16 New Shows Ordered to Series Next Season — Everything We Know
Quite a bit about the 2020-21 TV season is still in flux, as premieres have yet to be set with production dates up in the air.
Still, networks have designated some of their shows, both new and returning, for “fall” and midseason (though when exactly those will be is unknown). While we wait to hear more, we’re taking a look at the new scripted dramas and comedies for the 2020-21 season that have been ordered to series.
Scroll down to find out the who, what, and when of these shows, from ABC’s thriller Big Sky to NBC’s comedy Mr. Mayor. (And in one case, get a sneak peek.)
Big Sky (ABC)
Cast: Katheryn Winnick, Kylie Bunbury, Brian Geraghty, Dedee Pfeiffer, Natalie Alyn Lind, Jesse James Keitel, John Carroll Lynch, Ryan Phillippe
Synopsis: Private detectives Cassie Dewell (Bunbury) and Cody Hoyt (Phillippe) and the latter’s estranged wife and ex-cop Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) look for two sisters kidnapped by a truck driver on a remote highway. But they’re not the only ones to have disappeared in that area of Montana…
Premiere: Fall
Call Your Mother (ABC)
Cast: Kyra Sedgwick, Rachel Sennott, Joey Bragg, Patrick Brammall, Emma Caymares, Austin Crute
Synopsis: An empty-nester mom (Sedgwick) reinserts herself into her children’s lives, and the kids discover they may need her more than they thought they did.
Premiere: Midseason
B Positive (CBS)
Cast: Thomas Middleditch, Annaleigh Ashford, Kether Donohue, Sara Rue, Kamryn Kunody
Synopsis: A therapist and newly divorced dad (Middleditch) needs a kidney, and a rough-around-the-edges woman from his past (Ashford) donates hers.
Premiere: Fall
Clarice (CBS)
Cast: Rebecca Breeds, Kal Penn, Nick Sandow, Michael Cudlitz, Lucca De Oliveira, Devyn A. Tyler
Synopsis: FBI Agent Clarice Starling (Breeds) returns to the field six months after The Silence of the Lambs.
Premiere: Midseason
The Equalizer (CBS)
Cast: Queen Latifah, Chris Noth, Lorraine Toussaint, Tory Kittles, Liza Lapira, Laya DeLeon Hayes
Synopsis: An enigmatic woman with a mysterious background (Queen Latifah) uses her skills to help those who can’t go to anyone else.
Premiere: Fall
Kung Fu (The CW)
Cast: Olivia Liang, Tzi Ma, Kheng Hua Tan, Shannon Dang, Jon Prasida, Gavin Stenhouse, Eddie Liu, Gwendoline Yeo
Synopsis: After dropping out of college, a young Chinese-American woman, Nicky Shen (Liang), goes on a life-changing journey to an isolated monastery in China. She returns home to San Francisco to find it overrun with crime and corruption. While using her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to protect her community and bring criminals to justice, she looks for the ruthless assassin who murdered her mentor and is now after her.
Premiere: Midseason
The Republic of Sarah (The CW)
Cast: Stella Baker, Luke Mitchell, Megan Follows, Hope Lauren, Nia Holloway, Ian Duff, Izabella Alvarez, Forrest Goodluck, Landry Bender
Synopsis: Rebellious high school teacher Sarah Cooper (Baker) is determined to stop mining company Lydon Industries from wiping her town, Greylock, off the map to get its hands on a valuable mineral used in tech (coltan). That pits her against her brother Danny (Mitchell), who feels the community abandoned him. Sarah’s solution is for the town to declare its independence after discovering the U.S. never claimed the land. It works, but then Sarah and her allies must build a country from scratch.
Premiere: Midseason
Superman & Lois (The CW)
Cast: Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Jordan Elsass, Alexander Garfin, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette, Dylan Walsh, Wolé Parks
Synopsis: The Man of Steel a.k.a. Clark Kent (Hoechlin) and journalist Lois Lane (Tulloch) deal with the stress, pressures, and complexities of being working parents (and wondering if their sons will have superpowers). The family returns to Smallville and reunites with Clark’s first love Lana Lang (Chriqui) and her fire chief husband Kyle Cushing (Valdez). Then a mysterious stranger (Parks) enters their lives…
Premiere: January 2021
Walker (The CW)
Cast: Jared Padalecki, Lindsey Morgan, Mitch Pileggi, Keegan Allen, Coby Bell, Molly Hagen, Kale Culley, Violet Brinson, Jeff Pierre
Synopsis: Cordell Walker (Padalecki), a widower and father of two, returns home after two years undercover and clashes with his family. His former colleague is his Ranger captain (Bell), and his new partner is one of the first women in Texas Rangers’ history (Morgan). And as he finds, something doesn’t add up about the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death.
Premiere: January 2021
Call Me Kat (Fox)
Cast: Mayim Bialik, Leslie Jordan, Swoosie Kurtz, Kyla Pratt, Cheyenne Jackson, Julian Gant
Synopsis: The 39-year-old Kat (Bialik) spends her life savings to open a cat café in Kentucky as she tries to prove to society and her mother Sheila (Kurtz) that you can be happy without having everything you want.
Premiere: Midseason
Housebroken (Fox)
Cast: Lisa Kudrow, Clea DuVall, Sharon Horgan, Nat Faxon, Will Forte, Tony Hale, Jason Mantzoukas, Sam Richardson, Bresha Webb, Greta Lee
Synopsis: The animated comedy uses neighborhood animals from the suburbs to examine human dysfunction and neurosis.
Premiere: Midseason
Connecting (NBC)
Cast: TBA
Synopsis: This ensemble comedy from Blindspot‘s Martin Gero (above) follows “a group of friends trying to stay close (and sane) through video chats as they share the highs and lows of these extraordinary times.”
Premiere: TBA
Debris (NBC)
Cast: Jonathan Tucker, Riann Steele
Synopsis: Two agents (Tucker and Steele, above) from two continents with different mindsets investigate wreckage from a destroyed alien spacecraft and its effects on humans.
Premiere: TBA
Kenan (NBC)
Cast: Kenan Thompson
Synopsis: Kenan (Thompson) is recently widowed and the host of Atlanta’s #2 morning show who struggles to balance his job and raising his young daughters, even with help.
Premiere: Midseason
Law & Order: Organized Crime (NBC)
Cast: Christopher Meloni
Synopsis: Elliot Stabler (Meloni) returns to the NYPD after a devastating personal loss to lead a new elite task force targeting the city’s most powerful criminal syndicates.
Premiere: Fall
Mr. Mayor (NBC)
Cast: Ted Danson, Holly Hunter, Bobby Moynihan, Vella Lovell
Synopsis: A wealthy businessman (Danson) runs for mayor of Los Angeles for the wrong reasons — and wins. Then he has to figure out what to do next while trying to connect with his teenage daughter.
Premiere: Midseason
Young Rock (NBC)
Cast: Dwayne Johnson
Synopsis: The comedy is inspired by Johnson and follows “his formative years.”
Premiere: Midseason
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R
For the first time in several years, I'm actually not interested in almost all of the new shows. Superman and Lois sounds fantastic.
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R
For the first time in several years, I'm actually interested in a majority of the new shows. Superman and Lois sounds horrible (let's take the strongest superhero and turn him into a hapless dad, BLAH) and Republic of Sarah is ripped straight from a plot of a Family Guy episode with a CW budget. But Kenan, Young Rock, Call Your Mother, B-Positive, Equalizer, Housebroken, Walker, L&O:OC and Call Me Kat all sound promising.