The best new TV shows to stream this week on Netflix, Disney Plus, and more

It’s a busier than usual week for new streaming TV shows (and that’s saying something). We have Tim Allen returning as Santa Claus in a new Disney Plus series, and Chris Hemsworth tries to overcome a series of physical challenges. We have a new horror series from the makers of the show Dark on Netflix, along with the third and final season of the acclaimed dramedy Dead to Me. We get a new Hulu series about a person recovering from a divorce, Peacock has a new crime drama show, and we bid farewell to The Walking Dead after 11 seasons. Here’s what to check out in the best new streaming TV shows this week.

Tim Allen reprises his role as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus from The Santa Clause series of movies for this new six-part weekly show on Disney Plus. Calvin has been the caretaker of the Santa Claus role for a while, but now he must find a successor so that he and his family can retire somewhere south of the North Pole. Things go bad when the person he picked to be Santa may not have been the right choice. Elizabeth Mitchell also returns as Scott’s wife, as does David Krumholtz as Santa’s former lead elf.

Actor Chris Hemsworth is known as an athletic person, thanks largely to his role as the Norse god Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor is 1,500 years old, but real humans don’t live nearly that long. Hemsworth wanted to find out if he could push his body to the limits. In this six-part National Geographic series on Disney Plus, he goes on a series of physical challenges to see if he can break the limits of normal humans and learn from scientists about how they are working to keep people alive for much longer than normal.

The German sci-fi series Dark became a global hit for Netflix a few years ago. Now the creators of that series have a new Netflix show with an international cast that’s much more ambitious. In the year 1899, a cruise ship is in the middle of a voyage between London and New York with a full crew and passenger complement. However, they soon discover a large ship in the middle of the Atlantic with just one person on board. What is this mysterious ship, and why is there no one else aboard? That’s just the start of the mystery for this eight-part series.

The acclaimed dark comedy series returns for its third and final season on Netflix. Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini return as two women who become somewhat reluctant best friends, despite trying to cover up their murders of each other’s husbands. The final 10-episode season promises to bring the many plots in this show to a conclusion, as the law seems to be getting closer to finding out the truth about these deaths.

This new Hulu exclusive series from the FX network stars Jesse Eisenberg as Toby Fleishman. He’s just experienced a divorce from his wife of 15 years, played by Claire Danes. Now the 41-year-old Fleishman is trying to move on and even starts to date again. Then his wife disappears, and he has to take care of his two kids on his own. The eight-episode series also stars Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody.

Carla Gugino stars in this new eight-part crime drama series on Peacock. It takes place largely in a beachside estate in Mexico. A bunch of criminals has chosen this apparently remote house to keep away from the police after they pull off a new job. However, things get more complicated when the owners of the house make an unexpected arrival.

After 11 seasons, the hit series about the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse is ending on AMC and AMC Plus. You can watch the final 90-minute episode on the cable channel and the streaming service starting live at 9PM. Eastern Time on November 20. The episode will be proceeded by a red carpet special celebrating the show starting at 8:30 PM Eastern time, and after the series finale, the Talking Dead talk show will begin at 9:30 PM Eastern time with a boatload of guests to discuss the last episode.

Even though this is the final show for The Walking Dead, the franchise will live on. The spin-off series Fear The Walking Dead will launch its eighth season in 2023. We will also see The Walking Dead: Dead City that same year, with characters Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) visiting New York City. Norman Reedus’s character Daryl Dixon will also get his own series, set in Europe, in 2023. Finally, a limited series starring former Walking Dead characters Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) will debut in late 2023.

Other shows to check out

There are lots of other new shows and new seasons of previous shows that are debuting this week:

With the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II of England, Netflix will almost certainly see a huge interest in The Crown, which was created to show the life of the UK monarch. The fifth season of the show brings in actor Imelda Staunton to play the Queen. However, much of season 5 will be devoted to the crumbling marriage and later divorce of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki). Many people have criticized Netflix for putting in fictional accounts of characters in the series. Bowing to public pressure, the streamer recently added a disclaimer to the show on its website, stating that The Crown is a”fictional dramatization” of the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

Amazon Prime Video launched this new Western-themed six-episode series. Set in 1890, It stars Emily Blunt as Lady Cornelia Locke, a high society woman from the UK who is now in the Kansas plains of the US. She’s here for one reason only: to exact revenge on the people who killed her son out in this mostly lawless land. She gets some help from a Pawnee-born US Army cavalry member, but neither knows how their paths will truly converge. The series also stars Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones, and Rafe Spall.

Paramount Plus launched the latest TV show from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan. It’s also the first TV show to star Sylvester Stallone in a regular role. He plays a former mafia boss from New York who has been in prison for 25 years. After finally getting out of jail, his bosses semi-exile him to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he has to establish a new organized crime ring. 

Peacock launched the first season of a new series based on the Dror A. Mishani novel The Missing File. NYPD detective Avraham Avraham, played by Jeff Wilbusch, is brought in to investigate a murder, but the case may make him rethink his own beliefs.

Amazon Prime Video launched yet another UK import series. James Corden stars in this dramedy, where he plays a high-end chef. He seems to have it all: a great job, a great wife, and great friends. However, all of that seems to come crashing down when he discovers some secrets his wife is keeping from him.

Apple TV Plus debuted the third season of this workplace comedy series, set in the video game industry. At the end of season 2, famed game designer Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenney) left the company that developed his hugely popular Mythic Quest game to start a new game developer. Season 3 shows him and his partner Poppy trying to launch the company, GrimPop, and make a new game. At the same time, the Mythic Quest team is still trying to keep it going under its new manager David Hornsby (David Brittlesbee). Joe Manganiello will join the cast this season, playing a fictional version of himself, who will be playing the role of Ian in a movie about the making of Mythic Quest (yes, it’s getting very meta).