Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
When the list of new releases on Netflix comes out every month, it sometimes feels like the leading streamer has opened up a firehose of content of all types: scripted, unscripted, international, and more. With everyone’s limited time, it’s hard to figure out which shows you want to sit down and binge.
The crew at Decider know how tough it is to figure what to watch… and we do this for a living. So let us be your guide. Below are quick previews of what we think the ten hottest, most intriguing series to debut on the service in May 2021 will be. They aren’t all Netflix Originals (though most are because of that firehose); just shows we know people will want to watch. Which shows will make it into the Netflix Top 10? Only time will tell!
'Selena: The Series' Part 2
PREMIERE DATE: May 4
CAST: Christian Serratos, Gabriel Chavarria, Ricardo Chavira, Noemi Gonzalez, Seidy Lopez
RATING: TV-PG
DESCRIPTION: Building on Part 1, which debuted in December, Part 2 of Selena: The Series will find the Quintanilla family grappling with Selena’s rocketing fame. For her part, Selena (Serratos) will try to keep her family close while there are increasing demands on her time by her fans, managers, agents and all the other hangers-on that come with great fame.
'Jupiter's Legacy'
PREMIERE DATE: May 7
CAST: Josh Duhamel, Ben Daniels, Leslie Bibb, Elena Kampouris, Andrew Horton, Mike Wade, Matt Lanter
RATING: TV-MA
DESCRIPTION: In an adaptation of the book by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely, the first-ever generation of superheroes, who got their powers in the 1930s, are now aging and passing their powers on to their children. But the next generation not only wants to do things differently, they’re struggling to live up to the legacy set by their parents. Expect lots of turned over cars and fires in the middle of the street… and that’s just from the parent-child arguments.
'The Upshaws'
PREMIERE DATE: May 12
CAST: Mike Epps, Wanda Sykes, Kim Fields, Page Kennedy, Diamond Lyons
RATING: TV-14
DESCRIPTION: Sykes co-created (with Regina Hicks) this multi-camera sitcom about a blue-collar family in Indiana led by Bernie Upshaw (Epps), a well-meaning mechanic who does the best he can for his wife Regina (Fields) and his family. Sykes plays his sister-in-law Lucretia, who is a loving thorn in his side. He does have a messy personal life, but he tries to keep it all together for his family and sanity.
'Love Death + Robots' Volume 2
PREMIERE DATE: May 14
CAST: Tim Miller, David Fincher (executive producers), Jennifer Yuh Nelson (supervising director)
RATING: TV-14
DESCRIPTION: The Emmy-winning animated anthology comes back for a second season with adventures dreamed up by top-notch directors and animation studios. Glimpses of the future, mostly involving robots big and small, goofy and serious, deadly and friendly, will populate 8 new animated shorts.
'Halston'
PREMIERE DATE: May 14
CAST: Ewan McGregor, Rory Culkin, Rebecca Davan, Sullivan Jones, David Pittu, Krysta Rodriguez, Gianfranco Rodriguez, Bill Pullman, Kelly Bishop, Vera Farmiga
RATING: TV-MA
DESCRIPTION: Ryan Murphy, Ian Brennan and McGregor are EPs on this limited series about the single-named fashion designer (McGregor), who skyrocketed to fame in the ’70s and ’80s, building his luxury fashion brand while hobnobbing at Studio 54 with stars like Liza Minnelli (Rodriguez) and others. When his company gets taken over by corporate raiders, he has to fight to stay relevant and keep the name he made famous. Should be a blow-fueled good time!
'Who Killed Sara?' Season 2
PREMIERE DATE: May 19
CAST: Manolo Cardona, Ginés García Millán, Carolina Miranda, Claudia Ramírez, Eugenio Siller, Alejandro Nones, Ximena Lamadrid
RATING: TV-MA
DESCRIPTION: Hot on the heels of late March’s first season, which just recently dropped out of Netflix’s Top 10, Season 2 finds Álex (Cardona) getting revenge on the person he found out is responsible for the death of his sister Sara (Lamadrid). But in doing so, he’s going to have to face the fact that the sister he loved had a dark side he never knew about.
'Special' S2
PREMIERE DATE: May 20
CAST: Ryan O’Connell, Jessica Hecht, Punam Patel, Marla Mindelle, Augustus Prew, Patrick Fabian
DESCRIPTION: In season 2 of O’Connell’s semi-autobiographical series, Ryan finds himself in the middle of an icy patch in the too-close relationship with his mother Karen. He’s got writers’ block to boot. But when a new man enters the picture, things start to change for Ryan, cementing his desire to strike out on his own.
'Master Of None' Season 3
PREMIERE DATE: May 23
CAST: Lena Waithe (writer and star), Naomi Ackie, Aziz Ansari (director, writer and EP), Alan Yang (EP)
RATING: TV-MA
DESCRIPTION: After four years, Ansari’s acclaimed series is back, adding a subtitle (Moments In Love) and a new focus: Dev’s writer friend Denise (Waithe). We see strains in her relationship with her wife Alicia (Ackie) as she becomes more successful and starts wondering what else is out there for her in life. The episodes vary wildly in length, and the focus on Waithe’s character is an exciting prospect, given how good Season 2’s “Thanksgiving” episode was.
'The Kominsky Method' Season 3
PREMIERE DATE: May 28
CAST: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Sarah Baker, Paul Reiser, Lisa Edelstein, Emily Osment, Graham Rogers, Haley Joel Osment.
RATING: TV-MA
DESCRIPTION: In the final season of Chuck Lorre’s bittersweet senior-buddies comedy, Sandy Kaminsky (Douglas) has to figure out how to live day-by-day without his best friend Norman (Alan Arkin) after he passes away. Things start to get hinky when his ex-wife Roz (Turner) comes to California to spend time with their daughter Mindy (Baker) and her boyfriend Martin (Reiser). While we’ll miss the interplay between Douglas and Arkin a lot, Douglas and Turner’s Romancing The Stone chemistry should still be intact. We’re expecting a funny and emotional final season that deals with aging and the alternative.
'Lucifer' Season 5, Part 2
PREMIERE DATE: May 28
CAST: Tom Ellis, Lauren German, Kevin Alejandro, D.B. Woodside, Rachel Harris, Tricia Helfer, Dennis Haysbert
RATING: TV-MA
DESCRIPTION: In the final set of episodes for the Fox and Netflix hit, Lucifer (Ellis) has to deal with his father — God (Haysbert) — coming down to earth to live a human life. Will Lucifer ascend to the throne? And who will he have to get through in order to do it?
