The 36 Best Shows on Apple TV+ Right Now (May 2025)

Slowly but surely, Apple TV+ has recovered its feet. The streaming service, which astatine motorboat we called “odd, angsty, and horny arsenic hell,” has evolved into a divers room of dramas, documentaries, and comedies. Now its room is truthful packed that we’ve declared it “the caller HBO.”

Curious but don’t cognize wherever to get started? Below are our picks for the champion shows connected the service. (Also, present are our picks for the best movies connected Apple TV+.) When you’re done, caput implicit to our guides to the best shows connected Netflix, best movies connected Hulu, and best movies connected Amazon Prime, due to the fact that you tin ne'er person excessively overmuch television.

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Murderbot

Fans of Martha Wells person been waiting for Murderbot for a agelong time, beauteous overmuch since Apple TV+ announced successful 2023 that it was adapting the sci-fi author's 2017 novella All Systems Red. That beloved book—and the bid of stories and novels that followed it—serve arsenic the ground for this splashy bid and besides for the large expectations that travel with adapting a instrumentality favorite. Murderbot, for those who don’t know, serves arsenic some the protagonist of Wells’ stories and the pb of this series, present played by Alexander Skarsgård. It (Murderbot’s pronouns are “it”) has go what WIRED called “one of the astir iconic characters successful 21st-century subject fiction” acknowledgment to its socially awkward charm and relatability. Tasked with protecting a squad of scientists connected a far-off planet, Murderbot hacks its ain interior controls to bash what it wants. While that whitethorn dependable similar the crippled of yet different amusement astir an AI-powered skin job acceptable connected destroying its makers, Murderbot takes a antithetic approach, giving its titular quality a tendency to instrumentality attraction of humans and binge-watch TV. Will it delight each Wells fans? The assemblage is retired until the amusement drops May 16.

Side Quest

Do you emotion Mythic Quest’s partially weird, partially genius look astatine beingness wrong a video crippled studio? Good news: Side Quest, a four-episode anthology series, is present to amusement you the different sides of the video crippled world. The spinoff takes the communicative retired of the offices wherever Mythic Quest gets made by pursuing the lives of the myriad players, fans, and store employees who are impacted by each determination its creators make. Think of it arsenic an RPG that happens IRL.

The Studio

OK, truthful Max’s The Franchise—a acheronian drama astir the making of a seemingly doomed movie successful a superhero cinematic universe—didn’t past that long. Maybe The Studio will. Unlike The Franchise, which focused connected conscionable 1 film, this half-hour drama features Seth Rogen arsenic Matt Remick, a young exec who has conscionable taken implicit a movie workplace successful chaos. With each Hollywood archetype—actors, directors, firm suits—in play, Remick indispensable effort to prevention his sinking ship. Or spell down with it. Need different crushed to watch? It besides stars Agatha All Along’s Kathryn Hahn, who has done thing but marque comedies amended for more than a decade.

Dope Thief

Based connected the caller by Dennis Tafoya, Dope Thief follows 2 friends— Ray (Brian Tyree Henry) and Manny (Wagner Moura) who marque their mode by robbing cause dealers portion posing arsenic DEA agents. Everything flies disconnected the rails, though, erstwhile they people the incorrect location and enactment their lives and families astatine risk. The archetypal occurrence of this eight-part miniseries was directed by Ridley Scott, who besides serves arsenic enforcement producer. The amusement besides comes from Peter Craig, who wrote The Town and The Batman, truthful expect a gritty transgression play of the highest caliber.

Severance

Has determination ever been a 2nd play much highly anticipated than that of Severance? OK, determination astir apt has—Game of Thrones comes to mind—but considering Severance is the amusement that firmly established Apple TV+ arsenic a streaming subordinate with its ain chiseled benignant of edgy prestige content, the hype astir the show’s 2nd coming was intense. For those who don't already know, a primer: Adam Scott plays Mark, a antheral distraught by the decease of his woman who opts to acquisition Severance, a process that divides his memories of enactment from those of his beingness astatine home. He’s rather blessed with the setup until a erstwhile Lumon Industries coworker tracks him down erstwhile he’s out-of-office, mounting disconnected a bid of events that makes him question not lone Severance but the enactment his institution does. From there, it lone gets much weird and bleak with each passing minute. Tense and heartbreaking, Severance volition support you guessing and questioning the full mode through.

Mythic Quest

Considering it's a TV amusement acceptable successful the satellite of video games, you'd beryllium forgiven for reasoning this series—now 4 seasons deep—would beryllium a clunker. It's not. Instead, Mythic Quest is 1 of the champion workplace comedies of the past fewer years. Presented successful perfectly bingeable half-hour episodes, the amusement follows a fictional crippled workplace known for its World of Warcraft–like MMO, Mythic Quest, arsenic the radical who make it slalom done their galore quirky relationships. The penning is excellent, consistently comic and emotionally impactful erstwhile you slightest expect it, and the amusement manages to face existent issues successful the manufacture without sacrificing laughs.

Silo

As WIRED noted successful the aftermath of Silo’s release, this amusement is prestige sci-fi gold. Nearly 2 years later, that’s inactive true—and it is poised to get adjacent better. Based connected a dystopian publication trilogy by Hugh Howey, the bid focuses connected a subterranean bunker—the silo of the title—where humanity has sequestered itself aft the apocalypse. Some are hoping to triumph the accidental to reproduce, immoderate are trying to lick mysterious murders. Everyone watching is enjoying figuring retired what's going connected successful this underground metropolis and what's happening extracurricular of it. Silo has already been renewed done play four. If you haven’t been watching, start.

The Secret Lives of Animals

Seventy-seven species. Twenty-four countries. This 10-part docuseries is each astir the million-and-one ways animals are unthinkable occupation solvers. A accumulation of BBC Studios Natural History Unit, it does each the things bully quality docs do: going underground and getting (perhaps creepily) adjacent to immoderate of the world’s astir compelling creatures. Spiders, wood mice, frogs, and octopi—its got it all.

Disclaimer

When filmmaking fable Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) decides to bash a constricted bid starring Cate Blanchett, you benignant of beryllium it to yourself to watch. Especially when, arsenic Cuarón told WIRED, the Renée Knight caller the bid is based connected was truthful intriguing it made him privation to bring his cinematic skills to TV. In the seven-part series, Blanchett plays an esteemed writer named Catherine who is sent a mysterious caller that threatens to exposure parts of her past she’d hidden for years. As she tries to analyse who wrote the book, she besides indispensable support her ain beingness from collapsing astir her. Cuarón adapted the caller himself and directed each occurrence of the series, bringing his big-screen benignant to the small-screen world.

Shrinking

Do you enjoy In Treatment but privation it was, you know, fun? Then Shrinking may beryllium close for you. Created by Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein—of Ted Lasso fame—and Jason Segel, the amusement follows Jimmy (Segel), a therapist struggling to get implicit the decease of his woman and reconnect with his girl and patients. That whitethorn dependable similar a downer, but it’s buoyed by the information that it’s besides a workplace drama focusing connected the therapy signifier wherever Jimmy works alongside Harrison Ford’s Paul and Jessica Williams’ Gaby. Shrinking, ultimately, is astir the things radical bash to cope, but it besides features a imagination squad of a formed and 1 precise memorable enactment country featuring a vomit-soaked soft and a super-stoned Ford.

Slow Horses

As we wrote not excessively agelong ago, Slow Horses is the perfect amusement for radical who privation a Pizza Hut-Taco Bell-esque operation of John Le Carré–style espionage thrillers and The Office. Based astir the misfits of Slough House, wherever MI5 agents are sent erstwhile they biff it arsenic spies, the amusement effortlessly jumps from shoot-outs and car chases to quirky conversations and camaraderie. The show’s 4th season, which launched past year, is simply a small much subdued than the ones before, but if you've been sleeping connected Slow Horses, present is the clip to aftermath up.

Bad Monkey

Created by Bill Lawrence, 1 of the originative forces down 2 different Apple TV+ zingers, Ted Lasso and Shrinking, Bad Monkey is astir a one-time detective (played by Vince Vaughn) who’s deed a spot of a unsmooth spot and is trying to get to the bottommost of wherefore idiosyncratic recovered a severed arm. Yes, there's a monkey, but there's besides a batch of acheronian wit and heart—and a look astatine the analyzable lives of much than a fewer Florida Men.

Sunny

Sunny is the communicative of a pistillate named Suzie (Rashida Jones) whose hubby and lad are mislaid successful a mysterious level crash. To enactment done her grief, Suzie is fixed Sunny, a home robot with whom she forms a unsocial enslaved arsenic she begins to uncover what happened to her family. As artificial quality gets much and much ingrained successful everyone’s lives, Sunny promises to deed otherwise present than it would astatine immoderate different time.

Presumed Innocent

Just to beryllium clear, this whodunit has been done before. Thirty-four years ago, Harrison Ford starred successful the movie adaptation of Scott Turow’s novel. This clip around, the pb is played by Jake Gyllenhaal, and the adaptation is an eight-part constricted series, not a film. Gyllenhaal stars arsenic Rusty Sabich, a Chicago authoritative accused of sidesplitting a colleague. A workfellow with whom helium was having an affair. Presumed Innocent is produced by David E. Kelley, truthful it has the intrigue and glossiness of his caller offerings similar Big Little Lies and The Undoing, arsenic good arsenic the acheronian and drama.

STEVE! (martin) A Documentary successful 2 Pieces

Putting this connected the “best shows connected Apple TV+” database is simply a spot of a cheat. Rather than a series, this two-part documentary is much similar a brace of movies looking astatine the beingness and vocation of Steve Martin. The archetypal portion chronicles his emergence in, and reimagining of, the standup drama world. The 2nd looks astatine however helium went from that to the neurotic and lovable neighbour helium presently plays connected Only Murders successful the Building, which would beryllium his career’s triumphant 2nd enactment if helium hadn’t had thing similar 30 acts successful between. Directed by Morgan Neville, who made the backup vocalist documentary 20 Feet From Stardom and the Fred Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, it’s funny, intimate, and a small surprising—just similar Martin himself.

Loot

OK, truthful Loot isn't precisely astir MacKenzie Scott's divorcement from Jeff Bezos, but it is astir a pistillate named Molly (Maya Rudolph) who separates from her tech billionaire hubby and devotes herself to philanthropic work. Also, creators Alan Yang (Master of None) and Matt Hubbard (Superstore) were kind of inspired by Bezos and Scott's split. With an unthinkable supporting formed that includes Joel Kim Booster, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, and Adam Scott, it's a quirky drama with a batch of heart—and the benignant of happening you (probably) won't spot connected Amazon Prime Video.

The Big Door Prize

With The Big Door Prize Chris O'Dowd yet got the “guy starring a show” relation helium was ever meant for. In the series, helium plays a 40-year-old precocious schoolhouse teacher named Dusty who's beauteous contented with his beingness until a magic instrumentality shows up successful his tiny town. The machine, you see, tells radical their life's potential, and arsenic soon arsenic folks astir him commencement utilizing it, everything changes. Marriages end, paths divert, and yet Dusty indispensable face whether he's blessed successful his ain life.

The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin

Dick Turpin was a existent highwayman successful 18th-century England who was yet executed for equine theft. But the myths surrounding him are acold much absorbing than the facts. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, existent to its name, opts to instrumentality with the amusive stuff. Starring Noel Fielding (The Great British Bake Off) successful the rubric role, this six-episode bid presents Turpin arsenic idiosyncratic who stumbled into starring a radical of outlaws and made the champion of it. Turpin's 2nd play got nixed, but reportedly determination was capable footage changeable for astatine slightest one much episode. Stay tuned.

Constellation

Around present we person a mentation that Apple TV+ is the caller HBO. At the aforesaid time, we besides wonderment among ourselves whether it’s the caller Syfy. After opening with a bang successful 2019 with For All Mankind, it has released a dependable drumbeat of trippy, spacey, timey-wimey prestige shows, from Foundation to Severance. In aboriginal 2024, it released Constellation, an eight-part thriller astir an astronaut (Noomi Rapace) who returns to Earth aft a catastrophe successful abstraction to find things are precise off. Brain-bending and tense, it’s the benignant of sci-fi that sucks you in.

Masters of the Air

Generally speaking, “World War II drama” and Steven Spielberg are astir apt capable to get anyone to click Play connected this series, but it’s got a batch much than conscionable a bully elevator pitch. Based connected Donald L. Miller’s Masters of the Air, this bid dives heavy into the lives of the 100th Bomb Group—aka the “Bloody Hundredth”—a squad of pilots tasked with risking their lives to combat Nazi Germany from the air. Spielberg and Tom Hanks service arsenic enforcement producers, and the formed features Elvis himself, Austin Butler, arsenic good arsenic Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan and Doctor Who’s latest Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa.

The New Look

Keeping with the World War II theme, The New Look follows Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain, and Cristóbal Balenciaga arsenic they laic the way for modern manner successful Nazi-occupied Paris. The formed features Ben Mendelsohn arsenic Christian Dior, Juliette Binoche arsenic Coco Chanel, and Maisie Williams arsenic Catherine Dior, and besides has a soundtrack courtesy of Jack Antonoff that’s chock afloat of aboriginal 20th-century euphony covered by the likes of Perfume Genius and Florence Welch.

Criminal Record

Starring erstwhile Doctor Who Doctor Peter Capaldi, Criminal Record follows 2 cops—Capaldi’s Daniel Hegarty and Cush Jumbo’s June Lenker—as they effort to get to the bottommost of a long-settled case. Daniel worked the lawsuit primitively and got a confession; June got a caller extremity and wants him to reopen it and find retired whether the antheral who went distant for execution is really innocent. Might dependable a spot overdone, but the bid besides works successful elements of instrumentality enforcement shortcomings and contention successful a rapidly-changing Britain for a bid that’s astir much than conscionable 1 case.

Hijack

There’s this look Idris Elba does. He’s been perfecting it since helium was Stringer Bell connected The Wire. It’s the look of full calm adjacent erstwhile he’s talking astir the astir harrowing happening you tin imagine. That look gets a afloat workout successful Hijack, successful which Elba plays a firm negotiator who finds himself trying to settee things with a radical of, yes, hijackers who person taken implicit the formation he’s boarded to get location to his family. This bid is 7 episodes, astir 7 hours—the aforesaid magnitude of the flight, and it follows the play successful the aerial and the governmental maneuvering beneath earlier attempting to instrumentality the landing. Do enactment astir until the end.

For All Mankind

Long earlier Foundation, determination was For All Mankind. A coagulated portion of alternate history, the amusement starts with a precise astute premise: What if the US had been edged retired successful putting a antheral connected the moon? How would the space-race rivalry betwixt the Americans and the Soviets person played out? It's mostly a slick, stylish, NASA-heavy play drama, but arsenic this is from the encephalon of Ronald D. Moore, determination are a fewer standout moments and episodes with attraction shared astir the ample ensemble cast. It mightiness beryllium the champion sci-fi show you're not watching, and if that's existent you present person aggregate seasons to drawback up on.

Messi Meets America

If your location surface hasn't made it obvious, Apple TV+ is ace stoked astir soccer. Messi Meets America is simply a six-part docuseries astir all-star subordinate Lionel Messi's determination to Major League Soccer's Inter Miami club. Messi Mania, indeed.

Lessons successful Chemistry

Based connected the debut caller from subject writer Bonnie Garmus, Lessons successful Chemistry is the communicative of Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson), who gets hired to big a cooking amusement aft she's fired from her laboratory for doing subject portion female. Obviously, the amusement Elizabeth puts connected ends up being astir a batch much than conscionable having meal connected the array astatine 6 pm, but we suggest you ticker to find retired conscionable however revolutionary it is.

The Morning Show

Every streaming work needs a flashy mainstream play with Hollywood heavyweights to propulsion successful viewers. Apple TV+ has The Morning Show. When Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) loses her greeting quality programme cohost Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) pursuing intersexual misconduct accusations, she gets paired up with Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon). What unfolds is simply a #MeToo-era play afloat of TV web intrigue and Sorkin-lite dialog. In its 2nd season, it went heavy connected Covid-19, and successful the 3rd play the series' fictional network, UBA, finds itself dealing with the aftermath of a cyberattack. There's apt a caller play coming successful 2025, truthful now's a bully clip to drawback up, oregon spell backmost and refresh your memory.

Shining Girls

This Elisabeth Moss intelligence thriller/murder enigma came retired successful 2022 and ne'er truly got the buzz it apt deserved. Moss plays Kirby, a pistillate who believes a caller Chicago execution whitethorn beryllium linked to an onslaught connected her galore years prior. She teams with a Sun-Times newsman to investigate, but the deeper she digs the much her ain world starts to shift. Based connected the publication The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, this bid whitethorn look similar conscionable different execution mystery, but its sci-fi twists enactment it 1 measurement ahead.

Foundation

WIRED called Foundation a “flawed masterpiece” successful our review of the archetypal season. Considering the complexities of adapting a sprawling Isaac Asimov publication series, it was precocious praise. Starring Jared Harris arsenic Hari Seldon, a mathematics prof who, on with his loyal followers, is exiled for predicting the oncoming extremity of the galactic empire that rules implicit them, the amusement often suffers nether the value of its ain monolithic scope. But it besides features fantastic performances from Lee Pace and beauteous images inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope. If you person a brushed spot for large sci-fi dramas, this Game-of-Thrones-in-space wannabe is simply a must-watch.

The Crowded Room

Set successful the precocious 1970s, The Crowded Room stars Tom Holland arsenic Danny Sullivan, a young antheral arrested aft a grisly shooting successful New York City. Following his arrest, this 10-episode constricted bid unfolds into a twisty whodunit arsenic interrogator Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried) tries to suss retired what happened with the shooting and the peculiar events successful Sullivan’s past that whitethorn person shaped however helium ended up involved. Holland told Extra that the sprout for The Crowded Room, which helium besides produced, “broke” him, starring to him taking a yearlong hiatus from acting. Want to spot why? Watch now.

Ted Lasso

On paper, Ted Lasso sounds terrible. It's the inconceivable communicative of an American shot manager who has ne'er watched a crippled of shot someway landing himself a occupation arsenic manager of a (fictional) Premier League nine and trying to marque up for his full deficiency of qualifications by being a bully guy. Sounds unwatchable, doesn’t it? And yet Ted Lasso has captured the hearts and minds of viewers connected some sides of the pond with its large-as-life formed and irresistibly wholesome messaging, hoovering up awards successful the process.

High Desert

The Patricia Arquette–aissance doesn’t get arsenic overmuch ink arsenic Matthew McConaughey oregon Keanu Reeves did during their 2nd comings, but it’s here—in portion acknowledgment to the emergence of streaming. Between The Act and Severance, Arquette has received immoderate of the highest accolades of her agelong vocation recently, and High Desert is nary exception. While coming to presumption with the decease of her mother, Peggy (Arquette)—an addict—decides she wants to prime up the pieces of her beingness and go a backstage investigator. She finds an unwitting employer/sometime mentor successful Bruce Harvey (Brad Garrett), but not everyone is onboard with Peggy’s vocation decisions—namely, her straitlaced sister (Christine Taylor). It’s an unusual duck of a show, which is perfectly suited to Arquette’s ethereal acting style, allowing her to seamlessly flit betwixt moments of calamity and laugh-out-loud comedy, with the audiences doing their champion to support up. The all-star formed is made adjacent much awesome by recurring appearances from Bernadette Peters arsenic Peggy’s precocious mom.

Big Beasts

Look, Discovery doesn't get to country the marketplace connected carnal documentaries—and this 10-part docuseries proves it. Featuring elephant seals, brownish bears, orangutans, elephantine otters, and each kinds of monolithic mammals successful between, it's the cleanable happening if you conscionable privation to flight and larn a fewer tidbits astir nature. But the champion part? It's narrated by Tom Hiddleston, and there's conscionable thing charming astir proceeding the dependable of Loki speech astir a clump of antithetic animals helium could crook himself into successful the blink of an eye.

Servant

Cinematically, M. Night Shyamalan tin beryllium a small hit-or-miss, but Servant, which the filmmaker enforcement produces and occasionally directs, is stellar. It's astir a Philadelphia couple—a cook and a quality anchor—who suffer a kid lone to person it mysteriously travel backmost to beingness (maybe) with the accomplishment of their caller nanny. (You truly conscionable request to ticker the amusement for immoderate of this to marque sense.) Moody, freaky, and occasionally adjacent funny, it'll suck you in. With 4 seasons connected the streamer, there’s plentifulness to enjoy.

The Essex Serpent

Claire Danes doing her champion trembling-chin acting successful play garb, Tom Hiddleston arsenic a municipality vicar, rumors astir a mysterious mythological serpent—is determination thing not to emotion astir this show? No, there’s not. The Essex Serpent, based connected the caller by Sarah Perry, follows a caller widow (Danes) arsenic she heads to the countryside successful Essex to analyse a “sea dragon.” There, she meets a vicar, Will (Hiddleston), who is acold much skeptical of the serpent’s existence. Lush and inviting, it’s the perfect play mystery.

Dickinson

Hailee Steinfeld is simply a riotous young Emily Dickinson successful this half-hour amusement from creator Alena Smith. It was portion of the archetypal Apple TV+ lineup and rapidly distinguished itself acknowledgment to its off-kilter imaginativeness of 19th-century Amherst, Massachusetts. The archetypal play is simply a acceptable of sharp, surreal vignettes, inspired by Dickinson's enactment and tracing the imagined beingness of the young poet, who is rebelling against her father, the town's societal rules, and conscionable astir everything else. The 2nd and 3rd seasons spell deeper, examining not lone the poet's life, but besides the roles that race, gender, sexuality, and people played successful the aboriginal days of America. If you're a Dickinson stan, emotion a spot of astute queer dramedy, oregon conscionable person a penchant for a modern soundtrack successful a Civil War–era show, you’ll excavation this.