The local streaming debut of Predator: Badlands, new Star Trek TV series Starfleet Academy, and a TV series remake of cult classic The ‘Burbs headline this week’s list of streaming releases.
SERIES
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy S1
2 February 2026 – Showmax
Set phasers to surprised! Despite no advanced warning via press release and still not appearing on Showmax’s February lineup on their media page, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy suddenly just beamed onto the local streamer’s catalogue this past Monday, just two weeks after it’s US debut. The latest Trek series following Strange New Worlds (the latest season of which was just added to Showmax in December), this one is set in the far-off future of 32nd century, and follows on from the cataclysmic events in Star Trek: Discovery as it introduces viewers to a young group of cadets – the first in over a century – as they discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers. Much like its classic counterpart, this new Starfleet Academy is based in San Francisco and led by Captain Nahla Ake (Oscar winner Holly Hunter), a Human-Lanthanite hybrid with a long and storied career. Alongside a cast of fresh new faces playing the recruits, Emmy nominees Tig Notaro and Robert Picardo, as well as Mary Wiseman reprise their respective franchise roles as Jett Reno, The Doctor, and Lt. Sylvia Tilly. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy has already been renewed for a second season.
Cross S2
11 February 2026 – Prime Video
The first season of Cross saw Aldis Hodge step into the role of James Patterson’s beloved literary hero Alex Cross, formerly portrayed on screen by Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry. And he lived up to the legacy in a pretty solid crime thriller series that wasn’t afraid to tackle pertinent social issues such as Black Lives Matter. And that’s seemingly not changing for season two! The new season will follow the brilliant homicide detective/forensic psychologist as a puzzling case sees him in pursuit of a ruthless vigilante who is hunting down corrupt billionaire magnates.
The Artful Dodger S2
11 February 2026 – Disney+
It’s only taken two years, but Jack’s back! Fans of The Artful Dodger – Hulu/Disney’s reimagined sequel to Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist – have to wait pretty long to continue the adventures of Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s Jack Dawkins, but that wait comes to end as season two debuts next week. This sophomore showing sees Jack in deep trouble – again! – as he’s got an appointment with the noose. Hunted by Port Victory’s new lawman, Inspector Boxer, Jack is unable to connect with Lady Belle, the woman he loves. Meanwhile, Belle herself is determined to forge her future in medicine, defying expectation and stepping into danger, driven by ambition and a love already hanging in the balance.
The ‘Burbs S1
11 February 2026 – Showmax
1988’s The ‘Burbs was one of those movies that didn’t get all that much love from both critics and audiences alike upon release. However, over time director Joe Dante’s star-studded black-comedy – about a suburban man who suspects his eccentric neighbours is hiding a dark secret – has become a cult classic. And now the Tom Hanks-led film is getting a TV series remake! Starring Emmy winner Keke Palmer and fan favourite British comedian Jack Whitehall, this new version follows a newly married couple who move back to the husband’s childhood home in “the safest town in America”, only to uncover dark secrets about the seemingly quiet cul-de-sac. Emmy-nominated writer Celeste Hughey (Palm Royale, Dead to Me) is the creator/showrunner here, while Julia Duffy, Paula Pell, Mark Proksch, and Kapil Talwalkar co-star.
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast S1
12 February 2026 – Netflix
Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee is back with some more British madness, this time in upcoming eight-episode comedy-thriller series How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. Roísín Gallagher, Sinéad Keenan, and Caoilfhionn Dunne star as thirty-somethings Saoirse, Robyn, and Dara, best of friends since high school who are just trying to make the best of their mundane lives. Things take an unexpectedly thrilling turn though when an email arrives, telling them about the death of the estranged fourth member of their childhood gang. Things get even more unexpected when a series of eerie events at her wake set them on a dark, dangerous and hilarious odyssey through Ireland and beyond as each tries to piece together the truth of the past.
MOVIES
The Life of Chuck
5 February 2026 – Showmax
While Stephen King is most famously known as the master of horror stories, the prolific author has penned several non-horror stories that celebrate humanity and all its myriad complexities, and The Life of Chuck is the latest of those to get the movie treatment. This one is written and directed by Mike Flanagan, another usual horror afficionado who previously adapted King’s Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game (and famously scared our pants off/broke our hearts with the likes of The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and more). Fan-favourite Tom Hiddleston stars in this fantasy drama stars as Charles “Chuck” Krantz, whose life story is told in reverse chronological order, from the moment of his death – which ties into the end of the universe! – all the way to his youth. The star-studded cast also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, and Mark Hamill, while Nick Offerman narrates.
Predator: Badlands
12 February 2026 – Disney+
With 2022’s Prey, Dan Trachtenberg singlehandedly revived the Predator franchise from the disappointing depths of the Alien vs Predator movies and Shane Black’s painfully messy The Predator. He did this by upending the expectations of what exactly a Predator movie could be by following a young Commanche girl in the 18th century as she has to survive on her own as a deadly alien Predator hunts her with advanced weaponry. With animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, Trachtenberg switched genres once more to highly entertaining effect, but that wasn’t enough. Returning to live-action feature films, the filmmaker somehow changes gears even more drastically than anything the franchise has ever done before, and again, it works! This time around, one of the traditionally bad “Yautja” warriors has been made into the story’s heroic protagonist instead, as the young Dek finds himself outclassed on the galaxy’s most deadly planet in an effort to prove himself to his ruthless father. When Dek runs into half destroyed android Thia though and reluctantly agrees to help reunite her with her party in exchange for her help to hunt down the planet’s legendary apex predator, it sets Dek off on a very unexpected quest across some of the most hostile environments imaginable. As I mentioned in my 7.5/10 review, Predator: Badlands “may not be as accomplished as its live-action predecessor Prey, but by director Dan Trachtenberg switching creative gears – and bolstered by an infectiously fun turn from Elle Fanning alongside newcomer lead Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi – Predator: Badlands is a hugely entertaining action-adventure romp set against the backdrop of some crazy and beautifully realized alien landscapes.”
Eternity
13 February 2026 – Apple TV+
If you don’t know who Callum Turner is, chances are you’re going to be finding out very soon. The young English actor is one of the hottest rising stars at the moment (not to be confused with other hot rising British star Josh O’Connor) and is the top pick by most bookies to be the next James Bond. And if you want a great example of his range, then check out Eternity. The fantasy romantic comedy stars Turner alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller, as the most unconventional love triangle: When elderly couple Larry (Teller) and Joan (Olsen) die shortly after each other, they find themselves reunited in the afterlife – or at least the junction before the proper afterlife – restored to youth. But there’s a problem. In the junction, you have to pick where and with whom you spend the rest of eternity, and Joan’s first husband and Luke (Turner), who died young in the Korean War, is also there and has been waiting for her for 65 years. Now Joan has one week to make the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with or her first great love who sacrificed decades of his own heaven for her.