HBO takes a lot of the credit for the rise of prestige TV. Shows such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Sex and the City and Game of Thrones were appointment viewing and that tradition lives on with newer series such as Industry, Euphoria and more. Its streaming service, HBO Max, is also the home of tons of great movies, live sports and excellent documentaries.
One of the things HBO Max does best is documentaries, and this August, there are two series we can’t wait for. First up is a new season of the great football series Hard Knocks, which focuses on the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks during its training camp this season. We’re also excited for Monsters of God, another series about a group of people obsessed with exotic animals from the same filmmaker who gave us Tiger King and Chimp Crazy.
Also arriving this month is the hotly anticipated new DC series Lanterns, which stars Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler as two members of the Green Lanterns, along with the third season of Conan O’Brien Must Go.
These titles and many others are out this August on HBO Max. Here’s what you need to know to tune in.
HBO Max
Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Seattle Seahawks (season 22)
Hard Knocks, the HBO sports documentary that gives an inside look at an NFL team during its annual training camp, will return on Aug. 4 for a new season. This year, the cameras follow the Seattle Seahawks’ preseason, as the team comes off its second Super Bowl win. The season will consist of five episodes, which will air weekly.
HBO Max
Monsters of God (limited series)
Monsters of God is a docuseries from filmmaker Eric Goode, as he explores the world of exotic animal smuggling. The five-episode series, produced by A24, will introduce us to a motley crew of characters, many of whom are obsessed with rare animals and are willing to break whatever laws they need to in order to get their hands on them. (For a similarly shocking tale of animal obsession, check out Chimp Crazy, the 2024 docuseries also produced by Goode, which is one of those “truth is stranger than fiction” tales that takes viewers on a truly wild ride.)
Lionsgate
The Strangers: Chapter 2
Renny Harlin directs The Strangers: Chapter 2, the second film in the new Strangers trilogy starring Madelaine Petsch as Maya Lucas, a young woman who is tormented and tracked down by three masked perpetrators known as the Strangers. The film picks up after the death of her boyfriend, Ryan, but the Strangers still have it out for Maya when they realize she’s alive.
Normal
Bob Odenkirk has proven he can work in any genre. Comedy, drama, action — there’s nothing he hasn’t excelled at. After the success of his gruesome action thriller Nobody (and its sequel), he’s back for Normal, a neo-Western where he stars as Ulysses, the sheriff of a small Minnesota town called Normal. But after a bank robbery in town goes horribly awry, Ulysses learns that the town is mixed up with a whole lot of bad guys, including the Yakuza. The film costars Henry Winkler as the town’s crooked mayor, plus Lena Headey and Peter Shinkoda.
Lanterns (season 1)
In the new eight-episode DC Studios drama series Lanterns, Aaron Pierre plays John Stewart, a newly recruited Lantern, the intergalactic peacekeepers of the DC Universe. Stewart works alongside Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) as they investigate a murder in Nebraska that’s just a small piece of a wider mystery. Kelly Macdonald, Nicole Ari Parker and Nathan Fillion costar. The first episode of Lanterns arrives on Aug. 16, and new episodes drop weekly.
HBO Max
Conan O’Brien Must Go (season 3)
For the past several years, Conan O’Brien has hosted his podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, which features conversations with celebrities and fans of the comedian. In his travel series Conan O’Brien Must Go, O’Brien drops in on some of these fans (often to their surprise), imposing on them and insisting they show him around their home countries and introduce him to their cultures. It’s classic Conan, absurd and offbeat, blending travelogue with comedy, as he traipses all over the globe. This season consists of four episodes, which will arrive weekly.
A24
Mother Mary
In the A24 psychodrama Mother Mary, Anne Hathaway stars as a global pop icon who is about to return to the stage after enduring a tragic accident. With just three days before her major comeback performance, she has a meltdown and reaches out to Sam (Michaela Coel), her former collaborator and designer. The two women haven’t spoken in years, falling out after an intimate but contentious relationship. As Sam and Mary let each other back into their lives, they experience something altogether supernatural. The film arrives on HBO Max on Aug. 21.
