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'Rings of Power,' 'Chucky,' 'La Brea' and More: The sci-fi and fantasy TV shows to watch in Fall 2022
Brace yourself! There's even more sci-fi, fantasy and genre television coming at you this autumn. SYFY WIRE highlights the ones you should make time to watch.
As autumn creeps up on us, it's likely that most of us barely caught up with our summer TV binge lists. And, now there's a fresh slate of brand-new, or returning, genre series waiting for us in September. With the tsunami of TV at fever pitch, it's more important than ever to curate what's worth your viewing time. If you're a high fantasy fan or love nostalgia properties, you're living in a blessed time because there is so much to choose from in both categories. But there are also some intriguing original series to take note of too. SYFY WIRE has curated the big premieres for fall 2022 genre shows getting a lot of buzz, or for series returning to continue stories we're already all-in to watch until their end.
September
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The epic series based on The Lord of the Rings book appendices by J. R. R. Tolkien with original storytelling inspired by Tolkien's text is a lush, sprawling look at Middle-earth in a seeming time of peace. Having lost her beloved brother to the battle against the orcs and evil, the Elven warrior Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is one of the very few who believe that that evil is welling up once more and is seeking it out. As she tirelessly chases all clues, the series connects us to a variety of realms and creatures, some new like the Hobbit-like Harfoots and many already familiar like Dwarves and Elves. There's a five-year plan for the series so plenty of time to reinvent Middle-earth storytelling once more.
Premieres on Sept. 1 on Prime Video. New episodes will air weekly.
Cobra Kai Season 5
After four seasons of being karate adversaries, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) finally came together in the Season 4 finale to merge their styles into "Miyagi-Fang" so they can bring down John Kreese (Martin Kove) and Terry Silver's (Thomas Ian Griffith) dastardly Cobra Kai dojo. The series remains one of the best examples out there of how to take a classic property, in this case The Karate Kid, and make it vital for today's audiences, both young and old(er). The cast of original actors is having a blast and the next gen cast of young karate kids are just as involved to watch grow, screw up and learn some life lessons.
All episodes premiere on Sept. 9 on Netflix
Vampire Academy
Julie Plec, the undisputed queen of modern-day, episodic vampire storytelling, returns with a new series based on novelist Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy book series. This time the story is an international production, shot in Spain, and it tells the adventures of students at St Vladimir's Academy boarding school. Together with executive producer Marguerite MacIntyre, Plec is rebooting the failed movie of the same name which came out in 2014. Diving into the cliques and long history of the school, the series will focus on the book characters of Rosemarie "Rose" Hathaway (Sisi Stringer) and Vasilisa "Lissa" Dragomir (Daniela Nieves). There's always room for more soapy undead, bloodsucking intrigue and we're looking forward to seeing how Plec and company reinvent the genre once more.
Premieres on Sept. 15 on Peacock. New episodes will air weekly.
Quantum Leap
Oh boy! Quantum Leap, the beloved '90s time-travel series, is getting a continuation almost 30 years after the original. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) is still out there in time somewhere but Dr. Ben Seong (Raymond Lee) is taking over the "leaping" duties for the newly revived Project Quantum Leap. Expect some tweaks to the rules of the first series, with a new cast and a new mystery to solve.
Premieres on Sept. 19 on NBC. New episodes will air weekly.
Andor
The end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was pretty final for the squad of rebel volunteers who stole the Death Star plans. And that's why this new sequel about spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is a prequel that tracks how the man became the legend in that movie. A two-season series, Andor Season 1 tells Andor's origin story against the backdrop of the rising rebellion against the Empire. Audiences will see how he came to be a fighter at age six and then gets recruited into the Rebellion as one of its most successful undercover agents. Created by Tony Gilroy, Andor brings back several other known characters and introduces a large ensemble of brand-new faces.
Premieres on Sept. 21 on Disney+. New episodes will air weekly.
La Brea Season 2
La Brea, our favorite modern-day meets 10,000 B.C. mashup returns to resolve a whole lot of crazy cliffhangers from its first season finale. With the Harris family separated through time, the series will continue to show how the survivors from our time in the past continue to deal with a hostile landscape of prehistoric creatures and threats. Meanwhile, the government and scientists are getting closer to figuring out how to control the opening portals and rescue everyone. We are ready for whatever the portals throw at us next!
Premieres on Sept. 27 on NBC. New episodes will air weekly.
October
Interview With the Vampire
AMC is launching their Anne Rice universe this fall with the series, Interview With the Vampire. Game of Throne's Grey Worm, Jacob Anderson, plays Louis, the vampire who gets grilled by the curious reporter, Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). With adjustments to the story's time and place and a necessary aging up of Claudia the kid vampire (Bailey Bass), Rice purists might have some quibbles about the changes. But the series plans to dive into plenty of the themes and relationships that made the book a vampire classic.
Premieres on Oct. 2 on AMC. New episodes will air weekly.
Chucky Season 2
Chucky creator Don Mancini is back for a second season of his audacious, episodic take on the beloved Good Guy doll gone bad. The show's unabashedly queer storytelling was a breath of fresh air for the genre and was equally forthright in telling other vital stories about bullying, self-acceptance, and complicated family dynamics. Plus, murder! Expect Chucky Season 2 to double-down on the emotion and the scares with Mancini promising the return of more of the franchise's famous faces.
Premieres on Oct. 5 on SYFY and USA Network. New episodes will air weekly.
Reginald the Vampire
Former Twin Peaks writer Harley Peyton brings novelist Johnny B. Truant's Fat Vampire books to TV with Reginald the Vampire. Playing the reluctant vampire is Jacob Batalon, who was Peter Parker's loyal "guy in the chair" in the recent Spider-Man films. As the titular bloodsucker, Reginald gets turned by the very cool and very reluctant mentor, Maurice. Facing an eternal existence living alongside shallow, vain vampires, Reginald has to figure out his place in the shade and how to redefine who he wants to be.
Premieres on Oct. 5 on SYFY. New episodes air weekly.
The Midnight Club
Writer/director Mike Flanagan is back adapting the stories of another horror writing legend, Christopher Pike, with The Midnight Club. The premise revolves around the macabre ritual of seven terminally ill young adults at a hospice gathering at midnight to tell scary stories. They promise the first one to die will contact the others and they make good on their promise. Flanagan knows how to add a lot of emotional weight to his scary interpretations so we expect to jump in our seats and cry into our Kleenex with this latest series.
All episodes premiere on Oct. 7 on Netflix
The Winchesters
Supernatural lasted an astounding 15 seasons following the adventures of demon-hunting brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester. The two characters were finally retired, but the broad mythology of the Winchesters remains to be explored. In this prequel series, their parents are the focus as the early training and demon hunting days of young Mary Campbell (Meg Donnelly) and John Winchester (Drake Rodger) will be revealed. There have been many attempts to make a Supernatural spin-off series, so we're just finally happy to see one get made and hopefully be a great successor to the now classic series.
Premieres on Oct. 11 on The CW. New episodes will air weekly.
Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
The Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro curates a collection of scary and spooky tales in this anthology series for Netflix. Meant to coincide with the Halloween season, del Toro says the stories will touch on "outer space, supernatural lore, or simply within our minds” and shake up the notion of horror storytelling. Big ambitions there, but we look forward to all of del Toro's creative swings. Plus, he's gotten directors like Catherine Hardwicke, Vincenzo Natali, Guillermo Navarro, and Jennifer Kent to tell the individual stories.
Premieres on Oct. 25 on Netflix. New episodes will air weekly.
November
Willow
Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) returns as the mighty Nelwyn dwarf sorcerer. In a continuation of the story originated in the 1988 film of the same name, a new threat blooms and Willow is tasked by Queen Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) to help thwart the impending doom. Another old meets new ensemble piece, we're excited to see where the long-dormant high fantasy world will go with today's special effects and visuals.
Premieres on Nov. 30 on Disney+. New episodes will air weekly.
