The long-awaited TV series based on The Last of Us and the Scooby-Doo spin-off. Already in January!

The beginning of 2023 will be held under the auspices of Netflix. While all other streamers are resting, most of the new products in January will belong to the “red giant”. For example, the audience is waiting for the continuation of the historical drama Vikings: Valhalla. This January also sees the return of the crime thriller The Mayor of Kingstown, starring Marvel star Jeremy Renner. However, the most anticipated novelty of the month, and possibly the year, is the post-apocalyptic TV series “The Last of Us” based on the video game of the same name. About the best premieres of January on streaming platforms later in the article.

“Kaleidoscope” (Kaleidoscope)

• Platform: Netflix.
• Release date: January 1st.
• Release format: the whole season at once (8 episodes).
• Genre: Drama, Thriller, Crime.

Already on the first day of the year, a series was released on Netflix from the American writer Eric Garcia, who, among other things, wrote scripts for films such as The Rippers and Born After Death. “Kaleidoscope” boasts an incredibly strong cast. Among the performers are Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad”), Paz Vega (“Rambo: Last Blood”), Rufus Sewell (“Father”), Tati Gabriel (“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”) and Jaya Courtney (“Suicide Squad”) “). The plot of the crime thriller is based on a true story. During Hurricane Sandy, bonds worth 70 billion dollars disappeared in midtown Manhattan. The action will unfold over 25 years and will focus on a team of experienced thieves. Hoping to get what they want, the robbers will try to break into one of the most secure vaults in the world to pull off the biggest heist in history.

Lying adulthood (La vita bugiarda degli adulti)

• Platform: Netflix.
• Release date: January 4th.
• Release format: the whole season at once (6 episodes).
• Genre: drama.

While HBO is filming The Neapolitan Quartet, Elena Ferrante’s masterpiece, Netflix is ​​gradually adapting the author’s lesser-known books. Following Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Strange Daughter, the streaming library will be replenished with Lying Adulthood, a series based on one of Ferrante’s late novels. It’s hard to say what’s in store for viewers, a finished mini-series or just the first season, but we already know that it will have six episodes. It will be a poignant story of the growing up of a 12-year-old girl, Giovanna, against the backdrop of Naples in the 90s. The happy world of a teenager is torn apart when her professor father compares her to his sister Vittoria, the main outcast in the family with whom he fell out years ago. Giovanna leaves home to meet her supposedly obnoxious aunt, and when she does, there is a sudden rapprochement between the relatives. Now the girl will be torn between domestic decency and aunt’s non-trivial life lessons.

Copenhagen Cowboy

• Platform: Netflix.
• Release date: January 5th.
• Release format: the whole season at once (6 episodes).
• Genre: drama.

The Copenhagen Cowboy series was filmed in Denmark, as you might guess from the title. Dramatic noir directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. This Danish director owns the Dealer trilogy, after the success of which he left to conquer Hollywood. There he made such hits as “Neon Demon” and “Drive” with Ryan Gosling. And so he returned home specifically to work on the series. Copenhagen Cowboy premiered at the 79th Venice Film Festival where it received mostly positive reviews. The main role in the project was played by the Danish actress Angela Bundalovich, best known for the post-apocalyptic TV series Rain. Copenhagen Cowboy is about a young girl named Miu who is trying to survive in the underworld of Copenhagen. Escaped from slavery, she goes in search of justice and revenge, and eventually meets her sworn enemy. Off-screen monologues, neon lights, outrageous costumes, stone faces and liters of blood are included.

“The All-Seeing Eye” (The Pale Blue Eye)

• Platform: Netflix.
• Release date: January 6th.
• Output format: film.
• Genre: Thriller, Horror.

On December 23, 2022, the film The All-Seeing Eye, based on the novel of the same name by Lewis Bayard about the famous writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe, starring Christian Bale and Gillian Anderson, was released in limited release in the United States. The action of the picture takes place in 1830 at the military academy at West Point, the strict regime and discipline of which are violated by the horrific news: the body of a cadet was found who hanged himself on the parade ground. What’s more, someone carved a heart out of a dead body. Then there is a whole series of similar murders. The academy doesn’t want these incidents to go public and hires experienced private detective Augustus Landor. In the process of collecting evidence and interrogating witnesses, Augustus meets a local cadet – a reserved introvert named Edgar Allan Poe, who is fond of the occult, who volunteers to help with the investigation.

Mayfair Witches

• Platform: AMC.
• Release date: January 8th.
• Release format: one episode per week (8 episodes).
• Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror.

Inspired by the success of the recent series Interview with the Vampire, based on the novel of the same name by Anne Rice, AMC decided to quickly release another project as part of a big deal with the writer’s family. Interestingly, the Witches of Mayfair series of novels intersect with another cult cycle of the writer, The Vampire Chronicles. The series will tell the story of a neurosurgeon from California named Rowan. The girl grew up with a foster mother and only at a conscious age found out that she belongs to the Mayfair witch clan from New Orleans, whose well-being depends on a connection with a supernatural being named Lesher. The series is created by Michelle Ashford and Esta Spalding, best known for their retrodrama about sexology pioneers Masters of Sex. The main role in the series was played by Alexandra Daddario (“White Lotus”, “Baywatch”).

“Velma” (Velma)

• Platform: HBO Max.
• Release date: January 12th.
• Release format: one episode per week (8 episodes).
• Genre: Animation, Comedy, Adventure.

It is difficult to present this animated series to the audience, because everyone already knows who Velma is. Is not it? Well, if someone does not know that this is one of the main characters of the legendary 1969 animated series Scooby-Doo, as well as its many sequels and film adaptations. The creators of the upcoming interpretation of the story, which will be aimed at a more adult audience, are convinced that Velma is the most underestimated heroine of the original four: Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and herself. “Velma” will be a rather bold rethinking of the lives of the members of the “Mystery” corporation. The series tells about the youth of this quartet, all members of which, on the wave of puberty, fell into a love square. However, they will have to put aside all differences and unite when one of them is accused of murder. Shocking news for fans of the original – Scooby-Doo and the hippie van can’t wait. Apparently, the talking dog had not yet been born.

“One of us” (The Last of Us)

• Platform: HBO Max.
• Release date: January 15th.
• Release format: one episode per week (9 episodes).
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Adventure.

On January 15, perhaps, one of the most anticipated series of not only the month, but the whole of 2023 is released. The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic drama based on the video game of the same name. The series shows the world where there was an outbreak of an epidemic of a mutated parasitic fungus that turns people into zombies. In the center of the plot is an experienced cynical smuggler Joel, who lost his daughter at the dawn of a pandemic. Now he needs to transport the impudent girl Ellie with immunity to the disease across the country so that scientists can study her phenomenon. The two lead roles in the TV adaptation were played by Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones). The project’s showrunner was Craig Mazin, writer and executive producer of another HBO hit series Chernobyl. What’s more, Neil Druckmann, creator of The Last of Us video game as well as the Uncharted series of games, was directly involved in the development of the TV adaptation.

“Wolf Pack” (Wolf Pack)

• Platform: Paramount+.
• Release date: January 26th.
• Release format: one episode per week (7-8 episodes).
• Genre: Drama, Horror, Fantasy.

This supernatural teen drama television series is based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Canadian author Edo van Belkom. It tells about teenagers Everett and Blake, whose lives have changed dramatically after a forest fire in California, during which they were attacked by an awakened ancient creature. They are inexplicably attracted to each other and to the twins Luna and Harlan, with whom a similar story happened sixteen years ago. The four will team up to figure out this strange story involving werewolves. One of the main roles in the series was performed by the legendary victorious vampire Sarah Michelle Gellar (“Buffy”). Interestingly, the actress played Daphne Blake in the Scooby-Doo movies.

“Pokerface” (Poker Face)

• Platform: Peacock.
• Release date: January 26th.
• Release format: one episode per week (10 episodes).
• Genre: drama, detective.

The creator of the film franchise “Knives Out” Rian Johnson in January will indulge fans of detective stories and in a serial format. Pokerface will become a rare example of the how-to-catch-a-criminal sub-genre (usually detectives filmed in a guess-who-made-it format) that Colombo once popularized. The bottom line is that at the beginning of the episode, the audience is shown the killer and the crime, and the goal of the detective is to find the villain and prove his guilt. Natasha Lyonne will play the role of an investigator, who will face new villains every week. In addition, it is known that Adrien Brody, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Stephanie Xu, Nick Nolte, Ron Perlman, Chloe Sevigny and many others will appear in the series as guest stars.

“Therapy” (Shrinking)

• Platform: Apple TV+.
• Release date: January 27th.
• Release format: one episode per week (10 episodes).
• Genre: comedy.

Harrison Ford, apparently, seriously took up roles on television. After last year’s spin-off “Yellowstone”, the actor will appear in the series “Therapy” at the end of January. The company on the screen will be Jason Segel. The series was created by Brett Goldsteen and Bill Lawrence, best known for another Apple TV+ hit, Ted Lasso. “Therapy” is a drama about a psychotherapist who is experiencing the loss of his wife, who one day decides to tell people only the truth. The new approach violates the ethical norms of the profession, but the hero’s honesty radically changes the lives of those around him. And not only patients and friends, but also himself. Given the synopsis and track record of the creators, there is no doubt that viewers will alternate between laughing and crying while watching.