5 Best Animated TV Shows Of 2026 (So Far)

The New York Times may have ignored the entire medium of animation when selecting their best shows of the 21st century, but we’re not doing that here. That’s because /Film firmly believes in the value of animation to deliver stories as good (and often better) than anything live-action can do.

Sure, when it comes to animated TV, anime tends to get all the attention as the place where sophisticated, visually striking animation comes from. But that is a rather narrow point of view that ignores just how many great animated shows can be found around the world. This year alone saw Disney bring about one of the best “Star Wars” shows ever, and also tap some exciting French studios for truly surprising and excellent cartoons. Indeed, there’s a lot of variety on display in this year’s cartoons, showing the versatility of the medium and the abundance of talent working in animation. Whether it’s big franchises making their return, auteurs doing some of their best work, or entirely original ideas, there’s something out there for everyone.

Here is our list of the best animated TV shows of 2026 (so far).

Primal Season 3

Genndy Tartakovsky continues to show why he’s one of our greatest living animators with “Primal” Season 3. This ultra-violent adult animated pulp fantasy series has everything you’d want in a TV shows — dinosaurs, cavemen, zombies, people from the sea, witches, vikings, demons, and all sorts of monsters. After Season 2 ended rather definitely, with protagonist Speak sacrificing his life, it seemed like this show had run out of steam. But Season 3 manages to deliver a heartbreaking, layered, action-packed story full of creativity with a simple choice — bring back Speak as a zombie.

This allows “Primal” Season 3 to explore the world through fresh eyes, as most of the season focuses on zombie Spear rediscovering both the world and himself, experiencing everything for the first time in ways that can be surprisingly touching (especially a small moment with a cricket early in the season). Not to say that the show is suddenly getting mushy; it’s still very much a blood-soaked action cartoon where bones get crushed, flesh gets torn, and limbs are torn apart every episode. 

The action this time around is contained to a relatively small area compared to last season. This allows “Primal” to go deeper into its worldbuilding by developing this one area and all the dangers, civilizations, and creatures that lurk within it. Tartakovsky is one of the best to ever do it, and “Primal” continues to be a badass show with some truly stunning imagery and a surprising amount of heart.

The Doomies

The easiest way to describe Andrés Fernandez, Henry Gifford, and Rémi Zaarour’s “The Doomies” is “‘Evil Dead” for kids.” Animated by French studio Xilam, the show follows two best friends who accidentally open a portal to the underworld that turns their calm French coastal town into a hotspot for monster activity. 

In many ways, this is the spiritual successor to “Gravity Falls”: a comedy-horror show with a love of the weird and occult, featuring a vast mythology that is treated seriously while still having fun with genre storytelling. “The Doomies” does for eldritch horrors what “Gravity Falls” did for sci-fi and the occult, with plenty of monsters, zombies, and untold evils being unleashed in every episode. This show is a treat for horror aficionados. It has a deep love and respect for the genre, and the stunning animation means it instantly stands out from other Disney cartoons.

A big part of what makes “The Doomies” special is how it balances horror and humor in a way that’s not very common on TV these days. This is a cartoon that harkens back to the days of “Goosebumps” and “Courage the Cowardly Dog,” but with a serialized story that wasn’t common in those days. There are many mysteries that build up throughout the first season of the show, resulting in fun twists and turns that audiences of all ages can appreciate.

Avatar: Seven Havens

The Avatar is back! Despite Paramount’s best efforts to bury Avatar Studios and everything animation, “Avatar: Seven Havens” is magnificent. This is a show that builds off of 20 years of the “Avatar” franchise while creating something quite unique and fresh, with striking designs, cool action, and an intriguing mystery. Set over 200 years after “The Legend of Korra,” a cataclysm has destroyed the world, leaving only seven havens where the remnants of civilization dwell. In this post-apocalyptic reality, the Avatar is considered a destroyer rather than a savior. So when a young girl named Pavi discovers she’s the next Avatar, she isn’t excited, but rather terrified.

From the get-go, “Seven Havens” does something different than past shows, with a central mystery that builds on audiences’ familiarity with the franchise and makes the very lack of references to previous shows part of the story. What Korra supposedly did, how the world was destroyed, and where all the technology from Republic City went are all questions that the show raises from the start, building an intriguing mystery. Still, much like the previous two shows, what makes “Seven Havens” engaging is the characters. Pavi and her twin sister Nisha have a brand new dynamic we haven’t seen in “Avatar” before, but already in the first few episodes it’s clear they can carry this show and make it memorable and compelling.

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord

We’ve seen time and time again that “Star Wars” is at its best when it’s animated. “Maul — Shadow Lord” is a show that’s been in many a fan’s wishlist for years, and when it finally arrived it quickly surpassed any and all expectations. This show turned what was once a visually cool but narratively underwhelming villain into one of the most compelling and tragic figures in all of “Star Wars,” with a darker and more violent tone than we’ve seen from other animated “Star Wars” projects and a more serialized story that is free of side quests. Throughout the season we see how Maul’s obsession with vengeance almost costs him everything, but also how his experience as a Sith apprentice traumatized him as a kid, and how desperate Maul is at breaking away from the cycles he’s trapped in.

It makes for a rather nuanced portrayal of the cartoonishly evil character (who literally looks like the devil). But this is also an action show, and as one, “Shadow Lord” offers some of the best action this franchise has seen, including a dream fight between two Sith. With its level of detail — from using Sam Witwer’s actual screams for the sound design of Maul’s lightsaber to the visible paintbrush strokes on the lightsaber blades — this show sounds and looks like nothing we’ve seen before in “Star Wars.” Whether you’ve watched every single project in the galaxy far, far away, or you only know Maul from “The Phantom Menace” and want to see more of him, “Maul – Shadow Lord” is one of 2026’s must-watch shows.

Invincible Season 4

“Invincible” can be a bit of a frustrating experience. The worldbuilding and characterization is unparalleled, but often its animation and pacing leaves a lot to be desired. Season 4 found a great balance to fix this issue, with economic visual storytelling that saved the better visuals for the biggest moments. This season gave us the massive and thrilling Viltrumite War, with epic battles and deadly duels. It delivered plenty of huge reveals and lore drops, such as what reduced the Viltrumite population (an incredibly bleak story moment), along with gripping character drama that makes the superheroics more meaningful — because, at the end of the day, these are also just people with regular lives.

Season 4 is full of existential crises for its characters, difficult choices for Mark and his loved ones, and impossible odds. The character drama and the superhero action are integrated seamlessly, resulting in a thrilling and epic superhero drama that nonetheless feels more human than any small-scale Marvel or DC TV show or film, despite dealing with huge battles across the stars and featuring all sorts of weird alien creatures. There is no other superhero story quite like “Invincible,” and thankfully, there’s plenty of story left to tell.