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In a particularly tumultuous year for the entertainment industry, 2026 has already seen its fair share of television cancellations. Sometimes it feels like a rare privilege when a show gets to run for multiple seasons, particularly in this mercurial streaming era. It’s even rarer when a show returns and is roughly just as good as it was when audiences last saw it. With that in mind, we’re highlighting our favorite established shows that returned with new episodes throughout 2026.
From episodes launching a new season after a lengthy hiatus to shows maintaining a regular production schedule, these are ones that proved to be worth the wait. Whether it’s a hit animated series with a fresh batch of episodes or gripping streaming dramas, we had a lot to thankfully choose from this year. There’s always something special in seeing fan-favorite characters light up the screen again, something we’ve grown to appreciate more with how unpredictable the industry is these days.
Here are the 10 best returning TV shows of 2026 so far, each retaining the quality that made audiences fall in love with them in the first place.
The Pitt
Reuniting several of the team that worked on “E.R.” together decades earlier, “The Pitt” stands as the prestige medical drama. The HBO Max series returned for its second season this past January, this time with its Pittsburgh trauma center team working a chaotic shift on Independence Day. As the staff contend with a steady stream of patients suffering from gruesome injuries related to the holiday celebration, details from their turbulent personal lives surface. This includes senior physician Robby Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) who is preparing to take a sabbatical to deal with his severe burnout.
Side-stepping the threat of a sophomore slump completely, “The Pitt” scored big at the 2026 Emmys and rightfully so. The procedural medical thrills are still present and the slow-burn character development only grows deeper with the show’s second season. Noah Wyle theorized that “The Pitt” works so well because it places the audience’s perspective in the thick of the routine carnage, and that’s certainly part of it. But more than its intensity, this is a series that remembers to maintain its own humanity alongside its graphic authenticity, making us even more invested in the procedural action.
Industry
When it comes to salaciously soap operatic drama, “Industry” has been consistently leading the, well, industry since 2020. Set in the high-paced and scandal-filled world within the British financial sector, the show expands its scope to foreign entities and increasing criminal activity in Season 4. This is largely fueled by improprieties committed by the financial tech company Tender and its key personnel, heightening the cover-ups and backstabbing. These story arcs are complicated by the main characters’ penchant for vice, which only helps provide further blackmail fodder as tensions rise.
Unlike “The Pitt,” unfortunately, “Industry” tends to be snubbed at the Emmys, despite being a top-tier drama for HBO. The amount of debauchery only seems to escalate this season, becoming further weaponized in various characters’ power plays and trying to weasel their way out of trouble. One of the standouts amidst the growing ensemble cast is Kit Harington giving a career-best performance in the overlooked HBO series as unstable aristocrat Henry Muck. A show full of beautiful people doing very bad things, “Industry” Season 4 all revolves around consequences finally catching up to our main characters.
Shrinking
It really does feel like Apple TV has become the current platform for prestige television projects these days, boasting star-studded casts and cinematic-level productions. One of the streaming service’s strongest dramedies is “Shrinking,” which returned for its third season this past January. The season opens with Paul Rhoades’ (Harrison Ford) symptoms stemming from Parkinson’s disease worsening, prompting him to get his affairs in order. This leads to the addition of Michael J. Fox, playing fellow Parkinson’s disease patient Gerry, whom Paul encounters while undergoing treatment.
“Shrinking” Season 3 would’ve likely made this list regardless, but the welcome introduction of Fox’s character cemented its inclusion. Seeing the actor and Parkinson’s disease research advocate return to television is an emotional triumph, and he works well opposite Ford. Beyond this, the show continues to mix its laughs with heartbreaking moments, with Ford and co-star and co-creator Jason Segel delivering some of their career-best performances. A fantastic return for one of television’s most heartwarming dramedies, “Shrinking” Season 3 was a great way to start the year.
X-Men ’97
When “X-Men ’97” made its debut on Disney+ in 2024, it felt like the X-Men animated series that we had been waiting for since, well, 1997. Though “X-Men ’97” Season 2 took a long time to make, stemming from production problems that included the firing of the revival series’ original showrunner, it returned this past July. Even with the creative changes behind-the-scenes and the two-year gap between seasons, we’re happy to report that “X-Men ’97” Season 2 is a dazzling sequel season. The show picks up with the titular team separated stranded in different points in history before converging to face the renewed threat of Apocalypse (Ross Marquand).
“X-Men ’97” goes deeper and darker with its characters than the preceding season, really putting its heroes and villains through the wringer. At the same time, the show boasts a bigger scope, with its multiple time period premise and larger recurring cast of characters. The revival series had benefited from drawing heavily from its comic book source material, and that distinction remains, maneuvering the characters that savvy fans will recognize. But “X-Men ’97” also still keeps the surprises coming in ample supply, and we can’t wait to see what it’s preparing to unleash in Season 3.
Hacks
One last returning HBO original series to include here is “Hacks,” which came back for its fifth and final season this year. The show centers on aging stand-up comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) as they work together. Season 5 has Deborah determined to cement her comedy legacy, impulsively announcing a special gig at Madison Square Garden. Ava and the rest of the team scramble to prepare for the performance, with plenty of mishaps threatening to upend the show.
Ever since the start, Jean Smart has been absolutely magnetic in “Hacks,” and she lands the perfect punchline in the series finale. But for a season that’s all about defining one’s own legacy, the HBO series takes great strides in establishing its own. The gags come in fast and furious throughout the season, and the things that Smart and Einbinder’s characters endure are truly hilarious, yet they persevere. This is juxtaposed by a strong sense of heart, with “Hacks” sticking the landing as its protagonist finds her own final measure of success.
After a three-year hiatus, “Beef” made its return for the award-winning anthology series’ second season this past April. Whereas the first season revolved around an escalating road rage incident, the second features two bickering couples in their own ridiculous feud. Financially struggling young couple Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin Davis (Charles Melton) decide to blackmail affluent couple Josh Martin (Oscar Isaac) and Lindsay Crane-Martin (Carey Mulligan). This plan quickly goes off the rails, as the web of lies, secrets, and scandals explodes, escalating into murder and a criminal conspiracy that reaches Seoul.
“Beef” Season 2 takes its darkly comedic stakes to the next level, showcasing a thoroughly despicable ensemble all linked to a country club as the show’s central setting. Like the first season, there are no heroes in this story, just petty figures engaging in questionable antics before they even start targeting each other. The impressive all-star cast digs into these character arcs well, with Mulligan and Melton particularly good in playing their respective roles. Dark comedy at its finest, powered by Lee Sung Jin’s tightly plotted script, “Beef” remains as deliciously dysfunctional as ever in its second season.
My Adventures with Superman
Marvel isn’t the only game in town that had an acclaimed animated superhero series returning for a new season in 2026. DC’s “My Adventures with Superman” came back with a splash this past June and featured the introduction of several other variations of the Man of Steel. This season finds Superman (Jack Quaid) trying to prove himself worthy of his powers after sacrificing them in a battle against Cyborg-Superman (Max Mittelman). Everything quickly escalates into a story spanning space and time, as conflicting forces try to take advantage of Superman’s absence.
With all due respect to the DC Animated Universe, “My Adventures with Superman” feels like the most consistently ambitious animated storytelling with the Man of Tomorrow. Season 3 brings in such an expansive cast of characters to balance while providing its own thematic riff on the death and return of Superman arc. In between its super-powered stakes, the show also still finds the time to give popular DC Comics‘ memes new meaning with its self-aware sense of humor. A show that genuinely deserves more buzz than it gets, “My Adventures with Superman” is one of the best shows on Adult Swim’s current programming lineup.
The Bear
After its tremendous debut on FX on Hulu in 2022, “The Bear” has been all over the place tonally and, to a lesser degree, with its overall quality. “The Bear” Season 5 depicted the show’s final chaotic shift, with its concluding season unfolding all over the course of a single dinner rush. With Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) realizing how his dysfunction has threatened the restaurant, he takes a back seat to his sous-chef Sydney Adamu (Ayo Edebiri). Syd leads the team to deliver an outstanding dinner service, despite so many things going wrong behind the scenes throughout the day.
Just like the structure of the final season itself, “The Bear” Season 5 accomplishes so much with so little to work with. Many of the characters get satisfying payoffs to their respective arcs, while the story moves at a steady clip, encouraging a marathon binge watch. But more than anything else, the season remembers to actually be funny again, something the show had lost sight of with its more dramatic stories. While careening close to the end, “The Bear” manages to stick the landing, and given the nature of the show, it wouldn’t have it any other way.
Another acclaimed series preparing for its impending conclusion is “Silo,” with its third season premiering this past July. Through prominent flashbacksThe season finally showcases the cataclysmic event that forced the remnants of humanity to shelter in the silos in the first place. Meanwhile, during the narrative set in the relative present, Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) leads a resistance movement against the silo’s tightly controlled safeguards. This rebellion is done as Juliette continues to contend with her memory being compromised, a recurring theme throughout the show.
The core narrative of “Silo” was always something of a mystery box in the tradition of preceding sci-fi shows like “Lost,” just with a more post-apocalyptic approach. Coming out of the season finale, there are several big questions that still need to be answered, as the fourth and final season looms. An early trailer for Season 4 brought the show’s timelines together as the true nature of the silos is poised to be tantalizingly unveiled. Whatever is poised to happen next, we’re definitely on the edge of our seats waiting for “Silo” Season 4.
Dark Matter
Best-selling author Blake Crouch adapted his novel “Dark Matter” on Apple TV in 2024, following protagonist Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) after his life is upended by a doppelganger from another universe. While the first season completely adapted the literary source material, Crouch spearheaded an original sequel story for its second season. Season 2 is all about consequences and the implications of parallel universes’ existence, with Jason and his family fleeing across the multiverse to find a safe haven. Meanwhile, the villainous Leighton Vance (Dayo Okeniyi) and his plans for the box allowing multiversal travel finally stand revealed as he maintains his obsessive pursuit.
Though the first season of “Dark Matter” told a story across the multiverse, it retained a tight, intimate scope with its storytelling. Season 2 goes even bigger and more ambitious with its stakes while keeping sight of the story’s emotional cost on its main characters. Everyone is in fine form, particularly Okeniyi as he gets much more intense and varied material to work with this season. An Apple TV original that more people should be talking about, “Dark Matter” features imaginative sci-fi storytelling with a solid emotional grounding keeping audiences invested.
