Sharai Bohannon
I watch a ton of TV every year, but genre shows are clearly my favorites. I root for every horror, sci-fi, and thriller series as if they were my own. Sadly, not all shows are created equally, and I am often left wanting more. I’m looking right at Alien: Earth, IT: Welcome to Derry, and Stranger Things (season 5). Luckily, 2025 still managed to have a few outstanding gems that I think are worth watching. Check out my top 10 TV shows of the year below if you’re looking for your next binge.
10. The Trouble With Tessa
Where You Can Watch: Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Screambox, and Tubi
Trouble With Tessa | Offical Trailer
After moving to an idyllic rural community, a disgraced documentarian discovers a mysterious box of tapes in their basement. When one of the recordings appears to catch a murder in progress, Tessa immediately starts digging into this town’s history.
Disgraced documentarian Tessa Fowler escapes to a rural town and discovers a box of tapes in her rental property. She soon realizes that one of the tapes is a recording of a murder that leads her down a twisted path to the town’s shocking secrets. This indie darling is a quick binge that is unafraid to swing for the fences. The Trouble With Tessa has a certain charm that keeps you glued to your seat. It also makes me think the world of independent horror TV shows has a lot more to offer us.
9. Upload (Season 4)
Where You Can Watch: Prime Video
Upload Season 4 – Official Trailer | Prime Video
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Nathan and Nora’s quest to get answers and be together culminates in an unexpected, tragic ending. The little sci-fi show that beat the COVID and labor strike odds finally took a bow this season. They returned with their final four episodes and what might be the most focused season they ever had. Favorites were lost, character arcs were closed, and there was just enough ambiguity to give us hope for the characters who are still alive.
It’s still surprising that this comedy with big thoughts about class and capitalism made it this far on Prime Video. However, it makes the humor that much funnier and the goodbye even more bittersweet. This is possibly the closest to a feel-good TV recommendation you’ll get from me in 2025.
8. Cassandra
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Cassandra | Official Trailer | Netflix
For fifty years, the house stayed silent – until a family moved in and Cassandra awakened. Originally created to serve, now fighting to stay. Cassandra, streaming February 6, only on Netflix. Watch on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81621535 About Netflix: Netflix is one of the world’s leading entertainment services, with 283 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages.
A family moves into a smart home in Germany and inadvertently awakens the AI that lives on the property. They soon find out their helper has a mind of her own and secrets she will kill to protect. This limited series lives at the intersection of killer robots and women pushed over the edge. So, of course, I found it binge-worthy and one of the few reasons to keep talking to Netflix this year. If you want a sci-fi thriller that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but has a lot of fun turning it nonetheless, then Cassandra is your girl.
7. Yellowjackets (Season 3)
Where You Can Watch: Paramount+ with Showtime
Yellowjackets | Season 3 Official Trailer | Paramount+ with SHOWTIME
Secrets will be spilled. Yellowjackets Season 3 is streaming February 14 with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan. About Season 3: The Yellowjackets continue to fight for survival after a brutal winter in The Wilderness. In the present day, still reeling from Natalie’s death, the survivors are forced to uncover secrets they thought were buried for good.
In the past, the Yellowjackets come undone as summer approaches. In the present, the adult survivors are continuing to rebury secrets as old wounds reopen. This wasn’t the strongest season of Yellowjackets, but I will be damned if the acting and the soundtrack aren’t still some of the best we got this TV season.
While the adult storyline was lacking and made very odd (and frustrating) choices, the wilderness timeline gave us something to sink our teeth into every week. What the youth group got up to made us lean forward, left us shocked, and answered a couple of questions in the most gnarly ways possible. May these young cannibals continue to find their way back to greatness next season.
6. Black Mirror (Season 7)
Where You Can Watch: Netflix
Black Mirror: Season 7 | Official Trailer | Netflix
Lose your mind. Lose your reality. The Emmy Award winning series returns with six new stories. Nothing is as it seems. Watch on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81651202 About Netflix: Netflix is one of the world’s leading entertainment services, with 300 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, films and games across a wide variety of genres and languages.
The British anthology series that warns us about our addiction to technology returned. I know many people find Black Mirror too close to home in these current dystopian times. However, I still show up to have my heart broken and get my goosebumps as Charlie Brooker continues to hold an unflattering mirror up to society. Like most seasons of late, this one had its fair share of highs and lows. However, the six episodes had something for everyone, even if they all seemed extra heavy. It also gave us closure for the USS Callister crew that we didn’t know we needed.
5. The Last of Us (Season 2)
Where You Can Watch: HBO Max
The Last of Us Season 2 | Official Trailer | Max
You can’t stop this. #TheLastOfUs returns April 13 on Max. About Max: Max is the culture-defining entertainment service for every mood. With a variety of genres that include your favorite series and movies from iconic brands and treasured franchises, it delivers irresistible stories every time.
Five years after the events of season one, Joel and Ellie are barely speaking as they have settled into their new home. I found this season almost as heartbreakingly depressing as the first season. It wasn’t as outstanding as the first season, but it was still must-watch TV in my book. However, my friends who actually finished the game had thoughts. I’m still playing along with the show and dodging spoilers, so maybe ignorance is bliss after all. Either way, some phenomenal performances keep this show afloat.
I think all of our tear ducts hate to see Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey coming. If you want to cry it out and watch “not zombies” bring carnage between humans seeking revenge, nothing hurts quite as bad as The Last of Us.
4. Murderbot
Where You Can Watch: Apple TV+
Murderbot – Official Trailer | Apple TV
It’s rogue. It’s powerful. It would rather be watching TV. Based on the award-winning, best-selling series by Martha Wells, Murderbot follows a rogue security unit as it searches for the meaning of life. Murderbot is now streaming on Apple TV https://apple.co/_murderbot In a high-tech future, a rogue security robot (Alexander Skarsgård) secretly gains free will.
An android has to deal with an onslaught of new emotions and free will while protecting a team of scientists who are too human for their own good. Murderbot is wildly fun and addictive. Based on The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, the show quickly became the best reason to have Apple TV.
I wasn’t expecting to fall so hard for this show, or that it would lead me to tracking down the books in the series, because I needed more time in the world. Alexander Skarsgård as our Murderbot, who wants to be left alone to binge his show in peace, is possibly the most relatable character on TV this year. I’m excited the show has already been renewed, and I cannot wait for next season.
3. Paradise
Where You Can Watch: Hulu
Paradise | First Official Trailer | Hulu
Starring Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden, and Julianne Nicholson. Paradise is set in a serene, wealthy community inhabited by some of the world’s most prominent individuals. But this tranquility explodes when a shocking murder occurs and a high stakes investigation unfolds. Stream #ParadiseHulu on January 28.
A Secret Service agent’s investigation of the murder of the president takes a turn when he gets too close to the truth. Now he has a target on his back and nowhere to hide. Paradise was marketed as a political thriller, so I had low expectations. I mostly hit play because I missed watching Sterling K. Brown give acting masterclasses on TV. So, I was gagged when this show revealed that it’s actually a very compelling sci-fi series that would keep us on the edge of our seats. It brought the drama, conspiracy, and claustrophobia every episode, and I highly recommend taking this ride if you haven’t taken it already.
2. Hell Motel
Where You Can Watch: AMC+ and Shudder
Hell Motel | Official Trailer | Shudder
From the creators of Slasher, Hell Motel premieres June 17 on Shudder. Hell Motel sees a group of 10 true crime obsessives invited to the opening weekend of the newly renovated Cold River Motel, the site of a 30-year-old unsolved Satanic Mass Murder.
10 true crime obsessives get invited to the opening weekend of a motel that was the site of an unsolved mass murder. They soon find themselves in danger as history repeats itself. I knew this would be a good time because it’s from the same people who brought us Slasher. However, I didn’t expect it to have my favorite episode of TV of the year or leave the internet fighting over who the killer is.
I showed up to see some murder, mayhem, and mystery, and I walked out with a new obsession. Also, I am just as obsessed with the Baphomet design as I am with this cast of morally grey characters. I wish more shows were this smart and sinister because the TV landscape needs more of this energy badly.
1. The Creep Tapes (Season 2)
Where You Can Watch: AMC+ and Shudder
The Creep Tapes Season 2 | Official Trailer | Shudder
Peachfuzz is back. Starring Mark Duplass, The Creep Tapes Season 2 premieres November 14 on Shudder and AMC+. #Shudder #TheCreepTapes Subscribe: http://ow.ly/EVNA30kS8tc Try Shudder Free for 7 Days: http://www.shudder.com Follow Shudder on: Twitter: http://twitter.com/shudder Facebook: http://facebook.com/shudder Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/shudder TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@shudder
Our favorite sociopath continues to lure filmmakers into his world with the promise of a paid job documenting his life. He, of course, turns the camera on them and adds their bloody endings to his collection of tapes.
I don’t understand how creators Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice continue to make this fun, but I’m happy they do. Duplass is still having a ball as Josef/Peachfuzz/etc., and we love to see it. This season further expands on the lore behind one of our favorite found footage killers and even dropped a Christmas episode. This delightfully dark series heals something in a way that Hallmark never could. It is also another reminder that imagination is key in horror TV.
I would like to give an honorable mention to The Price of Confession on Netflix. The 12 episodes dropped on December 5th, so I still have quite a bit to work through. However, it’s so compelling and already better than most of the thrillers people seem to be going gaga over on the streamer. Hopefully, it sticks the landing.
Those are my top 10 genre TV shows of 2025. May they give some of you nightmares or at least entertain you as you say goodbye to this cruddy year.
