My Top Choices for May TV

May TV is just around the corner with lots of linear TV dramas coming to an end as the 2025-2026 TV season closes at the end of the month.

There are also plenty of made-for-TV movies getting ready to debut, new dramas set to debut as well as premiere on streaming and even some specials on linear TV. You can learn more about the May TV schedule here.

In the meantime, the following are my top picks for the TV shows and movies that I am most looking forward to watching throughout May.

[Photo Credit: ABC/Prime Video]

SEASON FINALES

The following season finales will air next month and I’m anxious to see how they come to a close for this TV season:

The Rookie on ABC on May 4 at 10 PM
NCIS: Origins on CBS on May 5 at 9 PM
Will Trent on ABC on May 5 at 8 PM
NCIS on CBS on May 12 at 8 PM
Sheriff Country and Fire Country on CBS on May 22 at 8 and 9 PM (respectively)
Marshals and Tracker on CBS on May 24 at 8 and 9 PM (respectively)
For All Mankind on Apple TV on May 29

[Photo Credit: Starz]

Also, the following series finales will bring two dramas to a conclusion forever, hopefully providing each drama’s fanbase with an acceptable ending. Those shows include:

Good Omens on May 13 on Amazon Prime
Outlander on Starz on May 15 at 8 PM

NEW DRAMAS

There are more than two dozen new dramas set to debut throughout May, and out of those the following are the dramas that I am most interested in watching:

The Other Bennet Sister on Britbox on May 6. This story will be focused on the Bennet family from the famous Jane Austen novel Pride & Prejudice, but taken from the perspective of overlooked sister Mary Bennet, who embarks on a very different path from those of her four other sisters.

Citadel on Amazon Prime on May 6. Okay, so Citadel is actually going into its second season, but the show’s debut season aired THREE years ago on the streaming service so it’s like watching a whole new show. Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Stanley Tucci, Lesley Manville and Ashleigh Cummings are all back in the sophomore run that will find elite operatives of a legendary agency that was destroyed by a ruthless network backed by the world’s most powerful families. When a terrifying new threat emerges, three agents are pulled back into action. Now they must recruit an unlikely team of skilled new operatives and launch a globe-spanning mission to stop a conspiracy that could reshape humanity.

[Photo Credit: Paramount+]

Dutton Ranch on Paramount+ on May 15. The first two episodes of the Yellowstone spin-off will find Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser returning as Beth and Rip (respectively) who fight to build a future together – far from the ghosts of Yellowstone – while colliding with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire.

You’re Killing Me on Acorn TV on May 18. Brooke Shields returns to the small screen for the lead role in this murder myster series that finds her playing best-selling author Allison “Allie” Chandler, who writes fictional murders, but must solve a real one in her small town of Founders Cove when a friend is killed and the police pursue the wrong suspect.

RETURNING FOR ANOTHER SEASON

Then out of the returning dramas that will be back with new seasons, I am most interested in seeing how the following shows move forward with their stories and characters:

Sky Med on Paramount+ on May 21
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder on Netflix
Brilliant Minds on NBC on May 27 at 8 PM (a timeslot for the show, by the way)

MOVIES MOVIES MOVIES

Unlike in the past where I am looking forward to movies over on the Hallmark Channel, I find that I am more eager to see some of the May made-for-TV movies on streaming instead. Here is my top 5 list:

Swapped on Netflix on May 1. Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan and Fargo alum Juno Temple will lend their voices to this animated movie that focuses on a tiny woodland creature and a majestic bird who suddenly swap bodies, forcing them to team up to survive the wildest adventure of their lives.

[Photo Credit: FIrst Showing/Netflix]

Sally Field and Lewis Pullman will star in the Netflix film Remarkably Bright Creatures on May 8 where Fields will play a widow who bonds with an adrift young man (Pullman) as they work the night shift at a small-town aquarium that features a clever octopus voiced by Alfred Molina.

The one-off movie event The Punisher: One Last Kill will debut on May 12 on Disney+, featuring Jon Bernthal in the lead role of Frank Castle yet again as he searches for meaning beyond revenge, an unexpected force pulls him back into the fight.

John Krasinski is back in the title role in the made-for-TV movie Jack Ryan: Ghost War over on Amazon Prime on May 20. Jack Ryan is back, navigating a high-stakes, personal conspiracy involving a rogue black-ops unit.

Lastly, one of the few Lifetime movies that I will actually want to see, primarily because of its lead actress, is When I Said I Do, which will debut at 8 PM on May 23. Sarah Drew will play a widowed K-9 handler named Ali Corley who finds love again with a rescue specialist, Shawn Willis (Eric Johnson from Smallville). The movie is inspired by the hit song from country star Clink Black and his actress wife Lisa Hartman Black.

Once you check out our May calendar, please share in our comments section below what shows, movies or specials you are looking forward to watching.

[Featured Image Photo Credit: BritBox and James Pardon]