7 Best HBO Max Shows to Binge Right Now (Nov 2025)

As the holiday season approaches, HBO Max continues to dominate the streaming-scape with an impressive slate of TV programming spanning nearly every genre under the autumn sun. The streamers’ offerings of the moment include an Emmy-winning buddy comedy, a hyperreal medical drama, a few returning favorites, and even some top-shelf new releases that are just waiting for you to hit play. So if you’re lost on what to watch this fall, We’ve ranked the seven most essential HBO shows that deserve your immediate attention.

7) Peacemaker

James Gunn’s TV-MA superhero comedy recently aired its second season, with John Cena back as Christopher Smith, a vigilante who believes in achieving peace at any cost, i.e., no matter how many people he has to kill. The season is set after the events of Gunn’s recent Superman film and finds Peacemaker discovering an alt universe where he’s actually a beloved hero. All episodes of Season 1 and 2 are now streaming, with Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Jennifer Holland, and Steve Agee all returning alongside Cena. Frank Grillo joins the cast as Rick Flag Sr., reprising his role from the animated Creature Commandos. 

Gunn told Entertainment Weekly that Peacemaker has evolved from being a “total asshole” in Season 1 to a more nuanced character, though the show maintains its crude humor and action amid it’s newfound vulnerability. Critics have praised Season 2 as even better than the first, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting a score of 95% fresh.

6) IT: Welcome to Derry

The highly-anticipated prequel to Andy Muschietti’s It movies has landed, with the first couple episodes now streaming. Set in 1962 Derry, the show explores further back on the timeline of the ancient evil that plagues Stephen King’s fictional cursed town, with this season picking up decades before the adaptation’s “Losers Club” would face their fears. Bill Skarsgård notably returns to grace us all with his nightmareish take on Pennywise the Clown.

Developed by Muschietti alongside his sister Barbara and screenwriter Jason Fuchs, the series also stars Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, and Taylour Paige as residents who find trouble after a boy disappears. With ambitious plans for a total of three seasons spanning 1962, 1935, and 1908, Welcome to Derry promises to build out the mythology of King’s primordial monster. So naturally, now’s the time to hop aboard.

5) Hacks

Jean Smart’s comedy wrapped its stellar fourth season back in April, making now the perfect moment to catch up on one of TV’s most consistently excellent series. Created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, Hacks follows legendary Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance and her millennial writer, Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), as they navigate a mentor-mentee relationship and generational gap. The series pulls no punches with either its biting Hollywood satire or its fraught emotional rollercoaster.

The trophy shelf for Hacks is impressive, with Smart having won four consecutive Emmys, three SAG Awards and two Golden Globes. Einbinder earned her first Emmy win in 2025, and the series itself has even won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and even taken home a Golden Globes for Best Television Series. With four certifiably fantastic seasons in the bag and a final fifth season on the way, there’s plenty to binge before the show takes its final bow.

4) I Love LA

Rachel Sennott’s highly anticipated HBO comedy premiered on November 2nd, so now’s the perfect time to settle in for a month of fresh episodes. Created, written by, and starring Sennott (who broke out in Shiva Baby and Bodies Bodies Bodies), the series follows a codependent friend group as they reunite to take on their California ambitions. The ensemble cast includes Odessa A’zion, Jordan Firstman, True Whitaker, and The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson, in what critics have labeled a sharp “self-referential comedy” about Gen Z existentialism.

I Love LA joins HBO’s recent push to develop more creator-driven series following the conclusions of Barry and Curb Your Enthusiasm. With new episodes rolling out weekly through the season finale on December 21st, now is the ideal time to jump aboard before it becomes the show all your friends are talking about at the annual holiday party.

3) The Pitt

HBO’s hit medical drama starring Noah Wyle has completed its first season and has already been renewed for Season 2, thanks to its success as one of the year’s most compelling watches. The series follows Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch through a single, grueling 15-hour shift in the emergency department of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, with each episode covering approximately one hour of real time. Created by R. Scott Gemmill and executive produced by John Wells (both ER veterans), The Pitt offers a realistic look at emergency medicine.

The ensemble also includes Tracy Ifeachor, Patrick Ball, Katherine LaNasa, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, and Shabana Azeez as doctors, nurses, and staff who must deal with things like the opioid crisis and fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The series has earned critical acclaim, with a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and five Emmys including Outstanding Drama Series, and acting wins for Wyle and LaNasa. Season 2, set on Independence Day, is scheduled to premiere January 8, 2026.

2) The Chair Company

Currently halfway through its eight-episode first season, The Chair Company has quickly become one of HBO Max’s most talked-about new series. Created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin (the team behind I Think You Should Leave), the show stars Robinson as William Ronald Trosper, who begins to uncover a vast conspiracy after an embarrassing workplace incident involving a faulty chair. 

Executive produced by Adam McKay, the series is as charming as it is absurd and as funny as it is disturbing. The show expertly navigates its white-collar satire, finding humor and pathos in the struggles of ordinary people while unspooling its rabbit-hole mystery. New episodes air weekly through November 30th, so you can binge half now and look forward to more.

1) Task

Topping our list is Brad Ingelsby’s gripping crime drama miniseries, with all seven episodes now available for the complete binge experience. Mark Ruffalo stars as Tom Brandis, an FBI agent and former priest who is put in charge of a task force to end a string of violent robberies undertaken by Tom Pelphrey’s Robbie Prendergrast, an unassuming father and garbage man who robs trap houses by night. The show’s authentic depiction of Delaware County encases its complex narrative, which explores morality and desperation among working-class Pennsylvanians.

Created and written by Ingelsby (who previously created Mare of Easttown), Task has officially gained hit status. Ruffalo and Pelphrey in particular have been praised for their powerhouse performances as dual protagonists with each serving as the foil to the other. For fans of True Detective or for anyone seeking a self-contained crime thriller they can devour in a weekend, Task is HBO’s latest must-watch series.

What’s on your HBO Max watchlist this November? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

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