Zosha Millman (she/her) manages TV coverage at Polygon as an entertainment editor, but will happily write about movies, too. She's been working as a journalist for more than 10 years.
It's new-on-TV time! And if you like strange twisty mysteries, then boy does this week deliver, in the form of Sterling K. Brown as a Secret Service agent. There's more to his story -- and that of Paradise, the show he's the lead of -- but its flashback-filled riddles make it a perfect pulpy watch for the moment.
But that's not all! There's also new Spider-Man -- as in, a new Spider-Man show featuring a new version of Peter Parker. And not for nothing, it's another great week to watch new episodes of Severance and Harley Quinn.
The long-awaited second season of Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse is picking up where the first season left off (some 78 chapters or so into the plot of the manga). As you may recall, season 1 ended with Arthur descending from the sky to assess the Four Knights' strength -- and effortlessly deflecting and immobilizing his opponents. Perhaps important to note: Episode 1 is called "The Power of the King." 👀
Genre: Animated superhero
Release date: Jan. 29
Showrunner/creator: Jeff Trammell
Cast: Hudson Thames, Charlie Cox, Colman Domingo, and more
Spidey is back. But, as we've come to expect from Spider-Man stories at this point, in a totally different universe than we've seen him in. Animated in a style paying homage to the early Spider-Man comics, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man follows an alternate-timeline Peter Parker (Hudson Thames), allowing the show to be... whatever it wants to be -- like, for instance, letting Norman Osborne (Colman Domingo) be his mentor.
Genre: Mystery box
Release date: Jan. 28, with one episode
Showrunner/creator: Dan Fogelman
Cast: Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden, Julianne Nicholson, and more
It's a gorgeous day in paradise, with Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) going for a run, making breakfast for his children, and then showing up for work protecting a past president (James Marsden). And then he finds the president murdered, and all hell breaks loose, leaving Xavier to think fast as he tries to suss out why someone wanted the president dead.
Genre: Conspiracy comedy
Release date: Feb. 2 at 11:30 p.m. EST on Adult Swim; next day on Max
Showrunners/creators: Joseph Bennett and Steve Hely
Cast: Dave King, Emily Pendergast, Mike Judge, and more
Frances Applewhite (Emily Pendergast) is getting along as an employee of Reutical Pharmaceutical, Inc. when she reconnects with her high school labmate Marshall (Dave King). Things are going well for him -- he's found a new kind of drug that can allegedly cure all illnesses. Of course they don't want people to know about it, leading Marshall (and Frances) down the road of conspiracy, cover-up, and potentially danger.
Genre: Comedy
Release date: Jan. 29, with two episodes
Showrunners/creators: Charlie Day, Megan Ganz, and Rob McElhenney
Cast: Rob McElhenney, Charlotte Nicdao, Ashly Burch, and more
Everyone is back together under the lights (and maybe HR protocols) of the Mythic Quest building. And Ian (Rob McElhenney) has some competition for being the face of the company. Will he handle it well? (It's no spoiler to say: probably not!)