23 best TV shows on Disney Plus right now

Stars: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Enver Gjokaj, Shea Wigham, Chad Michael Murray,

Number of seasons: 2

RIP, Agent Carter. One of Marvel’s best offerings was canceled too quickly after a brief run. Airing alongside Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., this one followed Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter in 1946 when she worked for Howard Stark, a.k.a. Tony’s father and teamed up with his butler, Edwin Jarvis. The show allowed Peggy to flesh out the character beyond Captain America’s love interest, and delivered a fun, exciting two seasons. Atwell has since reprised the role in other MCU projects, so let’s hope they find a way to bring Agent Carter the justice it deserves.

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Stars: Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Ron Rifkin, Victor Garber, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman, David Anders

Number of seasons: 5

J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi action thriller Alias remains one of ABC’s most binge-worthy and enjoyable dramas. Jennifer Garner stars as Sydney Bristow, a CIA double agent who has to conceal her identity from her loved ones. She assumes—you guessed it—multiple aliases to carry out her missions. (That red wig? Still legendary.) Alias won several awards during its run and inspired a video game and original novel spin-offs. And much like Sarah Michelle Gellar with Buffy, the show cemented Garner as a 2000s action star.

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Stars: Ben Wang, Yeo Yann Yann, Jimmy Liu, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Daniel Wu, Stephanie Hsu, Sydney Taylor

Number of seasons: 1

Kelvin Yu’s sci-fi action series is adapted from Gene Luen Yang’s beloved graphic novel. And although the story differs quite a bit, the core remains the same. The six-episode series explores the coming-of-age and friendship between Asian American teen Jin Wang and high-school newcomer Wei-Chen, who arrives from heaven because there’s a war brewing between the gods—and Jin might hold the power to stop them. The show also boasts an Everything Everywhere All At Once reunion of sorts between Yeoh, Quan, and Hsu.

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Stars: Diego Luna, Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Fiona Shaw, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O’Reilly, Faye Marsay, Denise Gough

Number of seasons: 1

After the mediocre responses to Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book Of Boba Fett, Andor revitalized our faith in Star Wars TV shows. Created by Tony Gilroy, the sci-fi action drama is set five years before the events of Rogue One. It follows thief-turned-Rebel spy Cassian Andor’s journey that led up to the film, depicting how he eventually came to join the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire. As we put it in The A.V. Club’s best shows of 2022 feature: “With a surprisingly harrowing story about standing up against fascism, something George Lucas baked into the saga from the very beginning, Andor ended up feeling more like Star Wars than almost anything else produced in the franchise’s Disney era.” Season two will release later this year.

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Stars: Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Yara Shahidi, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Lewis, Marcus Scribner, Marsai Martin, Miles Brown

Number of seasons: 8

Kenya Barris has had an interesting career path over the past decade, but his contribution to pop culture with Black-ish is immense. The family sitcom remained entertaining and heartfelt throughout its eight seasons, with terrific performances (especially from Ross). It was groundbreaking in its portrayal of a Black family, and while the show led to the spin-offs Grown-ish and Mixed-ish, the original reigns supreme.

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Stars: Claudia O’Doherty, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Rose Byrne, Megan Washington, Ian McFadyen, Anthony Field, Robert Irwin

Number of seasons: 3

Australian kids program Bluey has kind of taken over the world. The International Emmy-winning program follows an anthropomorphic six-year-old puppy who lives with her family as they embark on imaginative adventures together. With overarching coming-of-age themes, Bluey is also an excellent depiction of Australian culture. And it has managed to find a thriving global audience. Bonus: The show’s child characters are voiced by the production crew’s kids.

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Stars: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Seth MacFarlane, Patrick Stewart, Sasha Sagan, Judd Hirsch, Viggo Mortensen

Number of seasons: 1

Inspired by Carl Sagan’s beloved 1980 show, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, this modern science docuseries is narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson. And as such, it uses state-of-the-art VFX, animation styles, and dramatic reenactments to transport viewers into the history and future of humanity over the course of its 13-episode first season.

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Stars: Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Toby Leonard Moore, Rosario Dawson, Élodie Yung, Jay Ali, Jon Bernthal

Number of seasons: 3

Netflix’s loss is Disney+’s gain. The latter nabbed rights to the streamer’s Marvel TV shows in 2022, including the best one, Daredevil. The action drama centers on Matt Murdock, a lawyer by day and vigilante by night in New York City, who attempts to take down Wilson Fisk’s criminal empire. Daredevil is an immersive and gripping series, but it only lasted three seasons on Netflix despite critical and fan acclaim. Thankfully, Cox reprised the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk. And he’ll also return to lead a new drama (with D’Onofrio and Jon Bernthal) on Disney+ next year.

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Stars: Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal, Alex Hirsch, Linda Cardellini, J.K. Simmons

Number of seasons: 2

Despite airing only for two seasons (40 episodes total), the animated show Gravity Falls received critical and fan acclaim for good reason. The surreal mystery comedy follows Dipper and Mabel Pines, twins sent to spend the summer with their great-uncle (er, “Grunkle”) in Gravity Falls, Oregon. They help him run “Mystery Shack,” a tourist trap, while investigating local paranormal incidents. Read about how GF shook up the animated format in The A.V. Club’s appreciation piece.

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Stars: Hailee Steinfeld, Jeremy Renner, Vera Farmiga, Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Alaqua Cox, Linda Cardellini, Vincent D’Onofrio, Zahn McClarnon

Number of seasons: 1

Hawkeye not only brings Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton back, but also does an effective job of introducing his next-in-line. The six-episode series charts how a young Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) confronts enemies from her family’s past and ends up aiding Clint in fighting his own demons. The show also marks the return of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin (reprising the role from Netflix’s Daredevil) and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova (from Black Widow). Oh yeah, it’s also a pretty fun Christmastime binge.

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Stars: Krysten Ritter, David Tennant, Rachael Taylor, Mike Colter, Wil Traval, Erin Moriarty, Carrie-Anne Moss, Eka Darville

Number of seasons: 3

Like Daredevil, Jessica Jones is another gritty Netflix original that moved to Disney+ in 2022. The slow-burn drama follows Ritter’s titular character, a former superhero with PTSD who now works as a private investigator. Her past comes back to haunt her when her nemesis Kilgrave (Tennant) returns to wreak havoc. Over three seasons, Jessica Jones delivers a complex and sharp female hero—and itt also lets Tennant make a meal out of his villainous performance.

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Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Jonathan Majors

Number of seasons: 1

If any Avengers character deserves their own spin-off, it’s Loki. And Marvel knows it. So no wonder Loki is one of the few shows from the company returning for a second season this year. Season one takes place after Endgame, where an alternate Loki (Hiddleston) has accidentally created a new timeline after stealing the Tesseract. He’s brought to the bureaucratic Time Variance Authority, where Loki is given a chance to stop a bigger threat. The six episodes also introduce various Lokis, from Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie to a kid Loki to an alligator one. Consider it a feast for fans. Season two arrives in October.

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Stars: Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers, Nick Nolte, Taika Waititi, Timothy Olyphant, Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Sedaris

Number of seasons: 3

Jon Favreau’s space Western The Mandalorian was Disney+’s first live-action Star Wars venture. And what a project it turned out to be. (We can all thank the show for gifting us with Baby Yoda, a.k.a. Grogu, among other things.) Set five years before 1983's Return Of The Jedi, The Mandalorian follows bounty hunter Din Djarin, hired by Imperial forces to retrieve Grogu. Instead, they go on the run so Din can protect the baby. While looking to reunite Baby Yoda with his kind, the duo travels to Mandalore so Din can redeem himself for the transgression of removing his helmet. Several Star Wars actors have reprised their roles, however briefly. (The most notable is Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker in season two.) The show wrapped its third season in April.

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Stars: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Iain De Caestecker, Brett Dalton, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley

Number of seasons: 6

It might have launched a decade ago, but Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. feels like it lived in a bubble before the Marvel Cinematic Universe expanded to include movie stars, multiverses, and variants. The show centers on Phil Coulson, revived by S.H.I.E.L.D. after Loki kills him in The Avengers. He puts together a team to take on strange cases, including fighting Hydra (ah, the good old days) and the race of Inhumans. It’s six seasons of workplace-action comedy that stand the test of time. (And here’s hoping Chloe Bennet’s Quake shows up in future MCU projects.)

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Stars: Iman Vellani, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Arian Moayed, Laith Nakli, Nimrat Bucha

Number of seasons: 1

Ms. Marvel is one of Marvel’s more groundbreaking projects. The show introduced the MCU’s first Muslim superhero, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), who will appear next in The Marvels movie later this year. In the series, the Pakistani American teen gains superpowers through her grandmother’s bangles and delves into her family history during 1947's India-Pakistan partition. The cast and creators mostly hail from South Asian backgrounds, lending much-needed authenticity to a TV show of this magnitude.

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Stars: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Louise Gold, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson

Number of seasons: 5

Who doesn’t want to see Kermit the Frog pretend to be the showrunner of a sketch series? Jim Henson’s iconic The Muppet Show is interspersed with recurring bits, musical numbers, and plotlines taking place backstage. Expect a roster of celebrity guests and consider it a perfect throwback—or a great way to introduce the characters to kids.

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Stars: Lisette Olivera, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Zuri Reed, Jordan Rodriguez, Jake Austin Walker, Lyndon Smith, Justin Bartha

Number of seasons: 1

It’s the National Treasure expansion you didn’t know you wanted. Edge Of History introduces Jess Valenzuela (Lisette Olivera), a DACA woman living in Baton Rouge who discovers her dead father is part of a secret network of treasure protectors. Her knack for solving puzzles is put to test as she chases through a series of clues hidden in American landmarks, but she has to outsmart an antiquities dealer to find a lost treasure. Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a villain, and Justin Bartha and Harvey Keitel reprise their roles briefly. Watch Olivera talked about the series and more in this A.V. Club interview.

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Stars: Wendie Malick, Sarah-Nicole Robles, Mae Whitman, Alex Hirsch, Matthew Rhys, Tati Gabrielle, Isaac Ryan Brown

Number of seasons: 3

Peabody Award-winning animated series The Owl House recently aired its series finale in April—and what a landmark run it had. Dana Terrace’s animated fantasy series centers on a Dominican American teen, Luz, who stumbles into a demon realm and befriends a witch. Despite possessing no magic, she pursues her lifelong dream of becoming a witch herself and finds a family in an unlikely setting. Compared to other shows on Disney Channel, The Owl House broke barriers with its LGBTQ+ representation by focusing on same-sex couples and non-binary characters.

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Stars: Kyla Pratt, Karen Malina White, Aiden Dodson, Carlos Alazraquiu

Number of seasons: 2

Created by Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar, The Proud Family: Louder And Prouder is a revival of Disney Channel’s The Proud Family, which aired from 2001 to 2005. The delightful animated series follows 16-year-old Penny Proud (Kyla Pratt) and her family, now navigating their lives in the 2020s. Expect Penny to face challenges alongside returning characters like Suga Mama, Michael, Dijonay, Zoey, and LaCienega. Season two wrapped up in February.

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Stars: Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer

Number of seasons: 33

Matt Groening’s satirical animated sitcom has etched its name in American television legacy for life. And at the moment, The Simpsons is also the longest-running sitcom of all time. As put in The A.V. Club’s list of the best animated series ever: “The show even captured a culture so effectively that it built its own living, breathing universe that’s currently nattering away in millions of smartphones—this is no ‘meh’ achievement. The Simpsons is cromulent, plain and simple, and we are all embiggened for having it in our lives.”

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Stars: Bel Powley, Joe Cole, Amira Casar, Liev Schreiber, Ashley Brooke, Billie Boullet

Number of seasons: 1

Released on Disney+, National Geographic, and Hulu, A Small Light is one of 2023's hidden treasures. Co-created by Tony Phelan and Joan Rater, the biographical drama is set during World War II and follows Secretary Miep Gies, who helps her Jewish employer Otto Frank, his family, and other Jewish refugees go into hiding.

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Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Randall Park, Teyonah Parris, Debra Jo Rupp, Kat Dennings, Asif Ali

Number of seasons: 1

Marvel made a bold statement with its first show on Disney+, with WandaVision immediately setting a high bar that’s been met mostly with mixed results. The series follows Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) dealing with Vision’s (Paul Bettany) death in Infinity War, using her powers to mind control an entire town called Westview. Kathryn Hahn makes her MCU debut as a witch, Agatha Harkness, and she did so well that Kevin Feige is giving her an entire spin-off. WandaVision subverts the genre by using old-school sitcom templates to tell unique stories. And the nine episodes are more than worth a binge.

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Stars: Norm Spencer, Cathal J. Dodd, Lenore Zann, George Buza, Alyson Court, Cedric Smith

Number of seasons: 5

X-Men: The Animated Series features mutants like Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Beast, Professor X, Rogue, Gambit, and Jubilee, with each season following everything from Jean Grey’s transformation into Phoenix to Magneto’s attempt to start a human-mutant war. It also remains one of the best animated adaptations, along with X-Men: Evolutions, which is available to stream as well. And thankfully, a continuation of the original, titled X-Men ’97, is set to arrive on Disney+ next year.

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