The 2026 Gothic Watchlist: Goth-Coded Film and Television
A year of unhinged storytelling and sequels for the darkly inclined
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
The year ahead looks deliciously chaotic, which is exactly what we want from our screens. Hollywood is still deep in its remake era, and 2026 leans into the trend with a slate that feels theatrical in all the right ways.
Wuthering Heights rises first with a fresh retelling that promises stormy obsession. Scream 7 follows with blood and meta bravado. The Bride builds upon 2025’s luxurious, heartbreaking retelling of Frankenstein. The Devil Wears Prada makes a high-fashion comeback. The Odyssey gets a modern edge. And, Practical Magic stirs again with renewed enchantment.
Television keeps pace as familiar worlds expand with new chapters. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adds fresh armour to the Game of Thrones universe. Bridgerton heats up the winter with season four. Euphoria descends later in the year with a long-awaited third season already subject to fan-fic plot theory. House of the Dragon storms again in June. And, The White Lotus is rumoured to be shooting it’s next season in France.
It’s a lineup built for nostalgia, inviting your favourite characters and stories to curl up with you on the couch.
Honour takes centre stage as history folds into prophecy. Game of Thrones fans will returns to a smaller world within the realm of Westeros, where courage appears in quiet gestures.
Bridgerton Season 4 (January and February)
The ballroom once again becomes an arena for charm and strategy. Every movement conceals a motive. The series continues to portray desire as a form of rebellion, a vision that aligns with TLL’s understanding of restraint turned expressive.
Wuthering Heights (February)
The new adaptation of Brontë’s novel returns to the moors with a vision that feels both timeless and newly wounded. Love turns inward until it becomes its own ruin. After Elordi’s emotional portrayal of Frankenstein, fans wait for this film with baited breath.
Scream 7 (February)
The latest instalment examines survival within spectacle for its cult following. Fear becomes performance, and performance becomes control.
The Bride (March)
This re-imagining of Frankenstein moves the focus toward the woman who builds herself from what others destroyed. Her defiance reshapes creation into authorship.
Devil Wears Prada 2 (May)
The return of Miranda Priestly turns the conversation toward power that dresses as grace. The story continues its study on how control transforms once success begins to feel hollow. Hearing of this sequel felt like a millennial fever dream, so we are eager to see the vision come to life.
House of the Dragon Season 3 (June)
The Targaryen story burns hotter with each generation. Heritage becomes a wound that refuses to close, examining of dynasty reduced to desire.
The Odyssey (July)
The classic tale sails back to the screen as a meditation on distance and return. The ocean becomes a mirror for identity.
Euphoria (Season 3)
The story of youth continues with a tone that feels fragile yet exact. Emotion moves through light as if it were language.
The White Lotus (France)
Paradise once again conceals corruption. Each frame reveals how charm decays when truth intrudes.
Practical Magic 2 (September)
The Owens sisters return to the screen to mend what loss once divided. Their rituals transform memory into protection.
The year ahead gives every archetype a world to slip into. The Whimsy Goth will eagerly await the premiere of Practical Magic 2, while the Dark Academic will sink into The Odyssey with the devotion of someone who annotates for pleasure. The Romantic Goth will treat Wuthering Heights like a seasonal ritual rather than remake. The Widow will gravitate towards The Bride, because reinvention has always been her favourite kind of haunting. The Corporate Goth will line up for Scream 7, nostalgically throwing back to her scene/emo teenage years. The Brat will adopt Euphoria as her mood board as the new season drops.
However you watch, this year is already shaping up to be an ode to gothic womanhood.
Which will you watch first? Tell us in the comments.
