Horror fans had plenty to celebrate on TV in 2025, between returning faves like Stranger Things and Black Mirror, and new hits, Alien: Earth and Pluribus.
*Keep up with our ongoing end of the year coverage here*
The lines between television and cinema have become progressively blurred, and it’s no longer unusual for a season of television’s budget to dwarf that of a blockbuster movie. There are more places to stream series than ever before, even if purchases and mergers continue to consolidate the media landscape. Horror has rarely struggled to find an audience on television, whether it’s anthology programming, disturbing dramas, or some sort of surreal genre fare. 2025 was a great year for horror cinema, but it was just as fruitful for television.
This year marked the return of several celebrated series, exciting expansions to familiar IP, and brand-new horror titles that are destined to become modern classics.
Black Mirror, Season 7
The world is always better with more Black Mirror in it, even if newer seasons are more inconsistent in quality than the anthology series’s earliest years. Seven seasons in, Black Mirror has been inclined to take greater risks and bigger swings with the types of stories it tells, which often leads to fascinating experiments, even if they’re flawed in their execution. It’s this fearless experimentation that triggers rewarding storytelling that would have seemed impossible back when Black Mirror started, like Season 7’s “USS Callister: Into Infinity,“ a sequel to a Season 4 entry.
Season 7’s six episodes tackle prescient ideas, several of which explore manipulated realities, the prevalence of AI, and a refusal to say goodbye. Black Mirror’s latest season creates palpable anxiety over the many ways in which technology is used to rewrite the world and skirt consequences. There’s still plenty of gas left in Black Mirror’s tank, especially in a world that seems to be increasingly at the whims of evolving tech.
Streaming on Netflix.
Talamasca: The Secret Order
It’s still a little hard to believe that one of the best shows that’s currently on television is a passionate adaptation of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles. “Immortal Universe” fans will need to wait until Summer 2026 for The Vampire Lestat. However, 2025 featured the debut of a new corner of AMC’s Immortal Universe, Talamasca: The Secret Order. Talamasca mixes Interview with the Vampire’s supernatural storytelling with espionage action that teases a grander conspiracy that’s far bigger than any vampire, witch, or werewolf.
At only six episodes, Talamasca: The Secret Order’s first season feels more like a proof of concept and prologue to something greater. Interview with the Vampire fans should prepare themselves for a lesser series, but there’s still enough to sink one’s teeth into in Talamasca. The Da Vinci Code or The Lone Gunmen may not feel like the most natural mix for Anne Rice’s gothic storytelling, but it’s worth it to see William Fichtner chew scenery like it’s a carotid artery.
Streaming on AMC+.
The Institute
Stephen King has become a brand name and IP in and of himself. It’s never too long until a new King adaptation is upon us, but 2025 was quite generous in this regard, with feature film versions of The Long Walk, The Monkey, The Life of Chuck, and The Running Man all hitting theaters. King fans also had their options on TV, including MGM+’s adaptation of King’s 2019 novel, The Institute. There is no shortage of TV shows that deal with human experiments on special test subjects. The Institute has plenty of company in this department, yet this nebulous narrative benefits from King having experimented in this territory for more than 50 years in titles like Carrie, Firestarter, The Shining, and so much more.
The Institute keeps its cards close to its chest, but the series explores the cruel tests that are performed on psychically gifted children who have been abducted and imprisoned in a secret government facility. Despite the grander supernatural abilities and evil oppressors that are in play in The Institute, this is a deeply human story about the cost of freedom and whether such a thing is even possible. The Institute comes from much of the same team that brought King’s Mr. Mercedes to life and, with a second season already confirmed, curious viewers can check into The Institute with the comfort of knowing that more episodes — and answers — are on the way. The Institute is the perfect replacement for Stranger Things, now that the latter is wrapping up.
Streaming on MGM+.
Gen V, Season 2
There’s been some understandable skepticism surrounding The Boys’ gradual progression into the very thing that it was poking fun at during its earliest seasons, including a number of spin-offs, some of which seem more necessary than others. Gen V has justified its existence as it performs a tonal tightrope walk that feels like a CW version of this heightened universe, albeit with just as much blood, guts, and gonads. Gen V’s second season continues Marie Moreau’s (Jaz Sinclair) ascension as she comes to terms with her blood manipulation powers as the tension between humans and “supes” escalates.
Granted, Gen V Season 2 isn’t perfect, and there’s a great deal of weight put on a major plot twist that’s telegraphed right from the season’s start. Beyond this mishandled plot point, there’s still a lot to love in Gen V, including radical, R-rated powers that occasionally put The Boys’ abilities to shame. Gen V’s Season 2 finale feeds right into the events of The Boys’ Season 4 conclusion. It’s unclear if a third season of Gen V will come to pass or if its burgeoning cast will receive closure in The Boys’ fifth and final season.
Streaming on Prime Video.
Haunted Hotel
Western animation isn’t averse to tackling the horror genre, but it’s a territory that often needs to be filtered through a comedic lens. In the case of Netflix’s Haunted Hotel, this animated comedy feels like the horror genre’s answer to Rick and Morty. A single mom, her two children, and her deceased brother set up shop in a picker-upper hotel that seems to house more paranormal activity than paying guests. Haunted Hotel gleefully tackles many different horror subgenres with pitch-perfect parodies that are as funny as they are frightening.
Haunted Hotel clearly has true reverence for the genre that it’s poking fun at, rather than these terrifying tropes operating as a means to an end. It also doesn’t hurt that Haunted Hotel has an excellent cast of voice talent that includes Will Forte, Eliza Coupe, Skyler Gisondo, and Jimmi Simpson. More Haunted Hotel has already been confirmed, but the animated series’s freshman season finds a sublime blend between horror, humor, and human storytelling between a family that genuinely cares about each other.
Streaming on Netflix.
Pluribus
Vince Gilligan has earned himself a permanent blank check after his formative work on The X-Files, Breaking Bad,and Better Call Saul. Pluribus may be set in Albuquerque, but it’s much more in line with Gilligan’s genre work from The X-Files. Pluribus tackles a dystopian vision of the future when an alien virus co-opts the entire population — minus 12 individuals — into a blissful hive mind. Carol (Rhea Seehorn), one of these dozen “Others,” seeks to prevent her own assimilation while she attempts to understand the virus’s rules and if there’s a process to reset its effects. Pluribus kicks off with a bang and doesn’t waste any time, yet the drama’s first season has faced an increasingly polarizing response.
Much like Better Call Saul’s first season, Pluribus is a patient, methodical series that isn’t afraid to take its time and celebrate thematic payoffs over massive plot twists. Rhea Seehorn’s Carol is a hostile protagonist who is a tough pill to swallow, but that’s also the point. Pluribus requires some trust on the audience’s part, and some may prefer to watch it as a lengthy binge instead of a drip-feed release. Pluribus is a series that’s worth sticking with, and there’s a good chance that Season 2 mixes things up after the groundwork that this first season establishes. Pluribus has shades of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Stand, as larger parallels to artificial intelligence also creep into the narrative.
Streaming on Apple TV+.
Stranger Things, Season 5
Outside the endless memes that poke fun at just how long it’s taken Netflix’s breakaway hit to finish its five seasons, is a genuinely strong series that’s earned its incredible acclaim. Sure, it’s been a frustrating, tedious wait between seasons, but it’s hard to complain when the series delivers movie-level magic that’s connected its dots with finesse and flair. Stranger Things’ fifth season has been split into three separate parts, which make up an eight-episode final season.
These final episodes have expanded on the Upside Down and Vecna’s history in rewarding ways, while the chemistry and character development between Hawkins’ intrepid residents have never been stronger. After more than three-dozen chapters, Vecna’s showdown against Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), along with the powerful allies who would do anything to help her, conjures the stakes and scale necessary for a final fight that won’t soon be forgotten. Netflix is committed to expanding the Stranger Things brand, but it will be hard to top the original.
Streaming on Netflix.
Dexter: Resurrection
As someone who truly believes that Dexter’s eighth season and original series finale contain some of television’s most irresponsible and reckless writing, it’s an incredibly satisfying surprise to see Dexter: Resurrection (and Dexter: Original Sin, for that matter) rise to the occasion, learn from its past mistakes, and completely knock it out of the park. Somehow, against all odds, Dexter: Resurrection is good. Really good, in fact. Dexter: Resurrection properly embraces the franchise’s baked-in camp and gives Michael C. Hall a murderer’s row of talent to play off of in a season that features Uma Thurman, Krysten Ritter, David Dastmalchian, Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Stonestreet, and Peter Dinklage.
Dexter Morgan follows his son to New York City, where he finds himself entrenched in a very exclusive club of prolific serial killers. Dexter: Resurrection is smart to not take itself too seriously and instead heighten the narrative as much as possible, like the pulpiest of novels. With any luck, Dexter: Resurrection’s second season will maintain this momentum and consistency, rather than going off the rails like in the past.
Streaming on Paramount+.
It: Welcome To Derry
Stephen King has a knack for creating rich, sprawling universes that feel tailor-made to be further explored in serialized television series. There are plenty of Stephen King series that break new ground and go beyond their source material. What makes It:Welcome to Derry such an exciting expansion is that it’s very much a continuation of Andy Muschietti’s two-part movie. One of the most exciting things about this series is the structural approach that it’s taking. The three-season series is set in 1962, 1935, and 1908, each of which marks one of Pennywise’s fated Derry massacres before Its events begin. It: Welcome to Derry takes some big liberties when it comes to Pennywise’s background, while it also goes ahead and connects other Stephen King dots, like bringing in The Shining’s Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk).
It: Welcome to Derry deserves to be judged on its own merits and as its own entity, rather than how closely it adapts King’s original novel. What’s important is that Welcome to Derry feels genuinely cruel, with a brutal body count and copious child deaths. No one is safe, and the series demonstrates a gleeful violence that’s appropriate for this Pennywise showcase. On that note, Bill Skarsgård’s work in Welcome to Derry is somehow even more terrifying than his work in the feature films. He brings even greater terror to one of King’s most popular creations. The first season proudly burns down the house before it prepares to turn back the clock for another season of Derry deaths.
Streaming on HBO Max.
Alien: Earth
Alien is a franchise that’s been around for over 45 years, evolving far beyond its cinematic origins and fueling dozens of comics, video games, and expanded universe stories. Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus garnered a lot of attention in 2024, with fans a little more skeptical over Noah Hawley’s televised take on the franchise. Hawley has surpassed expectations, and Alien: Earth has matched the same heights as Fargo and Legion when it comes to respecting its source material, while also providing an inspired new take on the universe.
Alien: Earth features plenty of Xenomorph murders and Chestburster brutality, yet it’s a horror/sci-fi/drama that’s equally interested in corporate politics between Weyland-Yutani, Prodigy, and three other entities that want to control the galaxy. Meanwhile, Alien: Earth operates like some science fiction update to Peter Pan when it comes to humans, synthetics, and hybrids — synthetics with human consciousness. Alien: Earth answers deeply-rooted questions of identity, freedom, and legacy, while a robust roster of extra-terrestrial horrors run amok. Alien: Earth doesn’t tell the story that fans might expect from an Alien series, but it’s better off for it. Season 1’s eight episodes delicately set the stage for a sophomore season that’s destined to reach even wilder places.
Also, Timothy Olyphant as a synthetic. Enough said.
Streaming on Hulu and Disney+.
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