The best returning shows to watch in 2019

Out with the old, in with the new. But let’s not be too hasty about that. While 2019 has a veritable bevvy of delectable brand-new delights to offer us (more on that later), it also brings back some old friends with new stories to tell. Here are five shows that we’re excited to see returning to the small screen this year.

TRUE DETECTIVE (January 2019, HBO/Sky Atlantic) – It’s entirely possible that True Detective’s catastrophically bad second season has only heightened the excitement surrounding season three. Already being touted as a return to form, this latest instalment tells the story of an investigation into two missing children as it unfolds over three different time periods. Jeremy Saulnier (Green Room, Hold The Dark) directs the first two episodes and Mahershala Ali, Stephen Dorff, Carmen Ejogo and Scoot McNairy star.

BETTER THINGS (February 2019, FX) – There are few things in life as delightful as Pamela Adlon’s show about the relationships between a single mother, her three daughters and her eccentric mother. One of our biggest fears when the show’s co-producer Louis C.K was outed as a contemptuous sexual predator was that Better Things would vanish along with Louie. Thankfully, it’s only blossomed under Adlon’s sole stewardship. Last season ended with one of the most indescribably moving dance routines (which ensured I’ll never listen to this without getting emotional) ever seen on TV, so we can’t wait to see what Adlon has in store this time around.

GAME OF THRONES (April 2019, HBO/Sky Atlantic) – From April, our TV sets will once more be awash with Machiavellian plotting, brutal battles and unstoppable hordes of the undead (or more “tits and dragons”, if you’re Ian McShane). Last season ended with the White Walkers advancing on Westeros, Dany and Jon incestuously bumping uglies, Cersei’s “pregnancy” (forgive us for not being entirely convinced there), Littlefinger’s overdue comeuppance and Jamie’s banishment. The show’s entering the home stretch, but with a prequel already in the works, it’s proving about as easy to kill as Gregor Clegane.

BIG LITTLE LIES (June 2019, HBO/Sky Atlantic) – There’s an element of trepidation mingling with the anticipation of season two of one of 2017’s standout shows. Director Jean Marc Vallée has departed and the series is now moving past the novella that the first season was based on. But the flipside to that is the addition of Meryl Streep to the cast and Andrea Arnold as director. Streep plays the mother of Alexander Skarsgaard’s Perry – who met a deserved grisly end last season – arriving in Monterey to find out what really happened to her son.

THE OA (TBC 2019, Netflix) – We loved every second of season one of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij’s deeply strange and mesmerising sci-fi series, but we totally understand why some it proved so divisive. After OA’s devotees used her interpretive dance/tai chi moves to stop a school shooting, the season finale left us with a ton of unanswered questions. Did OA manage to open the portal? Is she dead? Did she see Homer? We don’t have a release date for Part II yet, but Marling has said it’ll definitely be this year.