Nothing coming to TV in August is going to compete with The Odyssey or Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but that’s not entirely surprising, considering how stacked the past couple of months have been on the small screen. It also doesn’t mean there aren’t still some pretty heavy hitters coming to TV and streaming this month.
With that in mind, we gathered a list of the most noteworthy shows either debuting or returning in August and asked which ones you were most looking forward to. Based on the results of our poll, read on for the 5 Most Anticipated TV or Streaming Shows of August!
1. Reacher: Season 4
Premiere Date: August 12, 2026 on Prime Video
With 30% of the vote, Prime Video’s Reacher: Season 4 took the top spot in our poll this month, as fans are excited to see how the new season adapts Lee Child’s novel Gone Tomorrow, which finds Alan Ritchson’s Reacher looking into the death of a woman whose suicide he witnesses on a subway train. Jack Reacher continues to be one of the most popular action heroes on TV, so it’s no surprise to see the show take the top spot this month.
2. Ted Lasso: Season 4
Premiere Date: August 5, 2026 on Apple TV
Another fan favorite came in second, as Ted Lasso also gears up for its fourth season. This time around, Jason Sudeikis’ titular soccer coach heads back to England to head up AFC Richmond’s new women’s team, helping to build it from the ground up. The show is a perennial awards darling, and it’s been three years since its last season, so its return is bound to get a warm welcome.
3. Lanterns
Premiere Date: August 16, 2026 on HBO
After the top two vote-getters, there was a significant drop-off, but the series that emerged as the “best of the rest” was the latest entry in the rebooted DC Universe, Lanterns. The HBO series takes the fantastical sci-fi trappings of the Green Lantern Corps and grounds them in a detective thriller, as Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan trains new recruit John Stewart (played by Aaron Pierre) as they pair up to investigate a murder in rural Nebraska. The supporting cast also includes names like Kelly MacDonald, Laura Linney, and an appearance by Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner, who showed up in last year’s Superman, and fans will be interested to see how the show ties into the larger universe.
4. Dark Matter: Season 2
Premiere Date: August 28, 2026 on Apple TV
After Lanterns, there was another big drop-off in votes, but the second season of Dark Matter managed to eke its way into fourth place. While not a breakout hit like some of its Apple TV contemporaries, the sci-fi mystery earned strong reviews and a loyal fanbase thanks to Joel Edgerton’s committed performance and the show’s intriguing ideas. We won’t spoil anything by describing where season 2 starts off, but if you’re unfamiliar, the primary story follows a Chicago man (Edgerton) who swaps places with a version of himself from an alternate reality and must fight to return before he loses his family.
5. Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi
Premiere Date: August 5, 2026 on Disney+ and Hulu
Fans who enjoyed the Japanese anime stylings of Star Wars: Visions are getting an entire season inspired by one of its episodes, which itself already got a sequel episode in the original series. The new series, called Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi, continues the story of Lah Kara, the force-sensitive daughter of the only known lightsaber maker left in the whole galaxy, as she continues to train in the ways of the Jedi and sets out to rescue her kidnapped father. The two episodes that spawned the series were fan favorites, so it’ll be a treat to see the story continued.
Thumbnail image by Prime Video