I have a feeling I’m going to need to update my list of the best shows to stream on Apple TV+ very soon. Over the next several weeks, the iPhone maker’s streaming service will add a handle full of new dramas and movies that are sure to excite many Apple TV+ subscribers — whether they include fans of content that ranges from high-octane drama to serious, compelling documentary fare.
The three Apple TV+ titles you’ll find below are coming to the service starting in early April. And as a subscriber to the service from day one, I can attest that they all feel like solid and welcome additions to Apple’s catalog that are worth adding to your watchlist now. We’ve included each release date below, along with a summary of what each new release entails.
Girl’s State (April 5)
This documentary film offers a companion release to Boy’s State, which hit Apple TV+ back in 2020, wherein a group of high school boys from Texas got together to form a mock government. As you can tell from the new film’s title, this time the focus is on several hundred girls from across Missouri who gather for an academic project that involves building a democracy from the ground up, campaigning for office, and forming a Supreme Court to adjudicate divisive issues.
Per Apple TV+, “these young women confront the complicated paths women must navigate to build political power. Following a distinctly female perspective and filled with teenage insecurity, biting humor and a yearning for true friendship, the young leaders of Girls State win hearts and minds — not just elections.”
Sugar (April 5)
This upcoming eight-episode Apple drama starring Colin Farrell promises a fresh take on a story about a rule-breaking gumshoe. Farrell plays John Sugar, a private investigator tracking the disappearance of the granddaughter of a Hollywood producer. As he gets deeper into the case, he also unearths new and old family secrets.
From what Apple has released so far, in terms of both the summary and first-look footage, it definitely feels like there’s a sort of Chinatown vibe that makes this release particularly exciting — likewise, for the way that Farrell as Sugar delivers Dashiell Hammett-style lines along the lines of: “Someone once said, ‘Tip the world on its side, and everything loose lands in Los Angeles.'” This is basically Apple’s attempt to grab its own Bosch — not that I’m complaining one bit.
Franklin (April 12)
Speaking of Apple TV+ launching its own version of another streamer’s hit franchise, that brings us to one more upcoming title worth adding to your watchlist if you’re a fan of Apple’s streamer:
Franklin, starring Michael Douglas as the titular Founding Father, is the star of what amounts to Apple’s version of what HBO did with the Paul Giamatti-led John Adams. As Benjamin Franklin, Douglas will portray the elder statesman in this eight-episode series based on Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff’s book, “A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.” Essentially, this is the story of what amounted to the biggest gamble of Franklin’s career — his mission, at age 70 and with no diplomatic training, was to convince France to underwrite the fledgling American democracy.
“By virtue of his fame, charisma and ingenuity,” Apple TV+ explains, “Franklin outmaneuvered British spies, French informers and hostile colleagues to engineer the Franco-American Alliance of 1778 and the peace treaty with Great Britain in 1783.”
