April 2026 Television Preview: Major Returns and Highly Anticipated Spin-Offs

From the long awaited return of Euphoria to the Handmaid's Tale sequel The Testaments, discover the 12 best TV shows to stream this April on Netflix, HBO, and more.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 6, 2026, 5:25 AM EDT

Source: BBC new

The Return of Cultural Phenomena

The television landscape this month is dominated by the return of Euphoria for its third season. After years of production delays and the meteoric rise of its lead stars, the drama leaps forward five years into the characters' twenties. Zendaya’s Rue finds herself in significant peril in Mexico, while Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi’s characters navigate a complicated engagement. The season serves as a poignant farewell for Eric Dane, who completed his scenes before his recent passing. Simultaneously, Hulu and Disney+ will debut The Testaments, starring Chase Infiniti and Ann Dowd. This sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale bridges Margaret Atwood’s literary world with the screen, focusing on the grooming of young women in a post revolutionary Gilead.

Comedy and Crime from Top Creators

Dan Levy returns to the small screen with Big Mistakes, a crime comedy for Netflix. In a sharp departure from the warmth of Schitt's Creek, Levy plays a New Jersey pastor forced into organized crime alongside his sister, played by Taylor Ortega. The series blends Levy’s signature dry wit with a plausible, if outlandish, criminal underworld. For those seeking more conceptual humor, Peacock and Sky Atlantic present The Miniature Wife. Starring Matthew Macfadyen and Elizabeth Banks, the show uses a classic sci fi trope—shrinking people—as a metaphorical exploration of power dynamics within a marriage.

Nostalgia and the Revival Trend

The trend of "undead television" continues with Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair. Following the recent successful resurrections of Scrubs and The Comeback, the original cast of the 2000s hit returns to explore Malcolm’s life in his 30s. Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek reprise their roles as Hal and Lois for a 40th anniversary celebration that forces a distant Malcolm to confront his eccentric family. This revival highlights the industry's current reliance on established intellectual property to secure viewership in a crowded streaming market.