The Most Anticipated TV Shows of November 2023

Period pieces galore are in store for us this November, as Netflix bows an adaptation of a Pulitzer-winning WWII novel and the final season The Crown, Apple TV+ does the time warp again (and again), and Hulu rolls out a puckish retelling of a Charles Dickens classic (not that one, it’s too soon). Elsewhere, the lush costuming of The Buccaneers gives The Gilded Age a run for its new and old money, while FX heads all the way back to… 2019, with some help from Juno Temple and Jon Hamm.

But rest assured that there’s plenty of contemporary storytelling on the way next month — few things will ground viewers in the “now” like the arrivals of a grueling reality competition series based on a scripted drama about a grueling reality competition series and an irreverent new show that marries murder-mystery mania with some “eat the rich” sentiment.

The Primetimer staff shares our most anticipated TV shows for November 2023 below. And if that's not enough, scroll to the end for a list of even more notable premieres.

All the Light We Cannot See, Netflix

Premieres November 2

Anthony Doerr's 2014 novel All the Light We Cannot See won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for its story about a teenage girl who's being hidden from the Nazis in occupied Paris while sending out messages of resistance, and the young German radio expert tasked with finding her. This much-anticipated adaptation comes from a pair of unlikely sources: writer Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) and Shawn Levy, director of movies like Night at the Museum, This Is Where I Leave You, and the upcoming Deadpool 3 (and part of Taylor Swift's recent Sunday Night Football entourage). — Joe Reid

The Buccaneers, Apple TV+

Premieres November 8

What do you get when you mix The Gilded Age's old-versus-new-money conflict with Bridgerton's steamy romance? The Buccaneers, a series adaptation of Edith Wharton's unfinished novel. When a group of American girls arrive in London in search of husbands (at the urging of socialite Mrs. St. George, played by Christina Hendicks), they upend the social scene with their unconventional sensibilities and disregard for the time-honored traditions of polite society.

Despite the frosty reception, the girls set their sights on the town's available bachelors, but they quickly realize that they aspire to more than just walking down the aisle to a nobleman. In true Edith Wharton fashion, their journey through the 1870s English aristocracy is filled with all the lavish balls and love triangles viewers could want, but creator Katherine Jakeways has added a few modern touches, including a soundtrack packed with top female artists, from Taylor Swift to Boygenius. — Claire Spellberg Lustig

For All Mankind Season 4, Apple TV+

Premieres November 11

The latest chapter of For All Mankind starts off on Mars, something that would have seemed inconceivable when Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, and Matt Wolpert first began to unspool their sci-fi epic on Apple TV+ four years ago. NASA’s more than caught up in the space race, generating billions in revenue, producing a president (Jodi Balfour’s Ellen Wilson), and now, looking to establish the first self-sustaining colony on Mars. But, as FAM’s proven time and again, progress doesn’t move on a straight path. Private interests rear their heads again, and they’re not the only threats on the horizon. The future is still uncertain, but we do know we can count on the same awe-inspiring visuals and top-notch performances of previous installments. — Danette Chavez

The Curse, Paramount+ With Showtime

Premieres November 12

Home renovations have been cited as a reason for filing for divorce — at least, according to a 10-year-old survey by a site called Houzz, in which 12% of respondents claimed that major home improvement projects put considerable strain on their marriages. Sure, that figure’s apocryphal, but we can’t help but think about it while watching Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s dark new comedy for Showtime, or any of the real-life HGTV shows with husband-and-wife teams that inspired it. When Asher (Fielder) and Whitney Siegel (Emma Stone) set out to make a socially conscious home renovation show in Española, New Mexico, it takes a toll on their marriage and their psyches. The Curse is discomfiting, like much of Fielder’s and Safdie’s respective oeuvres, and it’s often hilarious, much like Fielder’s and Safdie’s other work. — DC

A Murder at the End of the World, Hulu

Premieres November 14

If Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery didn't convince viewers to stay away from the isolated compounds of the ultra-wealthy, FX's A Murder at the End of the World (formerly titled Retreat) is here to seal the deal. Emma Corrin gets their Benoit Blanc on as Gen Z sleuth Darby Hart, a tech-savvy hacker who's invited to a retreat by a reclusive billionaire (Clive Owen). When one of the guests turns up dead, Darby puts her skills to the test to identify the killer before they strike again.

A large supporting cast will be joining Corrin and Owen in this remote locale: In addition to co-creating the series with The OA collaborator Zal Batmanglij, Brit Marling stars opposite Harris Dickinson, though FX has been careful to preserve the mystery of their roles. Jermaine Fowler, Alice Braga, and Joan Chen also feature in A Murder at the End of the World, but the question remains: Will they be suspects or victims? And will Darby determine the answer before it's too late? — CSL

The Crown Season 6, Part 1, Netflix

Premieres November 16

It all comes down to this. In its final season — which Netflix has divided into two parts — The Crown brings Queen Elizabeth II's (Imelda Staunton) reign into the modern era with the sudden death of Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki), Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Camilla's (Olivia Williams) controversial marriage, and Prince William (Ed McVey) and Kate Middleton's (Meg Bellamy) courtship.

As befits her status in British history (but not necessarily within the royal family), Diana's death serves as the season's inflection point, with the first four episodes dramatizing the months leading up to the August 1997 car crash, and the final six emphasizing the impact of her death on her family and the Queen's relationship with the public. The storyline has already stirred up strong feelings in the U.K., but creator Peter Morgan promises it was handled with the utmost respect — and if anyone can do Diana's story justice, it's Debicki, whose exceptional performance proved to be a bright spot in the lackluster fifth season. — CSL

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Apple TV+

Premieres November 17

Apple TV+ tries to muscle in on the cinematic universe action with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which jumps back and forth between two timelines — the 1950s and the 2010s — to tell the story of how the eponymous, Godzilla-monitoring agency came to be. This is the second TV series (the first being Skull Island) and the sixth overall installment in Legendary’s Monsterverse, with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’s theatrical release just around the corner (officially, April 12, 2024). If you love seeing kaiju fight, Monarch is probably already on your radar. But the series also offers compelling stand-ins for viewers not as well versed in primordial titan lore: two siblings who are really just trying to understand their family history. And if that doesn’t sell you on it, Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell will tag-team the role of Lee Shaw, an Army officer with a mysterious role in the creation of this powerful organization. — DC

Fargo Season 5, FX

Premieres November 21

A trip to Fargo is always welcome, even after that detour to Kansas City in Season 4 (but we realize we’re in the minority here). The latest installment of Noah Hawley’s anthology, which is based on the Coen brothers’ black comedy of the same name, sees Juno Temple alternately kicking ass and politely enduring interrogations by cops from both Minnesota and North Dakota, including Jon Hamm as Sheriff Tillman. Though it’s set in 2019, Season 5 has the look and feel of the phenomenal second season, which took place in 1979 and also had a young married couple at the center of all the passive-aggressive action. Whether this marks an overall return to form remains to be seen, but the cast, which also includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lamorne Morris, and Dave Foley, is as stacked as ever. — DC

Squid Game: The Challenge, Netflix

Premieres November 22

There's been a lot of light on Netflix's upcoming reality competition, based on its hit Korean drama. Beyond the obvious questions ("how do you create a reality show out of a fictional scenario where people fight to their deaths?"), there were numerous reports during filming of everything from contestant injuries to unsafe working conditions to the game being rigged for social-media influencers to advance. And yet, the idea of a 456-person reality competition does sound mind-boggling enough to be intriguing. How can they make this work?? — JR

The Artful Dodger, Hulu

Premieres November 29

Disney produced this cheeky Australian adaptation of the character from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. The Artful Dodger (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), once a peerless thief, has grown up to be a respectable surgeon under the name Jack Dawkins. But when his old cohort Fagin (David Thewlis) comes back into his life, he's drawn back to his life of crime. The series also stars Maia Mitchell (Good Trouble) as an ambitious would-be surgeon, and Damon Herriman (Justified) as a man who might expose Dodger and take him down. — JR

More Notable November Premieres

Black Cake (Hulu): Series premiere, November 1
Invincible (Prime Video): Season 2 premiere, November 3
Lawmen: Bass Reeves (Paramount): Series premiere, November 5
Escaping Twin Flames (Netflix): Docuseries premiere, November 7
Culprits (Hulu): Series premiere, November 8
Rap Sh!t (Max): Season 2 premiere, November 9
Colin From Accounts (Paramount+): Series premiere, November 9
Blackberry (AMC): Series premiere, November 13
Love Has Won (HBO): Docuseries premiere, November 13
Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story (Hulu): Docuseries premiere, November 15
Julia (Max): Season 2 premiere, November 16
Ghosts: U.K. series premiere on CBS, November 16
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix): Series premiere, November 17
Twin Love (Prime Video): Reality series premiere, November 17
A Nearly Normal Thriller (Netflix): Series premiere, November 24
Faraway Downs (Hulu): Series premiere, November 26
Love Like a K-Drama (Netflix): Series premiere, November 28
Slow Horses (Apple TV+): Season 3 premiere, November 29 (moved up from December 1)
Obliterated (Netflix): Series premiere, November 30
Virgin River (Netflix): Holiday specials premiere, November 30