As the calendar flips to its final pages and the countdown to a new year begins, it’s the perfect time to settle in with new TV shows premiering on Netflix, other streaming services, broadcast and cable TV.
This week's TV lineup is anchored by the “Stranger Things” series finale, a pop-culture event that’s been years in the making. On the binge front, Harlan Coben’s latest thriller “Run Away” arrives with its usual promise of buried secrets and bad decisions, while the Critics Choice Awards add a dose of red-carpet drama to the mix.
‘Stranger Things’ series finale (Netflix)
The end of the road is finally in sight. “Stranger Things” season 5, volume 3 closes the book on Hawkins, the Upside Down, and a decade of monster-fighting chaos. Plot details are locked down tight, but this is the series finale, which means loose ends will be tied, sacrifices will be made, and someone almost certainly won’t make it out alive.
Expect big emotions, bigger confrontations and plenty of callbacks to where it all began. Whether it goes full apocalypse or bittersweet goodbye, the show’s final chapter promises to swing for the fences.
Episode 8 premieres Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix
‘Run Away’ (Netflix)
New year, new Harlan Coben thriller. Netflix is ringing in 2026 with another reliably twisty Coben adaptation, and this one wastes no time blowing up a picture-perfect life. James Nesbitt stars as Simon, a devoted dad whose world collapses when his daughter Paige vanishes, then briefly reappears in the worst possible circumstances.
What should be a rescue turns violent, and Simon’s frantic search pulls him into a shadowy underworld of buried secrets and bad choices. Also starring Minnie Driver and Ruth Jones, “Run Away” is classic Coben: family drama, moral murk and cliffhangers engineered for “just one more episode.”
All 8 episodes premiere Thursday, Jan. 1 at 3 a.m. ET on Netflix
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 18 (MTV)
Season 18 of “Drag Race” sashays back with 90-minute episodes and 14 fresh queens who look ready to fight, flirt and fashion their way into herstory. RuPaul presides over a competition packed with pageant royalty, punk rockers, comedy assassins, and a never-before-seen mother/daughter duo sharing the Werk Room.
The premiere challenge, “Reclaim! Renew! Rejoice!,” asks the queens to raid the Drag Race vaults and remix the past into something unmistakably their own. Add a $200,000 prize, an Anastasia Beverly Hills collab, and a stacked guest judge lineup, and the race is officially on.
Episode 1 premieres Friday, Jan. 2 at 8 p.m. ET on MTV (via Sling, Fubo or Philo)
‘31st Annual Critics Choice Awards’ (E!/USA)
Awards season gets into full gear with honors bestowed by critics, live from Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar. Returning host Chelsea Handler is back for the fourth time, presiding over new categories (hello, stunt design) and, hopefully, some spicy acceptance speeches.
Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending “Sinners” tops the film field with a whopping 17 nominations, while Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” isn’t far behind. On the TV side, Netflix’s buzzy limited series “Adolescence” and rom-com breakout “Nobody Wants This” rack up major love.
Special premieres Sunday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. ET on E! and USA (via Sling, Fubo or YouTube TV)
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