New TV 2016: 28 US shows for this autumn

Despite there already being more quality TV around to watch, stream and inject intravenously than there are hours in the day to do it, people insist on making more. Loads more. This lot below isn’t even the half of it. These twenty-five new US series (the UK list is here), all of which we deemed relevant to geek interests, have received first series orders and are due to arrive across the pond later this year or early next. 

You’ll find time travel as an emerging theme, not only in the H.G. Wells sense of things, but in the resurrection of existing movie and TV properties that’ll make you feel as if you’ve stepped back a decade or two…

24: Legacy

Stars: Corey Hawkins, Miranda Otto, Jimmy Smits, Teddy Sears, Anna Diop

Created by: 24 producer and director Stephen Hopkins, with original creators Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow alongside more 24 old guard in the form of Evan Katz and Manny Coto.

Is about: Eric Carter (Hawkins), the new Jack Bauer on the block. He’s a former Army Ranger who becomes entangled with the CTU and tasked with stopping what promises to be the largest-scale terror attack on US soil. Expect “a time jump, a new organisation and a completely different story” says Fox CEO, Dana Walden, packaged in the traditional real-time format over 12 episodes.

Will air: February the 5th on Fox in the US.

American Gods

Stars: Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Ian McShane, Crispin Glover, Jonathan Tucker, Pablo Schreiber, Yetide Badaki

Created by: Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, adapted from Neil Gaiman’s novel.

Is about: a war between the ancient gods and the new, an American roadtrip, coin tricks, con-men ancient stories and mystical powers. Read more here.

Will air: TBC 2017 on Starz in the US and on Amazon Video in the UK

A.P.B.

Stars: Justin Kirk, Natalie Martinez, Eric Winter, Ernie Hudson

Created by: Live Free Or Die Hard and Underworld’s Len Wiseman, who directed the pilot following David Slack’s departure and replacement by Burn Notice’s Matt Nix.

Is about: a private billionaire who buys control of a Chicago police precinct, privatising it and kitting it out with all sorts of cool gadgets in order to get tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, impressing an attractive Latina officer in the process.

Will air: Midseason on Fox in the US.

Chance

Stars: Hugh Laurie of House and more recently, The Night Manager fame. 

Created by: Kem Nunn wrote the original novel on which it’s based, but Desperate Housewives’ Alexandra Cunningham is writing here, with Room director Lenny Abrahamson and experienced TV helmer Daniel Attias calling the shots.

Is about: sex, violence, and the Californian criminal underbelly. Laurie plays neuropsychiatrist Eldon Chance, a man who embarks on an unwise affair with a patient which leads to all kinds of dangerous ramifications. A second season has already been ordered.

Will air: Wednesday the 19th of October on Hulu in the US

Conviction

Stars: Hayley Atwell, Emily Kinney, Eddie Cahill

Created by: Jessica Jones, Elementary and House’s Liz Friedman, with The Vampire Diaries, The Following and Stalker’s Liz Friedlander.

Is about: A 1940s spy who… no, wait. This time Atwell plays the ‘bad girl’ daughter of a former US president coerced into heading up a new “Conviction Integrity Unit” established to examine cases suspected of wrongful conviction. It’s a legal thriller about a misbehaving lady whose heart grows three sizes as she frees innocent convicts by the looks of this first trailer.

Will air: Monday the 3rd of October at 10pm on ABC in the US.

Designated Survivor

Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Natascha McElhone, Maggie Q, Kal Penn

Created by: Lucky Number Slevin and Sherlock director Paul McGuigan, with Safe House, Bad Boys 3 and Uncharted’s David Guggenheim co-writing alongside Graceland’s Derek R. Griffiths.

Is about: Tom Kirkman, the titular “designated survivor”, a politician sworn into the presidency after an explosion kills off the President, Congress and the entire cabinet. It’s a White House political thriller with an international terror theme. Expect terrorism, people talking in growly voices about being in a state of war, FBI stuff and Kiefer Sutherland.

Will air: Wednesday the 21st of September at 10pm on ABC in the US

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Stars: Elijah Wood and Samuel Barnett

Created by: Douglas Adams, originally, but this revamped TV adaptation comes courtesy of Chronicle‘s Max Landis.

Is about: the titular detective and his unusual approach to case-solving. This is one of many attempts to adapt Adams’ unpredictable creation. BBC Four did a nice version a few years back starring Stephen Mangan, while BBC Radio Four’s audio adaptation starring Harry Enfield in the title role was probably the best yet.

Will air: Saturday the 22nd of October on BBC America in the US and on Netflix here in the UK.

Frequency

Stars: Riley Smith, Mekhi Phifer, Peyton List, Lenny Jacobson, Anthony Ruivivar, Devin Kelley and Daniel Bonjour.

Created by: Supernatural’s Jeremy Carver, who is writing and executive producing, with Fringe and The Machinist director Brad Anderson calling the shots on the pilot.

Is about: a police detective who discovers she can communicate via ham radio with her father who died a decade ago. The pair teams up to solve an open murder case, but the time travel element causes all sorts of problems in the modern day. You might recall the Dennis Quaid/Jim Caviezel-starring 2000 movie it’s based on (pictured).

Will air: Wednesday the 5th of October at 9pm on The CW in the US

Goliath

Stars: Billy Bob Thornton as Billy McBride, a down-on-his-luck ambulance chaser and former savant lawyer, and William Hurt as his former law firm partner.

Is about: Billy Bob Thornton’s character landing a career-reviving wrongful death case that pits him against the big-time L.A. firm he founded with former Donald Cooper (Hurt). With a big, powerful enemy and a sometimes less-than-fair American legal system up against him, McBride tries to find redemption winning one for the little guy.

Will air: Friday the 14th of October on Amazon Video.

Heroes And Villains: The History of Comic Books

Stars: lots of comic book creators, with any luck.

Created by: The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman and David Alpert, who are executive producing the documentary series, which will also be overseen by AMC’s Eliot Goldberg and Kelly Nash, and Bryan and Sean Furst.

Is about: the history of comic books, and will arrive in the form of six one-hour episodes themed around topics such as politics, race, gender, sexuality and pop culture.

Will air: TBC 2017, on AMC in the US

Incorporated

Stars: Sean Teale, Julia Ormond, Eddie Ramos, Dennis Haysbert

Created by: David and Alex Pastor, and produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd’s Pearl Street Films.

Is about: the near future, in which corporations enjoy untrammelled power. Lead Ben Larson infiltrates a dangerous corporate world to save the woman he loves in a show billed as “a fresh, edge-of-your-seat thriller that challenges notions of the world we live in today.”

Will air: TBC late 2016 on Syfy in the US

Jack Ryan TV series

Stars: So far, John Krasinski in the lead role

Created by: Lost‘s Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland and produced byMichael Bay’s Platinum Dunes in association with Paramount and Skydance.

Is about: Jack Ryan, the Tom Clancy ex-marine drafted into the CIA, previously brought to life on screen by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Mr Chris Pine. Amazon has a series order commitment on this one, bypassing its usual pilot testing model.

Will stream: TBC 2017, on Amazon Video

Lethal Weapon

Stars: Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford in the Danny Glover and Mel Gibson roles, respectively

Created by: Forever and Chuck writer-producer Matt Miller, who’s on writing duties, with collaborator McG (Charlie’s Angels, This Means War, Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments) having directed the pilot.

Is about: Being too old for this shit. Texas lawman Martin Riggs moves to LA after a tragic life event and is partnered with stress-avoiding detective Roger Murtaugh. Expect explosions, banter and odd couple pairing, you know the drill.

Will air: Wednesday the 21st of September at 8pm on Fox in the US

MacGyver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt8E6X6-744

Stars: Lucas Till, George Eads

Created by: James Wan, who is executive producing, along with the show’s original executive producer, Henry Winkler, who is involved with the writing process alongside newcomer Paul Downs Colaizzo.

Is about: the origin story for the character Richard Dean Anderson made famous in the original series. This time around, the resourceful Macgyver is a twenty-something who creates “a clandestine organisation where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening.”

Will air: Friday the 23rd of September on CBS in the US

Making History

Stars: Adam Pally, Leighton Meester and Yassir Lester.

Created by: The LEGO Movie’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are producing with The Late Late Show writer Julius Sharpe writing and co-producing.

Is about: time travel, but a comic take this time. The premise features a 2016 chap with a time machine who spends his weekends hanging out with his girlfriend in 1775 Revolutionary Massachusetts. A bit like Goodnight Sweetheart, you could say, but with more frat humour.

Will air: TBC 2017 on Fox in the US

Marvel’s Luke Cage

Stars: Mike Colter in the title role, with Simone Missick as Misty Knight, and Mahershala Ali, Frankie Faison, Erik LaRay Harvey and more supporting.

Created by: Ray Donovan and NCIS‘s Cheo Hodari Coker is the writer/producer on this Netflix/Marvel collaboration, based on the Marvel comic book character we met in Jessica Jones.

Is about: An extraordinary man trying to live an ordinary life who takes on the criminal underbelly of New York’s Harlem.Read our spoiler-free review of the first seven episodes, here.

Airs: Friday the 30th of September on Netflix in the US and UK.

Powerless

Stars: Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Tudyk, Danny Pudi and Christina Kirk

Created by: A To Z’s Ben Queen, with A To Z’s Michael Patrick Jann directing.

Is about: a workplace in a DC Comics-inspired universe. This comedy series tells the story of Hudgens’ Emily, who stands up to a superhero, gaining her the status of a cult hero among her workmates. According to the official blurb, Emily will be navigating “her normal, everyday life against an explosive backdrop.”

Will air: TBC on NBC in the US

Prison Break: Sequel

Stars: Wentworth Miller, Dominic Purcell, Robert Knepper Sarah Wayne Callies

Created by: Original creator Paul Scheuring, who is back on writing duties, with Southland and Touch director Nelson McCormick calling the shots.

Is about: the Prison Break gang engineering the “biggest escape ever” in nine new episodes that pick up after the apparent death of Wentworth Miller’s character Michael at the end of the previous season.

Will air: Thursdays at 9pm, midseason on Fox in the US

Riverdale

Stars: Luke Perry, Madchen Amick, Lili Reinhard, Cole Sprouse

Created by: Greg Berlanti, he of The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow and Legends Of Tomorrow fame, is executive producing, with Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa writing and Lee Toland Krieger directing.

Is about: Archie Comics characters Betty, Veronica and Archie himself. This series was originally developed at Fox last year but missed out on the pilot stage. It’s being described as an exploration of “the surrealism of small town life – the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale’s wholesome façade.”

Will air: TBC midseason 2017 on The CW in the US.

Shooter

Stars: Ryan Philippe, Omar Epps, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Tom Sizemore, Eddie McClintock, Tembi Locke

Created by: Mark Wahlberg, on whose 2007 film of the same name the series is based, and written by Underworld: Awakening’s John Hlavin and directed by Jessica Jones, Our Friends In The North and Klondike’s Simon Cellan Jones.

Is about: Bob Lee Swagger (Philippe), the best military sniper in the business, who becomes inextricably caught up in a plot to kill the US president and winds up on the run. A Bourne-style thriller.

Will air: TBC Autumn on The USA Network in the US (originally scheduled for a summer 2016 slot, its premiere was delayed twice due to real-life US shootings)

Son Of Zorn

Stars: Jason Sudeikis (voice), Cheryl Hines, Tim Meadows

Created by: former Wilfred showrunners Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne, executive produced by The LEGO Movie and Last Man On Earth’s Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

Is about: An animated He-Man-style warrior settling down with a job in suburbia to be close to his non-cartoon ex-wife and son. It’s more fish-out-of-water comedy, this time with a fantasy twist and some decent laughs by the looks of this trailer.

Will air: Sunday the 11th of September on FOX in the US

Star Trek: Discovery

Stars: TBC.

Created by: Bryan Fuller, who is showrunning this version of Gene Roddenberry’s creation, with Nicholas Meyer on writing duties.

Is about: You know, Star Trek. More on that here.

Will air: January 2017 first on CBS All Access in the US, then on Netflix here in the UK and 87 other territories.

Sweet/Vicious

Stars: Eliza Bennett and Taylor Dearden

Created by: The Hateful Eight and Into The Badlands’ Stacey Sher, who is executive producing with Gossip Girl’s Amanda Lasher, with newcomer Jennifer Kaytim Robinson writing. 

Is about: two college girls, one trouble-making, one well-behaved. One of them is hiding a secret identity as a masked superheroine who dishes out justice to campus sex attackers, the other of elects to be her sidekick. It’s a dark one-hour comedy from fresh talent, Jennifer Kaytim Robinson.

Will air: TBC Autumn 2016, on MTV in the US

The Exorcist

Stars: Geena Davis, Ben Daniels, Brianne Howey, Alfonso Herrera, Hannah Kasulka

Created by: Rupert Wyatt (Planet Of The Apes), who has directed the pilot, with Fantastic Four and the Death Note screenplay writer Jeremy Slater on script duties, based on William Peter Blatty’s original 1971 novel.

Is about: a modern reimagining of the classic horror story set over forty years from the movie of the same name. Expect demonic possession, priests and “forces you can’t even begin to understand”. Whatever your feelings about bringing classics to the modern age, the trailer looks as though it can handle creepiness.

Will air: Friday the 23rd of Septmber at 9pm on Fox in the US, TBC Autumn 2016 on Syfy UK.

The Terror

Stars: TBC

Created by: David Kajganich is writing and showrunning alongside The Killing’s Soo Hugh, with Ridley Scott and David W. Zucker executive producing.

Is about: a Royal Naval expedition crew searching for the Northwest Passage which is attacked by a mysterious predator. It’s to be an anthology series that mixes historical non-fiction with “a gripping and imaginative science-fiction overlay”, according to AMC’s Joel Stillerman.

Will air: not until 2018 is the current best guess, on AMC in the US

Time After Time

Stars: Freddie Stroma, Josh Bowman, Genesis Rodriguez, Regina Taylor

Created by: Scream, The Following and The Vampire Diaries’ Kevin Williamson, based on the 1979 film and novel of the same name by Karl Alexander, with Dexter and The Following’s Marcos Siega directing.

Is about: A fictionalised version of writer H.G. Wells who actually built the time machine that made his name, and who used it to follow a chum he learns is Jack the Ripper to modern-day New York City. We’re talking fish-out-of-water time travel with stabby murders, romance and pre-Brooklyn hipster facial hair.

Will air: TBC 2017 on ABC.

Timeless

Stars: Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, Malcolm Barrett, Goran Visnjic, Paterson Joseph

Created by: the producers of The Blacklist, co-written by Supernatural’s Eric Kripke and The Shield and Last Resort’s Shawn Ryan, and directed by The Descent, Dog Soldiers and Game Of Thrones’ Neil Marshall.

Is about: a criminal who steals a time machine with the intention of destroying the US by changing key moments in its history, and the three people, a scientist, a soldier and a history professor, sent back in the machine’s rust-bucket prototype to find and stop him. A glossy Quantum Leap? This one looks fun.

Will air: Monday the 3rd of October on NBC in the US

Training Day

Stars: Bill Paxton, Justin Cornwell, Julie Benz, Katrina Law, Drew Van Acker, Lex Scott Davis

Created by: Antoine Fuqua, director of the 2001 film on which it is based, who is executive producing with Gotham’s Danny Cannon, the director of the pilot, with Castle’s Will Beall on writing duties.

Is about: an idealistic young cop partnered with a morally ambiguous detective, assigned to an elite squad of the LAPD. The action picks up where you’d expect, fifteen years after the Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington-starring 2001 film left off. Let’s hope this one turns out better than the Rush Hour reboot.

Will air: TBC, Midseason on CBS in the US

Westworld

Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Ben Barnes, Thandie Newton and more.

Created by: Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who are executive producing, with directors including Game Of Thrones’ Michelle MacLaren, Jonathan Nolan, and In The Flesh’s Jonny Campbell among others.

Is about: a theme park that goes wrong, or as HBO put it “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin”. Adapted from the Michael Crichton film, as if you needed telling.

Will air: Sunday the 2nd of October on HBO, TBC October on Sky Atlantic in the UK.

This article was updated from the original May 2016 post with new entries, trailers and start date info.