Netflix’s animated Tomb Raider show, Dragon Ball Daima, and more new TV this week

And we’re back! This column has been on hiatus, but — as I’m sure you noticed — television has not. There have been plenty of great new releases, and fall is really just getting started. Whether you’re diving into spooky season, the current new crop of anime, or some of the newer premieres like The Legend of Vox Machina, fall 2024 has already given us a lot of TV.

And this week it brings even more, with new offerings big (new Dragon Ball spinoff from Akira Toriyama himself!!) and small. Here’s the best new TV premieres to watch this week.

Genre: Treasure-hunter adventure (animated)
Release date: Oct. 10
Showrunner/creator: Tasha Huo
Cast: Hayley Atwell, Earl Baylon, Allen Maldonado, and more

Lara Croft (Hayley Atwell) is on the hunt — but not like you’ve seen her before. No, we’re not talking about animation (she started in a video game, as you might recall); rather, this Lara Croft is a treasure protector, rather than a treasure hunter. And unfortunately, her latest quest might be one that gets her in way over her head.

Genre: Dragon Ball (shonen)
Release date: Oct. 11, with one episode
Showrunner/creator: Akira Toriyama

Not much is known about this Dragon Ball spinoff. It’s the fourth show in the franchise (technically), it’s an original story straight from Akira Toriyama himself (and, very sadly, his last), and it’s set between the events of Dragon Balls Z and Super. Per a post from Toriyama, the plot is: Goku and his friends get small (as a result of some “conspiracy”) and have to go to a new, mysterious world to fix things. And “daima” is a made-up word that Toriyama translates to English as “evil.”

The tl;dr: Let’s fuckin’ go!

Genre: Horror sci-fi
Release date: Oct. 10
Showrunner/creator: Ian McCulloch
Cast: Yvonne Strahovski, Scott Speedman, and more

Everything is hunky-dory on the Chenoweth farm in rural Georgia until suddenly young son Arlo (Caleb Dolden) goes missing. By the time he returns, it’s clear the family is dealing with something far bigger than just a disappearance — something they might not even be able to explain.

Genre: CW DCU
Release date: Two-hour premiere Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. EDT
Showrunner/creator: Todd Helbing
Cast: Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, and more

It’s the fourth and final season for Superman (Tyler Hoechlin) and Lois (Elizabeth Tulloch) — and their family, of course. Season 4 comes with a shorter order of only 10 episodes. But after Inverse Superman became a monster and Clark left (“was carried unconsciously into space”) to fight him, and we last saw them hurtling at each other with extreme prejudice, we’re being left with a trailer tagline of “Superman is dead.” So maybe we don’t need more than 10 episodes to mourn! (I kid; I have high hopes for Superman and his chances to make it back to his family.)

Genre: Psychological thriller
Release date: Oct. 11
Showrunner/creator: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, and more

Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) is more than just a woman with an incredible name and a jawline like Cate Blanchett. She is also a renowned journalist known for telling hard truths — at least, she has been. But all that is threatened to change when she discovers she’s a character in a prominent novel, a book that might reveal a secret she’s long sought to keep hidden.