8 New HBO Max Shows & Movies Premiering in May – Your Complete Guide

Published Apr 30, 2026, 5:54 PM EDT

Keeley is a streaming content author and expert at How-To Geek with over a decade's experience writing about film and television in print and online. Here, her focus is on streaming content lists and guides.

Additionally, Keeley also writes film and television reviews, recaps, features, and lists for Loud and Clear Reviews, and her reviews also appear on Rotten Tomatoes. She has also written for Collider and Fansided Entertainment's Show Snob division.

If she's not in front of the TV, nerding out and dissecting content with her husband, you can just wait one minute because she'll be right back. 

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For HBO Max viewers, May 2026 isn’t just about new content—it’s about experiencing stories that span not just continents and cultures but also lived experiences, and it’s all in a single lineup. From a sweeping historical drama rooted in Japanese history to a contemporary sports journey with global stakes and intimate reflections on identity and community, HBO Max offers some stand-out titles this month, including films pairing literary romance, large-scale disasters, and smaller, more enigmatic originals.

Our top picks are an HBO Original Film about grief and a mockumentary with a pop star. This May, here are the 8 new shows and movies streaming on HBO Max in the U.S.

8 Song of the Samurai

Gorgeous fight choreography blended with historical fact

Based on the popular manga series Chiruran: Shinsengumi Requiem, Song of the Samurai is an ambitious, live-action period drama exploring the intense and passionate lives of the Shinsengumi, a legendary samurai police force tasked with defending the collapsing shogunate, or feudal military dictatorship.

Set in Kyoto during the final years of Japan’s Edo period (1603–1868), the heart of the story rests with a street fighter who finds purpose and belonging among fellow warriors as they fight enemies and ideals while their bond of loyalty is tested by betrayal, illness, and war. The series features an epic blend of historical grounding and dramatic stylization with large-scale action promising intimate character arcs.

Song of the Samurai debuts on Saturday, May 9. New episodes will roll out weekly.

Quiz

8 Questions · Test Your Knowledge

HBO Max movies and shows
Trivia challenge

From Westeros to the ER — how well do you know HBO Max's biggest hits and most talked-about originals?

DramaComedyFantasyMoviesCharacters

Begin

In The Pitt, what type of medical facility serves as the primary setting for the series?

AA trauma surgery wingBA Pittsburgh hospital emergency roomCA rural urgent care clinicDA military field hospital

Correct! The Pitt is set in a Pittsburgh hospital emergency room and follows the staff through a single grueling 15-hour shift. The show stars Noah Wyle and was created as a spiritual successor to the classic ER.

Not quite. The Pitt takes place in a Pittsburgh hospital emergency room, not a surgery wing or clinic. The show unfolds in real time over one intense 15-hour shift, giving it a grounded, unrelenting pace.

Continue

In Hacks, what is the profession of Deborah Vance, the character played by Jean Smart?

AA retired Broadway actressBA veteran stand-up comedianCA Hollywood talent agentDA late-night talk show host

Correct! Deborah Vance is a legendary Las Vegas stand-up comedian who reluctantly teams up with a young, struggling comedy writer named Ava. Jean Smart's performance earned her widespread critical acclaim and multiple Emmy Awards.

Not quite. Deborah Vance is a veteran stand-up comedian — a Las Vegas legend who is forced to collaborate with a younger comedy writer to reinvent her act. Jean Smart won Emmy Awards for the role.

Continue

House of the Dragon is a prequel to Game of Thrones — approximately how many years before the events of Game of Thrones does it take place?

AAbout 50 yearsBAbout 100 yearsCAbout 200 yearsDAbout 300 years

Correct! House of the Dragon is set roughly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. It depicts the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, a catastrophic conflict over succession to the Iron Throne.

Not quite. House of the Dragon is set approximately 200 years before Game of Thrones, not 50 or 100 years. The series is based on George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood and covers the Targaryen dynasty at the height of its power.

Continue

In the 2025 horror film Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, what supernatural threat do twin brothers face in the Deep South?

AA cult of witchesBVampiresCA demonic possession outbreakDA vengeful ghost

Correct! Sinners features vampires as the central supernatural threat. Ryan Coogler's film stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as the twin brothers, and blends horror with themes of race, music, and history in 1930s Mississippi.

Not quite. The supernatural menace in Sinners is vampires. Director Ryan Coogler crafted the film as a genre-bending horror story set in 1930s Mississippi, starring Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers caught in a terrifying night of violence.

Continue

Weapons, the 2025 horror anthology film on Max, was written and directed by which filmmaker?

AJames WanBAri AsterCZach CreggerDMike Flanagan

Correct! Weapons was written and directed by Zach Cregger, who previously broke out with the acclaimed horror film Barbarian in 2022. The anthology follows multiple interconnected stories tied together by a disturbing central mystery.

Not quite. Weapons was directed by Zach Cregger, best known for directing Barbarian. Cregger has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting voices in modern horror, and Weapons continued that momentum on Max.

Continue

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight is another Game of Thrones prequel series — which character does it primarily follow?

AAegon the ConquerorBSer Duncan the TallCBrynden Rivers, the BloodravenDBaelor Breakspear

Correct! The series centers on Ser Duncan the Tall, a hedge knight, and his young squire Egg — who is secretly the young prince Aegon Targaryen. The story is based on George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas.

Not quite. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms follows Ser Duncan the Tall, a wandering hedge knight, alongside his squire Egg. The show is adapted from George R.R. Martin's beloved Dunk and Egg novellas set a century before Game of Thrones.

Continue

One Battle After Another, the 2025 Max limited series, is based on a novel by which author?

ACormac McCarthyBDon DeLilloCThomas PynchonDDenis Johnson

Correct! One Battle After Another is adapted from Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland. The series marks a rare screen adaptation of Pynchon's notoriously complex work, and generated significant buzz for its ambitious literary source material.

Not quite. The series is based on the work of Thomas Pynchon, one of American literature's most elusive and celebrated novelists. Adapting Pynchon for television is a rare and ambitious undertaking given the dense, layered nature of his writing.

Continue

In Euphoria, what substance addiction is central to the storyline of the main character, Rue, played by Zendaya?

AAlcoholBPrescription pillsCOpioidsDMethamphetamine

Correct! Rue's battle with opioid addiction is a core thread running through Euphoria. The show uses her struggle as a lens to explore trauma, identity, and mental health among teenagers, and Zendaya won Emmy Awards for her portrayal.

Not quite. Rue struggles primarily with opioid addiction throughout Euphoria. Creator Sam Levinson drew on personal experience to shape her character, and Zendaya's raw, emotionally powerful performance earned her back-to-back Emmy wins.

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7 U.S. Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Soccer Team

Exploring the pressures of representing a nation

Filmed over the course of four years, U.S. Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Soccer Team offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most pivotal eras in American soccer.

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$79 $99 Save $20

The five-episode sports docuseries exclusively chronicles the U.S. Men’s National Team as they prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America this June. While tracking key players such as Tyler Adams, Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, and Tim Weah, the series captures their professional pressures and personal journeys rather than focusing solely on match highlights, emphasizing the emotional and psychological stakes of representing a nation on the global stage.

U.S. Against the World: Four Years with the Men’s National Soccer Team debuts on Tuesday, May 12. New episodes will roll out weekly.

6 The A List: 15 Stories from Asia and Pacific Diasporas

The silenced voices in mainstream media

Shifting the focus from competition to identity, The A List: 15 Stories from Asia and Pacific Diasporas offers a deeply personal, culturally significant tapestry of personal vignettes from across the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities.

The documentary film weaves together individual stories from both celebrity figures like Sandra Oh and everyday individuals like Madelyn Yu, a retired nurse in New Jersey, to showcase the different experiences that reflect the diversity within these broad identity labels. Intimate first-person accounts draw focus on these communities while inviting audiences to question umbrella terms like “Asian American” and “AAPI” (Asian American Pacific Islander).

The A List: 15 Stories from Asia and Pacific Diasporas debuts on Wednesday, May 13.

5 Wuthering Heights

Gothic romance reimagined

If you missed Emerald Fennell’s bold new interpretation of the love story that is Wuthering Heights, you can finally see what all the commotion is about when it premieres on HBO Max this month. Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein) star in the lush period drama.

Rather than a strict, faithful adaptation of the classic tale, Fennell’s film reimagines the story of Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff with a modern, stylized edge, emphasizing emotional intensity and youthful obsession. The visually daring literary adaptation recreates the visceral experience of first encountering the novel’s forbidden passion, which soon turns from romantic and intoxicating to a grand tale of lust, love, and total madness.

Wuthering Heights makes its streaming debut on Friday, May 1.

Wuthering Heights

4 Greenland 2: Migration

A large-scale catastrophe

Gerard Butler returns for the sequel to the 2020 disaster movie Greenland, and this time it follows his family as they navigate life in a post-apocalyptic world full of intense radiation storms and a collapsing infrastructure. Greenland 2: Migration gives us a more intimate focus on a high-stakes premise that’s riddled with action-driven storytelling set around survival and resilience.

In the aftermath of a comet strike that devastated most of Earth, the Garritys are forced to leave the safety of their Greenland bunker to search for a new home. Viewers follow along as the family man leads his loved ones on a dangerous journey where the odds are against them, and that will test the family’s sense of love, sacrifice, and instinct to survive.

Greenland 2: Migration makes its streaming debut on Friday, May 8.

Greenland 2: Migration

3 Lurker

The psychological shadows of celebrity worship

Love and obsession are but two sides of the same coin in Lurker , a daring thriller by writer and producer Alex Russell (The Bear). The 2025 Mubi film boasts a well-earned 94% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and features performances from rising stars Archie Madekwe (See) and Théodore Pellerin (Family First).

After encountering a rising pop star, a 20-something-year-old retail clerk takes the opportunity to infiltrate the in-crowd and blur the line between friend and fan. As that line fades beyond recognition, he learns the hard way that access and proximity can be a matter of life and death. Set in a glitzy Los Angeles where social currency rules, the film luxuriates in the suspense and dark irony of celebrity worship.

Lurker debuts on Friday, May 15.

Lurker

2 The Moment

The pressures of rapid fame

Alexander Skarsgård and Charli XCX lead the cast of The Moment, a sly, self-aware satire capturing the thrill of momentum and the pressures of what it costs to stay on top. Kylie Jenner and Rachel Sennot (I Love LA) also star.

As her arena tour debut looms, a pop star finds herself caught inside the afterglow of a breakout summer. She faces the mounting pressures of doing whatever it takes to stay relevant while also navigating and battling the complexities of fame.

The Moment debuts on Friday, May 29.

The Moment

1 Miss You, Love You

A poignant exploration of aching separation

Oscar and Emmy winner Allison Janney stars as a blunt, grieving widow in the HBO Original film Miss You, Love You, alongside Andrew Rannells (Girls).

Forced to plan her husband’s funeral with a total stranger after her estranged son sends his assistant (Rannells) in his place, Diane Patterson (Janney) fumbles through her grief as darkly funny circumstances, buried secrets, and long-held resentments surface. This unexpected partnership becomes an unlikely conduit for connection, laughter, and healing for this grieving mother and surrogate son.

Miss You, Love You debuts on Friday, May 29.

For a full lineup, check out our list of everything coming to HBO Max in May 2026.