Every single month, our favorite streaming platforms deliver a fresh batch of movies and TV series straight to our screens. To help you navigate the endless options, we’ve handpicked some of October’s most exciting new arrivals. (Heads up: streaming schedules can sometimes change without warning, so keep an eye out! For even more awesome recommendations, check out our Watching newsletter.)
New to Amazon Prime Video
‘Play Dirty’
Starts streaming: Oct. 1
Donald Westlake’s Parker novels (published under his pen name, Richard Stark) have been adapted into movies many times, but “Play Dirty” is one of the few films to put the books’ characters into an original story. Directed by Shane Black (who also co-wrote the script with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi), “Play Dirty” has Mark Wahlberg playing Parker, a criminal mastermind who is coerced by mobsters and revolutionaries into stealing a billion-dollar jeweled statue protected by a small dictatorial nation’s military. LaKeith Stanfield plays Grofield and Rosa Salazar plays Zen, two members of Parker’s crew who help him to plan and execute the series of daring heists that set up the big job. As is common with Black, the action scenes are super-violent but spiked with dark comedy.
‘Hedda’
Starts streaming: Oct. 29
The writer-director Nia DaCosta puts her own spin on a classic Henrik Ibsen play with “Hedda,” a visually stylish film that moves the action of “Hedda Gabler” from late-19th-century Oslo to a lavish British country estate in the 1950s. Tessa Thompson stars as the materialistic, libertine wife of a financially struggling academic (Tom Bateman). Most of the movie takes place over the course of one boozy party, where Thompson’s Hedda tries to win over her husband’s peers while also sabotaging his chief rival, Eileen (Nina Hoss). Eileen also happens to be one of her former lovers. DaCosta’s camera swoops through the manor, mingling among the well-dressed guests, who are drunk on opulence and willing to do almost anything to hold onto their status.
Also arriving:
Oct. 2
“A Star Brighter Than the Son”
Oct. 3
“Sanda”
Oct. 7
“Ninja vs. Gokudo”
Oct. 8
“Maintenance Required”
Oct. 9
“Saquon”
Oct. 10
“John Candy: I Like Me”
Oct. 17
“The Chosen Adventures” Season 1
“Hollywood Hustler: Glitz, Glam, Scam”
Oct. 22
“Harlan Coben’s Lazarus”
Oct. 23
“Allen Iv3rson”
“Host”
Oct. 29
“Hazbin Hotel” Season 2
New to AMC+
‘Talamasca: The Secret Order’
Starts streaming: Oct. 23
Along with “Interview With the Vampire” and “The Mayfair Witches,” the new supernatural drama series “Talamasca: The Secret Order” is part of the “Immortal Universe,” a collection of interconnected TV shows adapted from the novelist Anne Rice’s stories and characters. “Talamasca” has Nicholas Denton as Guy Anatole, a recent law school graduate who learns that throughout his entire hardscrabble childhood, he has been monitored by a secret international organization. It seems Nicholas has strong telepathic powers, which could make him useful in the centuries-old fight against vampires and witches. Elizabeth McGovern plays Helen, one of the leaders of the anti-evil cabal, while William Fichtner plays Jasper, a colleague and opponent who may be steering the operation in a diabolical direction.
Also arriving:
Oct. 2
“Wasp Woman: The Murder of a B-Movie Queen”
Oct. 3
“V/H/S/Halloween”
Oct. 10
“Aliens Expanded”
“The Braxtons” Season 2
“Darwin”
Oct. 17
“Guts & Glory” Season 1
Oct. 17
“Operation: Aunties”
“O.T.H.E.R”
Oct. 23
“The Light in the Hall” Season 2
Oct. 24
“Descendent”
Oct. 30
“Hell House LLC: Lineage”
New to Apple TV+
‘The Lost Bus’
Starts streaming: Oct. 3
During the devastating 2018 Camp Fire, the residents of the small town of Paradise, Calif., scrambled to escape with whatever and whomever they could grab, before the town burned down. The disaster thriller “The Lost Bus” (based on the Lizzie Johnson nonfiction book “Paradise”) focuses mainly on one of the most dramatic stories from that day, in which a school bus driver drove around for hours trying to find a clear path to get his students to safety. Matthew McConaughey plays the driver, Kevin McKay, while America Ferrera plays Mary Ludwig, an elementary schoolteacher who helps keep the children calm and safe. The director Paul Greengrass (“United 93,” “Captain Phillips”) uses astonishing visual effects to capture the nightmarish experience of being trapped by blazing fire, thick smoke, stalled cars and heavy debris.
‘Mr. Scorsese’
Starts streaming: Oct. 17
Martin Scorsese has been making movies since the 1960s, working in almost every major genre and at nearly every budget level, from shoestring indies to expensive studio-backed epics. All the while, he has championed cinema from around the world and across history, using his influence to preserve and promote film culture. In other words: If any director deserves to be the subject of a comprehensive five-part docuseries like this one, it’s Scorsese. Rebecca Miller directs, taking advantage of the filmmaker’s personal archive — plus the hundreds of hours of footage he has shot over the decades — to tell the story of how an asthmatic New York cinephile grew up to be one of the most respected and influential artists of his era.
Also arriving:
Oct. 3
“The Sisters Grimm” Season 1
Oct. 10
“Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars”
“The Last Frontier”
Oct. 15
“Loot” Season 3
Oct. 24
“Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost”
Oct. 29
“Down Cemetery Road”
New to Disney+
‘Disney Twisted-Wonderland: The Animation’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Oct. 29
In the Japanese video game “Twisted-Wonderland,” players train to become a fairy tale villain, inspired by the bad guys and gals from Walt Disney animated films. The game inspired a manga series, which has now been adapted into an anime. The story follows an ordinary teenager named Yu, who unexpectedly finds himself transported to an ancient and mysterious magic academy, divided into seven houses, each representing a Disney villain. As the hero scrambles to adjust to the customs and expectations of this world, he also tries to find a way back to his own reality, before his fellow students use him for dark arts target practice.
Also arriving:
Oct. 1
“SuperKitties” Season 3
Oct. 3
“The Balloonist”
“Something Wicked This Way Comes”
Oct. 8
“Wizards Beyond Waverly Place” Season 2
Oct. 15
“Vampirina: Teenage Vampire” Season 1
Oct. 18
“Brittany Murphy: An ID Mystery”
Oct. 24
“LEGO Disney Frozen: Operation Puffins”
Oct. 29
“Star Wars: Visions” Season 3
New to HBO Max
‘The Chair Company’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Oct. 12
Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin — two of the minds behind the cult comedy series “Detroiters” and “I Think You Should Leave” — reunite for a new show that is part absurdist conspiracy thriller and part corporate satire. Robinson plays Ron Trosper, a rising executive at an Ohio property development company. When Ron falls out of his chair during an important presentation, he becomes obsessed with proving that the chair’s manufacturers are to blame. The crusade threatens to derail his career, and yet … Ron may actually be right — the furniture-maker is up to no good. And if he doesn’t stand up to them, who will? Similar to Robinson and Kanin’s other work, “The Chair Company” cranks up the feelings of embarrassment and discomfort for both its characters and the TV audience, aiming for a spot where “funny” and “mortifying” overlap.
‘It: Welcome to Derry’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Oct. 26
In Stephen King’s novel “It,” an unspeakable evil returns to the small town of Derry, Maine, every 27 years, for an extended period of hunting and feeding, mostly on children. In the director Andy Muschietti’s recent “It” movies, those visitations took place in 1988 and 2016. His prequel series, “Welcome to Derry,” begins in 1962, as a new batch of Derry citizens are taken by surprise by this demon, whose past rampages have been buried deep in the historical archives. In addition to an eclectic band of adolescents who are trying to avoid getting killed, the show also follows the newcomer Leroy Hanlan (Jovan Adepo), a Black soldier stationed at a nearby military base, whose family endures the more common malevolence of racism.
Also arriving:
Oct. 3
“Bring Her Back”
Oct. 6
“Haha, You Clowns” Season 1
“Smiling Friends” Season 3
Oct. 8
“Alex vs America” Season 5
Oct. 10
“The Alabama Solution”
“The Substance”
Oct. 17
“An Intimate Evening With Adam Pally”
Oct. 21
“Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
Oct. 30
“Sorry, Baby”
New to Hulu
‘Murdaugh: Death in the Family’
Starts streaming: Oct. 15
The trial of Alex Murdaugh — an aristocratic South Carolina attorney accused of murdering two family members and covering up many other misdeeds — has been fodder for multiple true crime documentaries and books. Liz Farrell and Mandy Matney’s “Murdaugh Murders Podcast” was one of the first pieces of long-form journalism to explore the breadth of the scandal; and it’s the foundation for the new TV dramatization “Murdaugh: Death in the Family.” The mini-series compresses the timeline of the story, but it still covers several years in the Murdaugh family’s life, to show how Alex (Jason Clarke) tried to use his position as one of the richest and most respected members of his community to dodge accountability. Patricia Arquette plays Alex’s wife, Maggie, who watches in horror as her privileged life slowly falls apart.
Also arriving:
Oct. 2
“Abbott Elementary” Season 5
Oct. 8
“Fate”
“Stay”
Oct. 10
“Frankie Quiñones: Damn That’s Crazy”
Oct. 12
“One-Punch Man” Season 3
Oct. 13
“Solar Opposites” Season 6
Oct. 17
“40 Acres”
“The Murky Stream”
Oct. 20
“Anyone but You”
Oct. 22
“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle”
New to Paramount+
‘Matlock’ Season 2
Starts streaming: Oct. 12
This loose reimagining of the 1980s-90s legal mystery series “Matlock” became one of last year’s biggest TV hits, and won acclaim for a surprising twist. The show was pitched as the story of sweet old lady named Matty Matlock (Kathy Bates), who joins a high-powered New York law firm and wins over her colleagues with her folky wisdom. But at the end of Episode 1, it was revealed that Matty was actually Madeline Kingston, a wealthy retiree working from within to expose the firm’s corruption by Big Pharma. By the end of Season 1, Matty’s boss, Olympia (Skye P. Marshall), learned her secret and was considering joining her cause. As Season 2 begins, these two driven women have to decide if they can trust each other — and, if so, if they keep deceiving their co-workers.
Also arriving:
Oct. 1
“Fight or Flight”
Oct. 5
“A Grammy Salute to Cyndi Lauper: Live From the Hollywood Bowl”
Oct. 7
“Ozzy Osbourne: No Escape From Now”
“Red Alert”
Oct. 10
“Vicious”
Oct. 12
“Elsbeth” Season 3
Oct. 13
“DMV” Season 1
“Watson” Season 2
Oct. 16
“Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” Season 2
“Ghosts” Season 5
Oct. 17
“Boston Blue” Season 1
“Fire Country” Season 4
“Sheriff Country” Season 1
Oct. 19
“The Road” Season 1
“Tracker” Season 3
Oct. 22
“The Thundermans: Undercover” Season 1
Oct. 26
“Mayor of Kingstown” Season 4
Oct. 28
“Don’t Date Brandon”