Best new movies and series arriving on NOW in November 2022

Every month, a new slate of titles is added to NOW’s library of films and TV shows—and Eliza Janssen picks the very best among them to watch. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down.

Top Picks: TV

The White Lotus (out now)

Mike White’s sun-soaked satirical drama returns for a second season following its smash-hit first outing to Hawaii, this time setting sail for Sicily. Jennifer Coolidge returns as ditsy millionaire Tanya McQuoid, with the husband she met in the first season played by Greg Hunt. The rest of the cast has received a refresh, including the introduction of F. Murray Abraham as horny grandad Bert Di Grasso, and the incomparable Aubrey Plaza as the deeply sceptical Harper Spiller.

The first episode opens like the first season, teasing the demise of certain guests at the White Lotus resort, which premiered on NOW in late October. The remaining five episodes will be released onto the streaming service weekly, keeping us on tenterhooks waiting for the next instalment.

Hostages (out now)

Released through Sky Documentaries, this four-part docuseries explores the events of 4 November 1979, when Iranian student activists stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took over 60 people hostage. The students had planned a two day protest, but the crisis escalated into an international situation that continued for 444 days.

The series takes archival footage and new interviews with both American and Iranian people involved in the crisis to tell the story from a new angle. It’s certainly as gripping and tense as any drama available on the platform, if not more so, in its documentation of such a terrifying deadlock scenario.

Top Picks: Movies

Aisha (November 17)

Written and directed by Frank Berry, whose previous films include Michael Inside, Aisha follows the experiences of a young Nigerian woman (played by Letitia Wright) as she is caught in the limbo of Ireland’s immigration system. Aisha becomes friends with Conor Healy (Josh O’Connor) when they meet at an accommodation centre.

The film premiered at Tribeca in June and also screened during the BFI London Film Festival, where it was positively received, with Wright and O’Connor’s performances during significant acclaim. It’s a shame that an independent Irish film like this won’t get a full release, but at least it’ll be available to a large audience on NOW.

The Northman (November 25)

The intelligent blockbuster is a rare thing, and for Robert Eggers’s third feature (following The Witch and The Lighthouse) he brought a truly epic scale to a dark and twisted vision. The film centres on Amleth, a Viking prince played by Alexander Skarsgård who sets out to avenge his father, played by Ethan Hawke.

While not as awe-inspiring on the small screen as the big, The Northman holds up as a tense and gripping journey across Iceland, and features a stunning supporting cast including Anya Taylor-Joy, Claes Bang, Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, and even a brief appearance from Björk.

The Outfit (November 26)

Another 2022 premiere making its way onto NOW is The Outfit, a psychological crime thriller that marks the directorial debut of Graham Moore. Mark Rylance (who starred recently in The Phantom of the Open—which also appears on NOW this month) plays an English tailor in Chicago who works primarily for a gangster family.

The cast includes a host of great British actors such as Johnny Flynn, Simon Russell Beale and Nikki Amuka-Bird, as well as American stars Zoey Deutch and Dylan O’Brien.