Movies & TV Shows We’re Watching in Early Summer 2025
This summer is packed with new releases on TV and at the movies. Here’s a look at the mysteries and thrillers we’re watching as summer begins, from action blockbusters to crime procedurals.
The weather is getting hotter, summer movie season has returned to theaters stronger than ever, and streaming services are premiering high-profile new TV series and original movies. There are so many onscreen mysteries and thrillers to check out this summer that we’re breaking it down into two time periods, so you can plan accordingly. Here’s what we’re excited to watch in the first half of the summer.
Ballerina
Billed as “from the world of John Wick,” this thriller takes place during the events of the third and fourth movies in the hit action franchise, and features Keanu Reeves reprising his role as the stoic assassin. Ana de Armas stars as the title character, one of the trainees at a secret school for killers introduced in the third John Wick movie. De Armas’ Eve Macarro develops deadly skills in order to carry out contract killings and seek revenge for her father’s murder.
In theaters June 6.
Deep Cover
If improv comedians are so great at thinking on their feet and coming up with characters and situations at a moment’s notice, doesn’t that mean they’d be perfect undercover operatives? That’s the premise of this action comedy starring Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom and Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed as a trio of improv performers hired to infiltrate a London criminal organization. Sean Bean’s gritty detective puts a lot of trust in these jokesters to take down a powerful gang, which may not be the best idea.
Premiers June 12 on Amazon Prime Video.
Echo Valley
Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney play an estranged mother and daughter who reunite to cover up a murder in this moody thriller movie written by Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby. Sweeney’s Claire Garrett shows up at her mother’s remote farm one night covered in blood, with a dead body in her car, and Moore’s Kate goes to any length necessary to protect her daughter. The threat of discovery escalates along with the tension between Claire and Kate. Domhnall Gleeson, Kyle MacLachlan and Fiona Shaw co-star as family members and associates with agendas of their own.
Premieres June 13 on Apple TV+.
The Waterfront
After spending the last decade-plus working primarily in horror, Dawson’s Creek creator Kevin Williamson returns to family drama with this soapy crime saga about a North Carolina fishing dynasty. The Buckley family’s coastal business empire is struggling financially, so they turn to drug dealing to supplement their income, ending up in a whole different kind of trouble. Holt McCallany and Maria Bello play the heads of the family, with Melissa Benoist and Jake Weary as the younger generation. Expect plenty of romantic intrigue alongside the criminal activity.
Premieres June 19 on Netflix.
Countdown
The co-creator of the hugely popular Chicago shows (Med, Fire, P.D.) brings some of that CBS crime-procedural energy to Amazon Prime Video with this series about an elite undercover unit in Los Angeles. Jensen Ackles stars as an LAPD detective who is recruited into a multi-agency task force working to take down a terrorist conspiracy, following the murder of a Department of Homeland Security agent. As the title implies, the characters race against time to prevent an even worse attack.
Stream now on Amazon Prime Video.
Smoke
Master crime novelist Dennis Lehane adapted the popular podcast Firebug into this thriller series starring Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett as cops on the trail of a pair of serial arsonists. Or maybe one of them is actually an arsonist? The uneasy partners investigate each other while trying to stop the pyromaniacs from striking again and taking more lives. Lehane and Egerton previously teamed on the Apple TV+ series Black Bird, and Smoke is another dark drama inspired by a true story.
Premieres June 27 on Apple TV+.
Ballard
Bosch: Legacy may have ended, but the Bosch universe continues with this spin-off starring Maggie Q as LAPD Detective Renee Ballard, another of author Michael Connelly’s literary creations. Titus Welliver is also set to appear as private detective Harry Bosch, who offers his help to Ballard and her team as they investigate cold cases. Ballard showed up in the Bosch: Legacy finale to set up the new show, offering fans a smooth transition into the latest chapter of one of the longest-running franchises in streaming TV.
Premieres July 9 on Amazon Prime Video.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel has spawned a surprisingly robust franchise, and this reboot/sequel is the latest iteration of the story about teens targeted by a mysterious stranger for their past misdeeds. In this case, events repeat themselves, since Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprise their roles as the now-grown teens from the original 1997 movie. Those survivors are called in to help when a group of young people from the same town face a dangerous killer who knows about the hit-and-run accident they previously covered up.
In theaters July 18.
By clicking 'Sign Up,' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
What to Read Next
Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for the Boston Globe, Vulture, Tom’s Guide, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.