9 of the Most Intriguing TV Shows Currently in Development

With the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA unions successfully negotiating for fairer contracts, work has slowly resumed for many of Hollywood’s ongoing TV projects. In the past year or so, a myriad of shows were confirmed to be in development, with titles ranging from independent productions to sought-after programs — which involved expensive bidding wars between major streamers — or sequels, adaptations, reboots and spin-offs. Although production might have been affected by some delay, these nine TV shows are shaping up to be worth the wait.

Christopher Robin

Walt Disney

Ever since A.A. Milner’s Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain, the beloved childhood characters of Hundred Acre Wood have turned into bloodthirsty monsters that seek to exact their revenge. For Boat Rocker Studios and Bay Mills Studios’ Christopher Robin (working title), however, the hybrid live-action/animated series focuses on a much older Christopher Robin, who is described as “disillusioned New Yorker” with a fancy for illegal substances. He navigates through his quarter-life crisis with the “weird talking animals who live beyond a drug-induced portal outside his derelict apartment complex, the Hundred Acres.”

The show’s pilot episode will be helmed by Shrek 2 and Sausage Party’s Conrad Vernon, and co-executive produced alongside writer Charlie Kesslering, Nick Nantell, Shamier Anderson and Stephan James.

Death Note 

Netflix

With the success of Netflix‘s Stranger Things, anime fans are holding on to the hope that the streamer and the Duffer Brothers will be able to deliver a satisfactory live-action series adaptation of Tsugumi Ohba’s Death Note manga. The project was initially announced in 2022 with Halia Abdel-Meguid attached as a writer and executive producer, but that’s still the only update available to the public as of writing. This series will mark Netflix’s second attempt at transforming the beloved manga series into live-action; the streamer previously released the live-action Death Note film in 2017, which starred Nat Wolff as Light/Kira, LaKeith Stanfield as L and Jason Liles and Willem Dafoe as Ryuk. A sequel to this film was in the works up until 2021, but no additional updates have been provided since.

Dune: The Sisterhood

Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures

It’s been four years since its initial announcement, but Dune fans are seemingly inching closer to the premiere of The Sisterhood, the Max prequel/spin-off in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune universe. Focusing on the creation of the Bene Gesserit, it takes place 10,000 years before the ascension of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and follows two Harkonnen sisters “as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind.” Villeneuve, who will serve as an executive producer, said, “The Bene Gesserit have always been fascinating to me. Focusing a series around that powerful order of women seemed not only relevant and inspiring but a dynamic setting for the television series.”

Emily Watson, Indira Varma, Mark Strong, Travis Fimmel, Aoife Hinds, Chris Mason, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Faoileann Cunningham, Chloe Lea and Jade Anouka have joined the cast. Jon Spaihts wrote the script and co-executive produced alongside Brian Herbert, Byron Merritt and Kim Herbert for the Frank Herbert estate, while Kevin J. Anderson will co-produce.

God of War 

Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment

With PlayStation Productions’ recent success with the HBO adaptation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, it confirmed in late 2022 that it will be moving forward with another live-action series adaptation: God of War. The forthcoming show, which they hope to be similar to The Last of Us, is being developed over at Amazon Studios will reportedly be based on Santa Monica Studio and Sony’s 2018 game, and will follow Kratos’ supposed attempt in “retirement” in Midgar. However, he and his estranged son, Atreus, must fulfill the final wish of his late wife Faye, and go on a journey to the highest peak to spread her ashes.

Wheel of Time’s Rafe Judkins has been tapped as showrunner and executive producer, with Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby serving as writers and executive producers alongside Cory Barlog, Yumi Yang and Jeff Ketcham of Santa Monica Studio, Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan of PlayStation Productions and Roy Lee. Amazon Studios and Sony Picture Television in association with PlayStation Productions will helm the adaptation.

Harry Potter 

Warner Bros. Pictures

Warner Bros. Discovery is reintroducing J.K. Rowling’s beloved children’s book series Harry Potter as a TV show. The entertainment conglomerate confirmed that each season will follow one of the seven books released in the franchise, expecting it to be a “decade-long series.” A cast has not been announced as of writing, but fans should expect a different set of actors and actresses than the films that starred Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

“We are delighted to give audiences the opportunity to discover Hogwarts in a whole new way. Harry Potter is a cultural phenomenon and it is clear there is such an enduring love and thirst for the Wizarding World. In partnership with Warner Bros. Television and J.K. Rowling, this new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years,” CEO of HBO & Max Content Casey Bloys said.

King of the Hill 

Hulu

King of the Hill could be returning to screens as early as 2025, according to co-creator Greg Daniels. The reboot will feature the return of many of the main voice actors, including co-creator Mike Judge as Hank, Kathy Najimy as Peggy, Pamela Adlon as Bobby and Stephen Root as Bill, but there’s still the question of whether Brittany Murphy, who voiced Luanne and died in 2009, and Toby Huss, the white actor who voiced the Hills’ next door Laotian neighbor Kahn, will be replaced. Daniels further told TVLine in late 2023 that he and the writers were back in the writers room following the end of the writers and actors strikes, and that they had already held a table read of two episodes.

MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty Images

Despite the criticisms Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story received, Netflix and Ryan Murphy confirmed that they will be producing a second season in their Monster anthology series. While the first season focused on the notorious Milwaukee Cannibal, the followup will tell the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were found guilty of murdering their parents, José and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menéndez, in 1996. The story gripped and divided the world when the brothers testified in court that they murdered their parents out of fear of their father killing them after they threatened to publicly reveal his sexual, emotional and physical abuse, while the prosecution suggested that they did the heinous act for the multimillion-dollar inheritance.

The siblings are currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, however Netflix noted that it has “exclusive access” to the Menendez brothers for a documentary from Campfire Studios. MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is currently slated for a 2024 release.

Tomb Raider 

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty Images

Archeologist Lara Croft was first introduced in 1996’s Tomb Raider and has been reincarnated several times since then, both in the live-action form of Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander and as a video game character voiced by Hayley Atwell. For her latest rebirth, it will be via a TV series adaptation from Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge over at Amazon Studios. Not a lot of information has been revealed yet as the project is reportedly still “in the development stages,” but rumors claim that Waller-Bridge will pen the script and executive produce alongside Ryan Andolina, Amanda Greenblatt and Dmitri M. Johnson.

VisionQuest 

Marvel Studios

Marvel Studios’ debut Disney+ series WandaVision proved to be both a commercial and critical success, due in large part to the stellar acting, emotional storyline and beautifully-written script, which delivered the standout “What is grief, if not love persevering?” line. The entertainment giant is now allegedly looking to expand the heart-wrenching story of Paul Bettany‘s Vision in a spinoff entitled VisionQuest, with WandaVision creator Jac Schaeffer reportedly overseeing the project. The show may focus on “White Vision” — the S.W.O.R.D.-created Vision that was introduced in WandaVision episode eight — which flew away in episode nine to set up the spinoff after stating “I Am Vision.” Elizabeth Olsen, who portrayed Vision’s partner Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in both the films and series, could make an appearance.

Bettany, however, previously stated that his future with Marvel remains uncertain.“It was a beautiful culmination for all these things [Elizabeth Olsen] and I have done together,” he said in 2021. “We really found a lane for ourselves, and this was different in tone from those movies. But you never know with Marvel, whether you’re done, or not. So I don’t want to call it the end yet. This was one of the most creative experiences of my life, joyful and free, making this show. To see it embraced by an audience the way it was, was so wonderful.”