14 Must-See Shows on HBO and Max Right Now (May 2025)

Pope Francis’ recent death and the election of a new pope have ignited a surge of interest in the papacy, and there’s no better show to watch than The Young Pope. Created by Paolo Sorrentino, the show chronicles the unorthodox reign of Pope Pius XIII (Jude Law). Pius isn’t happy with how his predecessors ran the Church, and he’s determined to do something about it. But will his radical vision for the Vatican win over the skeptical clergy who reluctantly elected him, or will it cause his swift downfall?

Like Sorrentino’s film work, The Young Pope blends wicked satire with soulful ruminations about the role of faith and politics in everyday life. Law is terrific as the ambitious pope who hides a deep grudge, and Diane Keaton is just as good as a loyal nun who will do anything for her new spiritual leader. The Young Pope is less serious than straightforward religious dramas like Conclave and The Two Popes, but by the time it reaches its conclusion, it’s deeper and more meaningful than most religious movies.

Conan O’Brien is mostly known as a late-night talk show host, but he’s also the subject and star of one of the best travel shows out there. Conan O’Brien Must Go is a documentary series that follows the comedian as he visits various countries around the world. 

Season 1 opened with O’Brien visiting Norway and ended with the current Oscars host travelling to his ancestral homeland, Ireland. Season 2 begins with Conan herding sheep in New Zealand with Taika Waititi before jumping to Spain, where he talks with Javier Bardem about art, and then Austria, where he attempts to ski a snowy mountain. Through it all, O’Brien retains the same off-the-wall humor and adventurous spirit that made him one of the best comics of his generation.

Zombies are back, and they’re more entertaining than ever. After years of mediocre Walking Dead sequels, spinoffs and ripoffs, TV audiences fell back in love with the undead, or in this case, “the infected,” in early 2023 with The Last of Us. The first season was a fairly faithful adaptation of the 2013 Naughty Dog game, telling the story of outbreak survivors Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they cross a postapocalyptic United States.

Season 2 adapts the game’s popular sequel, The Last of Us Part II, with Ellie now in her late teens and Joel still as world-weary as ever. Some major new characters this season include Isabela Merced as Ellie’s girlfriend Dina, Catherine O’Hara as Joel’s therapist and Kaitlyn Dever as the soldier Abby. Season 2 is already streaming, with weekly episodes every Sunday until May 25. Be warned: the second episode will make you reach for some tissues after you watch it.

No other show currently streaming is as funny and smart as Hacks. HBO’s hit series about the testy relationship between a successful stand-up comic and her struggling Gen Z writer has won plenty of fans during its run, and that’s partly due to its intriguing premise.

Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) has been telling jokes for a long time, but her material has become stale and outdated. Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) can help her become relevant again, but Deborah doesn’t trust anyone, and Ava doesn’t particularly like her. But the two women discover quickly that they need each other to succeed in a business that’s often tough and ruthless.

Season 3 ended on a cliffhanger with Deborah and Ava’s delicate friendship irrevocably damaged by their mutual ambition and backstabbing. In the current season, they still have to work together, but can they overcome their distrust of one another to make Deborah’s new show a hit? Hacks Season 4 is now streaming with new episodes every Thursday until May 29. Look out for special appearances by Jimmy Kimmel and Carol Burnett, who play themselves.

Few people know what it’s like to be in an emergency room shift for 15 hours straight, but after watching The Pitt, you may get a better idea of all the excitement, fear and sheer exhaustion it must entail. The medical drama’s 15 episodes are set in roughly real time and follow Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robby Robinavitch as he guides a crew of doctors and nurses as they try to attend to their patients’ needs as well as their own.

The Pitt is less Grey’s Anatomy and more like House and 24, with breakneck pacing that can feel enthralling and draining at the same time. Wyle is terrific as Robinavitch, and the largely unknown cast brings life and depth to their characters. The Pitt is one of 2025’s best shows and is sure to join ER and St. Elsewhere as one of the best medical series ever made.

Come for the exotic locations like Hawaii, Sicily and Thailand, but stay for the razor-sharp commentary about class, sex and money on The White Lotus, HBO’s hit series about a global luxury resort that plays host to a little drama, some comedy and the occasional murder. Mike White, the writer and creator behind the show, clearly loves his characters, even though they often do and say the most despicable things.

Season 1 introduced the world to Jennifer Coolidge’s boozy Tanya and concerned the mysterious death of an unidentified person. (Well, until the jaw-dropping finale). Season 2 saw the return of Tanya at a beautiful Sicilian resort, where new cast members Aubrey Plaza, Theo James and Meghann Fahy swapped stories, drinks and partners. The latest season’s Thailand locale sets the stage for yet another death, a bank robbery, some spoiled rich kids and the return of season 1 fan-favorite Belinda (Natasha Rothwell). Season 3 is now done, so you can binge every episode or revisit some of your favorite moments from the current season. Lorazepam, anyone?

Think of The Gilded Age as Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous circa the 1880s, only with more veiled insults, uncomfortable girdles and pent-up sexuality. Carrie Coon stars as Bertha Russell, whose husband has made tons of money as a robber baron. She wants to be accepted by New York society, specifically Christine Baraski’s old-money snob Agnes van Rhijn, and she’ll do just about anything to do so.

Created by Julian Fellowes, who also wrote Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, The Gilded Age is a costume drama that isn’t as dry and sexless as you might think it is. It paints a detailed portrait of a portion of society not typically seen in American television, and the show’s production values in recreating NYC are genuinely impressive. Coon and Baranski are terrific as the two leads, and they have ample support with co-stars Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector and Denee Benton.

Michael Patterson has it all: a successful career as a novelist, a potential future in politics, and a large family who adores him. But his seemingly perfect life is shattered when his wife is found dead at the bottom of their staircase in their palatial North Carolina home. Things only get worse for Michael as the police suspect foul play, and he emerges as their prime suspect.

The Staircase may seem like an ordinary mystery, but it only gets stranger as the series progresses. That the show is based on a true story and adapted from an acclaimed 2004 French documentary of the same name makes it all the more disturbing. The cast is uniformly excellent, with Colin Firth both charming and creepy as Michael, a vulnerable Juliette Binoche as a film editor who becomes enamored with Michael and an outstanding Parker Posey as a country prosecutor. Truth is stranger than fiction, and there’s nothing stranger than The Staircase.

Game of Thrones has been over for a while, but that doesn’t mean there are no stories left to tell about Westeros. George R.R. Martin’s fantasy epic is back on HBO with the prequel series House of the Dragon, which is set around 100 years before the White Walkers stalked the kingdom and Daenerys Targaryen went full Dark Phoenix on everyone.

The show deals with the conflict between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), who is the daughter of King Viserys (Paddy Considine), and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), who is Rhaebryra’s best friend and, later, stepmother. House of the Dragon has everything that made Game of Thrones so great: immersive production values that really transport you to a different time and place, juicy palace intrigue that usually involves marriages, assassinations, incest and English actors who know how to sell all that medieval melodrama. The show is set to return in 2026 for season 3, with more dragon-on-dragon fight action in store for fans.

For a show that started as “pret-tay, pret-tay good,” Curb Your Enthusiasm has evolved into a genuine pop culture touchstone almost as revered as Seinfeld. Larry David co-created both of those shows, and his signature comedic style — sharply observant humor about the ridiculousness of society’s banal traditions — is on full display throughout Curb’s 12 seasons.

He’s aided by a stellar supporting cast that includes Cheryl Hines as his long-suffering wife, Jeff Garlin as his immoral agent and Susie Essman as Jeff’s foul-mouthed wife. Curb Your Enthusiasm’s best moments come when Larry absolutely embarrasses himself — which is often — and he pulls no punches in revealing the pettiness of those around him. It’s a show you can watch again and again, even if you don’t share Larry’s contempt for humanity.

Are you a Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) or a Samantha (Kim Cattrall)? Maybe you’re enough of a romantic and a believer in happy endings to call yourself a Charlotte (Kristin Davis)? And Heaven help you if you’re a Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker). Sex and the City is such a part of the zeitgeist that its four central characters have transcended their existence as fictional characters and become a litmus test for our personalities.

Only a great show can pull that off, and Sex and the City, flaws and all, is outstanding for many reasons: for its groundbreaking portrayal of female sexuality; for its portrait of late ‘90s/early 2000s society; and for being an escapist fantasy about living in NYC with no budget and having it all. All these years later, Sex and the City still sparkles, especially its first four seasons. A sequel series, And Just Like That, was launched in 2021, but nothing tops the original.

Who needs to watch another comic book show? Yet Harley Quinn is different than your average spandex series. For starters, it’s animated, and it’s also extremely graphic and dirty. After breaking up with her longtime boyfriend the Joker, psychotic antihero Harley Quinn decides to make a name for herself in Gotham City’s overcrowded underworld. She gets help from her best friend and occasional girlfriend, Poison Ivy, plus other villains like Clayface, King Shark and Kite Man.

If this sounds like your typical superhero show, it’s really not. As Harley, The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco might just be the best actress to embody the character since Arleen Sorkin. (Sorry, Margot Robbie.) The show, with its many, many expletives and graphic violence, is most definitely not for kids, and it has more laughs than you might think.

True Detective is a mystery anthology show with vaguely horrific overtones, and it’s often very uneven. But when it’s good, it’s great, and even its flawed seasons are worth taking a look at. A lot of people watched season 1, which premiered in 2014 and starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as two Louisiana detectives obsessed with a serial killer. That season introduced the world to the phrase “time is a flat circle” and established McConaughey’s comeback from bad movie purgatory.

Season 2, with Colin Farrell as a California gumshoe, and season 3, with Mahershala Ali as an Arkansas detective investigating the disappearance of two children, are less successful, largely due to their emphasis on realism over the first season’s oddball quirkiness.

But Season 4, subtitled “Night Country” and set in a remote Alaska town, brought back the show’s freak flag, and gave stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis two meaty lead roles that earned them widespread critical praise. The show is set to return for a fifth season sometime in the future.

Easttown, Pennsylvania, is an unforgiving place, but it has nothing on Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet). The fortysomething detective is no-nonsense and shoots from the hip, and she doesn’t have time for fools. When a teenage mother is found brutally murdered in a ravine, she has to figure out not only who did it and why, but also how it connects to a young woman’s disappearance in the recent past.

If it were just a mystery show, Mare of Easttown would merely be great. But the genius of the limited series is how it also functions as a character study of a woman barely holding on under the weight of overwhelming trauma. Mare is imperfect, and she’s frequently haunted by the mistakes she made in her past.

Winslet embodies Mare warts and all, and gives a performance that ranks as one of the best on television in the last decade. She’s as superb as the show she’s in, and the stellar cast (Jean Smart, Julianne Nicholson and Evan Peters) who support her. A second season has been talked about, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Cross your fingers that Mare returns to solve another case and battle more of her inner demons.