Best of 2025

Best Returning TV Shows of 2025

We've picked the best shows that returned to our TV screens in 2025

BY Dylan Blight & Ashley Hobley

Jan 30, 2026

There are plenty of new TV series each year, but what are the shows that have kept up their quality, or added some fresh energy to their shows?

Here are the five best Returning TV Shows of 2025.

5.) Game Changer: Season 7

The Sam Reich-hosted gameshow returned for another chaotic season, with 11 new episodes filled with laughs, twists and varying degrees of competititveness. Featuring some of the best game ideas the series has come up with yet, like Rulette, The Drinking Game and the backdoor pilot Crowd Control, the team at Dropout don’t seem to be running out of steam anytime soon.

– Ashley

4.) Slow Horses: Season 5

Old reliable Slow Horses is back with another misadventure for the team at Slough House, again saving England from a serious threat, even if they might accidental make a mess in the process. An incredible ensemble has grown around Gary Oldman and have become more loved with each passing season.

– Ashley

3.) South Park: Season 27 & 28

South Park never really goes away, but with its 2025 return, which included both the 27th and the 28th seasons, the show was in the zeitgeist more than in recent years. It was thanks to the show’s long-running Donald Trump-and-Satan story, plus each episode adding new political figures to be lampooned in crazy ways, that the news was delivered fortnightly.

– Dylan

2.) The Rehearsal: Season 2

When you do a show like The Rehearsal, you have to wonder if there’s any point in a second season and what that would even look like. Is it the same sort of schtick of a weird little experiment or something different? And with the second season of The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder just pivots into something different, using the same idea of big-planned rehearsals to reach a result, this time taking on the airline industry as a focused topic for the whole second season.

– Dylan

1.) Andor: Season 2

After a 2.5 year wait, Andor returned to finish this tale of the origins of the rebels and how Cassian Andor ended up in Rogue One. Perfectly written and performed by one of the best ensembles on TV this year, Andor continues to resonate with its look at an authoritarian state on those trying to fight against it.

– Ashley

Find all of Explosion Network’s Best of 2025 coverage right here, and be sure to let us know your thoughts on any of our lists in the comments section.

WRITTEN BY

Dylan Blight

[He/Him] Dylan Blight is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Explosion Network, an independent Australian publication covering video games, film, television and pop culture. Since founding Explosion Network in 2017, Dylan has written and produced reviews, news, interviews, features and podcasts across the entertainment industry, while overseeing the publication's editorial direction and content.

Ashley Hobley

[He/Him] As the Executive Editor of Games & Entertainment, Ash uses his sharp-eye to oversee the majority of the editorial work coming out of the Explosion Network.