April is just around the corner, which means there are plenty of exciting releases to sink your teeth into. Big-name stars like Colin Farrell, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine, Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr, and Elisabeth Moss will be the leading faces in the coming weeks.
April 2024 brings some promising and scandalous TV and streaming titles that deserve to stand out on the calendar. For starters, we have the highly anticipated premiere of the Apple TV-developed detective drama Sugar, as well as FX / Hulu’s powerful espionage series The Veil. Another appealing project is The Asunta Case, Netflix’s latest true crime.
In addition, emblematic and unforgettable texts such as The King’s Assassin: The Plot to Murder King James I by Benjamin Woolley (2018), The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (2015), A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff (2005), The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi (2003) will reach our screens converted into series format. Undoubtedly, a great feast for fans of adaptations!
Here is a breakdown of the big favorites for the month of April:
Sugar
Apple TV | Season 1 | Release date: Friday, April 5
Directed by Fernando Meirelles, the series follows John Sugar (Colin Farrell), a private investigator looking to solve a mysterious disappearance. Farrell returns to television in a big way for the first time since the second season of True Detective.
Set in Los Angeles, Sugar is a contemporary private detective story. The plot revolves around the Siegel family, headed by the patriarch, a famous Hollywood producer, Jonathan Siegel. When his granddaughter Olivia is untraceable, Detective John Sugar is called in to track her down and discover why she is gone.
On the hunt for clues, Sugar ends up uncovering murky Siegel family secrets, “some very recent, others long-buried”.
While full details have yet to be revealed, it looks like Sugar will draw from a rich legacy of Hollywood crime stories.
The first two episodes of Sugar will premiere on April 5, exclusively on Apple TV+. Subsequent episodes will air weekly every Friday. Sugar’s cast includes Amy Ryan, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Dennis Boutsikaris.
The series is being directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, Two Popes), who is also an executive producer, and Adam Arkin (The Offer), who is also a co-executive producer.
Mary & George
Starz | Limited series | Release date: Friday, April 5
Mary & George, based on Benjamin Woolley’s non-fiction book The King’s Assassin: The Plot to Murder King James I, is STARZ’s latest historical psychodrama.
Starring Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine and Tony Curran it tells the true story of an ambitious mother who wants her son to become the king’s lover. In other words, it is a show of political intrigue, seduction and the struggle to achieve power by any means necessary.
Mary & George revolves around Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham (Moore) and her son George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (Galitzine). The series follows the manipulative Countess as she molds her charming son into seducing King James (Curran).
Per the official synopsis, the seven episode series is “An audacious historical psychodrama about a treacherous mother and son who schemed, seduced and killed to conquer the Court of England and the bed of King James I.”
Mary & George will air weekly on Starz.
Franklin
Apple TV | Limited series | Release date: Friday, April 12
“Diplomacy must never been a siege – but, a seduction” announces the trailer for the miniseries Franklin, produced by Apple TV.
Franklin is a biographical program about American founding father Benjamin Franklin, based on Stacy Schiff’s 2005 text A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.
Franklin is set during one of the most important periods in American history, the Revolutionary War, and chronicles Benjamin Franklin’s pivotal role in negotiating the Franco-American alliance. Specifically, it describes the eight years Franklin spent in France to convince the country to finance American democracy.
According to Apple TV’s official synopsis:
“In December 1776, Benjamin Franklin is world famous for his electrical experiments. But his passion and power are put to the test when he embarks on a secret mission to France — with the fate of American independence hanging in the balance.”
Michael Douglas plays the iconic American inventor and politician Ben Franklin, and Noah Jupe plays his son William Temple Franklin. The cast also includes Marc Duret, Ludivine Sagnier, Thibault de Montalembert, Daniel Mays, Assaad Bouab, Jeanne Balibar, Théodore Pellerin, John Hollingworth and Eddie Marsan.
The 8 episodes are directed by Timothy Van Patten responsible for hit shows such as The Pacific, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Black Mirror, Masters of the Air.
The first three episodes of the series will premiere on Apple TV+ on April 12, followed by a new episode every Friday through May 12.
The Sympathizer
HBO Max | Limited series | Release date: Sunday, April 14
The espionage thriller The Sympathizer combines the formidable forces of A24, HBO Max, Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) and Robert Downey Jr.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name written by Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer revolves around Captain, a communist spy.
Here is the official logline for The Sympathizer from HBO Max:
“The Sympathizer is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States.”
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Captain is forced to leave the country and emigrates to Los Angeles. There he finds work as a consultant for Hollywood productions, but his past haunts him when he is asked to return to Vietnam to apprehend communists.
The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Roku Channel | Season 1 | Release date: Friday, April 19
Adapted from the children’s book series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles follows a group of siblings as they embark on a fast-paced fantasy adventure. The story centers on twins Simon and Jared and their older sister Mallory as they move to the Spiderwick estate in Michigan. There, they discover magical secrets that change their lives forever.
The books about the Grace family, The Field Guide, The Seeing Stone, Lucinda’s Secret, The Ironwood Tree, and The Wrath of Mulgarath, have sold 20 million copies in more than 30 countries, and there was a first film adaptation in 2008. Now, Paramount, 20th Century Studios and Roku are bringing the story to the small screen in a live-action series.
According to Roku’s official logline:
“Helen and her children, 15-year-old fraternal twins Jared and Simon and their sister Mallory move to their ancestral home, Spiderwick. Jared discovers a boggart and realizes that magical creatures are real! The only one to believe him is his great-aunt Lucinda who implores Jared to find the pages of her father’s field guide to magical creatures and protect them from the murderous Ogre, Mulgarath.”
The Spiderwick Chronicles, has been described as a “modern tale of self-improvement combined with fantastic adventure.”
The cast is led by Lyon Daniels (We Can Be Heroes) and Noah Cottrell (Gordita Chronicles) as twins Jared and Simon Grace. Their sister Mallory will be played by Mychala Lee (End of the Road) and Joy Bryant (Cherish the Day) will play their mother, Helen.
The Spiderwick Chronicles promises as much fantasy and adventure as the original texts. All eight episodes will be available for streaming on April 19.
The Asunta Case
Netflix | Limited series | Release date: Friday, April 26
As usual, Netflix continues to bet on the true crime genre. For the month of April, the streamer presents The Asunta Case, which focuses on one of the most shocking crimes that occurred in Spain in 2013: the murder of Asunta Basterra, a 12-year-old girl; it is a limited series developed by Bambú Producciones.
According to the official synopsis:
“On September 21st 2013 Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra report the disappearance of their daughter Asunta, whose body is found hours after next to a road outside Santiago de Compostela. The police investigation soon reveals evidence that points to Rosario and Alfonso as possible authors of the crime. The news shakes the city and even the country. What can lead two parents to end their daughter’s life? What hides beneath that perfect family picture?”
The Spanish series stars Candela Peña, Tristán Ulloa, Javier Gutiérrez, Carlos Blanco, María León, Francesc Orella, Alicia Borrachero and Iris Whu, among others. It will have six episodes and will address the true crime case.
The Veil
FX/Hulu | Limited series | Release date: Tuesday, April 30
The Veil, the new espionage drama from the talented Steven Knight, promises to be a high-voltage ride. The show explores the tense relationship between a British intelligence agent (Elisabeth Moss) and a woman suspected of being a high-level member of ISIS. As the two travel together through the Middle East and Europe, they will have to deal with their own differences and interference from other world governments.
Here is the official plot of The Veil:
“FX’s The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. In the shadows, mission controllers at the CIA and French DGSE must put differences aside and work together to avert potential disaster.”
The first two episodes will be available immediately and a new episode will be released every Tuesday. The limited series consists of six episodes in total.