Best TV and movies streaming in Australia on Netflix, HBO Max, Disney, Prime, ABC and more

KUALA LUMPUR, 2 OCTOBER 2026 —

Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Prime Video and local Australian broadcasters will roll out a slate of new series and films in October, headlined by a seven‑part adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden created by Zoe Kazan, the granddaughter of the novel’s 1955 film director.

Zoe Kazan’s adaptation will centre on the novel’s most infamous figure, Cathy Ames, played by Florence Pugh. The series, set in California’s Salinas Valley, follows the multigenerational Trask family and re‑imagines the biblical Cain‑and‑Abel conflict that underpins Steinbeck’s narrative. By expanding the runtime beyond the constraints of the 1955 film starring James Dean, the new version aims to give greater depth to the novel’s complex moral landscape.

Another high‑profile October entry is a kidnapping thriller directed and co‑written by Ben Affleck, who also stars as Los Angeles mayoral candidate Mark Kimball.

Gillian Anderson appears as a “mysterious fixer” who delivers the line, “Power creates leverage, and leverage dictates outcomes.” Affleck described the film as “essentially about marriage: what it means to attach yourself to someone, the bargains and exchanges.” The plot follows Kimball’s life being upended when his son is abducted, intertwining personal and political stakes.

Australian clay‑mation auteur Adam Elliot returns with his second feature, a sequel to the acclaimed Mary and Max. The film follows Grace, voiced by Charlotte Belsey and Sarah Snook, an orphaned suburban girl separated from her twin brother who becomes a snail‑obsessed adult. The animation is described as “melancholic whimsy” with a “sublimely humane – albeit at times breathtakingly sad” tone, and the creator’s distinctive tactile style is highlighted as a hallmark of the work.

Among the genre offerings, a comedy‑horror series about murderous garden gnomes will debut on an Australian network. Written by comedian Tegan Higginbotham and broadcaster Paul F Verhoeven, the series is pitched as “Gremlins meets Hot Fuzz.” The trailer shows Luke McGregor’s character being “minced,” signalling a blend of slapstick violence and supernatural menace.

A time‑travel drama starring Ashton Kutcher will also appear on the October schedule. The plot follows a man who uses his personal journals to navigate the temporal continuum, each attempt to amend a traumatic event spawning a more severe consequence. The series is framed as a bleak exploration of chaos theory, with no logical safeguards against the paradoxes it creates.

The October line‑up includes a number of honourable mentions across film and television. On Netflix, the classic thriller The Silence of the Lambs is available now, while new releases such as Schumacher ‘94 – The Birth of a Legend (2 October) and Ice Age (4 October) join the catalogue. Prime Video will add Below (TV, 8 October), How to Train Your Dragon (11 October) and the two‑part horror franchise It 1 and 2 (15 October).

Disney+ lists The Addams Family (23 October) and the supernatural horror titles Annabelle and The Conjuring (28 October).

Local Australian productions also feature prominently. The final instalment of the documentary series 7 Up, which began in 1964, will launch in October, marking the series’ conclusion after seven‑year intervals. Guardian critic Lucy Mangan describes the new episode, 70 Up, as having “a more reflective and elegiac tone than in previous years,” noting that participants comment on both their lives and on filmmaker Michael Apted’s legacy.

A six‑part crime drama billed as “tropic noir” will debut on ABC, starring Anna Torv as a detective returning to her hometown to investigate a sexual‑assault case that reveals a pattern of misogyny. All episodes are directed by Emma Freeman, whose previous work includes Fake, Stateless and Love Me.

The horror genre will also see a debut from director Adrian Chiarella, whose feature explores prejudice and supernatural terror in a conservative Australian town. The story follows gay teenagers Naim (Joe Bird) and Ryan (Stacy Clausen) as they confront homophobia and an evil force that manifests as each other’s demonic doppelganger. The film relies on performance rather than special effects to heighten emotional intensity.

Other notable releases include the cult classic Dead End Drive‑In, an Ozploitation film set in a dystopian drive‑in cinema that functions as a concentration‑camp‑like microcosm of society, and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s surreal Chilean‑French cult film, described as “one of cinema’s wildest rides” with lines such as “Rub your clitoris against the mountain!”

The October schedule also lists a range of additional titles across platforms: Seinfeld (seasons 1‑9, now streaming), Looking for Alibrandi (now streaming), Kill Jackie (TV, 2 October), My Girl (2 October), The Order (3 October), Seven (12 October), A Quiet Place Part II (15 October), The Town (17 October), The Wild Robot (18 October), Elysium (20 October), Zodiac (24 October), Hostel 1 and 2 (27 October), Blue Lights season 3 (28 October) and The Watchers (30 October).

These releases arrive as Australian streaming services contend with intensifying competition for subscriber dollars and as advertisers assess the impact of premium‑content line‑ups on viewership metrics. The breadth of new titles, ranging from literary adaptations and high‑profile Hollywood talent to locally produced documentaries and genre films, underscores the platforms’ strategy to capture diverse audience segments ahead of the year‑end reporting period.

The October roll‑out concludes with the final instalment of 7 Up, signalling the end of a seven‑decade longitudinal documentary project and offering a reflective capstone to a year of varied streaming offerings.