The 10 Most Anticipated Queer TV Shows of 2026
When it comes to TV, 2026 is a good year to be queer. With so many glitzy, glamorous, and gay shows rolling out, TV is becoming a necessary refuge from the increasingly uncomfortable political realities of the time. As LGBTQ+ rights are being challenged worldwide, queer shows have never felt more important. From messy vampire goth operas to coming-of-age classics in the making, these are the 10 most anticipated queer TV shows of 2026.
Interview with the Vampire — Season 3
Gory. Gothic. Glorious. Gay. Interview With the Vampire contains bloodspattered multitudes. An adaptation of Anne Rice’s seminal vampire novel, the series is back for perhaps its most cinematic season yet. A narrative departure from season 2, the third season will center around pop culture’s favorite evil bisexual vampire twunk in his rockstar era. Lestat is a world-famous musician in the modern day, entertaining and preying upon his hordes of accolades. For fans of goth required viewing media like Queen of the Damned, The Vampire Lestat will be an absolute must-watch. And while Lestat’s centuries-long love affair with Louis Louis de Pointe du Lac will no longer be the primary focus of the series, you can bet that underneath all the guitars and guyliner, the gay yearning will remain as strong as ever.
The Hunting Wives — Season 2
One of the most surprising soap operas of the modern era, The Hunting Wives is a messy, sapphic show that’s sure to delight any cultural anthropologist fascinated by the American South. Set in East Texas, the series follows Massachusetts transplant Sophie O’Neil as she navigates her new life as part of a wealthy clique of socialites called the “Hunting Wives,” led by the glamorous Margo Banks. Drawn into a world of oil tycoons, megachurches, and NRA fundraisers, Sophie is a blue state fish out of water in a sea of red – making her budding sapphic relationship with Margo all the more complicated. It’s an outrageous series that shines a spotlight on the secret queer lives of wealthy conservatives — art imitates life. Is The Hunting Wives shaping up to be a prestige TV series? Certainly not. Is it a trashy, fun, and utterly ridiculous guilty pleasure watch? Absolutely yes. Oh, and there’s an entire kidnapping and murder plot, because why not?
Yellowjackets — Season 4
The high school soccer players turned cannibalistic killers are back, and the fourth season of Yellowjackets is set to be as grisly and gay as ever. This teenage cadre of plane crash victims, locked in a coming-of-age struggle for survival, is forced to do horrible things to stay alive — and reconcile with their morally dubious actions 25 years in the future. Season four is set to be the show’s final season, and considering that many of the major players of the series have met their untimely ends already, that decision makes morbid sense. Rare is a series centered entirely around women’s relationships, and rarer still is one that combines sapphic drama with full-blown survival horror. Though some of those relationships are more tortured than others, the story of this toxic group of teens sure makes for incredible TV.
Euphoria — Season 3
The messiest teenagers on TV are back with a third season, four long years after the premiere of season two. With so many of the core cast members having become major celebrities in the interim, season three of the show is perhaps the most anticipated yet. Set after the core cast graduated high school, the third season follows Rue across the Southwestern desert, running drugs to pay back a $100,000 loan to the dealer Laurie. Meanwhile, Nate and Cassie are making wedding plans — while trying to make ends meet working in construction and selling puppy-themed OnlyFans content, respectively. Sadly absent from the premiere is Labrinth’s series-defining soundtrack, and Hunter Schafer’s Jules is also nowhere to be found. The first episode was met with mixed reviews, and Euphoria‘s third season may shape up to be a masterpiece or a trainwreck — either way, it’s entirely on brand. Euphoria was always intended to be polarizing, and its third season may prove to be the most divisive yet.
One Piece — Season 22
One Piece is back, still going strong after nearly three decades. The 22nd season will follow Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates to Elbaph, the island of giants. When it comes to landmark queer TV series, the anime isn’t as gay-culturally high-profile as Euphoria or Interview With the Vampire. However, with a diverse cast of canonically gender nonconforming and trans characters, the series has clearly cemented its legacy as one of the most queer-friendly shonen anime of all time. Kiku and Yamato have become two of anime’s most iconic trans characters, whose identities are widely accepted and respected by the wider One Piece cast — all in keeping with the series’ greater themes of self-acceptance and personal freedom. Alongside shows such as Our Flag Means Death, One Piece proves that pirates are forever a part of gay culture.
Heartstopper Forever
The feature-length season finale of the groundbreaking queer coming-of-age series Heartstopper, Heartstopper Forever is easily one of the most anticipated releases of 2026. The tender love story between high school sweethearts Nick and Charlie will finally draw to a close, ending one of the most celebrated queer TV romances of the era. Upon its release in 2022, Heartstopper was one of the most talked-about teen dramas streaming, entering Netflix’s Global Top 10 within weeks. While Charlie and Nick are the series’ central couple, Heartstopper‘s supporting characters have been widely praised by critics and fans alike. Featuring an ensemble cast of characters spanning many genders and sexualities, Heartstopper is one of the best examples of solid queer representation on TV.
Hacks — Season 5
Hacks is a dark dramedy centering around Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance, who is reinventing her act with the help of young and down-on-her-luck comedy writer Ava. While the series’ two leads are (sadly) only soulmates of a platonic sort, Ava’s relationships with men and women make for one of the most nuanced and true-to-life representations of bisexuality on TV. Set in the entertainment industry, Hacks features an ensemble cast of queer characters, and season five will introduce actors Cherry Jones and Leslie Bibb as a lesbian couple. While not as high-profile as Heartstopper or Yellowjackets, this Emmy Award-winning series has quietly delivered queer excellence across four stellar seasons, and season five will surely not disappoint.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run
The most gleefully homoerotic anime ever made is back with an all-new series. An adaptation of the seventh part of the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga, Steel Ball Run revolves around Johnny Joestar — a paraplegic former jockey competing in a trans-American horse race in the 19th century. Famous for outlandish outfits, musclebound bodies, and flamboyant poses, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the greatest and gayest anime series ever made. With his skin-tight riding chaps and electric blue lipstick, Johnny Joestar is shaping up to be one of the most iconic gay cowboys in media. And the series’ resident evil bisexual vampire twunk Dio? He’s been reimagined as Diego Brando, a British jockey and rival of Johnny — yes, the sexual tension is palpable. One of anime’s most high-profile queer series, Steel Ball Run ensures that the reign of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure will indeed run long.
Carrie
Mike Flanagan — the Stephen King of horror TV adaptations — is back with a reimagined version of a novel by the King of Horror himself. Ever since a blood-spattered Sissy Spacek took telekinetic revenge on her high school bullies, Carrie cemented its legacy as a queer-coded classic. The creator of sapphic series like The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, Flanagan has also solidified his reputation as a leading figure in queer-inclusive horror. Marginalized and maligned by her peers and her ultra-Christian mother, Carrie’s struggle for acceptance can easily be interpreted through a queer lens — and hopefully Flanagan boldly emphasizes what the original novel implied as subtext. Considering that Bly Manor gave audiences one of the most beautiful and devastating sapphic romances in recent memory, it’s safe to say that there’s hope for Carrie to become a gay TV great.
Big Mistakes
Big Mistakes is a crime drama centering around an openly gay pastor who gets blackmailed by a group of gangsters — it doesn’t get messier than that. Starring Dan Levy, the breakout star of Schitt’s Creek who brought a queer love story to the mainstream masses, Big Mistakes hinges on the actor’s well-established comedy chops and charm. Comedian Taylor Ortega plays Levy’s sister, and the pair make for a hilariously dysfunctional duo who are anything but qualified to be criminals. Ortega’s character Morgan is also shaping up to be one of TV’s best queer characters; she begins stuck in a straight relationship with her high school sweetheart before slowly coming to terms with her sexuality as the series goes on. Like Schitt’s Creek, this fish-out-of-water comedy is not to be missed.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
