Not every Apple TV show gets merchandise like T-shirts and hats, but Vince Gilligan’s oddly original sci-fi head-scratcher Pluribus — the most-watched Apple TV show ever — just did. Too bad the merch is on the lame side.
One of the most weirdly refreshing sci-fi dramas in recent history deserves better than what Sony Pictures is peddling.
Apple Music and Apple TV just had their biggest month ever. That strong streaming performance added to a banner year for the collection of products that go under the heading of Apple services.
“2025 was a record-breaking year for Apple Services, marked by remarkable growth, global expansion, and continuous innovation,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, in a press release Monday.
Apple TV celebrated a successful night at the 83rd Annual Golden Globe Awards, taking home three awards Sunday for its hit Hollywood-spoof comedy The Studio and its sci-fi phenom Pluribus. But some of the streamer’s other hit shows came up short in the awards ceremony.
This week on the Cult of Mac podcast: Apple’s got a fantastic year ahead of it, with a genuinely prodigious pipeline of new products coming in 2026. From a folding iPhone and a low-cost MacBook to entirely new product categories, get ready for 12 months of exciting new Apple hardware.
In our first show under the new Cult of Mac branding, and our final podcast of 2025, we discuss all the great stuff that Apple fans have to look forward to in 2026.
Also on the Cult of Mac podcast:
Listen to this week’s episode of Cult of Mac in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Apple TV is poised for a banner year in 2026, with an impressive slate of new original series, highly anticipated spinoffs and beloved returning favorites. From cyberpunk epics to gripping thrillers, the Apple TV 2026 lineup helps cement the streamer’s reputation as a powerhouse for quality programming.
Here’s your complete guide to the most highly anticipated shows coming to Apple TV next year.
With more than a dozen new Apple products in the pipeline, 2026 is shaping up to be a busy and important year for the company. Among a plethora of high-profile device launches, we should see the first folding iPhone next year
If all the rumors prove true, Apple’s 2026 product road map looks bold, exciting and ambitious. Check out all the new products Apple likely will launch in 2026.
December 27, 2010: Almost four months after the second-gen Apple TV’s debut, Cupertino says it has sold 1 million of the streaming video devices.
The news shows that Apple’s set-top box is gaining momentum. However, Apple’s PR move — which included a preemptive press release issued on December 21 that said Apple “expects sales of its new Apple TV to top one million units later this week” — is also a low-blow shot at competitor Roku, which recently said it planned to hit the 1 million unit mark by the end of 2010.
There are three Apple TV settings I always tell people to change as soon as they set theirs up. While I heartily recommend the Apple TV over the clunky and ad-infested experience of Roku and other smart TVs, it’s not perfect. You’ll want to change a few things to make it right.
First of all, you can put one of the Siri Remote buttons to better use. The TV button, by default, opens the Apple TV app — but you can have it take you to the Home Screen instead. Also, you’ll want to change the Home Screen to show your Continue Watching list, not its recommendations. And finally, you can turn off those annoying Apple TV sports notifications to stop the interruptions while you’re watching your shows.
Change these three annoying default settings, and you’ll be in for a far better viewing experience. Keep reading or watch our video to find out how.
Apple TV delivered another stellar year of television in 2025, cementing its reputation as a home for premium storytelling across genres. From stellar sci-fi to sharp Hollywood satire, here are 13 standout series that defined the best of the streaming service’s 2025 lineup of new and returning shows.
You should binge them because they’re great. And what better time to do so than during holiday downtime?
The Christmas season is starting, and there’s good news for fans of the Peanuts holiday specials. Apple made the holiday classic A Charlie Brown Christmas available for everyone to stream free this weekend, whether they’re an Apple TV subscriber or not.
That gives everyone the opportunity to watch Linus teach his friends what Christmas is all about.
A leaked iOS 26 internal build reveals several new features Apple plans to introduce in iOS 26.4. These include credit card autofill support for third-party apps, folders in whiteboarding app Freeform, and a Sports tier in Apple TV.
The company will supposedly also introduce additional security measures with the update.
After earning more than $629 million at the global box office this summer, the racing flick F1: The Movie finally zoomed from theaters to living rooms, reaching the Apple TV streaming service on Friday.
The film blends blazing-fast cars on the racetrack with clashing personalities off the track. Brad Pitt stars as an aging racer trying to prove he still has what it takes to be a Formula One driver, with the action playing out at 230 mph.
Apple TV has emerged as the streaming platform to beat this awards season, capturing half of the Best Drama series nominations at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards unveiled Monday — a remarkable achievement that signals the tech giant’s arrival as a major force in prestige television.
Three of the six nominations in the coveted Best Drama TV series category belong to Apple — the mind-bending workplace thriller Severance, the darkly humorous espionage drama Slow Horses and the breakout new sci-fi series Pluribus. That puts Apple ahead of streaming rivals Netflix and HBO Max, which each landed only one drama series nomination in the category.
Liven up your Thanksgiving week with woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. The next chapter in the Apple TV award-winning natural history series Prehistoric Planet leaves dinosaurs behind in favor of megafauna that lived during the last ice age, when glaciers covered much of the Earth’s surface.
The streaming service premiered Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age on Wednesday.
For Black Friday 2025, Apple unleashed a promotion giving new and returning Apple TV subscribers a six-month subscription for $5.99 per month.
This Apple TV Black Friday deal slashes more than 50% off the regular price of $12.99 per month!
Additionally, Apple is offering a bundle deal with Peacock Premium/Premium Plus at a discounted rate. See all the details below.
Retired secret assassin Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) and his now-the-wiser wife Jessica (Michelle Monaghan) lead the Morgan family to Europe for the holidays, only to find a gun-toting Irish villain from the past — played by English actor Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) — haunting them. And by “haunting” we mean trying very, very hard to rip off and probably kill Dan. It’s Apple Original Films’ first sequel, The Family Plan 2, and it’s now streaming November 21 on Apple TV, just ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Reviews so far suggest it could be perfect for that holiday down time. The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “dumb-fun sequel that clears a low bar.” The New York Times says it’s a “better executed, equally goofball sequel about a family’s tangles with organized crime.” But some reviews get a little more Grinch-y, with Collider calling the film “lackluster” and Screen Rant fuming that it’s “mind-numbingly boring and unfunny.” But still, gathering in front of the screen could be better than talking to certain relatives, right?
With Thanksgiving coming in a few weeks, it’s time to watch the beloved Peanuts special that celebrates this holiday, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. While Apple TV subscribers can watch it anytime, Apple will also make the special free for anyone to stream one weekend this month.
You do not need an Apple device to enjoy either. It’s easy on Windows and Android.
Pluribus, Vince Gilligan’s newest TV series, has already bagged a perfect 100% rating on RottenTomatoes.com — a feat topping even acclaimed Apple TV shows like Severance.
The creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul wowed the critics once again with Pluribus, a post-apocalyptic science fiction psychological thriller that premiered on Apple TV on November 7. And it’s generating big-time buzz as one of the year’s most compelling television events. Its third episode airs Friday. And if you’re anything like me, you can’t wait because the first two blew you away.
To me, the show is like the world’s longest episode of The Twilight Zone — in the best possible way, and in the here and now rather than circa 1959.
Caution: Pluribus spoilers ahead.
Watching Major League Soccer just got cheaper and easier. Starting in 2026, anyone with a subscription to Apple TV can enjoy every regular-season MLS match.
“We’re thrilled to bring MLS to more fans around the world next season on Apple TV,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, in a press release Thursday. “Every match, all in one place, alongside incredible Apple Originals — it’s a win for fans everywhere.”
Fans of Saturday Night Live alum Kristen Wiig and the rest of the star-studded cast of Apple TV comedy Palm Royale have reason to rejoice — season 2 streams Wednesday. And according to reviews, it brings a new murder mystery and a darker tone to the comedy.
You not only get Wiig, you get legend Carol Burnett, pop icon Ricky Martin and veteran actors Bruce and Laura Dern — among others! Newsweek calls the new season “darker, funnier and deeper.” People.com notes Burnett’s character crafts a typically “wicked plan” in the first episode. Comic Book Resources even claims the show is Apple TV’s best comedy.
How would it feel to be the last unhappy person on Earth, and the world’s resources are trained on making you happy? You can get progressively bigger tastes of such a world through trailers, below — or you can start tuning in Friday when Apple TV streams Pluribus, from Breaking Bad and X-Files creator Vince Gilligan,
As I said when the official trailer dropped, for my money, the rampant happiness the world’s population apparently feels — aside from the story’s main character — is actually some sort of contagion with dire consequences. And she has immunity.
Reviews so far are positive. The Guardian calls the “audacity” of the “intrepid” and “blackly comic” show “incredible,” while also revealing a cause of the worldwide happiness that jibes with my theory above. Variety says Rhea Seehorn is “magnificent” on the show. The BBC describes it as “George Orwell meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” And lots of reviews invoke Gilligan’s X-Files while some prefer references to The Twilight Zone.
New Apple TV crime thriller Down Cemetery Road, based on British author Mick Herron’s debut novel, might not always match the fast-and-dirty fun of Slow Horses, the hit stablemate also derived from Herron’s work.
However, it offers enough intrigue, stellar performances (especially from star Emma Thompson) and dark humor to deserve your attention.
Here’s why you should stream the eight-episode conspiracy thriller.
As Slow Horses season 5 wraps up with its sixth episode Wednesday, Apple TV cues up a second thriller, Down Cemetery Road, in collaboration with novelist Mick Herron. You can watch its first trailer below, or jump right into the first two episodes. The new series stars Academy Award winner Emma Thompson and Golden Globe winner Ruth Wilson. It’s based on Herron’s “Zöe Boehm” book series.
Reviews of Down Cemetery Road so far seem thrilled with the show. “If you like Slow Horses, you’ll love conspiracy thriller Down Cemetery Road,” raves Time magazine. It “hits the sweet spot of thrills and odd-couple comedy,” adds AV Club. Critics call Thompson’s performance “magnificent” and “superb,” among other superlatives.
Critically acclaimed thriller series Hijack returns to Apple TV for a second season on January 14, 2026, Apple said Tuesday as it released a moody teaser trailer for the show.
The second edge-of-your-seat hijacking once again puts Emmy-nominated actor Idris Elba at the center of the action. He sure gets into some trouble, doesn’t he?
Update: Sorry, the free weekend to watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown if you don’t subscribe to Apple TV has passed. But look below for when the Peanuts Thanksgiving and Christmas specials stream for free and add them to your calendar.
Families with a tradition of watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown can enjoy the classic Peanuts Halloween special on Apple TV for free this weekend. And you can watch it online, not only with an Apple TV set-top box, Mac, iPad or iPhone.