Best New Shows Streaming in Australia This May

May is when the streaming services have collectively decided 2026 actually starts, and the slate is the heaviest it’s been in eighteen months. The Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things successor on Netflix, Nicolas Cage’s first sustained TV role on Prime, Sam Campbell’s long-awaited Netflix special. All three are worth your time, and the bench around them is unusually deep.

A selective guide. What to watch, what to skip, and what’s going to dominate the group chat by week three.

Netflix

The Vessel (May 14) is the Duffer Brothers’ follow-up, and it’s landed in production with the kind of secrecy Stranger Things never bothered with. Reviews are embargoed until launch. Eight episodes, set in 1992, following a research vessel in the North Atlantic. Florence Pugh leads, with Mark Ruffalo as the captain. Netflix is treating this as the year’s tentpole and you can see why.

Sam Campbell: A Real Day (May 20) is the Australian comedian’s first Netflix special, taped at the Sydney Opera House over two nights in March. His Edinburgh Comedy Award show went straight into the British canon. The Sydney recording is reportedly tighter, weirder, more confident.

The Four Seasons Season 2 (May 6) brings Tina Fey and Steve Carell back for another run. The first season’s January debut was the unexpected sleeper of 2026 streaming, beating Hollywood Reporter projections by sixty percent. Season two has the harder job. Early word is positive.

Mickey 17 (May 22, film). Bong Joon-ho’s much-delayed sci-fi piece lands on Netflix internationally after its theatrical run. Robert Pattinson and Mark Ruffalo carry it. Already streaming on Netflix US since April.

Stan

Bay Watchers (May 9) is the Australian limited series from the Bump creative team. Six episodes set in a Sydney coastal-suburb surf-life-saving club, focused on the politics behind the volunteer culture. Stan’s biggest local commission of the year, and the one most likely to spark domestic conversation.

Wuthering Heights (May 16) is Emerald Fennell’s new film adaptation, on Stan internationally and at MIFF in November. Already polarising in the UK reviews. Worth watching to form your own view.

Prime Video

Spider Web (May 13) is Nicolas Cage’s first proper television role since the early 1990s. Created by True Detective Season 1 writer Nic Pizzolatto. Eight episodes. Cage plays a retired LA homicide detective drawn back into a case involving a former informant. Reviews from the LA press screening are strong.

Bugonia (May 23, film) is the Yorgos Lanthimos film with Emma Stone, heading to Prime after its theatrical window. The festival reviews split the room. Cinephiles will know whether they want to.

Disney+

The Bear Season 5 (May 28). The Chicago kitchen show returns. Carmy and Sydney are still figuring it out. Season 4 lost some of the manic edge. Season 5’s first three episodes, sent to critics last week, reportedly recover the rhythm.

Marty Supreme (May 30, film). The Timothée Chalamet table-tennis film from Josh Safdie. A genuinely strange piece of work. Lands on Disney internationally after its theatrical run.

ABC iview

Ladies in Black Season 3 (May 11) is the third and final run of the David Hare-adapted Australian series. It’ll close the story properly. Underrated through its first two seasons.

Australian Story: After the Storm (May 18). A two-part Australian Story on the long tail of the 2024 Northern Rivers floods. The kind of programming the ABC still does better than anyone else.

What to actually prioritise

If you watch one new release this month, make it Sam Campbell. One returning show, The Bear. If there’s room for a third, take the local pick. Bay Watchers will be the show your housemates are talking about by mid-month.

The Vessel is a separate decision. It’s going to be everywhere whether you watch it or not.