Streaming season is heating up and bringing some mouth-watering, must-see thrills. Here are the 8 new shows to stream in October 2026.
Finally, my favorite month of the year is here, and the thrills are alive with sounds of gasps and screams. I love it. October’s streaming lineup is ripe with must-see series, and that includes both new shows and those returning with new seasons.
New series highlights are plentiful, thrilling, and juicy, kicking off with the viciously nasty, high-stakes legal drama War, along with Netflix’s new multi-generational epic East of Eden. They then crawl toward Josh Hartnett’s terrifying new creature-feature, Below, before amping up with the modernized adaptation of the Stephen King classic Carrie, followed by the highly anticipated Friday the 13th prequel, Crystal Lake. Additionally, Marvel’s VisionQuest is finally premiering, and there’s even a new true crime documentary set in the swamps of Louisiana.
Then, just in time for Halloween, a new Stephen Graham-led crime drama about a notoriously cunning serial killer arrives, and believe me, you won’t want to miss this story or its performances. Also, our favorite vigilante serial killer with a penchant for dark brilliance is back for more hunting in Dexter: Resurrection Season 2. Speaking of returning series, October will also see new seasons of Tulsa King, Marshals, The Terminal List, Nobody Wants This, and more.
Here is a full look at 8 new shows to stream in October 2026, listed in order of release date, along with a list of returning shows with new seasons streaming this month.
1. War
Premiere Date: October 1, 2026
Where to Watch: HBO Max
Dominic West (The Affair) and Sienna Miller (Horizon: An American Saga) star in War, television’s newest vicious, high-stakes legal drama from creator George Kay (Hijack, Lupin). The show follows the lives of London’s most powerful law firms as they clash while representing opposite sides in a heated legal throwdown.
Season 1 centers on the bombshell divorce of British tech mogul Morgan Henderson (West) and international film star Carla Duval (Miller). In a world where ambition is currency, betrayal is strategy, and winning is everything, these lawyers will stop at nothing to secure a win.
2. East of Eden
Premiere Date: October 1, 2026
Where to Watch: Netflix
Also kicking off the month is the anticipated Netflix adaptation of the epic Steinbeck novel East of Eden. More than 70 years after Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film, his granddaughter, Zoe, is putting her spin on the multi-generational saga.
Inspired by the biblical tale of Cain and Abel, the seven-episode story tracks two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, across decades in the early 1900s in California’s Salinas Valley. When a fiercely independent woman (Florence Pugh, of Spider-Man: Brand New Day) marries into the Trask family and drives a rift between two brothers, a saga ignites that unfolds across generations.
3. Carrie
Premiere Date: October 7, 2026
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Based on Stephen King’s iconic debut novel, Carrie is an eight-episode miniseries about a telekinetic high-school outcast developed by Mike Flanagan (The Fall of the House of Usher). Flanagan’s version reimagines the classic for the social media era, tackling modern issues like viral bullying and digital-age pressures.
Carrie White (Summer H. Howell, of Normal) is a misfit who has spent her life confined to the walls of her home with her fiercely protective and overbearing mother. After her father’s sudden death thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem that is public high school, she is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, as well as the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social-media age, and the awakening of telekinetic powers that awaken alongside her adolescence.
4. Below
Premiere Date: October 8, 2026
Where to Watch: Netflix
Josh Hartnett (Trap) is back in the suspenseful new horror thriller/creature feature Below, which is created, written, and executive produced by Jesse McKeown (The Umbrella Academy).
When an unidentified sea creature terrorizes the local fishing waters of the remote coastal Newfoundland town of Snook’s Arm, it’s up to one man to protect, well, everyone. Hartnett stars as Calvin Penney, a stubborn fisherman haunted by his father’s mysterious death decades earlier. What better to get you in the Halloween mood than some survival horror mixed with creepy local folklore and creature-feature suspense set against a harsh, isolated backdrop?
5. The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story
Premiere Date: October 11, 2026
Where to Watch: HBO Max
I’m always up for a good true crime documentary, but that’s not what has me tapping my pen, waiting on The Pet Cemetery Murders: A Ghost Story. See, I’m a Louisiana girl, and this new three-part story involves the re-opening of a mysterious cold case from 1985 South Louisiana.
Dorothy Thompson was a 61-year-old woman who lived alone and owned a pet cemetery in St. Bernard. In 1985, her body was found in the Mississippi River wrapped in heavy chains. The case stayed cold for years until 2009, when police finally reopened the file in 2009 to investigate local rumors, land disputes, and dark secrets tied to the property.
6. VisionQuest
Premiere Date: October 14, 2026
Where to Watch: Disney+
Paul Bettany (WandaVision) returns as the former Avenger Vision in VisionQuest, marking the beginning of the end for the WandaVision trilogy. While he was killed in Infinity War, he was resurrected without emotions or memories.
Having been in hiding from those who sought to weaponize him, Vision searches for new meaning by consulting the AI personas within his programming. When a bounty is placed on his head, he is forced on the run with a mysterious boy who just may be Vision’s son, reincarnate.
7. Crystal Lake
Premiere Date: October 15, 2026
Where to Watch: Peacock
Created, written, and executive produced by Brad Kane (It: Welcome to Derry), Crystal Lake is the highly anticipated eight-episode horror prequel to the Friday the 13th film franchise. Linda Cardellini (DTF: St. Louis) stars.
The story follows grieving single mom Pamela Voorhees (Cardellini) as she battles a dark secret from her past in the wake of her son’s death. When two strangers arrive in town and bodies begin turning up across Crystal Lake, Pamela’s past is unearthed and thrust into the spotlight.
8. Nocturne
Premiere Date: October 30, 2026
Where to Watch: Apple TV
For me, Nocturne is the must-see series of the month. Stephen Graham (Adolescence) is on fire right now, and his upcoming crime drama series is one you won’t want to miss.
When a victim of notorious serial killer Jurek Walter (Graham) unexpectedly turns up alive, ex-soldier turned homicide detective Jonah Lynn (Liev Schreiber, of The Perfect Couple) races against the clock to find the one person still missing. As the town and his family come under attack from the diabolically cunning serial killer, Jonah is forced to send his protégée and surrogate daughter, FBI Agent Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz, of They Will Kill You), undercover to go up against Jurek and get some answers.
Other Returning Shows with New Seasons to Watch For:
Marshals, Season 2
Premiere Date: October 2, 2026
Where to Watch: Paramount+
The Diplomat, Season 4
Premiere Date: October 15, 2026
Where to Watch: Netflix
Tulsa King, Season 4
Premiere Date: October 16, 2026
Where to Watch: Paramount+
The Terminal List, Season 2
Premiere Date: October 21, 2026
Where to Watch: Prime Video
All The Queen’s Men, Season 5 Part 2 Finale
Premiere Date: October 21, 2026
Where to Watch: Paramount+
Nobody Wants This, Season 3
Premiere Date: October 22, 2026
Where to Watch: Netflix
Dexter: Resurrection, Season 2
Premiere Date: October 30, 2026
Where to Watch: Paramount+ with Showtime