HBO's second Game of Thrones prequel series, set roughly 90 years before the events of the original show, following the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg. Adapted from George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, the series has a deliberately smaller and more intimate scope than House of the Dragon — a road story set against the backdrop of a kingdom still healing from civil war.

“A refreshing departure from the grand political machinations of the franchise's recent entries, delivering warmth and adventure alongside the expected Westerosi intrigue.”

Cast: Peter Claffey, Dexter Sol Ansell, Daniel Ings

John Oliver returns for a new season of Last Week Tonight, his weekly HBO comedy news programme that combines meticulous investigative journalism with sharp political satire. With an enormous amount of material to work with from recent months, Oliver's return to the desk comes with particular anticipation for how he will process and contextualise the current moment.

“One of the most consistently sharp and important voices in political comedy television, returning at a time when that voice feels especially relevant.”

Cast: John Oliver

Emma Thompson stars in this action-packed thriller as a woman who, following a devastating personal loss, feels she has nothing left to live for. Everything changes when she realises the couple next door is holding a woman captive. Forced to set aside her own grief, she becomes an unlikely rescuer in a situation where the odds are very much against her. Thompson brings her full dramatic range to a premise that mixes character study with genuine tension.

“Emma Thompson in a thriller is a rare combination — and the film delivers on both the emotional depth and the genre mechanics.”

Cast: Rose Byrne, Conan O'Brien, A$AP Rocky, Danielle Macdonald

A24's biographical drama starring Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr, one of the greatest mixed martial artists of the late 1990s and a man whose career was derailed by addiction and injury. The film traces Kerr's rise to dominance in the early days of no-holds-barred fighting and the brutal psychological cost of that world. Directed by Benny Safdie, it promises to be one of the most serious dramatic performances of Johnson's career.

“A24 plus Benny Safdie plus Dwayne Johnson in full dramatic mode is the kind of unexpected combination that generates major cultural attention.”

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten

A new limited series premiering on Max in February 2026, set against the backdrop of an isolated winter landscape where a small community is forced to confront a series of deaths that may not be accidental. The series combines the procedural satisfactions of a murder mystery with the psychological intimacy of a character study.

“A precisely crafted limited series that uses its remote winter setting to maximum atmospheric effect.”

Cast: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca, Laurel Marsden

A documentary film directed by Asif Kapadia exploring how the decisions and crises of the present decade could shape the world of 2073 — fifty years from now. Drawing on interviews with scientists, economists, and political thinkers, the film traces the trajectories of climate change, democracy, and artificial intelligence to paint an unsettling portrait of where we may be headed.

“Kapadia has made some of the defining documentaries of the last decade, and this joins his catalogue as his most ambitious and disturbing work yet.”

Cast: Samantha Morton, Naomi Ackie, Hector Hewer

The beloved sequel to the 2014 original, following Paddington Brown as he is wrongfully imprisoned while trying to buy a special birthday gift for his Aunt Lucy. Paul King's film is routinely cited as one of the funniest, most heartfelt, and technically accomplished family films of its era — a movie that made critics fall over themselves to give it a perfect score.

“Paddington 2 arriving on Max is one of those additions that makes an entire subscription feel worth it — a film for all ages that has somehow only gotten more beloved with time.”

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, Madeleine Harris