Mandatory Streamers: Game of Thrones’ Last Watch explores making of final season
Welcome to Mandatory Streamers, our latest column covering the best new streaming content coming your way every week! For the week of May 20, Game of Thrones: The Last Watch documentary delves deep into the mud and blood to reveal the tears and triumphs involved in the challenge of bringing the fantasy world of Westeros to life in the very real studios, fields, and car-parks of Northern Ireland. Check out the best shows debuting and returning online this week as well as the latest renewal announcements below, and be sure to visit our mother site Mandatory by clicking here!
HBO
Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, Documentary Premiere: For a year, acclaimed British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay was embedded on the set of the hit HBO series and chronicled the creation of the show’s most ambitious and complicated season. Made with unprecedented access, the two-hour documentary about the making of the final season offers an up-close and personal report from the trenches of production, following the crew and the cast as they content with extreme weather, punishing deadlines, and an ever-excited fandom hungry for spoilers. This is a funny, heartbreaking story, told with wit and intimacy, about the bittersweet pleasures of what it means to create a world and then have to say goodbye to it. The documentary will premiere on Sunday, May 26.
Netflix
She’s Gotta Have It, Season 2 Premiere: The Netflix original series starring DeWanda Wise based on Spike Lee’s feature film is returning for a new season. The second season of Lee’s series continues the story of Nola Darling, a Brooklyn-based artist in her late twenties struggling to define herself and divide her time amongst her friends, her job, and her three lovers. Season 2 offers a timely and topical portrait of rising talents as Nola must decide if she will remain true to her creative ideals or give in to the corporate world. Set against a backdrop of black art and culture, Nola’s journey of self-discovery helps transform the lives of those around her. The second season will launch on Friday, May 24.
What/If, Series Premiere: Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger stars in the streamer’s new social thriller anthology, which explores the difficult sacrifices the characters must be willing to take in exchange for the achievement of their personal desires. What/If will center on the effects of acceptable people committing deplorable acts, with Zellweger starring in the lead role as a powerful woman named Anne, shrouded in mystery. The series will be available to stream on May 14.
Starz
Vida, Season 2 Premiere: The critically-acclaimed drama series is returning for a second season on Starz, featuring Emma and Lyn trying to revive their mother’s bar as they navigate a new life in a familiar city. The first season of the series introduced the two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles who couldn’t be more different or distanced from each other. After being forced to return to their old neighborhood, Emma and Lyn are confronted by the past and the surprising truth about their mother’s identity. Their journey continues when the second season premieres on May 23.
Renewals
Snowpiercer, Season 2: Ahead of the series debut of the dystopian thriller based on the 2013 feature film, Snowpiercer has been renewed for a second season and will be airing on TBS. The movie centered on the desolate future where the earth has become a nearly-uninhabitable tundra and much of the human population has been relegated to a perpetually-moving locomotive. The first season of the series will premiere in spring 2020.
Miracle Workers, Season 2: Daniel Radcliffe’s half-hour comedy, based on Simon Rich’s book What in God’s Name, has been renewed for a second season at TBS! Season 2 will follow a medieval story about friendship, family and trying not to be murdered. Set to return for the new season, Radcliffe, Steve Buscemi, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Karan Soni will portray new characters that will center on the story of a group of villagers in the dark ages trying to stay positive in an age of inequality and fake news.
