‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘Good Girls & More Favorites Returning in 2021
Preview
While the wait for some TV favorites has been longer than usual in the past year, 2021 is making way for plenty of returns.
Whether it’s The Walking Dead‘s continued 10th season or some criminal escapades with the ladies of Good Girls, viewers will be pleased by the variety on the horizon. Below, see what favorites are set to return soon on TV.
Cobra Kai
The Karate Kid continuation debuts new episodes on Netflix now (which may feel like a groin kick to YouTube), but the tension between upstanding Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and down-on-his-luck Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) is as familiar as ever in Season 3. “It’s better they bump heads and be friends,” Macchio says. Plus: We learn more about the past of their common foe, sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove). (Streaming now, Netflix)
Batwoman
Javicia Leslie (God Friended Me) assumes the cowl as former drug runner Ryan Wilder — a character created for the DC Comics drama — after exiting star Ruby Rose‘s Kate Kane goes MIA. Season 2’s Batwoman is armed with her own agenda, but her run-ins with baddies like the incoming Safiyah (Shivaani Ghai) are sure to inspire heroics. And if not, exec producer Caroline Dries teases, “Another big Batman villain will be waiting in the wings for the second half of the season.” (Sunday, January 17, 8/7c, The CW)
9-1-1: Lone Star
With series original Liv Tyler out, Suits‘ Gina Torres joins the sophomore-season cast as paramedic captain Tommy Vega, returning as an EMT after eight years as a stay-at-home mom. “She’s tough, funny and oh-so-in-charge,” says showrunner Tim Minear. She’s also just in time: The Texas wildfires are about to get so out of hand, they’ll require an assist from 9-1-1‘s Hen (Aisha Hinds), Buck (Oliver Stark) and Eddie (Ryan Guzman) in a February crossover! (Monday, January 18, 9/8c, Fox)
For All Mankind
In this alternate history’s first round, the USSR beat the U.S. to the moon — a crushing disappointment to America’s astronauts. In fact, brooding Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) later clashed with Russian cosmonauts on the lunar surface. The saga jumps to 1983, when the Cold War threatens nuclear destruction and Baldwin is in a job back on Earth. (Friday, February 19, Apple TV+)
The Walking Dead
Six new episodes tie up Season 10, with long-traveling survivor Maggie (Lauren Cohan) adrift after helping her pals put an end to the Whisperers. “Maggie has come back, but her home, the Hilltop, was destroyed,” exec producer Angela Kang notes. Watch for Scorpion‘s Robert Patrick and One Tree Hill‘s Hilarie Burton (playing opposite real-life hubby Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as Negan’s infamous late wife Lucille. (Thursday, February 25, AMC+; Sunday, February 28, 9/8c, AMC)
Manifest
The twist-filled drama’s third season picks up three months after Montego Air Flight 828’s tail fin was spotted sticking out of the ocean. But didn’t that plane explode in the premiere? Cue the start of a “mythological mystery,” per exec producer Jeff Rake, introducing a never-seen passenger named Angelina (The Americans‘ Holly Taylor). Whether she’s friend or foe is another unknown, but Rake says this “broken bird” soon finds herself “in the warm embrace of the Stone family.” (Spring, NBC)
American Horror Story
Specifics are always in short supply for this anthology, but we do know that Season 10’s cast includes Macaulay Culkin and AHS staples Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, and Kathy Bates. And based on notoriously coy exec producer Ryan Murphy‘s Instagram hints, there may be a coastal setting and vampires. Or fanged mermaids. Maybe swimming vamps? Honestly, who knows with this guy? (TBA, FX)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
In the wake of George Floyd’s death and nationwide protests against police brutality, Season 8 of this cop comedy will be unlike any other. “I do believe that our characters need to examine their roles in the world,” Andy Samberg (aka Det. Jake Peralta) has said. Previously planned episodes were scrapped to allow writers to craft those conversations. (TBA, NBC)
Good Girls
“They’re in over their heads. And they’re looking for a way out,” says exec producer Jenna Bans of housewives turned criminals Beth (Christina Hendricks), Annie (Mae Whitman) and Ruby (Retta). The Feds are closing in on their money laundering and counterfeiting operation — but quirky agent Phoebe (Lauren Lapkus) might be equally interested in joining their clique. Hitman Mr. Fitzpatrick (Andrew McCarthy) returns with a surprising excuse for why he has yet to do away with gang leader Rio (Manny Montana). Teases Bans: “Beth will do almost anything to get him to fulfill his duties.” (TBA, NBC)
The Handmaid's Tale
“For the first three seasons, June was a prisoner, for the most part,” executive producer Bruce Miller says of the handmaid (Elisabeth Moss) who’s been fighting for liberation. (When last seen, she’d been shot while helping smuggle children out of totalitarian Gilead!) “In Season 4, we will see what happens when June gets a taste of freedom.” Also: Mckenna Grace (Young Sheldon) joins the drama as a “very young and unstable wife” in the oppressive republic. (TBA, Hulu)
