Winter 2026-27 releases worth waiting for

Denis Villeneuve's third Dune film, adapted from Frank Herbert's Dune Messiah: Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is emperor, his holy war has spread across the universe, and Chani (Zendaya) is the only one who still sees him clearly.

Dune Messiah is the book where Herbert tells you what he thought of his own hero. It is short, talky and full of plots against a man who can see the future and hates what he sees. Part Two's ending, with Chani walking away, already pointed this way, which suggests Villeneuve understood the book. It is a smaller, sadder story than the first two films, and we think that could make it the best of the three. See it in IMAX if you can.

Before it arrives: Rewatch Part Two, and read Dune Messiah if you have a weekend: it is about 250 pages, far shorter than Dune. The Dune films and books in order

Expect a darker, more political film than Part Two, with fewer sandworm set pieces. If you wanted Paul to be the hero, the book's answer is no.

The Russo brothers return to direct the Avengers against Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr., with the Fantastic Four and the Thunderbolts joining the team.

Marvel's recent films have been uneven, and the studio has said openly that it made too many. But the Russos made Infinity War and Endgame, still the high point of the whole project, and Downey as a villain is the kind of risk that either works completely or doesn't at all. We would go for the spectacle and the crowd. Opening weekend audiences for a Russo Avengers film are part of the show.

Before it arrives: The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts* (both 2025) are the two that matter most. You can skip almost everything else.

A great deal of homework if you stopped watching after Endgame, and it is the first half of a story that finishes in Secret Wars, so the ending won't be an ending.

Tomi Adeyemi's fantasy novel, set in a West African-inspired kingdom where magic has been stamped out, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood with Thuso Mbedu, Amandla Stenberg, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Idris Elba and Viola Davis.

The book was a huge young-adult hit in 2018, and the film has spent years in development. Prince-Bythewood made The Woman King, which had some of the best large-scale fight choreography of the decade and starred Mbedu, so she is a good match for a story built on chases and battles. A cast this strong in January, usually a dumping ground for studio leftovers, is the reason it is on this list.

Before it arrives: Read the novel, the first of a trilogy. It is about 530 pages and moves quickly.

Young-adult fantasy, with a love story the book's fans argue about. It will likely be the first part of a series, so expect loose ends.

Greta Gerwig adapts the Narnia prequel, in which two London children, Digory and Polly, stumble into other worlds and watch Narnia being sung into existence, with Carey Mulligan, Daniel Craig, Emma Mackey and Meryl Streep among the cast.

Netflix moved this from Thanksgiving to February to give it a full theatrical run, the first time the service has done that with one of its films, which tells you how much it believes in it. The Magician's Nephew is the strangest Narnia book: a dying world, a wicked queen waking up, a lamppost growing out of the ground. Gerwig is very good with children who feel like real children, and this book needs exactly that.

Before it arrives: Read The Magician's Nephew. It is about 200 pages, and it explains the lamppost, the wardrobe and the White Witch.

Christian allegory runs through the whole series and is especially plain at the end of this book. Younger children may find the dead world of Charn frightening.

HBO's series retelling the seven Harry Potter books, one season per book, starting on Christmas Day with Dominic McLaughlin as Harry and John Lithgow as Dumbledore.

The obvious question is why remake films that are still on television every Christmas. The answer is time. The first film had to drop a lot of the book to fit in two and a half hours, and a season of television can keep Peeves, the full Quidditch matches and the slow, odd pleasure of the first term at Hogwarts. Francesca Gardiner, a writer on Succession, runs the show, and Mark Mylod, who directed many of Succession's best episodes, directs. If it works, it will be the family show of the decade.

Before it arrives: Reread the first book with your children, if you have them. It is the shortest of the seven. Harry Potter in order

J.K. Rowling is an executive producer, and some viewers will skip the series because of her views. Child actors growing up over a decade of production is a real risk.

An adaptation of William Gibson's 1984 novel about Case (Callum Turner), a burned-out hacker hired for one last job inside the networked world Gibson called cyberspace.

Neuromancer made the word cyberspace famous and set the look of science fiction since: The Matrix, Ghost in the Shell and every neon-lit city in a game owe it something. People have called it unfilmable for forty years. Television suits it better than a film would, because the book is a heist with a long set-up. Apple has had a strong run with ambitious science fiction lately, and that is the reason we are hopeful.

Before it arrives: Read the novel. It is under 300 pages, though the prose is dense and the first chapter throws you in. Push through it.

The book's future looks dated in places, and a faithful version may too. Expect violence and drug use.

Vince Vaughn returns as Andrew Yancy, a demoted Florida detective who can't stop investigating things nobody asked him to, in Bill Lawrence's comedy-crime series.

The first season, adapted from Carl Hiaasen's novel, was one of the most enjoyable surprises of 2024: a murder mystery in the Florida Keys with a dry narrator, a monkey and a lot of terrible people getting what they deserve. Bill Lawrence, who made Scrubs, Ted Lasso and Shrinking, is good at shows that are funny and kind without going soft. If December gets too much, this is the easy one.

Before it arrives: Season 1, ten episodes.

The first season used up Hiaasen's book, so season 2 is new material. Some violence and strong language.

An animated conspiracy thriller about two old school friends who find a mushroom that might cure every disease, and the drug companies and government agents who want it gone.

The best animated series of 2025 that most people didn't watch. It is funny, and it is also a proper thriller about health care and greed, drawn in a soft, strange style that makes the violence hit harder. The first season left a lot open, and the second has the chance to go much bigger.

Before it arrives: Season 1, ten half-hour episodes, an easy weekend.

Adult animation, with violence and drug use. It airs late at night on Adult Swim first, so check when the episodes reach streaming.

The first new main Professor Layton game in more than a decade: the gentleman puzzle-solver and his assistant Luke arrive in Steam Bison, an American city full of steam-powered machines.

The Layton games are a very particular pleasure: a mystery story stopped every few minutes for a brain teaser, matchsticks and sliding blocks and logic problems, all wrapped in beautiful hand-drawn art and very polite manners. It has been years since the series had a proper new entry, and Level-5 delayed it more than once to get it right. It is the best game on this list to share with someone who doesn't play games.

Before it arrives: Nothing required. If you want to try the series first, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is on phones and tablets.

Puzzle games stand or fall on their puzzles, and a few bad ones can stall you. It is the first Layton on PlayStation, so we don't know yet how it plays without a touchscreen.

A new 2D Metroid, announced in September: Samus Aran explores a hostile alien world, slowly unlocking the abilities that open the rest of the map.

Metroid Dread in 2021 was the best 2D Metroid in decades and proved the series still had a lot to say. Coming only a few years later, Ravenous suggests Nintendo knows it has an audience again. These games are short, tense and replayable, and few series have been copied as much; the word Metroidvania exists because of them. Of the January games, this is the one we would start first.

Before it arrives: Metroid Dread (2021) on Switch, which plays fine on Switch 2.

Switch 2 only. Metroid games can be hard, with boss fights that will kill you a lot, and you will sometimes be lost on purpose.

A full remake of the 2008 Persona 4, in which a high-schooler spending a year in a small rural town investigates murders linked to a television channel that only broadcasts on rainy nights.

Persona 4 is the warmest game in the series: a murder mystery wrapped around a year of school, part-time jobs and friendships that become the real story. The remake follows the success of Persona 3 Reload, which brought an old game up to date without losing its heart. If you have Game Pass, it costs you nothing to try on day one.

Before it arrives: Nothing required, but if you liked Metaphor: ReFantazio, this is the same team's older work.

Seventy hours or more, with a calendar that asks you to choose how to spend each day. No Switch 2 version has been announced.

A fresh start for the British fantasy series set in Albion, made by Playground Games, the studio behind the Forza Horizon racing games.

The old Fable games promised a world that reacted to everything you did, and the promise was always bigger than the game. That's part of why people love them. Playground has made the best open worlds on Xbox for a decade, and the trailers keep the series' daft British humour, which was always its best quality. It was delayed from 2026 to keep out of GTA VI's way, and it launches on PlayStation the same day as on Xbox.

Before it arrives: Fable II (2008) is the one to play if you want a taste. It is on Xbox through backwards compatibility.

This is Playground's first role-playing game, and nobody outside the studio has played much of it. Big launches with this many years of development behind them don't always land.

Anime

Sakamoto Days

Out January 2027 Netflix · season 2

The legendary hitman Taro Sakamoto retired, married, got out of shape and opened a corner shop. His old world keeps sending people to kill him, and he keeps beating them with whatever is on the shelves.

The manga is one of the best action comics running, with fights that turn a whole shopping mall into a weapon. The first anime season didn't always keep up with it, and fans noticed. The second season gets into the arcs where the manga really took off. If the animation steps up, this is the action show of the winter.

Before it arrives: Season 1 on Netflix, or the manga, which is a fast read.

Lots of comic violence, and a plot that is mostly an excuse for fights. Netflix releases episodes weekly, so it isn't a binge until it is over.

Saitama, a hero so strong he wins every fight with one punch and is bored stiff by it, is caught up in the war between the Hero Association and the Monster Association.

We'll be honest: the first half of season three, in late 2025, was a disappointment, with animation far below the famous first season. The second half covers the best part of the story, though, and the opening song is by JAM Project again. Watch the first episode or two before committing.

Before it arrives: Season 1 (2015) is a classic, and twelve episodes. Seasons 2 and 3 are only worth it if you are already invested.

If the animation stays where it was, the manga by Yusuke Murata is the better way to read this story. Streaming availability varies by region.

The next A Court of Thorns and Roses novel, the seventh in the series: Koschei the Deathless threatens Prythian, and the Night Court has to hold together a set of alliances that are starting to break.

Maas is the biggest name in fantasy publishing right now, and her fans will read this the day it comes out. Koschei has been lurking at the edges of the series for several books, so this is the payoff. The rest of us can take it as a sign that the series is building to something rather than circling.

Before it arrives: A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015) if you are new. The second book is where most readers get hooked.

Explicit sex scenes, and a long series that assumes you remember all of it. Not for younger readers, whatever the shelving in some shops suggests.

A new novel from the author of The House in the Cerulean Sea: when Burke learns that dogs don't live forever, he sets off on a journey to do something about it.

Klune writes the kind of book people press on friends after a hard year: warm, funny, and willing to talk about grief without getting gloomy. A story about a dog and how long they live is about as direct as he gets. If January is a difficult month for you, this is the book on this list for it.

Before it arrives: The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020), if you haven't read him.

It's sentimental, which is the point. Readers who like sharper fiction may find Klune too sweet. Bring tissues for the dog.

The fourth book about Emily Wilde, a prickly Cambridge scholar of faerie folklore, who follows a missing friend into Germany's Black Forest.

These books are written as Emily's own research journals, and they are a joy: a dry, socially hopeless academic, a charming faerie colleague she would rather not admit she likes, and folklore that is actually frightening. The Black Forest is the perfect setting for this series, and the right book for a snowy weekend.

Before it arrives: Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (2023). The series needs to be read in order.

A slow-burn romance and a lot of footnoted folklore. The faeries are cruel in the old, fairy-tale way, so there's some violence.

The second-to-last book in Samantha Shannon's Bone Season series, in which clairvoyant Paige Mahoney fights an empire that hunts people like her, now as gods walk openly among humans.

The Bone Season started in 2013 as a dystopian fantasy set in a future London and has grown into something much stranger and more ambitious. Shannon also wrote The Priory of the Orange Tree, and you can feel that scale here now. With one book left after this, it is a good time to catch up.

Before it arrives: The Bone Season (2013). The world-building is heavy at first, and there is a glossary.

Lots of invented slang and a large cast. It's a penultimate book, so it ends on a cliffhanger.