Streaming Sneaks: Wednesday is back, Alien franchise’s first TV show debuts in August

Wednesday 2

Part 1 (Episodes 1 to 4) available on Netflix, Part 2 (Episodes 5 to 8) debuts on Sept 3

Wednesday, Netflix’s most-watched English-language series of all time, is back for a much-anticipated second season.

American actress Jenna Ortega reprises her breakout role as teenage ice queen Wednesday Addams, who returns to the halls of Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for supernatural misfits.

There, old friends and new foes await, along with a new mystery for the sharp-tongued daughter of Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez Addams (Luis Guzman) – who helped solve a string of killings in Season 1 – to sleuth her way through.

Why watch it: American film-maker Tim Burton returns to direct and produce, bringing his kooky sensibility to this coming-of-age story with stylish gothic visuals and twisty plotting.

And two comedy legends join the cast this season: British star Joanna Lumley as Wednesday’s flamboyant Grandmama and American character actor Steve Buscemi as Nevermore’s new principal.

Butterfly

Debuts on Prime Video on Aug 13

This high-octane character-driven spy thriller is helmed by Daniel Dae Kim, the Korean-American star of police procedural Hawaii Five-0 (2010 to 2020) and mystery thriller Lost (2004 to 2010).

He plays David Jung, an enigmatic former American intelligence agent who is living in South Korea when a dark chapter of his past comes back to haunt him.

He discovers he is being hunted by Rebecca (Reina Hardesty), a sociopathic young agent tasked by a sinister spy organisation – led by a formidable woman named June (Piper Perabo) – with killing him.

But Rebecca turns out to be Jung’s daughter, who had thought he was dead.

Why watch it: Based on a 2015 graphic novel, Butterfly promises gripping family drama with a side of deadly espionage.

The cast also includes several prominent South Korean names, including Park Hae-soo, who played antagonist Sang-woo on the first season of survival thriller Squid Game (2021 to 2025), and Kim Tae-hee, star of hit K-dramas such as Iris (2009).

Alien: Earth

Debuts on Disney+ on Aug 13

The first television show in the Alien franchise, this takes place in the year 2120, shortly before the events of the iconic science-fiction horror movie Alien (1979) starring Sigourney Weaver.

The story follows Wendy (Sydney Chandler, daughter of American actor Kyle Chandler), who is the first hybrid: a person who has had his or her consciousness downloaded into a synthetic humanoid body.

In this era, humans co-exist alongside cyborgs (humans with both biological and artificial body parts) as well as synthetics (humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence).

But when a space vessel crash-lands on Earth, Wendy and a ragtag group of soldiers find themselves confronting life forms that are even stranger – and more terrifying. 

Why watch it: Alien: Earth is created by Noah Hawley, an American writer-director known for his inventive storytelling on the crime drama Fargo (2014 to 2024) and trippy superhero series Legion (2017 to 2019). And the earthbound storyline brings a fresh perspective to the Alien franchise.

Beyond The Bar

Now streaming on Netflix

Clumsy and socially awkward, Hyo-min (Jung Chae-yeon) does not have the most auspicious start to her new job at a top law firm.

But the brilliant young rookie, who aced the national mock law trials, has a keen sense of justice and an eye for detail.

And after a few missteps, she begins to impress even her demanding boss Seok-hoon (Lee Jin-wook) and crack a few tough cases.

Why watch it: This K-drama is a juicy role for Jung, who is better known as K-pop star Chaeyeon, a member of the girl group DIA. And her on-screen chemistry with Lee, who starred in Squid Game and hit horror series Sweet Home (2020 to 2024), makes a romantic twist all but inevitable.