Happy holidays! One look at the full line-up for December, and you get the sense that African streamer Showmax was holding a lot back just to deliver a spectacular end to 2022. Let’s jump straight into our top picks for the month, which took a while to whittle down.
Series
As already mentioned, it was a struggle to settle on just a few highlights for December. So going in the notable mentions section here are His Dark Materials Season 3 (Tuesdays from 6 December), New Amsterdam S4 (full season from 23 December), and wrestling drama Heels (watch in full from 5 December). Now onto the biggies.
If you didn’t catch it on DSTV, and were trying to stay off Santa’s Naughty List, your patience has been rewarded. The highly praised Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is coming to Showmax this month. Based on parts of the novel Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, the show has all the twists, power plays, and flashes of epic fantasy you’ve come to expect of Game of Thrones, as it deals with the war for succession within dragon-riding House Targaryen at the height of its power. Binge the 10-episode first season of House of the Dragon from 15 December.
Another new addition to Showmax this month is comic adaptation DMZ. No superheroes here, though! The four-episode miniseries, and dystopian drama, is set in near-future America, which has been split by civil war. After years apart, Rosario Dawson’s medic embarks on a harrowing quest to reunite with her missing son. That means crossing into the demilitarized zone of Manhattan where a ruthless battle for control rages between rival gang leaders. Also with Benjamin Bratt. Watch DMZ in its entirety from 6 December.
Spiky comedy drama anthology The White Lotus returns with a second season that swaps a Hawaiian holiday resort setting for another (also in the White Lotus chain) in Sicily. While Jennifer Coolidge reprises her role from Season 1, the new cast of vacationers and hotel staff includes Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), Theo James (Divergent), and F Murray Abraham (The Grand Budapest Hotel). For the record, The White Lotus Season 1 – also on Showmax – was the most awarded show at the 2022 Emmys. Binge all seven episodes of S2 from 12 December.
Another one for the patient. Having initially premiered on the BBC back in April, fourth-wall-breaking period drama Gentleman Jack S2 officially arrives in South Africa this month. From creator Sally Wainwright, and based on the diaries of real-life 19th Century landowner, entrepreneur and lesbian Anne Lister (played by Suranne Jones), Season 2 continues the story of pioneering Lister, and her relationship with heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Their scandalous union takes place in a town on the brink of revolution. You can watch all eight episodes of Gentleman Jack S2 now. Season 1 is also on Showmax.
Films
Some notable movies on Showmax in December include Don’t Breathe 2 (12 December), Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (1 December), Thando (1 December), Aretha Franklin biopic Respect (22 December), and Peter Rabbit 2 (8 December). Below are our additional standout choices.
What’s the holiday season without some epic (if kinda dumb) blockbuster action? Moonfall, from Independence Day, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow filmmaker Roland Emmerich, is here to tick that box. Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley and Michael Peña star in this sci-fi disaster flick that sees a group of astronauts, scientists and conspiracy theorists mobilized when the moon is mysteriously knocked out of orbit and starts hurtling towards Earth. Watch from 12 December.
Considerably more serious is techno thriller Kimi. Zoë Kravitz gives one of the best performances of her career, to date, in this tale of an agoraphobic Seattle tech worker who uncovers evidence of a murder while monitoring incoming data from her company’s smart speaker Kimi. Her attempts to alert the authorities put her life in danger. This may sound pretty conventional for the genre, but Kimi is directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh, and has received plenty of acclaim. Watch from 29 December.
Looking for fun for the whole family? Check out The Bad Guys, an action-packed comedy crime caper from DreamWorks Animation. A gang of notorious animal criminals are forced to seek rehabilitation to avoid prison… only for their leader to secretly find that he genuinely wants to change his ways. Featuring the voices of Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Zazie Beetz and more. The Bad Guys is the second highest-grossing animated film of 2022. Stream from 19 December.
For some go-get-’em motivation to cap the year, there’s animated adventure Fireheart. In 1930s New York, sixteen-year-old Georgia Nolan (voiced by Ready Player One’s Olivia Cooke) dreams of becoming the first female firefighter. When Broadway is hit by a series of mysterious arson attacks, Georgia disguises herself as a young man called “Joe” and joins a group of misfit firefighters determined to save the day. Also with the voices of Kenneth Branagh and William Shatner. Watch from 12 December.