It’s a weird time for Warner Bros. right now. As the legendary film and television studio faces acquisition by Paramount-Skydance, the future of Warner’s prestige cable brand HBO is a little uncertain. Just what will HBO look like in a year from now? Five years? Ten years? Who knows. But right now, in 2026, the channel/streamer is as solid as ever.
In 2026, HBO released multiple acclaimed dramas and comedies that have helped us keep our HBO Max subs active. At the same time, a handful of unscripted documentary shows and reality programming had made HBO flexible beyond just Sunday night prestige. There’s The Dark Wizard, a new documentary series that profiles the late free climber Dean Potter. There’s also Neighbors, an enthralling look at middle America as told by beefing next-door neighbors. There’s more to HBO than dragons and scummy rich people, and these shows prove why.
The first half of 2026 has also seen a few new, potentially long-lasting hits for HBO too. Rooster is a new comfort comedy from Bill Lawrence that will make us miss our college days. DTF St. Louis is comparatively more grim, being a murder mystery set against the mundanity of midwestern suburbia. But watching a rotund David Harbour shake and shimmy as a concert sign language interpreter is pretty damn funny, too. And friends: The Comeback is back, baby!
We still have so much more of 2026 to get through. But for now, these are the best shows on HBO and HBO Max that will last us through the summer.
The Dark Wizard
Hold your breath, because The Dark Wizard will take it away. Following its premiere at SXSW, the riveting docu-series The Dark Wizard is now streaming on HBO Max. The show chronicles the rise and tragic death of free climber Dean Potter, who achieved notoriety for his death-defying ambitions and brash personality until he died in 2015. Even if you know nothing about action sports, The Dark Wizard is a spell-binding look at a man without fear.
Watch Now
Like Water for Chocolate (season 2)
The sumptuous Mexican drama produced by Salma Hayek is back for its second season, with its plot adapting the second half of Laura Esquivel’s celebrated 1989 novel. In season 2, Azul Guaita returns as Tita, who must decide between her undying love for Pedro (Andrés Baida) or Dr. Brown (Francisco Angelini). HBO romances have more than addicted teenagers and hockey twinks, and Like Water for Chocolate is the sultry romance that all starving yearners are looking for.
Watch Now
Hacks (season 5)
It’s Madison Square Garden or bust, baby. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder return for the fifth and final season of Hacks, which sees Deborah (Smart) in a make-it-or-break-it run for a solo show in New York City. While Deborah and Ava (Einbinder) have evolved in what you might call a friendship, is their bond strong enough to withstand what’s to come? Maybe, maybe not. But they’ve come a long way since Vegas.
Watch Now
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
Game of Thrones had its share of laughs. But A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is truly a riot. Set between Game of Thrones and its epic prequel series House of the Dragon, the adventures of too-tall hedge knight Ser Duncan (Peter Claffey) and his friendship with bald “Egg” (Dexter Sol Ansell) are chronicled in this live-action adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. In a time when it’s really uncertain if audiences have the appetite for more medieval mind games anymore, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms dares to give those same fatigued HBO viewers something to cheer for.
Watch Now
Neighbors
“Love thy neighbor,” God commanded. But even the heavenly father couldn’t have foreseen Ring cameras, privacy laws, and HOA disputes. Neighbors is a new HBO anthology series that dives into the juicy blood feuds between bickering neighbors across America. From Florida to Montana to New Jersey, Neighbors highlights real people with real axes to grind… and only on HBO are those neighbors taking a swing.
Watch Now
The Comeback (season 3)
It’s truly a comeback for The Comeback, which returns after 12 years for its third and final season. Lisa Kudrow is back as Valerie, who stars in a new sitcom written by AI. It’s a brand new Hollywood as Valerie tries to make a meal out of autogenerated slop while putting up with social media teams and harrowing Hot Ones appearances. The Comeback is a delirious examination of where Hollywood is right now, and the uncertainty of where it’s all going.
Watch Now
Rooster
Entering the honor roll for Esquire’s best TV is Rooster, the newest Bill Lawrence sitcom. Steve Carell stars as a novelist who takes a job teaching creative writing at a liberal arts college to help his daughter (Charly Clive), an art history professor, get through a heartbreaking divorce. Witty and warm in the way Ted Lasso was, Rooster is worth enrolling for a long binge weekend.
Watch Now
DTF St. Louis
One of the buzziest new shows of the year has it all: infidelity, a murder mystery, hookup apps, and Jamba Juice. Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini star in DTF St. Louis, a simmering adult drama about an affair that ends with one person dead, and two investigators (Joy Sunday and Richard Jenkins) on the case to find out who did it in this darkly hilarious whodunnit.
Watch Now
The Pitt (season 2)
It’s time for another shift at Pittsburgh Medical Trauma Center. Set during Independence Day, the doctors and nurses of PMTC survive another twelve hours of patient emergencies and personal issues. Water park accidents, gross hot dog eating contests, fireworks explosions, and an abandoned infant are just a handful of the chaos that unfolds in season 2. We can’t wait to see what the night shift has to offer.
Watch Now
