Sunday night, the fire is going, and House of the Dragon has just ended for two years. This is what to watch next: six shows streaming in NZ right now to cover the finale pile-up, plus the dates that matter between here and mid-September. August has been quietly brutal on the watchlist. The dragons are done, One Hundred Years of Solitude wraps for good on 26 August, and Silo is three episodes from its finale. The couch negotiation is about to start from scratch.
The shows all ending at once
The casualty list is not short. House of the Dragon closed its third season on 9 August on HBO Max, and the wait for more is measured in years, not months. The others are following it out the door within a month of each other:
- House of the Dragon: season three finale aired 9 August on HBO Max; season four is confirmed but a long way off.
- One Hundred Years of Solitude: final ever episode 26 August on Netflix, the end of the series, not a season break.
- Silo: season three finale 4 September on Apple TV+, per Deadline's release schedule.
- Ted Lasso: one episode every Wednesday on Apple TV+ until early October.
Ted Lasso at least holds down one night a week until October. The rest of the calendar is suddenly wide open, and you could fall back on Shortland Street and pretend that was the plan all along. Or you could restock the list properly while the evenings are still dark by six.
What to watch next, sorted
Six picks, every one streaming in NZ tonight on a service you probably already pay for. The filter was strict: subscription or free services only, no rentals, nothing that turns out to be America-only when you go looking. The order runs from easiest sell to biggest commitment.
The Gentlemen
Guy Ritchie's posh-estate weed empire, eight episodes of pure momentum, and season two lands in one drop on 3 September. Watch the first season now and you are ready the night it arrives. Sharper than it has any right to be.
Reacher
A very large man solves problems, occasionally with furniture. Season four is rolling out weekly on Prime Video right now and it knows exactly what it is. For the nights when nobody has the energy for subtitles.
Colin from Accounts
A spilt flat white, an injured dog, and the best Aussie comedy in years, free on TVNZ+. The final season is airing now, so the whole thing is yours without adding a single subscription. Credit across the Tasman where it is due: they got this one right.
Silo
Rebecca Ferguson, ten thousand people in an underground bunker, and three seasons of finding out why. The finale lands on 4 September. If you wrote it off as too grim in 2023, it has more than earned the second look.
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The García Márquez adaptation finishes for good on 26 August, which makes it finally safe to start: no cliffhangers, no waiting. Strange, beautiful television. Nobody in Macondo makes a single good decision, and that is half the appeal.
Slow Horses
Honourable mention
Five seasons of shabby spies already on Apple TV+, with season six arriving 16 September. The best catch-up maths going: start tonight, be current inside a month, then join the weekly wait like the rest of us.
The next few weeks, sorted for NZ
Lanterns is the new arrival to plan around: DC's slow-burn murder mystery with Kyle Chandler, from 17 August on HBO Max, one episode a week. Then The Gentlemen season two drops all eight episodes on 3 September, a Thursday, not that anyone will make it to Friday. Slow Horses season six follows on 16 September, and MobLand is back on 18 September: the Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosnan crime drama from Guy Ritchie's stable streams on Prime Video here while the rest of the world pays Paramount+ for it, and season one is worth the rewatch first. Daylight saving does not arrive until 27 September, so there are six more weeks of legitimately dark evenings to spend. For the full service-by-service rundown of the month's arrivals, the August streaming guide has the lot.
Pick one before it turns into a thing
Six picks is still six opinions, and "I don't mind, you pick" has ended more movie nights than any finale. MatchWatch shortcuts it: you both swipe on what you fancy, and the first mutual yes is the plan. If the pool above is not enough, what to watch tonight keeps a standing list for exactly these evenings.
The finales cleared the deck, but what to watch next does not have to be a forty-minute standoff. Swipe, match, and get the fire's worth out of the evening. Available in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and the United States.