A Netflix fantasy, Amazon fantasy, wacky Max fantasy, and more new TV this week

It’s a big week, folks! There’s new fantasy TV on Prime Video, new animated fantasy on Netflix, new wacky animated fantasy on Max, and new ballet school fantasy on Hulu — OK, you get the picture. There’s a lot of fantasy coming this week! Even more if you count One Piece on Netflix (which I only sort of do, but not really).

Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the hit manga and anime is certainly news in and of itself. One Piece season 1 traces the first hundred(ish) chapters of the manga, and follows the early voyages of the Straw Hat crew. Elsewhere, on Prime Video, The Wheel of Time picks up right where it left off, with the Dragons Reborn all scattered around a new world, struggling to make sense of where the whirlwind of season 1 left them.

In a different kind of fantasy, Archer season 14(!) premieres on Hulu, marking the start of its final time in the field. Meanwhile, Justified: City Primeval and Special Ops: Lioness wrap with their Season: Finales. Here are the most significant TV premieres and finales this week.

New shows on Netflix

One Piece

Genre: Live-action shonen anime
Release date: Aug. 31, with all episodes
Showrunner/creator: Steven Maeda and Matt Owens
Cast: Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero Gibson, and Taz Skylar

Are you a fan of One Piece — either the long-running anime or the even longer-running manga? Then you might want to check out One Piece, the Netflix live-action adaptation. This story is starting from scratch (as much as these remakes ever can), setting sail with Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) from the very beginning of the Straw Hat Pirates. Unlike Cowboy Bebop’s tonal shift, however, Netflix’s One Piece will be working with a world that’s already kind of kooky and fun, meaning there’s a little less genre displacement than you’d expect.

Disenchantment’s final season

Genre: Animated fantasy
Release date: Sept. 1, with all episodes
Showrunner/creator: Matt Groening
Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Eric André, Nat Faxon, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Matt Berry, David Herman, Maurice LaMarche, Lucy Montgomery, and Billy West

It’s the final season of Disenchantment, and though Bean confronted the dreamtime, “bad” version of herself, the final post-credits scene seemed to imply she’s not quite done with her — with Bad Bean’s severed head joining Satan and Dagmar on the throne. What does that mean for the final season of Groening’s Netflix show? Hopefully… good things?

New shows on Hulu

Spellbound

Genre: Magic, and also dance school
Release date: Aug. 31, with one episode
Showrunner/creator: Jill Girling and Lori Mather
Cast: Hailey Romain, Margherita Barbieri, Abigail O’Regan, Etienne Moana, Sam Darius, Zac Gabriel Werb, Raven Dauda, and more

Things can get high-pressure when you’re a 15-year-old studying at the Paris Opera Ballet School, navigating the cutthroat world of ballet while balancing the pressures of growing up. Add in the fact that you’ve accidentally discovered you come from a family of witches and you’ve lifted an enchantment keeping you safe for all these years, inadvertently summoning your nemesis, and you’ve got Spellbound.

Archer’s final season

Genre: Debauched espionage
Release date: Aug. 31, with two episodes
Showrunner/creator: Adam Reed
Cast: H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, Adam Reed, Lucky Yates, and more

It’s the final outing for Archer (H. Jon Benjamin), Lana (Aisha Tyler), and the whole crew — including everyone’s favorite memes, tacticalnecks, “phrasing” checks, and more. After 14 seasons and a handful of reinventions, Archer is coming to an end, which begs the question: Does Sterling Archer deserve a happy ending?

Justified: City Primeval finale

Image: FX

Genre: Crime thriller
Release date: Aug. 29
Showrunner/creator: Dave Andron and Michael Dinner
Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Boyd Holbrook, Aunjanue Ellis, and more

It’s the end of Justified’s reboot, City Primeval, and things are really starting to come together. Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) has been stuck in Detroit for a good while now, and I reckon he’s just about to have Clement (Boyd Holbrook) cornered. (And likely make some excuses to do some shootin’, I wager.)

New shows on Max

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

Genre: Animated wackiness
Release date: Aug. 31, with two episodes
Showrunner/creator: Adam Muto, Fred Seibert, and Sam Register
Cast: Madeleine Martin, Roz Ryan, Tom Kenny, Andrew Rannells, Donald Glover, Kayleigh McKee, Sean Rohani, and more

It’s almost Adventure Time — the new show on Max stars an alternate-universe Jake the Dog and Finn the Human: the titular Fionna and Cake. Together with Simon Petrikov (neé “the Ice King”), they travel the multiverse and try to outrun a powerful antagonist trying to erase them from existence.

New shows on Prime Video

The Wheel of Time season 2

Genre: High fantasy
Release date: Sept. 1, with two episodes
Showrunner/creator: Rafe Judkins
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Josha Stradowski, Madeleine Madden, Zoë Robins, Fares Fares, Marcus Rutherford, Daniel Henney, Dónal Finn, and more

The Wheel of Time season 2 is finally here, picking up with (roughly) book two of Robert Jordan’s series and following what happens to Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) and Rand (Josha Stradowski) after their fight with the Dark One (Fares Fares). Oh, and they finally brought out their coolest guys, this season’s antagonists: the Seanchan.

New shows on Paramount Plus

Special Ops: Lioness finale

Photo: Lynsey Addario/Paramount Plus

Genre: Spy thriller
Release date: Sept. 3
Showrunner/creator: Taylor Sheridan
Cast: Zoe Saldaña, Nicole Kidman, Michael Kelly, Morgan Freeman, Laysla De Oliveira

Special Ops: Lioness started slow, easing into its grand espionage plans. Like most Sheridan joints, it’s come together by the end of the season, building a web of drama and relationships that creates more than enough tension (before you even add in the “special ops” of it all for some good ol’ fashioned spy fun). Tune in on Sunday to see if the Paramount Plus show can stick the landing.