Although the end of the year puts many of us in a nostalgic mood, it’s also a great opportunity to acknowledge all of the exciting things that lie ahead in the next 12 months.
We’re happy to report that 2025 is looking like a bumper year when it comes to entertainment, with plenty of intriguing films, TV shows, music releases and live events guaranteed to get us all talking.
Here are just 25 of those moments from this coming year that we’re most excited about…
First of all, who’s ready to defy gravity once again?
Wicked is such a beloved stage musical, we’ll admit we had our doubts about exactly how it would work on the big screen. We needn’t have worried, though, with Wicked being a truly unforgettable cinema experience when it arrived towards the end of 2024.
Follow-up Wicked For Good is still a long way off, but we’re already excited for the second half of the story, which features some of our favourite songs from the musical – as well as two intriguing new tracks penned by its original composer, Stephen Schwartz.
The Traitors castle is opening its doors not once but twice in 2025
What better way to kick off 2025 could there be than a brand new season of the UK’s favourite new reality show, with episode one set to air on New Year’s Day.
Once the upcoming series is over, there’s also the small matter of the first ever celebrity edition of The Traitors UK to look forward to, which it sounds like is already shaping up to have bagged some pretty impressive famous contestants.
Sabrina Carpenter brings her Short N’ Sweet tour to UK shores
Few musicians can say they had as big a 2024 as Sabrina Carpenter, who managed to cram three UK number ones, a hit album, her own Netflix special and even a headline-grabbing relationship with one of the world’s hottest actors right now into the space of just 12 months.
Last year also saw the Juno singer embarking on the North American leg of her Short N’ Sweet world tour, which is due to arrive in Europe in the first half of the year – with HuffPost favourite Rachel Chinouriri on support duties, no less.
If you failed to secure tickets, though, you might also have another chance to see Sabrina performing live when she returns to London to headline the British Summer Time festival later in the year.
Severance fans’ patience is about to be rewarded
It’s now approaching three years since we last paid a visit to Lumon Industries – but the office is finally open again.
Yes, a second season of Apple TV+’s most intriguing, thought-provoking and action-packed US drama is finally upon us, and creator Dan Erickson has already insisted that the extended break is going to have been worth it.
But Severance isn’t the only show returning in 2025 after a lengthy absence
The final season of Stranger Things has been a long time coming, with the Hollywood strikes of 2023 meaning that production was hit with a few setbacks.
Fortunately, everyone involved seems convinced that the Stranger Things finale will give fans everything they’ve been waiting for – delivering jam-packed extended-length episodes that will tie up all of the show’s loose ends once and for all, giving it a more satisfying end than some of its fantasy counterparts.
The Last Of Us is also back for a new batch of episodes
The critically-acclaimed screen adaptation of The Last Of Us is returning for a second run in 2025, with a recently-released teaser letting fans in on exactly what they should expect.
Fans of the original The Last Of Us video games will know already that the season is full of unpredictable twists and turns, and will also welcome some intriguing fresh faces into the dystopian world that Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey introduced us to so impeccably well during season one.
Wednesday rounds off an exciting run of much-hyped TV comebacks
Jenna Ortega’s profile has truly blown up since 2022’s inaugural season of Wednesday thanks to films like Scream VI, Miller’s Girl and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which reunited her with the Netflix teen drama’s creator, Tim Burton.
The Emmy nominee will finally return to the role that made her famous in 2025, with new episodes of Wednesday, including a rumoured cameo from a certain Bloody Mary singer…
Hang on, did someone mention Lady Gaga?
Lady Gaga’s fans were truly blessed in 2024, between her hit Bruno Mars collab Die With A Smile, her Joker companion album Harlequin and her all-guns-blazing single Disease.
The Grammy winner has already confirmed that Disease will serve as the lead single from her upcoming seventh album, and while not much is known about the release is known just yet, we do know it’s coming in February.
Given just how strong Gaga’s last full album Chromatica was, we’re ready for whatever she has in store for us this time around.
Bridget Jones turns over a new leaf in her diary
After winning huge acclaim for her first three outings in the role, Renée Zellweger is returning for a third outing as Bridget Jones.
In this latest instalment, though, we’re meeting Bridget at a very different stage of her life, raising two young children as a single mother following the death of her beloved husband Mark Darcy.
As ever, Bridget’s world is inhabited by all of the characters we’ve come to love in the past quarter century (including the return of Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver) – but she’s also joined by some intriguing new romantic interests played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and One Day’s Leo Woodall.
Chappell Roan is poised to bless the world with new material
The wild thing about Chappell Roan’s truly meteoric rise to fame in 2024 is the fact that she only actually released one new song last year (although Good Luck, Babe! is quite possibly her best offering to date, so we’re certainly not complaining).
In a year that saw her delivering stellar awards show performances, stacking up Grammy nominations and even debuting a sadly-still-unreleased new song on Saturday Night Live, we don’t think it’ll be too long before Chappell unveils the follow-up to her slow burn hit album The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess – and when she does, we will be ready for it.
It’s almost time to check back into The White Lotus resort
After gripping the world with its award-winning first seasons, set in Hawaii and Sicily, The White Lotus is heading to an exciting new location for its much-hyped third season.
This year’s action will unfold in a new resort in Thailand, with more twists, more A-list additions (not to mention the return of a familiar face!) and, we’re assuming, more mysteries to unravel over the course of the series. Consider us checked in!
28 Years Later is about to give us all sleepless nights
No, the long-awaited second season of The Last Of Us isn’t the only offering fans of the zombie genre have to look forward to in 2025.
As far as movie trailers go, they don’t come much more effective than 28 Years Later’s, which introduces us to the new cast already in the throes of a zombie apocalypse, all while soundtracked to a deeply unsettling recitation of Rudyard Kipling’s Boots.
Just don’t be too gutted when the film finally hits cinemas later in the year and Cillian Murphy isn’t in it…
Madonna is back doing what she does best
Madonna has a big anniversary coming up, as it’s almost 20 years since the release of her seminal album Confessions On A Dance Floor.
It just so happens that the Queen of Pop has revealed that she recently reunited with Confessions producer Stuart Price on new material that she’ll be premiering later in the year, marking her first studio release in six years (the longest wait in her 40-year career).
Between this and the material she previously teased with pop super-producer Max Martin, it looks like 2025 is going to be another great year to be a Madonna fan.
Lindsay Lohan returns to the big screen
After her Netflix deal (and cameo in 2024’s Mean Girls movie musical) reminded the world why they fell in love with Lindsay Lohan in the first place, she’s now set to reclaim her spot as a big-screen leading lady.
Lindsay recently reunited with Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis and a host of her former co-stars for Freakier Friday, a sequel to the much-loved Disney teen movie Freaky Friday. And unlike her Netflix rom-coms, this one is actually coming to cinemas!
Jurassic World Rebirth
Let’s face it, the Jurassic Park franchise could probably do with a bit of a dust-off – and that’s exactly what it’s getting in 2025.
Stand-alone movie Jurassic Park Rebirth will be led by Jurassic Park superfan Scarlett Johansson (who previously claimed she’d been “trying to get into” the franchise for over a decade) and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali.
Oh, and man of the hour Jonathan Bailey will also be completing the new movie’s central trio, fresh from his acclaimed performances in Wicked and Fellow Travellers.
Taylor Swift rounds off her re-release project
Believe it or not, it’s now been over a year since Swifties were gifted a new “Taylor’s Version” to pore over.
Taylor is currently enjoying some well-earned downtime after her mammoth Eras Tour, but it’s fair to assume that 2025 will be the year she unveils the long-awaited Reputation re-record, as well as the re-release of her oft-overlooked self-titled debut album.
And given just how quietly she managed to beaver away at The Tortured Poets Department, we wouldn’t be surprised if she whacked out some more original music while she was at it.
Shondaland presents us with a new mystery to unravel
We might not be getting any new Bridgerton to immerse ourselves in any time soon, but at least the production company behind the show has plenty else to keep us entertained.
Next on their slate is The Residence, a soap-y murder mystery led by Emmy winner Uzo Aduba as Cordelia Cupp, a detective looking into a murder at the White House.
The Orange Is The New Black star leads an impressive cast that also includes Giancarlo Esposito, Randall Park and The Other Two’s Ken Marino – and the fact that Kylie Minogue is due to make a cameo as herself only adds to the intrigue.
Zero Day marks the TV debut of Robert De Niro
Despite 60 years in the business, two Oscar wins and countless on-screen credits to his name, Robert De Niro has somehow never taken the lead in a TV series – but that’s all about to change.
In February 2025, the veteran performer is due to appear in the Netflix political thriller Zero Day, appearing opposite Lizzy Caplan and Oscar nominee Jesse Plemons, with the show centring around a major cyberattack in Washington DC.
Oh, and did we mention Angela Bassett plays the US president in it? We’re sold.
Stephen Sondheim’s final show arrives in London
The world of musical theatre lost one of the all-time greats in 2021, when the legendary composer Stephen Sondheim died at the age of 91.
Before his death, Sondheim worked on one last musical, Here We Are, which premiered on Broadway in 2023.
Now, the show is making the jump across the pond and debuting at the National Theatre, where its cast will include Jane Krakowski, Tracie Bennett, Denis O’Hare and Richard Fleeshman (who all have acclaimed Sondheim credits to their names), as well as Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Chumisa Dornford-May and Rory Kinnear.
And Just Like That has more surprises for Sex And The City fans
TV’s most unpredictable reboot is back for 2025.
If the first two seasons of And Just Like That taught us anything, it’s that nothing is off the table, so we look forward to storylines involving Carrie following Aidan into outer space, Miranda running for office and Samantha doing PR for Che Diaz’s upcoming “comedy concert” tour.
Benoit Blanc returns in Wake Up Dead Man
And since we’re already on the subject of star-studded casts, it seems right to turn our attention to the next instalment in the Knives Out series.
Thematically and tonally different to both its predecessors, Wake Up Dead Man will welcome the likes of Glenn Close, Josh O’Connor, Andrew Scott, Daryl McCormack, Kerry Washington and Jeremy Renner into the Knives Out universe, with Daniel Craig returning for his third outing as Benoit Blanc.
Jade shows us what else is up her sleeve on her debut album
Angel Of My Dreams is still one of our most-played songs of 2024, while follow-ups Midnight Cowboy and Fantasy have shown that Jade is no one-trick pony, and plans on using every crayon in the box when it comes to drawing out the world of her solo music.
The former Little Mix star is finally unveiling her debut album in the coming months, and we’re excited to hear more of the eclectic sounds she’s got in store for her fans.
Osgood Perkins follows Longlegs with something just as weird
As tonally different from the washed-out, sinister and downright creepy vibes of Longlegs as you can, the trailer for Osgood Perkins’ new film The Monkey is fast-paced, noisy, laced with dark humour and packed with bright-red gore.
Based on a story by Stephen King, the film also sees The Gentlemen and The White Lotus’ Theo James taking the lead as a pair of identical twins who embark on a mission to destroy a cursed toy that seems to be responsible for the deaths of everyone around them.
Glastonbury returns for one last blow-out before a fallow year
If you were lucky enough to snag Glasto tickets, it sounds like you’re in for an absolute smash of a year.
While so far line-up details are being kept firmly under wraps (aside from iconic crooner Rod Stewart in the famous Sunday afternoon “Legends” slot), organisers have already said that 2026 will be the year that Glastonbury takes a year off, meaning everyone will be going all out at Worthy Farm this summer.
Beyoncé hits the road with Cowboy Carter?
Alright, so this one might just be wishful thinking. But given just how massive Bey’s Renaissance tour and country-infused album Cowboy Carter were in the last two years – plus all of the rumours about her next stadium jaunt – surely 2025 will be the year the music icon hits the stage again.
We can dream, at least…