Every month starting from here on out there’s always something — a festival or tentpole film/pop-culture event (see: “Game of Thrones” or “Avengers: Endgame“) that dominates the cultural conversation. May is no different featuring the upcoming Cannes Film Festival which is always ready to stir up headlines and controversy (as well as adding a few must-see’s to our year list), but that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to watch when you’re not making it out to the theater. In fact, it’s quite the opposite this month for the TV season.
From returning, underappreciated Netflix favorites, series finales of path-clearing comedies or new work from the masterful Ava DuVernay, May is a terrific month for television, especially given all the aforementioned event-TV competition. Going into the summer, the attention economy is going to be that much more strained: May is chocked full of goodies worthy of the title of prestige TV.
READ MORE: The 50 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2019
“Chernobyl”
What You Need To Know: HBO charts its course post “Game of Thrones” and goes nuclear with its latest addition, miniseries “Chernobyl.” Starring Stellan Skarsgard, Emily Watson and Jared Harris the series recounts the historic nuclear disaster of 1986 in the Soviet Union and the bureaucratic dramas and cover-ups that ensued. Described in the synopsis as a dramatization of “one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history,” the show won’t be taking the horror route at all. Instead, the series will examine the genuine implications of the disaster at the time as well as the real people surrounding it. Often with historically based films and series, the challenge is balancing historical fact with artistic liberty, but something tells us this series will be faithful to the unbelievable events surrounding this catastrophic accident.
Release Date: Season one premieres on May 6th on HBO.
“Easy”
What You Need To Know: The final season of Netflix original series “Easy” premieres early this month. Created, written and directed by indie filmmaker Joe Swanberg, “Easy” is based in Chicago, focuses on life, love, coupling and all things in between. The cast boasts a whos-who of entertainment with appearances by Dave Franco, Orlando Bloom, Zazie Beatz, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jake Johnson and more. An unfortunate casualty of the Netflix purge, the anthology series seeks to bow out the same way it burst onto the scene, with honest reflections of life and love in the Windy City.
Release Date: The third and final season premieres on May 10th on Netflix.
“The Society”
What You Need To Know: This brand new teen series is described by Netflix as a modern take on “Lord of the Flies” and is expected to be Netflix’s biggest teen show since “13 Reasons Why.” The network seems to be investing big into the teen series genre with series like this one as well as “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” “Riverdale,” “Atypical,” among many others. While adults are mourning groundbreaking series like “Santa Clarita Diet,” teens can rejoice as Netflix launches a slew of teenage drama series to engage with. The series stars relative newcomers Gideon Adlon, Kathryn Newton, Rachel Keller, and Alex Fitzalan and according to the synopsis, “revolves around a group of teenagers mysteriously transported to a facsimile of their wealthy New England town, left without any trace of their parents. As they struggle to figure out what has happened to them and how to get home, they must establish order and form alliances if they want to survive.”
Release Date: Season one debuts on Netflix on May 10th.
“Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men”
What You Need To Know: The musical documentary from Showtime follows one of the most influential rap groups of all time, Wu-Tang Clan, and their cultural impact on society. Per the synopsis: “this limited docu-series looks back on the group’s career, combining intimate and reflective interviews from each of the nine living members with never-before-seen archival footage and performances.” The ideal series for any hip-hop aficionado, there is no denying the legendary effects the group’s music, lyrics and friendship had around the world. With all the group’s members hailing from New York, and the series debut at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival just a few days ago, it’s remarkably apt considering it’s where the group was born just 25 years earlier.
Release Date: The docu-series premieres on Showtime on May 10th.
“Veep”
What You Need To Know: The seventh and final season of HBO comedy “Veep” premiered in March and unfortunately the end is nigh; Selina Meyer’s swan song airs this month. The ending of Armando Iannucci’s landmark series will inevitably leave a void in HBO’s comedy lineup, one that will be incredibly hard to fill. The show has left an intelligible mark on the industry as well as the television landscape, starring one of the most notable comedic actresses of this generation, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Having won six consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series from 2012–2017, Louis-Dreyfus has cemented her place in the annals of television history portraying a character in a wonderful series that won’t soon be forgotten.
Release Date: The series finale airs on May 12th on HBO.