It’s been a fairly quiet month on the best streaming services so far, but this weekend has enough headline-grabbing new movies and TV shows in the pipeline to give May 2022 (otherwise known as Stranger Things 5 month) a run for its money.
Headlining the latest crop of arrivals is Black Mirror season six on Netflix, which is joined by the highly-anticipated sequel to 2020’s Extraction, starring Chris Hemsworth. Elsewhere, The Grand Tour gang returns for more automotive mayhem on Prime Video, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds gets a follow-up season on Paramount Plus.
Below, we’ve rounded up seven of the biggest new movies and TV shows headed to Netflix, Prime Video, Max and more this weekend.
Black Mirror season 6 (Netflix)
It’s been four years since Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror last got under our skin, but now the mega-popular sci-fi anthology series returns to Netflix for its sixth season.
The series’ latest crop of dystopian stories features turns from the likes of Aaron Paul, Zazie Beetz, Salma Hayek, Michael Cera, Josh Hartnett and Rob Delaney, with Brooker himself on hand as the writer of all five new installments.
Black Mirror fans are already in disagreement over season 6’s best – and worst – episodes, but given that we’re talking about one of the best Netflix shows ever, there’s likely to be at least a few new entries here that get your mind racing and your stomach churning.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Extraction 2 (Netflix)
Chris Hemsworth swaps Asgard for espionage in the sequel to Sam Hargrave’s 2020 smash-hit Extraction, which is now streaming on Netflix.
Extraction 2 finds Hemsworth’s seemingly indestructible hero, Tyler Rake, returning for another high-stakes and globe-trotting special ops mission, this time to save a ruthless gangster's imprisoned family.
In our Extraction 2 review, we described the film as “more suspenseful, thematically rich and action-heavy” than its predecessor, but criticized its lack of depth. That said, the movie’s 21-minute, one-shot action sequence is a doozy – and we spoke to Hargrave about how he and his team pulled it off.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
The Grand Tour: Eurocrash (Prime Video)
The trusty trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond return to Prime Video for their latest vehicular misadventure this weekend.
The Grand Tour: Eurocrash finds the hapless British presenters embarking on a 1,400-mile road trip across the geopolitical barrier formerly known as the Iron Curtain, which was once made up of countries including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.
If you’ve ever seen a Grand Tour special before, you'll know exactly what to expect from this new feature: expletives, extreme vehicles and, in all likelihood, a few minor explosions.
Now available to stream on Prime Video.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2 (Paramount Plus)
The Star Trek franchise has endured a rocky ride of late, but last year’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds proved a hit with existing fans and newcomers alike.
Now, the spin-off series returns for its second season on Paramount Plus, adding Paul Wesley's James T. Kirk as a regular and comedy legend Carol Kane as the mysterious, hilarious chief engineer Pelia.
Otherwise, it’s safe to expect more of the same intergalactic action from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, though a later episode in the season will reportedly combine live-action with animation and cross over with characters from Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Now available to stream on Paramount Plus.
The Full Monty (Hulu, Disney Plus)
Arriving 25 years after its Best Picture-nominated predecessor is new comedy series The Full Monty, which is now streaming on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.
This FX-produced show picks up – you guessed it – 25 years after Gaz, Dave, Lomper and the gang first took to the stage to bear all, with Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, Tom Wilkinson, Lesley Sharp, Hugo Speer, Paul Barber, Steve Huison and Wim Snap all reprising their roles from the 1997 original film. Newcomers include Miles Jupp and Paul Clayton.
Critics haven’t been too kind to The Full Monty so far, describing the series as “flawed but full of unassuming charm”. Still, fans of Peter Cattaneo’s original will surely find plenty of nostalgic sentiment to enjoy here. All eight episodes are available to stream now.
Now available to stream on Hulu in the US and Disney Plus in the UK.
Stan Lee (Disney Plus)
There are no new Marvel movies or TV shows on the horizon this weekend – although Secret Invasion's thrilling opening scene is available to watch right now – but Disney Plus is offering an extended look at the life and legacy of Marvel legend Stan Lee.
Combining never-before-seen footage with archival commentary from Lee himself, Stan Lee lays bare the influence of a man whose superhero creations would go on to change the face of entertainment forever.
Now available to stream on Disney Plus.
How Do You Measure A Year? (Max)
The second of this week’s documentary picks, How Do You Measure A Year? was recently nominated for Best Documentary Short film at the 2023 Oscars.
Filmed over 17 years, this 29-minute feature follows Jay Rosenblatt’s journey to capture how much his daughter changes over the course of her young life. Asking the same questions on her birthday, on camera, every year for 17 years, he documents her growth from a toddler to a young woman – capturing all the beautiful and awkward stages in between.
Now available to stream on Max.
Check out our guides for more new Netflix movies, new Disney Plus movies, new Prime Video movies and new HBO Max movies.
