Streaming Sneaks: Wednesday is back, Alien franchise's first TV show debuts in August
Wednesday 2
Part 1 (Episodes 1 to 4) available on Netflix, Part 2 (Episodes 5 to 8) debuts on Sept 3
Wednesday, Netflix's most-watched English-language series of all time, is back for a much-anticipated second season.
American actress Jenna Ortega reprises her breakout role as teenage ice queen Wednesday Addams, who returns to the halls of Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for supernatural misfits.
There, old friends and new foes await, along with a new mystery for the sharp-tongued daughter of Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez Addams (Luis Guzman) – who helped solve a string of killings in Season 1 – to sleuth her way through.
Why watch it: American film-maker Tim Burton returns to direct and produce, bringing his kooky sensibility to this coming-of-age story with stylish gothic visuals and twisty plotting.
And two comedy legends join the cast this season: British star Joanna Lumley as Wednesday's flamboyant Grandmama and American character actor Steve Buscemi as Nevermore's new principal.
Butterfly
Debuts on Prime Video on Aug 13
Reina Hardesty (left) and Daniel Dae Kim in Butterfly.
PHOTO: PRIME VIDEO
This high-octane character-driven spy thriller is helmed by Daniel Dae Kim, the Korean-American star of police procedural Hawaii Five-0 (2010 to 2020) and mystery thriller Lost (2004 to 2010).
He plays David Jung, an enigmatic former American intelligence agent who is living in South Korea when a dark chapter of his past comes back to haunt him.
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He discovers he is being hunted by Rebecca (Reina Hardesty), a sociopathic young agent tasked by a sinister spy organisation – led by a formidable woman named June (Piper Perabo) – with killing him.
But Rebecca turns out to be Jung's daughter, who had thought he was dead.
Why watch it: Based on a 2015 graphic novel, Butterfly promises gripping family drama with a side of deadly espionage.
The cast also includes several prominent South Korean names, including Park Hae-soo, who played antagonist Sang-woo on the first season of survival thriller Squid Game (2021 to 2025), and Kim Tae-hee, star of hit K-dramas such as Iris (2009).
Alien: Earth
Debuts on Disney+ on Aug 13
Sydney Chandler in Alien: Earth.
PHOTO: DISNEY+
The first television show in the Alien franchise, this takes place in the year 2120, shortly before the events of the iconic science-fiction horror movie Alien (1979) starring Sigourney Weaver.
The story follows Wendy (Sydney Chandler, daughter of American actor Kyle Chandler), who is the first hybrid: a person who has had his or her consciousness downloaded into a synthetic humanoid body.
In this era, humans co-exist alongside cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial body parts) as well as synthetics (humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence).
But when a space vessel crash-lands on Earth, Wendy and a ragtag group of soldiers find themselves confronting life forms that are even stranger – and more terrifying.
Why watch it: Alien: Earth is created by Noah Hawley, an American writer-director known for his inventive storytelling on the crime drama Fargo (2014 to 2024) and trippy superhero series Legion (2017 to 2019). And the earthbound storyline brings a fresh perspective to the Alien franchise.
Beyond The Bar
Now streaming on Netflix
Lee Jin-wook (left) and Jung Chae-yeon in Beyond The Bar.
PHOTO: NETFLIX
Clumsy and socially awkward, Hyo-min (Jung Chae-yeon) does not have the most auspicious start to her new job at a top law firm.
But the brilliant young rookie, who aced the national mock law trials, has a keen sense of justice and an eye for detail.
And after a few missteps, she begins to impress even her demanding boss Seok-hoon (Lee Jin-wook) and crack a few tough cases.
Why watch it: This K-drama is a juicy role for Jung, who is better known as K-pop star Chaeyeon, a member of the girl group DIA. And her on-screen chemistry with Lee, who starred in Squid Game and hit horror series Sweet Home (2020 to 2024), makes a romantic twist all but inevitable.
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