As 2022 nears its end, many of us will be reminiscing about the past 12 months, including all of the TV that’s brought us joy and escapism in what’s proved to be another trying year for so many of us.
Netflix has left no time for nostalgia, though, as they’ve already teased what they’ve got planned for us all in the year ahead – and there’s plenty to get excited about.
After perusing the streaming giant’s slate for 2023, we’ve picked 12 of the most exciting originals coming in the next year…
You (Season 4)
One of Netflix’s most gripping originals is back for a fourth run in early 2023, and after the events of season three, Joe (played by Penn Badgley) arrives in London where he soon adopts a new identity and, of course, wastes no time in looking for “love”.
Excitingly, a new location means a brand new cast, with Charlotte Ritchie (Fresh Meat, Feel Good) and Lukas Gage (Love Victor, The White Lotus) joining the fun this time around.
As with a number of their hit shows, Netflix has split the new season into two halves, the first of which is coming in February, with the second following in March.
Heartstopper (Season 2)
The most gripping love story of 2022 continues for a brand new series in the new year. After ending up together in the series finale, putting smiles on the faces of millions of viewers the world over, season two will see Charlie and Nick navigate high school life as a new couple.
And while we can no doubt expect all the butterflies series one delivered in spade-loads, cast members Joe Locke and Kit Connor have already teased that the new batch of episodes will be taking the story to some dark places, too.
Top Boy (Season 5)
After Netflix breathed new life into the hit crime drama, which originally ran its first two seasons on Channel 4, the streaming platform has already commissioned another new series which will hit our screens in 2023.
So far, we don’t know much about what to expect from the new episodes, other than that we’ll see Dushane (Ashley Walters) and Sully (Kane Robinson) dealing with the fall-out of the dramatic season 4 finale.
Bodies
One of several new Netflix originals in 2023, Bodies takes place in London, with four detectives spread across four different generations all exploring the same murder, all the while “uncovering a conspiracy spanning 150 years”.
Helping solve the historic mystery will be Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (Wolf Hall, The Queen’s Gambit) and Stephen Graham (This Is England, Peaky Blinders).
Cheat
After bringing us unique spins on reality TV, including Too Hot To Handle and Love Is Blind in recent years, Netflix is going big with their original game shows in 2023.
One we’re particularly intrigued by is Cheat, which will see participants potentially lying and, indeed, cheating their way to a hefty prize pot of £50,000, provided they don’t get caught, that is – with hosts Danny Dyer and Ellie Taylor overseeing all of the action.
Squid Game: The Challenge
If there’s one Netflix competition that’s sure to get people talking in 2023, though, it’s this real-life version of Squid Game.
While the idea was initially criticised when it was first announced this year, Netflix has released further details about the show, revealing their plans to explore “power, social mobility and the haves/have-nots” with what they’re billing as a reality show version of the Oscar-winning film Parasite.
A press release explained: “A group of people from a cross section of society are dropped in a paradise location and given a key card to a dream villa. But only half of the keys work ... so eight of them must live and survive outside in the jungle.
“The only way to get inside is to be a winner in a daily survival challenge. But for every person to go in ... one must come out. And only those inside the villa at the end of the series have a shot at winning the huge cash prize.”
We have to say, we’re intrigued.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
With Bridgerton proving to be one of the most popular Netflix originals in the streaming service’s history, 2023 is the year the platform introduces some spin-offs.
As the title suggests, Queen Charlotte serves as an origin story for Golda Rosheuvel’s character, exploring her “rise to prominence and power” and love story with King George.
As well as Golda, India Amarteifio (Sex Education, Line Of Duty) is taking the lead as a younger Queen Charlotte, with a whole new cast also set to take centre stage in the Ton.
The Witcher (Season 3)
The upcoming series of The Witcher will be Henry Cavill’s last in the role of Geralt Of Rivia, before Liam Hemsworth takes over in future seasons.
In the new season, Geralt’s aim is to take care of Ciri as “monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her”, with a “battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery” lying ahead.
David Beckham
Netflix also has a host of original documentaries scheduled for the year ahead, including a new series centred around David Beckham (which, it has to be said, is coming at an interesting time for the usually-untouchable former footballer’s public profile).
The mini-series will span David’s entire life, beginning with his humble beginnings in East London and chronicling his rise to global stardom, including “never-before-seen personal archive footage from the last 40 years”.
Robbie Williams
Similarly, a new Netflix doc about Robbie Williams is also in the works.
Like David Beckham’s the documentary will take the form of a series, examining the chart-topping star’s 30 years in the spotlight, including all the “ups and downs” from his time in Take That, his struggles with addiction and the media scrutiny he’s experienced througout.
Pamela Anderson
However, the original documentary we’re most intrigued by is Pamela Anderson’s.
Announced around the release of the mini-series Pam & Tommy – which the former Baywatch star was reportedly displeased by – this one-off doc (which has apparently been years in the making) aims to allow Pammy to “set the record straight” on the events that have kept her in the headlines across the decades.
The Crown (Season 6)
You know it and we know it – the latest season of The Crown was a bit of a slog. But if you think that doesn’t mean we won’t be devouring the sixth and final season when the curtain comes down on the award-winning and controversial royal drama in 2023, you’ve got another thing coming.
Picking up after the events of series five, it’s not yet known exactly where Peter Morgan is planning to end things, but we can expect the events covered to include the rise of New Labour (as teased in the latest finale), the relationship between the future King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla and, of course, the untimely death of Princess Diana.