The best new shows and movies streaming this week on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max, and more

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Check out our guide to the best movies and shows streaming this week, August 11–17

Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant) and a team investigate in the trailer for Alien: Earth.
(Image credit: FX)

Welcome back to our weekly guide to the best new shows and movies! On this page, we've put together a list of six fantastic shows and movies that make a perfect package of must-see entertainment.

One of the year's most anticipated new shows lands this week in the terrifying form of sci-fi horror Alien: Earth. But if facehuggers and chest-bursters aren't your thing, there are still plenty of other great shows and films to watch across all the best streaming services. Some of the other things we've picked out this time around include a heart-warming fantasy movie, an exciting new spy show, and the return of time-travelling romantasy Outlander.

Alien: Earth

Babou Ceesay as Morrow aboard the USCSS Maginot in Alien: Earth

(Image credit: Disney)

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Hulu (US), Disney Plus (UK)

An Alien TV show has been teased for years, and finally arrives this week on Hulu and Disney Plus. Happily, Alien: Earth is good – really good, in fact. Set a couple of years before Ridley Scott's first film, Alien: Earth follows a group of hybrids – dying children whose minds have been transferred into synthetic adult bodies – as they are despatched to investigate a crashed spaceship in Prodigy City. They find monsters – and not just the classic xenomorph...

Sydney Chandler leads a strong cast in this eight episode horror adventure. Alien: Earth has all the body horror and gore you'd expect from this franchise, but there's also a stronger focus on the war between the mega-corporations that rule the world of Alien, as well as some philosophical elements plucked from Scott's other great science fiction film, Blade Runner. Dark and dangerous, but also fun and exciting, Alien: Earth is one of the year's best new shows.

Will the show make you scream with delight? Find out with our Alien: Earth review.

Butterfly

Daniel Dae Kim as David Jung in Butterfly.

(Image credit: Prime Video)

Available: UK/US
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Another week, another streaming spy thriller. Butterfly immediately caught our eye, however, for giving a well-deserved leading role to Lost's Daniel Dae Kim. He plays David Jung, a retired intelligence agent who returns to South Korea to try and connect with his daughter Rebecca (Reina Hardesty). It's not an easy reunion, however. Rebecca has spent years operating under the belief that her father was dead and, in the meantime, has become an assassin for CADDIS – the private outfit that David previously set up with his former partner, Juno (Piper Perabo).

Based on Arash Amel's graphic novel of the same name, Butterfly mixes bullets and explosions with a heartfelt relationship drama. It's a cliche to say that an action drama is all about family, but this one really is. Still, when it comes time to deliver some propulsive thrills and explosive action, Butterfly does not disappoint.

Check out our guide to the best Amazon Prime Video shows.

The Monkey

The toy monkey in Osgood Perkins' new horror comedy The Monkey

(Image credit: NEON)

Available: US
Where to watch: Hulu

"Everybody dies. And that's f**ked up." That's the tagline for Longlegs director Osgood Perkins' latest horror spectacular. The Monkey (based on Stephen King's short story of the same name) lives up to that fatalistic promise, offering as grand a smorgasbord of grimly hilarious death and destruction as any Final Destination movie. It follows an estranged father, Hal, played by Theo James, and son Petey (Colin O'Brien) as they try to resolve their differences, while also surviving their connection to a cursed toy monkey.

The Monkey is grimly hilarious – both brutal and slapstick in its violence. Despite the nihilistic themes that run through the film. However, it's also a fun and refreshing antidote to the trauma-wallowing of some recent horror films. Recommended for those with a strong stomach.

Find out what our critic thought of the movie with our Monkey review.

Night Always Comes

Vanessa Kirby as Lynette in Night Always Comes.

(Image credit: Allyson Riggs/Netflix)

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix

Fantastic Four's Vanessa Kirby stars in this gripping crime thriller based on Willy Vlautin's novel of the same name. Set in Portland, Night Always Comes follows Lynette, a woman who is struggling to make ends meet while working multiple jobs and also looking after her brother Kenny (Zack Gottsagen). When her plan to finally buy a home goes wrong, however, she puts everything on the line in order to try and save it.

Directed by Benjamin Caron, who previously helmed several standout episodes of Andor's first season, Night Always Comes takes place over one intense and stressful evening. Joining Kirby in the cast are Eli Roth and Uncut Gems' Julia Fox. Will this be as fist-gnawingly stressful as that movie? Quite possibly...

Find something great to watch with our list of the best Netflix movies.

The Legend of Ochi

Yuri (Helena Zengel) and a baby Ochi in The Legend of Ochi.

(Image credit: A24)

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: HBO Max

One of the year's most charming movies arrives on HBO Max this week. The Legend of Ochi opens on the isolated island of Carpathia and follows Yuri (Helena Zengel), a young farm girl who has grown up being told that she must never go outside after dark because of fearsome creatures called Ochi. One day, however, she discovers an injured baby Ochi. This sets her on a perilous journey to reunite it with its family.

Written and directed by Isaiah Saxon, this gorgeous fantasy adventure uses puppetry and a host of other practical special effects to realise its story. Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Finn Wolfhard are the big names in the cast, but the heart of the story really belongs to Zengel's Yuri and her cute little Ochi friend.

Find out what else is on the streamer with our guide to the best HBO Max movies.

Outlander season 7, part 1

Sam Heughan as Jamie in Outlander season 7.

(Image credit: Starz)

Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix

The seventh season of this surprisingly enduring historical romance lands on Netflix today, just as a prequel series – Outlander: Blood of My Blood also comes to Starz in the US. For those who haven't seen the show, which is based on the series of books by Diana Gabaldon, Outlander is about Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a married nurse from 1945 who finds herself transported back in time to the 1700s where she meets Jamie, a handsome Highland warrior, played by Sam Heughan.

Outlander launched all the way back in 2014 and has rambled on since then – always a bit daft, but also always compelling thanks to the dynamic between Balfe and Heughan and the show's capacity for wild plot twists. Hardcore fans will likely have already seen this season on Starz. For everyone else, here's your chance to get caught up before the eighth and final season in 2026.

Looking for something else to watch? Check out our list of the best movies on Disney Plus.

Will Salmon
Will Salmon
Streaming Editor

Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.

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