The best international series coming to Showmax in February 2023

Stream first seasons of smash hit The Last of Us, plus Julia, East New York, Let The Right One In, American Gigolo & Bump. Or check out new seasons of returning favourites like The Cleaning Lady and Young Rock.

The Last of Us S1 | Binge episodes 1-3 now, with new episodes on Mondays

Save who you can save.

The most popular show on IMDb currently, with a 9.3/10 rating from nearly 100 000 fans, HBO’s The Last of Us is set 20 years after modern civilisation has been destroyed. Joel is hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie out of an oppressive quarantine zone. But what starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal journey as the pair cross the U.S., depending on each other for survival.

As Joel, Ellie and Tess respectively, Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Game of Thrones), Bella Ramsey (His Dark Materials and Game of Thrones) and Anna Torv (Fringe) are currently the three highest ranked actors on IMDb’s Starmeter.

Co-created by Emmy winner Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and game creator Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us’s cast also includes Emmy winner Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus), Critics Choice winner Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets) and Teen Choice nominee Storm Reid (Euphoria).

The Last of Us has a 97% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Empire proclaiming it “a masterpiece” and The Guardian giving it five stars and hailing it as “one of the finest TV shows you will see this year… Desperately moving… A phenomenal blend of horror and heart, with a cast that could not be more perfect.”

HBO has already ordered Season 2, after The Last of Us had HBO’s second largest debut, behind only House of the Dragon after one full week of availability, and Episode 2 had the largest week-two audience growth of any HBO Original drama series in the history of the network.

Julia S1 | Binge from 24 February

Julia is inspired by Julia Child, the legendary cookbook author and television superstar who changed the way Americans think about food, television, and even women.

BAFTA winner Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax) plays Julia Child, with four-time Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce (Dr Niles Crane in Frasier) as her husband Paul.

Julia has a 93% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As The Guardian puts it, “Julia is about a successful woman’s rise to even more success, against the odds… Men tell Child what she can’t do, and she goes ahead and works out a way to do it anyway.”

Julia was nominated for Best Television Series: Drama at the 2023 Satellite Awards; Best Episodic Comedy at the 2023 Writers Guild of America Awards; and two 2023 Casting Society of America awards, among other accolades.

Also watch the documentary, Julia, which was nominated for two Critics Choice Documentary Awards, from 24 February 2023.

East New York S1 | First on Showmax | Mondays from 20 February

East New York follows recently promoted police captain Regina Haywood, who leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are hesitant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting.

Amanda Warren (NCIS: New Orleans) stars as Deputy Inspector Haywood, alongside the likes of Emmy winner Jimmy Smits (NYPD Blue) and Emmy nominee Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Castle), and Screen Actors Guild winners Kevin Rankin (Breaking Bad) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Orange is the New Black).

Created by Emmy winner William M. Finkelstein (The Good Fight, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, L.A. Law) and Black Reel nominee Mike Flynn (Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Queen Sugar), East New York has an 88% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As Variety says, “​​East New York sets a new course for the broadcast cop drama.”

Young Rock S2 | Binge from 13 February

Young Rock, the popular sitcom based on the life of Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock, aka Black Adam), is back for a second season, with the 2032 timeline (in which Dwayne is running for President) far more prominent this go-around, which means we’ll be seeing more of Dwayne himself.

Season 2 was nominated for three People’s Choice Awards: The Comedy Show of 2022, Comedy TV Star of 2022 and Favorite Male TV Star (both for Johnson himself), bringing the count to seven following Season 1’s four nominations.

Uli Latukefu (The Champion in Black Adam) steps into the spotlight early in the season to bring Dwayne’s doomed football career to a close, and look out for Oscar nominee Sean Astin (Stranger Things, The Lord of the Rings) and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (Star Wars’ Saw Gerrera, Bumpy Johnson in Godfather of Harlem) among the cast this season.

The Cleaning Lady S2 | Binge episodes 1-2 now, with new episodes on Thursdays

Based on the Argentine series La Chica que Limpia, crime drama The Cleaning Lady follows a whip-smart Filipina doctor (Elodie Yung from The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Defenders), who comes to the US for medical treatment to save her son. When the system fails and pushes her into hiding, she becomes a cleaner for the mob and starts playing the game by her own rules.

Nominated for a 2022 Hollywood Critics Association Television Award for Best Broadcast Network Series: Drama, the series has been compared to Breaking Bad, with Paste saying, “The Cleaning Lady is a fast-paced portrayal of a woman pushed to the edge and forced to contend with hard decisions for the wellbeing of her family… Yung’s central performance is filled with warmth, determination, and grit.”

Adan Canto (Designated Survivor) and Teen Choice Award winner Oliver Hudson (Nashville) return, with Emmy nominee Naveen Andrews (The Dropout, Lost) joining the cast this season.

Let the Right One In S1 | Binge from 27 February

Inspired by John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel that has been previously adapted into two acclaimed films, Let The Right One In centres on Mark and his daughter Eleanor, whose lives changed 10 years ago when she was turned into a vampire. Eleanor (aka Ellie) leads a secluded life, able to go out only at night, while her father does his best to feed her the human blood she needs to survive. Now, they’ve returned home to New York City, desperate to find a cure.

Let The Right One In stars Oscar nominee Demián Bichir (The Hateful Eight, A Better Life) as Mark and America’s Got Talent breakout child star Madison Taylor Baez as Eleanor. Critics Choice nominees Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) and Nick Stahl (Sin City), Grace Gummer (Mr. Robot, Dr. Death), Kevin Carroll (The Leftovers, Blindspotting), and Emmy winner Željko Ivanek (True Blood) co-star, with child actor Ian Foreman as Ellie’s friend Isaiah.

Critics are praising the performances, with Wall Street Journal saying, “Both of the young actors are remarkable, memorable and carry much of the story. Let the Right One In has a uniformly top-notch cast, but the kids happen to be terrific.”

American Gigolo S1 | Binge from 6 February

Exonerated after 15 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, former gigolo Julian Kaye (Jon Bernthal from We Own This City) tries to pick up the pieces as the detective who put him behind bars works to unravel the mystery that led to his incarceration.

Screen Actors Guild winner Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire, Mozart in the Jungle), award winner Lizzie Brocheré (War of the Worlds, American Horror Story), and Gabriel LaBelle (The Fabelmans) co-star, along with Emmy winners Rosie O’Donnell (The L Word: Generation Q, Russian Doll) and Wayne Brady (The Good Fight, Whose Line Is It Anyway?)

Executive produced by 10-time Emmy winner Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun: Maverick, Pirates of the Caribbean, Bad Boys, CSI and more), the 18-rated Showtime series is created by Emmy nominee David Hollander (Ray Donovan), based on the iconic 1980 film by Oscar nominee Paul Schrader (The Card Counter, Taxi Driver).

Bump S1-3 | First on Showmax | Binge from 6 February

Because smart girls do dumb things too…

In the Australian series Bump, the lives of a professional mid-40s couple on the brink of divorce are upended when their overachieving 16-year-old daughter Olly has a surprise baby. As the life-changing consequences of an impulsive teenage hook-up ripple out across a high school and three families, the show takes on modern parenthood, kids who never leave, what happens when strangers accidentally become family, and the terrible and great things that come out of one little tiny mistake.

Season 1 nabbed an 86% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Time Out saying, “This show just gets that it’s the bumps along the way that make life so fascinating.” Bump has been nominated for nine awards in Australia, including Best Drama Series at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards.

Young Australian actors Nathalie Morris and Carlos Sanson star alongside the likes of Angus Sampson (Fargo, Our Flag Means Death) and series co-creator Claudia Karvan (The Other Guy), who was nominated for Best Lead Actress: Drama at the AACTA Awards as Angie Davis.

The Girlfriend Experience S1-3 | Binge from 13 February

Iris (Julia Goldani Telles from The Affair) relocates to London, leaving behind her family and a half-finished neuroscience degree. She begins a double life: working at a tech startup while providing the girlfriend experience at night.

The 18-rated series is executive produced by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Videotape, Traffic), with Berlin International Film Festival winner Anja Marquardt (She’s Lost Control) directing this season. As LA Times says of this season, “The Girlfriend Experience predicted pandemic sex.”

S1 of the anthology series was Time’s second-best series of the year (and made Top Ten lists from Vulture and The Playlist to Slant, Collider and Slate), with Newsday calling it, “TV’s most adult show,” while The Guardian called S2 “the most compelling drama on TV”.

Crossfire S1 | Binge from 28 February

From the makers of The Responder, Crossfire follows former police officer Jo, who takes her family on holiday to a resort in the Canary Islands, in the wake of her marriage falling apart. But their dream vacation turns into a nightmare as she and her family are thrust into a battle for survival when gunmen attack the hotel.

BAFTA nominee Keeley Hawes (The Durrells, Bodyguard, Line of Duty) stars as Jo, with Josette Simon (Anatomy of a Scandal), Anneika Rose (Line of Duty) and Lee Ingleby (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) among the cast.

In their four star review, Radio Times called the three-part BBC miniseries “gripping”, “harrowing” and “heart-wrenching.”

The Reunion S1 | First on Showmax | Coming soon

Set against the idyllic backdrop of the French Riviera, the psychological thriller The Reunion centres on a high school reunion where three estranged friends reconnect. But the upcoming demolition of a school gymnasium wall is set to unearth the 25-year-old secret that binds them.

Ukrainian actress Ivanna Sakhno (Pacific Rim Uprising), Teen Choice winner Ioan Gruffudd (Harrow, Ava), and award-winning French actor Grégory Fitoussi (Spiral) headline an international cast that includes award winners Rupert Graves (Sherlock, V for Vendetta), and Dervla Kirwan (Smother).

The series, based on Guillaume Musso’s international bestseller La Jeune Fille et la Nuit, is adapted by British Screenwriters’ Award nominee Marston Bloom (Marcella) and directed by Bill Eagles (Pennyworth, Beautiful Creatures).

I Love That for You S1 | Binge from 17 February

Inspired by true events, I Love That For You follows childhood leukaemia survivor Joanna Gold (Emmy-nominated comedian Vanessa Bayer from Saturday Night Live and 2020’s Will & Grace) as she chases her lifelong dream of becoming a home shopping channel host.

Shedding her “cancer girl” label, Joanna moves away from her parents, starts a budding romance for the first time in her adult life and befriends her idol, the charismatic star of the network (Emmy nominee Molly Shannon from The White Lotus S1 and 2020’s Will & Grace, who is up for a 2023 Film Independent Spirit Award for the role). But when a little white lie to her boss (Critics Choice nominee Jenifer Lewis from Black-ish) turns into a big snowy avalanche, Joanna finds that living the dream comes with a hefty price tag.

The cast also includes Teen Choice nominee Jason Schwartzman (Fargo, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Critics Choice winner Ryan Phillippe (Damages, 54, Cruel Intentions).

The comedy has an 81% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus calls it “an overdue showcase for Vanessa Bayer.” As Globe and Mail says, “It’s a tight, tart comedy sending up the egos of the on-air hosts and mocking the greed of an outlet that sells gimcrackery with deeply serious intent.”

Stream 2023’s biggest prize winners on Showmax now

• House of the Dragon S1: Best Television Series – Drama, 2023 Golden Globes | Best TV Series, Best New Series, and Best Sci-Fi & Fantasy Series, Rotten Tomatoes’ Golden Tomato Awards
• The White Lotus S2: Best Limited Series, 2023 Golden Globes and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Coolidge), 2023 Golden Globes and 2023 Critics Choice Awards
• Euphoria S2: Best Actress: Drama Series (Zendaya), 2023 Critics Choice Awards and 2023 Golden Globes
• Hacks S2: Best Actress: Comedy Series (Jean Smart), 2023 Critics Choice Awards
• Barry S3: Best Supporting Actor: Comedy Series (Henry Winkler), 2023 Critics Choice Awards

To see everything on Showmax in February 2023, including first seasons of The Real Housewives of Abuja and Nairobi, S2 of the hit Showmax Original psychological thriller DAM, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Oscar-nominated Elena Ferrante adaptation, The Lost Daughter, click here »