HBO took home more hardware than any other entity at Sunday night’s 71st Emmy Awards (full results here), and the prestige pay-cabler is hoping to keep that momentum rolling in a post-Game of Thrones world. There’s plenty to be excited about on HBO’s list of incoming October titles, as you’ll see for yourself in our rundown of its highlights.
We’ll begin in TV—or as HBO calls it, “not TV”—where the standout addition is an easy pick: Damon Lindelof’s (Lost, The Leftovers) much-anticipated Watchmen, adapted from the iconic Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel of the same name. The new series stars Oscar and Emmy winner Regina King, along with Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II—this being Watchmen, the drama’s narrative involves a morally murky clash between the forces of order and chaos, and it’s not yet clear which side its stars come down on. We’ll get our first chance to watch the Watchmen when the series premieres on Sunday, Oct. 20, with a pilot written by Lindelof and directed by Nicole Kassell (The Americans, The Leftovers). There’s plenty more “not TV” to get jazzed about, too, from new beginnings—including the limited series premieres of Helen Mirren-starring period drama Catherine the Great (Oct. 21) and Kathryn Hahn-starring empty-nester comedy Mrs. Fletcher (Oct. 27)—to momentous endings: The sixth and final season of tech comedy Silicon Valley premieres Oct. 27, while three recent fixtures of Paste’s TV Power Rankings, Succession, The Righteous Gemstones and The Deuce, air their Season Two, One and Three finales on Oct. 13, Oct. 13 and Oct. 28, respectively. David Simon-co-created porn drama The Deuce’s third season is its last, as well, but safe to say those other two shows will be back for more further down the road.
On the feature film side of the equation, HBO isn’t exactly slouching in October, delivering a couple of flicks that horror lovers, in particular, will want to add to their lists ahead of Halloween. First and foremost among those, arguably, are the Happy Death Day films, a pair of killer time-loop thrillers—the first film, debuting on HBO Oct. 1, was quietly a huge hit for horror powerhouse Blumhouse in 2017, impressing critics and grossing more than 10 times its production budget in the U.S. alone, while this year’s sequel Happy Death Day 2U, making its theatrical premiere on HBO Oct. 12, was a surprisingly satisfying (if not phenomenal) follow-up. Other Halloween-appropriate features on the way include brutal body-horror must-see Upgrade (Oct. 8), M. Night Shyamalan’s divisive Unbreakable/Split sequel Glass (Oct. 19), campy psychological-horror outing Greta (Oct. 26) and James Wan’s 2016 haunted house horror sequel The Conjuring 2 (Oct. 21). Those of you looking for less horrifying fare may still want to avoid Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, a pair of intense and compelling thrillers (shy of outright horror) hitting HBO on Oct. 1, opting instead for offerings like Baz Luhrmann musical Moulin Rouge!, animated animal adventure Madagascar, John Cameron Mitchell’s Golden Globe-nominated Hedwig and the Angry Inch adaptation, superhero coming-of-age tale Sky High, 1997’s Brendan Fraser-starring George of the Jungle, Frank Oz’s The Indian in the Cupboard, and writer-director duo Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck’s romantic dramedy It’s Kind of a Funny Story, all of which also debut on the first of the month.
That brings us around to HBO’s outgoing titles for October, which, fortunately, don’t include many must-sees, least of all 2017’s Justice League, which exits on Oct. 5. Following that stinker out the door are 2014’s Veronica Mars movie on Oct. 12 and a significant list of Oct. 31 departures, including Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Danish Girl, Drugstore Cowboy, The Meg, Skyscraper, Hulk, Bruno, The First Purge, A Time to Kill, Ferdinand and others.
Find HBO’s October sizzle reel and slate below.
Theatrical Premieres:
Kin, 2018 (10/1)
Cold Pursuit, 2019 (10/5)
Upgrade, 2018 (10/8)
Happy Death Day 2U, 2019 (10/12)
Glass, 2019 (10/19)
Greta, 2018 (10/26)