2025 has been a surprising year for horror television. I was worried about not having From in this year’s lineup and I’m still salty after Chucky was unforgivably canceled. However, this year has already brought us Kevin Bacon in The Bondsman, a neo-noir with Ethan Hawke and Keith David called The Lowdown, and a third Dexter spin-off. All of that was before we even got into the Halloween season. So, there are a lot of shows fighting for our attention, and I bet we’re all further behind than we would like to be. Which is why I am here to highlight five TV shows that made me stop, look, and listen for a whole season. Impressively, only two are returning favorites. The rest are new additions to the horror television landscape, and I love to see it.

Without further fanfare, let me introduce you to these stone-cold killers, the undead, and vicious aliens. May they make your next TV binge bloody, unsettling, and a little chaotic.

Alien: Earth

Where You Can Watch: Hulu

A young woman leads a group of soldiers to investigate a mysterious vessel that has crashed on Earth. Alien: Earth has an amazing cast and a great aesthetic. However, let’s be honest. We all came to see the Xenomorphs and chestbursters go to work in an episodic medium. Bringing Xenomorphs to the small screen is one of the reasons we all tried to look the other way for a lot of this uneven season. Don’t get me wrong, when the series was good, it was terrific. However, it struggled with pacing to the bitter end. It also felt like it was trying to have too many things at once sometimes, so some characters were stuck in park for too long. 

All of that being said, Alien: Earth also gave us Timothy Olyphant as a chaotic silver fox. I am here for this era and will not be unpacking what that says about me. While he’s one of the characters who felt underutilized for many of the episodes, I can’t stress enough how strong the cast of this show is. While I don’t need another season, and it did feel like a chore to get to the end of this one, I can’t be too mad that this franchise dipped its toes into the television landscape. It was an event, even though it did need a bit more time in the oven.

The Last of Us (Season 2)

Where You Can Watch: HBO Max

The second season of the wildly popular show picks up five years after the previous season finale. It finds our beloved duo of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) on the outs. The series also continued finding new ways to hurt us week after week. Many of my friends who finished the game have beef with this season. Because I still have so much gameplay left, I don’t know if I’ll also end up with a strong opinion in the future. However, I do know this show still left everyone sad on Sunday nights and still packs some of the best performances on TV. 

If you’re not familiar with this season’s story, we have a devastating character departure. However, we also get to see Ramsey lead a series and remind the people why they have always been an actor to watch. While we all have a few notes about the writing this season, I think The Last of Us is still appointment television. I also feel it’s still the strongest reason to keep an HBO Max subscription. The show still has us eating out of the palm of its hand, so clearly it’s doing something right.

Hell Motel

Where You Can Watch: AMC+ and Shudder

10 true crime obsessives spend a deadly weekend in a newly renovated hotel that was a murder site 30 years ago. Hell Motel delivered the bloodiest kills, the wildest mysteries, and possibly the coolest slasher mask design we’ve seen on the small screen in a hot minute. If you find someone who looks at you like I look at Baphomet, you’d better lock it down ASAP! This addictive new show was my favorite thing to hit my screen this year (so far). It also has one of the best episodes of TV this year, but that’s an entirely different article. 

Hell Motel had the girls fighting about who the actual killer is as the last bodies hit the floor in the season finale. This came as a shock to me, a person who watched the full season with my eyes open because it seemed pretty clear. However, the Reddit and Twitter communities took it to the social media streets for days. That’s another reason I know I was one of many people here for this new anthology from the Slasher crew. I also know I’m not alone in impatiently waiting to hear if our girl is coming back for a second season.

Revival 

Where You Can Watch: Peacock

When the dead rise from their graves in Wisconsin, it causes tension in a rural small town. While the formerly departed seem unchanged now that they are back from the dead, not everyone is on board for them to rejoin society. They also make the suspect list a lot longer for the officer who has to solve a murder. Not going to lie, Revival is for a very niche part of my brain. If you also have a soft spot for late 90s/early 00s basic cable sci-fi shows that are a bit wacky and rough around the edges, this season is for you.

Revival’s very vocal Twitter fanbase is the reason I stumbled across it this summer. I’m glad they made it hard to miss this twisty mystery that feels like a throwback to a bygone era of TV. Every episode added another layer and made me realize the devil really is in the details. I highly recommend it if you’re looking to have some fun with the undead on the streaming streets.

Yellowjackets (Season 3)

Where You Can Watch: Paramount+ with Showtime

The third season of Yellowjackets sees the adult versions of these characters reeling from Natalie’s death and discovering old secrets they would kill to protect are resurfacing. In the 90s timeline, the surviving team members have survived a brutal winter by making some soul-crushing choices. In my opinion, the teens’ storyline stole this season. It felt like the adult storyline was a bit uneven and went off the rails. While the performances were still captivating, I have issues with the way Lottie (Simone Kessell) was kind of discarded. I am actually baffled by most of the choices made in the adult timeline, if we’re being honest.

Yellowjackets continued delivering some outstanding performances and top-tier WTF TV moments. The teen storyline remains some of the most brutal, frustrating, and sad television we’re getting these days. The “youth group” leveled up in their grisly shenanigans, and it was at times hard to watch. While this season wasn’t my favorite, I tapped in religiously every week. So, my favorite soccer team turned young cannibals is still one of the shows to watch. 

I’m looking forward to It: Welcome to Derry and The Creep Tapes season 2. It feels like this year, nerds who like episodic horror are living. As one of those nerds, it has been a stressful pleasure trying to keep up with everything. I also know I’m missing so many low-key international gems because Netflix never advertises them. So, keep me honest and throw me some 2025 horror show recommendations on Bluesky.

Categorized: Editorials Lists Streaming Guides