The 10 series you shouldn’t miss so far in 2026

From Spider-Noir to Acharnés, via Cape Fear, Wonder Man or even Alice and Steve, here are the ten series which made this first half of 2026 vibrate and which you absolutely must see or catch up with before the end of the year.

10. Spider-Noir, on Prime Video

No one had filmed Spider-Man this way before. Part superhero series, part 1940s thriller, Spider-Noir is an unapologetic declaration of love for Hollywood film noir. Nicolas Cage walks there with contagious pleasure in the role of a worn-out detective, between smoky alleys, femmes fatales and melancholy voice-overs. The plot matters almost less than the atmosphere, absolutely sumptuous, enhanced by photography designed to be seen in black and white. Yes, the line is sometimes forced, almost caricatured, but that is precisely what makes the experience so unique. A unique proposition in the Marvel landscape, imperfect but terribly attractive.

9. The Lionesses, on Netflix

Taking an old French news item and turning it into a pop, feminist and crazy thriller: the bet was daring. However, Les Lionnes achieves it with crazy energy. Between robber comedy and social chronicle, the series never ceases to juggle between laughter and emotion without ever losing balance. Rebecca Marder leads a band of colorful characters, surrounded by irresistible supporting roles, from Jonathan Cohen to François Damiens. Beneath its apparent lightness, the series also speaks of insecurity, anger and women who refuse to let themselves be crushed by the system. Eight fast-paced episodes, which prove that a French series can be popular, ambitious and furiously modern at the same time.

8. Wonder Man, on Disney+

Perhaps Marvel’s best idea in years is forgetting about superheroes. Wonder Man is an irresistible meta comedy that takes us behind the scenes of Hollywood, between failed castings, chaotic shoots and dreams of glory. Ben Kingsley and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II form a duo of absolutely delicious loser actors in this buddy movie which evokes Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood as much as The Studio. Funny, light and full of self-deprecation, the series dares to make fun of the industry and even superhero films. An unexpected, refreshing and above all different work from anything the MCU has produced so far.

7. DTF St. Louis, on HBO Max

Beneath its classic criminal thriller feel, DTF St. Louis is above all a bitter autopsy of the American middle class. The series opens with an improbable bromance between two suburban fathers before revealing an increasingly deep unease. Jason Bateman takes up a register that he masters to perfection, but it is above all David Harbor who impresses in a role full of fragility and ambiguity. Between dark humor, pretenses and criminal investigation, the series paints the portrait of an ordinary America which is slowly cracking. A funny drama, elegant and remarkably performed.

6. Half Man, on HBO Max

After My Little Reindeer, Richard Gadd has created a deeply disturbing new work. Half Man is a grueling dive into a toxic sibling relationship that unfolds over several decades. The series dissects with surgical precision relationships of domination, male violence and emotional dependence. Carried by exceptional performers, it connects scenes of rare intensity, where unease is permanent. Nothing is simple, nothing is comfortable, but everything rings true. Like his previous success, Richard Gadd refuses easy answers and prefers to leave us face to face with our own contradictions. A difficult experience, sometimes brutal, but impossible to forget.

5. Cape Fear, on Apple TV

We thought we knew the terrifying Max Cady. This new adaptation, however, proves that there was still something left to tell. By reinventing the famous psychopath as a man convinced of having been destroyed by the system, Cape Fear brings a murkier and more contemporary dimension to this great thriller classic. And above all, the series has a lethal weapon: Javier Bardem. Fascinating, terrifying, magnetic, the Spanish actor probably delivers the best incarnation of the character to date. Despite some length, this rereading retains all the tension of the original material and offers a great role to one of the best actors of his generation.

4. Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, on Disney+

Imagine The Crown transposed to the United States. The series traces the romance between John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette like a great sentimental soap opera bathed in nostalgia for the 1990s. More interested in the intimate than in historical reconstruction, it tells the story of two people who try to love each other under the weight of a name, a family and overwhelming media pressure. Certainly, the series sometimes excessively romanticizes its subject, but it compensates with sincere emotion and especially with the formidable duo formed by Sarah Pidgeon and Paul Anthony Kelly. An elegant and surprisingly touching romantic chronicle.

3. Rooster, on HBO Max

Steve Carell had been looking for a role that matched his talent for a long time. Maybe he finally found it with Rooster. The actor plays a lost fifty-year-old writer who tries to rebuild his life while helping his daughter pick up the pieces of hers. Under the leadership of Bill Lawrence, the series finds this bittersweet energy which was already the charm of Ted Lasso or Shrinking. Funny, melancholic and deeply caring, she refuses cynicism and prefers to celebrate the small miracles of everyday life. An ode to reconstruction carried by a Steve Carell tremendous in tenderness and awkwardness.

2. Acharnés 2, on Netflix

After an exceptional first season, Lee Sung Jin succeeds in reinventing himself with an even more ambitious second round of episodes. This time focusing on envy, couples and class relationships, Acharnés (Beef in original version) continues to probe the darkest areas of the human soul. The characters are fascinatingly rich, capable of the best and the worst, while the writing dissects with remarkable precision our frustrations and our desires for success. Between social satire and intimate drama, the series sometimes evokes the heyday of The White Lotus. Cruel, lucid and brilliantly interpreted, it confirms that Acharnés is already one of the great series of this decade.

1. Alice and Steve, on Disney+

No series will have succeeded better in transforming a taboo subject into irresistible comedy. What would you do if your best friend fell in love with your daughter? Based on this brilliant and terribly uncomfortable idea, this astonishing British comedy questions our certainties about love, age and social conventions with biting British humor, without ever judging its characters. Nicola Walker is extraordinary as a furious mother, Jemaine Clement perfect in phlegm and Yali Topol Margalith brings all the freshness necessary to this improbable romance. Winner at CanneSéries, Alice et Steve is a nugget of tenderness and intelligence, and undoubtedly the best new release of this first half of 2026.