May TV Preview: 10 New Shows to Watch

May brings some big names back to TV, including Sean Bean with Hulu's "Shardlake," Jeff Daniels with Netflix's "Man in Full," and Benedict Cumberbatch with "Eric." Joel Edgerton headlines Apple's twisted thriller about a man unmoored from reality in "Dark Matter," while André Holland plays Black Panther party founder Huey P. Newton in "The Big Cigar." Many new shows are based on novels or articles, and on the reality front there's "Love Undercover" — about soccer stars searching for romance; on the documentary side "Pillowcase Murders," about a serial killer targeting elderly women undetected; and Hulu's adaptation of "Black Twitter: A People's History."

For more on 2024's TV offerings, check out our TV preview for the year, or our specific Netflix and HBO/Max lists. For spring titles, check out our Spring TV preview, and keep checking back for monthly roundups (here's  January, February, March, and April of this year) — new TV only, but as always we've got plenty of love for the rest (stay tuned for a "Bridgerton" theme week this month).

Here are 10 new TV shows to watch in May 2024.

• 1. May 1: "Shardlake" (Hulu)

  Image Credit: Adrienn Szabo/Disney+

  Sean Bean returns to TV in this drama about Tudor England, based on the book series by C.J. Sansom. After one of Thomas Cromwell's (Bean) commissioners is murdered at a monastery, he hires the lawyer Matthew Shardlake (Arthur Hughes) to investigate, now entangling the murder investigation with Cromwell's political career. Costarring Anthony Boyle, Babou Ceesay, Paul Kaye, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Peter Firth, Matthew Steer, Brian Vernel, Irfan Shamji, David Pearse, Miles Barrow, Mike Noble, and Kimberley Nixon. Stephen Butchard wrote the series, with Justin Chadwick directing.

• 2. May 2: A Man in Full (Netflix)

  Image Credit: MARK HILL/NETFLIX

  Tom Wolfe's novel comes to life in this limited series starring Jeff Daniels as a real estate tycoon wrapped up in power plays and financial crisis in Atlanta. The series costars DIane Lane, Lucy Liu, Tom Pelphrey, Sarah Jones, William Jackson Harper, Aml Ameen, Jon Michael Hill, and Chanté Adams, with limited series mastermind David E. Kelley at the helm.

• 3. May 2: "The Tattooist of Auschwitz"

  Image Credit: Martin Mlaka/Sky UK/Peacock

  The year is 1942, and Lali Sokolov (Jonah Hauer-King) arrives at Auschwitz-Berkenau, where he is assigned the job of tätowierer —tattooing numbers onto his fellow Holocaust prisoners in the camp. Here in the depths of despair begins an inspiring true story, of Lali and Gita (Anna Próchniak), who fall in love in the worst possible environment while trying to stay alive and save each other. In the present day, a grown Lali (Harvey Keitel) recounts his story to writer Heather Morris (Melanie Lynskey), a dramatization of the real life author who published Sokolov's story in 2018. The series is produced by Claire Mundell, Jacquelin Perske, Serena Thompson, Mark Young, Zai Bennett, and Adrian Burns.

• 4. May 8: "Dark Matter" (Apple TV+)

  Image Credit: Apple

  Based on creator Blake Crouch's novel of the same name, "Dark Matter" follows physicist Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) whose life changes drastically one night — branching into a different reality and opening him up to the possibilities of what his life could be. As Jason explores the "mind-bending landscape" of these alternate existences, his ultimate goal is to return to his original life and family at all costs. Crouch, Edgerton, David Manpearl, and Matt Tolmach serve as executive producers, with Jakob Verbruggen directing the first three episodes. 

• 5. May 9: "Black Twitter: A People's History" (Hulu)

  Image Credit: Disney

  Writer Jason Parham teams up with Prentice Penny and Joie Jacoby to adapt the 2021 "Wired" article "Black Twitter: A People's History" in a brand-new format. With interviews, clips, and of course Tweets, the three-part docuseries walks viewers through a singular moment in the history of not just Twitter but the internet at large — and the uncertainty surrounding it with communcal online spaces under attack.

• 6. May 9: "Bodkin" (Netflix)

  Image Credit: ENDA BOWE/NETFLIX

  When three people go missing in a small town in Ireland, a group of podcasters takes on the investigation — Gilbert (Will Forte), Dove (Siobhán Cullen), and Emmy (Robyn Cara), Gilbert's assistant. But like the intrepid true crime podcasters who came before them ("Only Murders in the Building," "Based on a True Story," even the filmmakers behind "The Jinx"), they stumble upon a bigger and potentially more sinister story, one that involves them as much as it involves the case. Created by Jez Scharf and directed by Nash Edgerton.

• 7. May 9: "Love Undercover" (Peacock)

  Image Credit: Casey Durkin/Peacock

  Peacock's new dating show takes a rom-com trope (secret royal) and brings it into the real world in the form of modern-day royalty: Professional athletes. A group of international soccer players go "undercover" in the U.S.A. to find true love while remaining incognito, hoping for partners who love them for who they are and not the money and fame. 

• 8. May 14: "Pillowcase Murders" (Paramount+)

  Image Credit: CBS/Paramount+

  This three-part docuseries from director Randy Ferrell explores the crimes of serial killer Billy Chemirmir, who specifically targeted retirees living in elderly communities. As his kill count grew, the deaths were often dismissed as natural or unremarkable, while Chemirmir disguised himself as a maintenance man working in retirement homes. For nearly two years the man murdered elderly women with almost no obstruction and few who even believed he was out there. Executive produced by Ferrell, David Karabinas, Brad Bernstein, James Macnab, and Loni Coombs.

• 9. May 17: "The Big Cigar" (Apple TV+)

  Image Credit: Brendan Adam-Zwelling

  André Holland stars in this limited series about a true story from the life of Black Panther party founder Huey P. Newton. In 1974, Newton sought to evade the FBI by staging a fake movie production with the help of Hollywood producer Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola). Bearman himself wrote a 2012 "Playboy" article diving into the remarkable story, and serves as executive producer along with showrunner Janine Sherman Barrois. The cast includes Tiffany Boone, PJ Byrne, Marc Menchaca, Moses Ingram, Rebecca Dalton, Olli Haaskivi, Jordane Christie, and Glynn Turman, with Don Cheadle directing the first two episodes.

• 10. May 30: "Eric" (Netflix)

  Image Credit: netflix

  Benedict Cumberbatch leads Emmy winner Abi Morgan's limited series about a father in search of his missing son (Ivan Howe). The show is set in 1980s New York (no cell phones or internet), where Cumberbatch plays Vincent, a loving father but also creator of a popular children's show involving puppets (we miss you, "Kidding"). The name "Eric" comes from a puppet that Edgar likes to draw, one which Vincent is eventually convinced will bring his son home if he can get it on TV. Costarring Gaby Hoffman and McKinley Belcher III, with Lucy Forbes directing.