The Most Anticipated TV Shows of April 2024

Whether you prefer your drama unscripted, grounded in history, or entirely fictional, you'll be able to find something to queue up in April. Next month brings a slew of major premieres as Prime Video joins the video game adaptation arms race with Fallout, HBO adapts Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer for the small screen, and American Horror Story: Delicate returns for Part 2. On the lighter end of the spectrum, Vanderpump Villa tees up a season of reality TV antics, while the cast of Dinner With the Parents leans into cringe comedy on Freevee.

Feeling overwhelmed by choice? We've put together the most exciting TV shows of April 2024 — and if none of our picks strike your fancy, scroll to the bottom for additional premiere dates.

Vanderpump Villa, Hulu

Premieres April 1

Lisa Vanderpump's latest business venture isn't just a hotel in the French countryside; it's a "curated luxury experience" where guests can fulfill their every fantasy. If only guests could get the staff to stop bickering and/or flirting long enough to flag them down.

After more than a decade on Bravo, Vanderpump makes the leap to Hulu with a new group of beautiful people ready to shake up the reality TV landscape. As her hand-picked staff members work to provide five-star service to the patrons of Chateau Rosabelle — and impress their boss as she debates whether to turn the pop-up experience into a permanent project — they fall in and out of each other's beds, develop rivalries, and engage in drunken shenanigans that threaten their employment. Think Below Deck on land, with a dash of Vanderpump Rules magic thrown in for good measure.

American Horror Story: Delicate Part 2, FX

Premieres April 3

The first half of American Horror Story: Delicate left something to be desired, but showrunner Halley Feiffer looks to stick the landing after a strike-related hiatus. When Part 1 concluded in October, pregnant actress Anna (Emma Roberts) pledged allegiance to her publicist Siobhan (Kim Kardashian), who may or may not be involved in a Satanic, baby-stealing cult, and vowed to do everything she says to win an Oscar. That's just one of the many bonkers storylines playing out in AHS Season 12, which also includes a pair of immortal witches with impeccable taste (Billie Lourd and Leslie Grossman), the doppelganger of Dex's (Matt Czuchry) late wife (Annabelle Dexter-Jones), and a conspiracy that goes back to the days of Mary I. If the trailer is any indication, Part 2 will deliver even more unexpected twists (a kiss between Roberts and Kardashian?!), plus more campy dialogue from the star-studded ensemble.

Ripley, Netflix

Premieres April 4

First he was a Hot Priest, now he's a Hot Grifter — Andrew Scott can do it all. Steve Zaillian's adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley stars Scott as Tom Ripley, a small-time criminal hired to bring the wayward son of a wealthy man home from Italy. Tom quickly settles into life at Dickie Greenleaf's (Johnny Flynn) lavish Italian villa, but when Dickie's friends become suspicious of Tom's presence, he falls back on old habits in order to maintain his web of deceit. Filmed in black and white, Ripley leans into the moodiness of the source material; whether Zaillian succeeds is in the eye of the beholder, but at the very least, it ensures his take on the classic novel stands out from the dozens of crime dramas streaming on Netflix.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Paramount+

Premieres April 4

The spin-off that launched Paramount's Star Trek revival effort comes to an end this month with its fifth season. In their final voyage aboard the U.S.S. Discovery, Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew traverse the galaxy in search of a long-hidden ancient power. In order to succeed, the team must overcome a variety of dangerous enemies eager to claim the prize for themselves, including a pair of mercenaries played by Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis, and avoid getting distracted by their usual antics. That's a tall order, but if any group has the potential to go where no one has gone before, it's Michael, Saru (Doug Jones), Paul Stamets (Andrew Rapp), and the rest of this devoted crew.

Mary & George, Starz

Premieres April 5

Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine — who can also be seen in upcoming rom-com The Idea of You — play a conniving mother-son duo in Starz's limited series about Mary Villiers' (Moore) effort to amass power by molding her son George (Galitzine) to be King James' (Tony Curran) lover. Mary's scheme is successful, but it comes at a steep cost for her and George, who must go to extreme lengths to maintain their precarious position at court. Their machinations ensure Mary & George moves briskly across seven episodes, but it's the show's many graphic sex scenes that are likely to generate the most buzz online. The steamy historical drama is back, baby!

Sugar, Apple TV+

Premieres April 5

While some procedurals embrace the power of the quirky crime-solver, Sugar takes the opposite route. Private detective John Sugar (Colin Farrell) is not to be messed with: He's gravely serious about his work, routinely putting himself in harm's way as he searches for answers. So, when the granddaughter of legendary Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel (James Cromwell) goes missing, Sugar is the man for the job, but as he gets closer to the truth, he unearths a series of devastating secrets — some belonging to the Siegels, and others that hit much closer to home. Beyond Farrell, the mystery stars Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Amy Ryan, Dennis Boutsikaris, and Nate Corddry, though in this world of lies and deception, it's difficult to tell friend from foe.

Fallout, Prime Video

Premieres April 11

It's been a long few years since Amazon first announced it was adapting Fallout for the small screen, but the wait is finally over. Like the popular video game, the TV adaptation follows a Vault Dweller — in this case, Lucy, played by Ella Purnell — as she navigates across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Her journey is marked by treacherous obstacles and the emergence of surprising alliances, particularly a partnership with ruthless bounty hunter The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), who guides Lucy "through this irradiated hellscape," as Goggins said in a recent press conference. For fans of the game, the show promises to go deeper into these characters and flash back to life before the apocalypse; for those unfamiliar with the franchise, it offers a basic introduction to this rich universe, not to mention an opportunity to see Purnell, who was so electric in Yellowjackets Season 1, back in action.

Franklin, Apple TV+

Premieres April 12

As Gabriella Paiella recently wrote in GQ, Apple TV+ has "cornered the market on 'prestige dad TV'" — and nothing says "prestige dad TV" quite like a Benjamin Franklin biodrama. Rather than take the overview approach, the uncreatively titled Franklin focuses on a specific moment in the Founding Father's career: his secret journey to France at the onset of the Revolutionary War. Franklin aims to convince France to join the war effort, but his plan is thwarted by diplomats with ulterior motives. Expect plenty of geopolitical intrigue and even a bit of romance as Franklin and his grandson Temple (Noah Jupe) attempt to seduce the French into supporting the American fight for independence.

The Sympathizer, HBO

Premieres April 14

HBO's big April bet has all the makings of a hit. Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer tracks the Captain (Hoa Xuande), a half-French, half-Vietnamese spy, as he wrestles with conflicting loyalties at the tail end of the Vietnam War. After fleeing Asia, the Captain settles in a community of South Vietnamese refugees in Los Angeles, but he's drawn back into his former life when he's tasked with spying on his neighbors and reporting back to the Viet Cong. As he attempts to evade detection, he crosses paths with a host of unsavory figures, many of them played by executive producer Robert Downey Jr., who takes on multiple roles across the seven-episode season. The vibrant style of director and co-showrunner Park Chan-wook only heightens the dramatic arc of Nguyen's story, making The Sympathizer one of the most exciting releases of the spring.

Under the Bridge, Hulu

Premieres April 17

Fresh off the biggest year of her career, Lily Gladstone headlines Hulu's true-crime drama about the murder of Canadian teenager Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta). In 1997, 14-year-old Reena went to a party and never returned home; when her body was discovered, a group of teenage girls were accused of killing Reena, though their motive remained unclear. Under the Bridge follows Gladstone's local police officer Cam Bentland as she investigates the crime alongside author Rebecca Godfrey (Riley Keough), who uncovered new insight into the girls' world while working on a book about the case. Keough and Gladstone's characters make for an unlikely duo, but watching two actors at the top of their game play off each other promises to be a highlight of Quinn Shephard's adaptation, which gives off "Mare of Easttown-meets-Sharp Objects" vibes.

Dinner With the Parents, Freevee

Premieres April 18

Family dysfunction is on the menu in Dinner With the Parents, the latest comedy to hit not-dead-yet-streamer Amazon Freevee. Every Friday night, brothers David (Henry Hall) and Gregg (Daniel Thrasher) join their parents (Michaela Watkins and Dan Bakkedahl) for dinner, but unexpected guests, bad decisions, and unwelcome criticism from their grandmother (Carol Kane) derail the meal, unleashing mayhem in the Langer house. (And you thought The Bear's "Fishes" was chaotic.) In a month of heavier releases, the American remake of popular British series Friday Night Dinner offers a lighthearted alternative, even if the show's brand of cringe comedy can be difficult to stomach at times.

The Veil, Hulu

Premieres April 30

Viewers eager to see Elisabeth Moss take on a more active TV role after years of steely gazes (and little else) in The Handmaid's Tale are in luck. In Steven Knight's The Veil, Moss stars as Imogen Salter, an elite MI6 agent who specializes in undercover work. When Imogen is tasked with extracting information from a mysterious woman (Yumna Marwan), the two embark on a deadly journey that takes them to shadowy corners of Istanbul, Paris, and London. Meanwhile, American and French intelligence agencies work to avert a potential catastrophe, but can these forces really be trusted, or is there a larger conspiracy at play? If Knight's previous work is any indication, that answer won't come easily as the espionage thriller builds toward its finale in late May.

More Notable TV Premieres in April

Lopez vs. Lopez (NBC): Season 2 premiere, April 2
Crime Scene Berlin: Nightlife Killer (Netflix): Series premiere, April 3
Loot (Apple TV+): Season 2 premiere, April 3
Alex Rider (Freevee): Season 3 premiere, April 5
Beacon 23 (MGM+): Season 2 premiere, April 7
The Challenge: All Stars (Paramount+): Season 4 premiere, April 10
Unlocked: A Jail Experiment (Netflix): Series premiere, April 10
Lovers & Liars (The CW): Series premiere, April 11
Patti Stanger: The Matchmaker (The CW): Series premiere, April 11
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Roku Channel): Series premiere, April 19
The Big Door Prize (Apple TV+): Season 2 premiere, April 24
Them: The Scare (Prime Video): Season 2 premiere, April 25
Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (Hulu): Series premiere, April 26
Knuckles (Paramount+): Series premiere, April 26

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.