Cape Fear to House of the Dragon: 10 of the best TV shows to watch this June

From a starry new adaptation of the classic thriller to the return of the spectacular Game of Thrones prequel – and a sketch series about US history created by Larry David.

Mindy Kaling has been behind the scenes more than she has been on screen lately, as co-creator of the successful shows The Sex Lives of College Girls and Running Point. She is the sole creator of this new comedy – that sounds like Friends meets The Office (another show she worked on) – about five people in their 20s who live in the same Manhattan neighbourhood, with workaholic attitudes and professional dreams in common. They range from a financial analyst to a fashion stylist and a medical student who actually wants to be an actor, and of course their paths criss-cross in complicated ways. The actors playing the friends aren't well known, but they are surrounded by more familiar faces, including Jay Ellis, Constance Wu and Ego Nwodim as bosses, mentors or thorns in their sides. From The Mindy Project on, few creators have a better track record than Kaling.

Not Suitable for Work premieres 2 June on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

This fact-based drama looks back at the aftermath of a crime – the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell, who was stabbed as she was walking in a London park with her two-year-old son, Alex. More than a murder mystery, it is a story about family and a botched police investigation. André Hanscombe (Jordan Bolger), Nickell's partner and Alex's father, is so determined to safeguard his son after the murder that they move away from the city. "If Alex was the only witness, he's in danger," André says in the trailer, convinced the police can't protect him. Sixteen years later the case is reopened, and the teenaged Alex (Max Fincham) has to grapple with the emotional fallout again. The real-life father and son cooperated with the project. And along with the dramatic series Netflix will premiere a companion documentary, The Murder of Rachel Nickell.

The Witness premieres 4 June on Netflix internationally

If Javier Bardem doesn't terrify you in this thriller nothing will. He stars as the sinister Max Cady, a killer released after years in prison. Determined to get revenge on the lawyer couple he holds responsible for convicting him, he goes after them and their family. The series is based on a John D MacDonald novel, The Executioners, that has been adapted before, in a 1962 film with Robert Mitchum as Cady and a 1991 Martin Scorsese remake with Robert De Niro. Gregory Peck and Nick Nolte played Cady's targets in the films. This version centres on a married couple, played by Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson, and instead of a young daughter gives them two teenaged children. But the story is still an intense psychological thriller in which Cady keeps ramping up his threats, and which start out creepy and become lethal. All three screen versions have smartly changed the title of the novel to reflect the perfectly-named setting, the Cape Fear region of North Carolina.

Cape Fear premieres 5 June on Apple TV internationally

This is actually the third season of the drama Interview with the Vampire, based on Anne Rice's celebrated book series, but it has been renamed to reflect its new focus, which shifts from the vampire Louis (Jacob Anderson, still in the show) to his on-and-off lover, Lestat (Sam Reid), who is now 265 years old and a rock star on tour. "I am the Vampire Lestat. I am a God!" he proclaims, like any mortal rock star, in a trailer that has him singing a cover of Billy Idol's Dancing with Myself. Eric Bogosian returns as Daniel, the once-human interviewer who has since been turned into an immortal. "I was just ready to start biting people," Bogosian told EW. Jennifer Ehle plays the newly-arrived character of Lestat's mother. Reid-as-Lestat has already released several real-life singles written by the show's composer, Daniel Hart, so you can expect plenty of his Bowie-influenced music in the series. 

The Vampire Lestat premieres 7 June on on AMC and AMC+ in the US

You can see why Hulu and Disney+ are calling this a "wrong-com". Nicola Walker (The Split and Unforgotten) and Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows and Flight of the Conchords) play the title characters, best friends for 30 years until he starts dating her 26-year-old daughter, Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith). In a word, ick. A furious, comic all-out battle follows as Alice tries to thwart the new relationship, which Izzy, who actually made the first move on Steve, wants to keep. In another word, cringe, which is the point. "I love comedy that makes you squirm a little," the show's creator, Sophie Goodhart – a writer and director of the series Sex Education – told Variety. After the show won the best series award at the recent Cannes International Series Festival, Clement noted that audiences responded in different ways to the Steve-Izzy age gap. "Unlike sleeping with your best friend's daughter," he said. "That's controversial to everyone."

Alice and Steve premieres 8 June on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

Carley Fortune's bestselling 2022 romance novel, Every Summer After, a BookTok hit that has sold more than a million copies, is the basis for this series set in the Canadian resort town of Barry's Bay. The story takes place over one week when Percy (Sadie Soverall) returns for a funeral, but the episodes also flash back over six years to the start and end of her relationship with Sam (Matt Cornett). It doesn't seem like they've grown up very much in the present, but then this is a story about first and enduring young love. Fortune, an executive producer of the series, told Elle she made sure it included "the kinds of things that fans want to see" including a favourite line from the book when Sam says to Percy, "You came home". Prime Video's similar young-adults-in-love shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty and Off Campus have been hugely popular. 

Every Year After premieres 10 June on Prime Video internationally

Sometimes it seems as if Harlan Coben, Ryan Murphy and Taylor Sheridan are in a race to see who can cram the most shows into a single season. This time it's Coben's turn, as co-creator of a series based on his 2023 novel of the same name. Sam Worthington (all the Avatar movies) stars as David, wrongfully convicted of killing his small son. Five years later, his former sister-in-law Rachel, a journalist played by Britt Lower of Severance, brings evidence the boy might be alive. David escapes from prison to try to find the child and the truth, tracked by the FBI. Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us) plays Rachel's ex-boyfriend, who is still in her life. When the novel was published the Guardian called it "a fantastically breakneck prison break / fugitive adventure story," and the series looks similar.

I Will Find You premieres 18 June on Netflix internationally

In a welcome addition to this already spectacular Game of Thrones prequel, James Norton joins the cast as Ormund Hightower, cousin of Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and her ally, as the Hightowers try to depose Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) from the Iron Throne. "The Targaryens are a savage race," Ormund says. There is a lot of savagery going around, of course, not to mention political intrigue and incest. Matt Smith returns as the deliciously scheming Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenyra's uncle, husband and father of some of her children. In a behind-the-scenes featurette, Steve Toussaint, who plays Lord Corlys Velaryon, aka The Sea Snake, says: "This is a war of a family against itself". With all that in-breeding, it would pretty much have to be. 

House of the Dragon premieres 21 June in the US and 22 June in the UK on HBO Max

In a droll and totally unexpected television promo, Barack Obama – the real one – is annoyed by Larry David in a scene that could be straight out of Curb Your Enthusiasm. David's new show, a series of comic sketches in his usual sardonic style, is keyed to US history and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and produced by Higher Ground, the former president and Michelle Obama's company. A clip released in advance plays off a famous photo of a sailor kissing a women in New York's Times Square on the day victory against Japan was declared during World War Two, with David trying to get in on the kissing action. Other episodes will feature Bill Hader and Kathryn Hahn as Abe and Mary Lincoln, Susie Essman as Susan B Anthony, and Jon Hamm and Sean Hayes as the Wright Brothers. Given the producers, there must be an uplifting message in there somewhere, but all credit to the Obamas for realising that patriotism doesn't have to be sappy.

Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness premieres 26 June in the US and 27 June in the UK on HBO Max

The fifth season of the show will be its last, and the story picks up the morning after it left off, when Chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) said he was walking away from the food world and giving his share of the restaurant to Chef Sydney (Ayo Edibiri), his sister Natalie (Abby Elliott) and Cousin Richie (Eben Moss-Bachrach). However thrown they are by the news, they still have to try to get a Michelin star to save The Bear from financial ruin. Lionel Boyce and Liza Colon-Zayas return as their restaurant colleagues, along with Oliver Platt as Uncle Jimmy and Jamie Lee Curtis as Carmy and Natalie's troubled, high-drama mother. The series recently dropped a standalone flashback episode, Gary, whose final scene cut to the present and set the internet spiralling with speculation like, "Did the Bear Just Kill Off Cousin Richie?" As in the last season of any series, nothing is out of the question – failure, death, food poisoning, who knows?

The Bear premieres 25 June on Hulu in the US and 26 June on Disney+ in the UK

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