January may have a reputation as a ‘dump month’ for new releases, but the world’s top streaming services aren’t breaking ground with some highly anticipated new movies and shows debuting in time for this weekend.
In fact with a brand new one Game of Thrones spinoff, the return of fan-favorite series, the arrival of one of last year’s biggest blockbuster flops, and a spicy behind-the-scenes documentary that turns fans upside down and inside out, who said the start of the year is quiet? Then read on to learn more about this week’s biggest deals – Amelia Schwanke, Senior Entertainment Editor
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max)
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The expansion of HBOs Game of Thrones the universe continues in step with A knight of the seven kingdoms‘ arrival. An almost perfect adaptation of The hedge knightthe first entry in the ‘Dunk and Egg’ trilogy of short stories, it takes place about 100 years earlier Thronesand will introduce one of the franchise’s most beloved pairings – Ser Duncan ‘Dunk’ the Tall and ‘Egg’ – to a wider audience.
I don’t want to spoil anything else about this new HBO Max show, but you can read my review of A knight of the seven kingdoms to see why it’s the triumphant underdog tale that HBO’s Thrones-Verse needs right now. Once you’re done, find out everything you need to know about A knight of the seven kingdoms and then check out my episode 1 guide A knight of the seven kingdoms to learn where you can see it. – Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 (Netflix)
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I love a good behind the scenes feature. It’s one of the biggest benefits of owning a DVD or Blu-ray, as all the extra material lets you linger in the world of something you’ve just watched and really enjoy the experience.
So one would have to believe a two-hour documentary about the making of Stranger Things Season 5 would be a dream come true for fans who aren’t quite ready to let go, right? Instead, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things Season 5 has only fueled more frustration. Fans have taken issue with several creative decisions, including some who believe ChatGPT helped write its scripts.
Increasing furore was the belief that a secret extra Stranger Things episode will still drop, but this documentary amply proves that won’t be the case. – SEAM
RIP (Netflix)
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You can’t beat a movie with longtime friends and actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The arrival of RIPa new action crime thriller that the duo is fronting and producing for Netflix, then it should be worth celebrating. And yet, as I outline in my review of RIPit’s just another of the streamer’s original movies, simply tailored for the short attention spans of the Netflix generation.
Inspired by true events, RIP follows a group of police officers who uncover a hidden stash worth millions of dollars during a daily investigation. But loyalties are tested as they debate what to do with the life-changing cash move. – TP
Hijacking Season 2 (Apple TV)
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For God’s sake, someone tell Idris Elba to stop taking public transport. As if having to safely control a hijacked plane in the Apple TV Original’s first season wasn’t bad enough, Sam Nelson (Elba) now has to deal with a commandeered subway train in Hijack season 2, which has just premiered on – surprise surprise – Apple TV.
If you ask me, this season is going to be a grower that is slowly world building towards an inevitable disaster. I also really enjoy the location change, with Season 2 set in a snowy, picturesque Berlin. Bad news for the residents though, who will probably never get on the U-Bahn again after this. Yet Elba truly is the everyday superhero we need in trying times. – Jasmine Valentine, entertainment reporter
Tell Me Lies Season 3 (Hulu/Disney+)
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If you didn’t hate Stephen before, wait until you sit down to watch Tell me lies season 3. Hulu and Disney+ dropped three episodes as part of this season’s premiere as a bit of a surprise, but if I’m being honest, the weekly respites serve as the cooling off period I so desperately need.
After last season’s bombshell finale revealed that Stephen sent Bree a recording of Evan admitting he cheated on Bree with Lucy while they were at university, Bree and Evan’s eventual wedding in 2015 seemed to hit a rough patch.
We’re not done reliving the horrors of 2009 just yet, though, and Stephen ups the gruesome factor when it comes to his treatment of Lucy. He can’t get over the fact that she briefly dated Evan after he dumped her. So obviously he has resorted to playing casual mind games. Someone beat him before Season 3 ends, please. – JV
Ponies (Peacock)
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Ponies has debuted with a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score, so I have high hopes that this will be the latest great thriller to debut on the Peacock.
Set in Moscow in 1977, we follow two “persons of no interest” (or PONIES) who work anonymously as secretaries in the US Embassy. But when their husbands die under mysterious circumstances in the Soviet Union, they are thrown into the CIA.
Emilia Clarke plays the sharp and overeducated Bea, while Haley Lu Richardson is the abrasive, bold and fearless Twila, who finds herself teaming up to investigate why their husbands were killed. The setup here is great so I pray it sticks. All eight episodes of Ponies is out now, FYI. – Lucy Buglass, Senior Entertainment Writer
The Running Man (Paramount+)
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Edgar Wright’s take on the Stephen King novel The Running Man was met with mixed reviews. With a 62% Rotten Tomatoes score, it certainly had critics on the fence. Still, Wright’s adaptation is better than the 1987 version with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and of the two, I’d say the 2025 iteration, out now on Paramount+, is better all around.
Chad Powers star Glenn Powell leads the cast here, playing a blacklisted worker who signs up for the title Running man reality tv show. What is the eponymous game show about, you might ask? Well, it’s a very popular series broadcast by an authoritarian media network where the “runners” who sign up can win $1 billion by surviving 30 days. But that is of course much easier said than done. – LB
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