well," she tells EW, adding, "This guy has chops for days!" Joining Devine for the fun are Flula Borg, Sarah Hyland, Lera Abova, and Jameela Jamil. Though it's mostly new characters, Amram says "fun Pitch Perfect Easter eggs" can be seen throughout, and fans can expect "all the a cappella music they love, as well as amazing covers and incredible original songs." And for those not familiar with the films? Says Amram, "It's also chock-full of comedy, heart, and cool European buildings! What more could you ask for?" —Lauren Huff
Mark Rogers/Matchbox Productions Colin Donnell as Paulo on 'Irreverent'
Irreverent (Peacock, Nov. 30)
When a mafia deal goes deadly wrong, criminal mediator Paulo (Colin Donnell) is forced to flee Chicago, and through a comedy of errors/stolen identity, he winds up in Clump, Australia, as this beach town's new reverend. (The previous two were eaten by crocodiles, so, sure, you can call this a quirky, fish-out-of-water adventure.) "The coolest part about Paulo is the fact that he takes everything that he's so good at in Chicago — the problem-solving, the quick-talking, the ability to be whatever the person in front of him needs him to be — and he makes it work in whatever situation he's dropped in," says Donnell (Chicago Med). "He's like, 'All right, this is where I'm at. I'm going to figure it out." Of course, this little reef town — which includes a lone cop, Piper (Kylie Bracknell), who is suspicious of this new man of the cloth, and an underestimated teen (Tegan Stimson) who becomes his partner in crime — may be much more than he bargained for. "You have this beautiful setting right on the beach, this beautiful town, these really wild people," he says. "And then something's just a little bit sideways about the entire place." Look both ways before you jump into Clump. Off-kilter? Off the grid? A mediator working way off book? It's…on. —D.S.
Nicole Wilder/SHOWTIME Kehlani as Ivy in 'The L Word: Generation Q'
The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime, Nov. 18)
The L Word: Generation Q is all about finding the one in season 3, which will include certain characters reuniting with people from their past and yes, some returning characters from the original series will appear. That theme will be very true for Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman) after the season 2 finale ended with Tina showing up at Bette's door. "With so much history between them, they're forced to answer: Would it be different this time around or is it too little too late?" showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan teases.
Meanwhile, one of the new characters will be make-up artist Ivy, played by Kehlani. Ivy will be working on Alice's (Leisha Hailey) show and be re-entering the world of dating after having a baby. "Kehlani brought so much light and warmth to their role as Ivy," says Ryan. "I hope you'll forgive Ivy when she falls for an unavailable woman." —Alamin Yohannes
Dangerous Liaisons (Starz, Nov. 9)
You already know Dangerous Liaisons is all about sex. Hot, corseted, pre-Revolution Parisian sex. While that's titillating to British pop star Paloma Faith — who has a supporting role in Starz's prelude to the 1782 novel about seduction and social mobility — she was particularly enticed by the prospect of doing it all while decked out as a dessert. "I've been longing to dress as a giant wedding cake, and for people to know the amount of effort it took to turn me into the biggest meringue that's ever existed," she says of the extravagant costumes worn by her savvy-yet-snobby character, Florence, a ferocious member of the French court entangled in a sexual power play with Pascal Valmont (Nicholas Denton). "We view historical moments as so distant from us in the modern age, but she appeals to the gossip mongers in all of us," Faith adds. "She thinks of herself as a cut above, wealthy, pretending that she's well-to-do in society, but, really, she's just a gossipy bitch." She's also an "empowered lover," whom Valmont desires as an "alpha who challenges" the dominator in him. Faith was impressed by the character's strength, but she was astounded by her ability to turn up the heat after spending three hours wrapping up in French garb before each shoot. "It's unreal that anybody got laid in the 1700s," she says of stripping off the layers. "A half-hour later, you lose your erection." Consider us excited to watch. —Joey Nolfi
Amazon Studios James Corden on 'Mammals'
Mammals (Prime Video, November)
Love is impossible. James Corden, Melia Kreiling, Sally Hawkins, and Colin Morgan learn as much in Mammals, playwright Jez Butterworth's excavation of marriage and monogamy. A relationship whodunnit built on the idea that many romantic bonds end in a way that parallel a crime scene, the dramedy presents a conundrum that "absolutely every adult on the planet" faces — "namely, you're on the search for someone, the one, when there's billions to choose from, and once you've chosen the one, there's still billions to choose from," Butterworth says. A series of major twists, turns, and whale-sized surprises infuse the six-episode series, which Butterworth hopes to explore at greater length in potential future seasons. "I wanted to do something about relationships, but [not] just people walking in the park complaining about their relationships," he says. "I wanted to strip it right back and make it really twisty, make it really lean forward rather than you feel like you've done this thing before." —Jessica Wang
Apple TV+ 'Mosquito Coast' season 2
The Mosquito Coast (Apple TV+, November)
The end of The Mosquito Coast season 1 saw Justin Theroux's on-the-run inventor Allie Fox sailing away with his family while the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" played on the soundtrack. So will season 2 find Fox, Melissa George's Margot, Logan Polish's Dina, and Gabriel Bateman's Charlie just kicking back and barbecuing fish on some remote Mexican beach? "Well, not quite," says executive producer Will Scheffer, who serves as showrunner on the new season of the show, along with his Big Love creative partner Mark V. Olsen.
The executive producer reveals that in the upcoming shows the Fox clan arrives in Casa Roha, a sanctuary for mostly Latin American dissidents who have gotten into trouble with the cartels or with governments. "They're in this very isolated space, with no internet, really no access to the outer world and the family drama is very crackling," says Scheffer. "I think it would be fair to say that Margot and Dina do not like their environment and Allie and Charlie are much more enamored of it. The tension between Margot and Allie is one of my favorite things about the season." —Clark Collis
Patrick McElhenney Charlotte Nicdao and Rob McElhenney on 'Mythic Quest'
Mythic Quest (Apple TV+, November)
It turns out starting a new company with the same knuckleheads in charge doesn't magically fix the work culture at Mythic Quest. Season 3 of the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ sitcom, about the employees of a dysfunctional video game studio, sees always-sparring developers Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenney) and Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao) launching their own GrimPop Studios to work on Poppy's original game. "The work culture is mostly Poppy and Ian driving Dana crazy!" executive producer Megan Ganz admits to EW, referring to Imani Hakim's character. "Ian also designed GrimPop to look like a spaceship, which he loves and Poppy hates. The whole office is extremely minimalist, so she can never find an electrical outlet or a bathroom when she needs one." On the plus side, Ganz also promises the show will be lampooning a whole new sampling of tech trends, including NFTs, platformer games like Roblox, virtual reality systems, and movies inspired by video games. That last element includes Joe Manganiello — as himself. "How can you improve upon perfection?" Ganz jokes. (But also, you can't.) "This season, we watch David try to woo Joe, hoping he'll star in the upcoming Mythic Quest movie. Joe is a big 'get' for our characters, and for the show itself! He was amazing to work with and we had a lot of fun playing with his Hollywood beefcake image. As you might imagine, Ian is not too thrilled to share the spotlight with another, bigger beefcake. And poor David ends up stuck in the middle!" —Nick Romano
apple tv+ Stacy Rose and David Niece in season 2 of 'Little America'
Little America (Apple TV+, December)
Uplifting, heart-rending, and funny, this underrated Apple TV+ series that offers up a bountiful assortment of (real-life) immigrant stories returns to deconstruct the pursuit of the American dream from fresh perspectives. "There are two things at play," explains co-showrunner Siân Heder. "At what cost does that pursuit come and the sacrifices that characters have to make? And what happens when you achieve your dream and it's not what you thought it was? Or you don't achieve it and have to figure out, 'Now what?' with my life? [Season 2] is a much more complex and layered look at that pursuit and the mythology around it." The eight-episode second season also delves into the malleable concepts of community, family, and identity, as well as "the cross-pollination" of different cultures. "[There's] the story of a Belizian Black woman (Stacy Rose) who works for a Hasidic family in New York but has made an enormous sacrifice to be in this country in leaving her child.… We have a story about a Korean man (Ki Hong Lee) making hats for the Black church community in 1980s Detroit. The intersection between those cultures can clarify the quest for discovering one's own identity." And while immigration remains a polarizing issue in this country, "there's not a message behind the show," reminds Heder. "We just wanted to present characters that haven't been looked at very much — from cultures or backgrounds that might normally be marginalized — and put those people front and center, and enjoy the experience of looking at the world through their eyes." See American lives from new perspectives when you (re-)enter Little America later this year. —D.S.
Jack English/Apple TV+ 'Slow Horses' season 2
Slow Horses (Apple TV+, December)
Season 2 of the British espionage show begins with Gary Oldman's flatulent and foul-mouthed Jackson Lamb taking a break from haranguing his squad of disgraced agents to investigate the murder of a retired spy. "He dies seemingly of natural causes but, because Jackson Lamb was aware of him from the Cold War days, he does due diligence and looks into the death," says executive producer Will Smith (not the Men in Black actor but an Emmy-winning producer on Veep). "And, of course, he finds that there's more to it than meets the eye." Smith is keen to reassure Slow Horses fans that Lamb remains his usual unpleasant self when it comes to dealing with his underlings at Slough House. "The thing about Jackson is, he's not pleasant in his physical or his emotional behavior," says the executive producer. "But he does have a code, he does have people he will protect, and there are people he will go to war for." —C.C.
HBO Max 'Doom Patrol'
Doom Patrol (HBO Max, December)
Doom Patrol is finally ready to draw on modern comics. The first few seasons of the HBO Max superhero series were inspired primarily by writer Grant Morrison's surreal take on the misfit superhero team in their celebrated '80s run on the title. But with the upcoming season 4, Doom Patrol looks to the most recent stories for inspiration. That's right: It's finally time for Casey Brinke (Madeline Zima)! The fan-favorite character created by Gerard Way and Nick Derrington will make her screen debut in Doom Patrol season 4. "Casey is so beloved both by our writers on staff, and by fans of Doom Patrol in general," showrunner Jeremy Carver tells EW. "We finally found a way to bring her into the story in a way that feels wholly organic to us, even though to someone who's never seen Doom Patrol, it might seem a little bats--- insane. To us, it fits perfectly! And it's not just a cameo." In Way and Derington's Doom Patrol comics, Casey is closely connected to Danny the Street, and Carver promises season 4 will feature "a very special episode" about Danny and the Danny-zens. Check out a first look at Zima's Casey above. —Christian Holub
Make sure to check out EW's Fall TV Preview cover story — as well as all of our 2022 Fall TV Preview content, releasing over 22 days through Sept. 29.
Related content:
