Avoid the hot, hot burning sun of the summer by staying indoors with all this great new supernatural and science fiction TV — including The Whispers which had better be the best new thing ever or we’re flipping tables, plus spaceship shows!
Already Returned/Aired:
Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, The Messengers, iZombie, and Salem.
May
Season Premiere: Penny Dreadful
All your supernatural favs return for another season of Penny Dreadful. Eva Green returns as Vanessa Ives and she’s using her “curse” to her advantage. Plus a few new monster appear to be joining her. Goodness, this series is pretty and bloody, and also pretty bloody.
Where: Showtime
When: Sunday, May 3rd
Series Premiere - Wayward Pines
M. Night Shyamalan’s version of Twin Peaks, Wayward Pines, is weird as hell. Matt Dillon plays a Secret Service agent who winds up trapped in Wayward Pines after following a missing person’s case to this quiet town. But once he’s there, he can never ever leave.
Where: Fox
When: Thursday, May 14th
Season Premiere - Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is back and hail, hail, the gang’s all here. Plus, Vincent and Cat are back and making cutie pie eyes at each other (and sometimes scary Beast CG eyes). You know, the regular.
Where: The CW
When: Thursday, May 21st
Series Premiere - Between
This new series almost slipped through the cracks on us. Behold Between. The main character is Wiley Day and (according to the synopsis) she’s a pregnant teenage preacher’s daughter who lives in the small town of Pretty Lake. Sounds like a standard drama, until you add the twist that everyone over the age of 21 dies in this town in the pilot due to a mysterious disease. Sign us up.
Where: Netflix
When: Thursday, May 21st
June
Series Premiere - The Whispers
Hands down the most terrifying trailer of the entire TV season. Little kids are being manipulated by real-life imaginary friends to act out deadly deeds, like detonating homemade bombs or attempting to accidentally kill their parents. It’s spooky. Oh, and it stars Lily Rabe, who is just a battle axe of talent.
Where: ABC
When: Monday, June 1st
Season Premiere - Hannibal
Last we saw of Bryan Fuller’s Lecter, he was boarding a plane to France with Dr. Du Maurier. What wonders await the world’s politest cannibal?
Where: NBC
When: Thursday, June 4th
Series Premiere - Sense8
The exceedingly ambitious, globetrotting series the Wachowskis claimed they filmed a live birth for is finally debuting. And we’re still not sure what to make of it all. The premise is expansive, but the talent is real (the two-some also teamed up with Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski to co-write and produce).
Here’s what we know about the series thanks to an earlier interview with the creators, “[Sense8] is centered around eight strangers all from various parts of the world. Each one experiences a tragic death that then links them all both mentally and emotionally. As they each begin their journey, they also become hunted by someone named Mr. Whispers. The character is part of a larger organization that wants to assassinate those that are connected in this manner. Each episode will center around one character and jump all across the planet.”
Where: Netflix
When: Friday, June 5th
Season Premiere - Defiance
Return to the wild, wild alien west in Syfy’s Defiance.
Where: Syfy
When: Friday, June 12th
Series Premiere - Dark Matter
Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie (Stargate) have adapted their popular graphic novel Dark Matter into a Syfy series. We only just recently got a look at the trailer, which looks like a lot of space drama goodness. But officially, “The story follows a crew of derelict spaceship who wakes up with no memory of who they are or how they got there. Despite this, they have to work together to overcome the threats they encounter.”
Where: Syfy
When: Friday, June 12th
Series Premiere - The Astronaut Wives Club
This series looks like Desperate Housewives meets The Right Stuff but with more red lipstick.
Where: ABC
When: Thursday, June 18th
Series Premiere - Killjoys
The producers of Orphan Black made a series about space bounty hunters. Sure!
Where: Syfy
When: Friday, June 19th
Season Premiere - The Last Ship
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip that started after everyone died and now we all live on a boat because of the government. The first episode of the new series will be two hours. That’s two hours of McSteamy Captain.
Where: TNT
When: Sunday, June 21st
Season Premiere - True Detective
The whole new mustache-centric cast of True Detective has a whole new crime to solve. Vince Vaughn is a big time showboat criminal; Rachel McAdams is a sheriff with an attitude who doesn’t jive with cop partners Colin Farrell and Tim Riggins. We really don’t know much, but we know we will be watching.
Where: HBO
When: Sunday, June 21st
Season Premiere - Under The Dome
The two-hour premiere will make you all ask: Why is this show still on?
Where: CBS
When: Thursday, June 25th
Season Premiere - Falling Skies
It’s the final countdown! This is it, the end of Falling Skies, the farewell swan song. And we have absolutely no idea how this series is going to attempt to tie all these plot lines together.
Where: TNT
When: Sunday, June 28th
Season Premiere - Teen Wolf
The gorgeous teens return to their lives of Teen Wolfing. But honestly, you should all be watching this show because after the first season it really got damn good.
Where: MTV
When: Monday, June 29th
Series Premiere - Zoo
Based on the James Patterson novel of the same name, Zoo takes place after all the animals in the zoos (and in other parts of the world) start attacking the humans. This would probably be a problem if we didn’t have guns. But we do... so....
Where: CBS
When: Tuesday, June 30th
Series Premiere - Scream
Super self-aware, ultra-meta Wes Craven franchise Scream is coming to the small screen. Looks like it’s more of the same: pretty people getting cut up in ugly ways while less attractive people editorialize about violence and film. Sold.
Where: MTV
When: Thursday, June 30th
July
Season Premiere - Extant
Now with Jeffery Dean Morgan and David Morrissey! Watch this if only to read Lauren Davis’ takedowns the next day.
Where: CBS
When: Wednesday July, 1st.
Season Premiere - Dominion
The angel show is back! Remember the wacky scifi series set in a world where angels went to war with humans and then humans decided to move to Vegas and reboot the feudal system based on logos of the surrounding hotels? This show is B-A-N-A-N-A-S, and highly watchable if you’ve gobbled up a ton of children’s Tylenol and codeine. It’s great.
Where: Syfy
When: Thursday, July 9th
Season Premiere - Masters of Sex
Will they or won’t they, but with science!
Where: Showtime
When: Sunday, July 12th
TV Movie - Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!
Sharknado 3: It’s not like you had anything else planned on the 22nd of July.
Where: Syfy
When: Wednesday, July 22nd
Season Premiere - Face Off
The absolutely addictive reality TV series about makeup artists competing by creating monsters and creatures that go bump in the night. Seriously, I hope this show runs for 22 seasons.
Where: Syfy
When: Tuesday, July 28th
August
Season Premiere - Legends
That show about Sean Bean is back.
Where: TNT
When: Tuesday, August 25th
Sometime This Summer (No Official Date Set)
Series Premiere - Fear The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead spinoff doesn’t have a set date but it will debut this summer, set in sunny Los Angeles and starring a whole new pack of walker survivors and a whole new pack of drama.
Where: AMC
When: Sometime Late in the Summer
Season Premiere - The Strain
The first season ended with a lot of family problems for Eph, and a brand new vampire revolution for Gus. If you don’t think The Strain season 2 can get any darker, think again. We’ve read ahead in the books. Also, maybe this is the year Eph will shave his head, because that wig is the real abomination in the series.
Where: FX
Series Premiere - Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Susanna Clarke’s wondrous fantasy novel about two nineteenth century gentleman who discover magic will be adapted for BBC America by Peter Harness. And Bertie Carvel and Eddie Marsan as Strange and Norrell, respectively.
Where: BBC America
Series Premiere - Expanse
Look, we know this is extremely wishful thinking, but we deeply want this series to just come out already. If we had to bet, Syfy’s television adaptation of The Expanse (written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) will be great. The fairly serious drama is set in space and follow Detective Miller as he looks for a missing person in a space colony. But really it’s waaaay more complicated than just that and endlessly intriguing. We’re very, very excited about this one, however we have no idea when it will hit, so we’re just hoping it’s the summer.
Where: Syfy
Season Premiere - The Leftovers
HBO has been seriously mum on the second season of The Leftovers, and we really need this series to fill our lives with a calm sort of dread.
Where: HBO