Looking for the perfect weekend binge-watch on HBO Max? Screen Rant has got you covered with three of the most talked about, brand new, and culturally relevant shows and limited series that you can easily finish by Sunday night.
For the week of October 3–5, 2025, Screen Rant’s TV experts have hand-picked these fantastic, critically acclaimed, and promising new HBO Max series, some of which just dropped on the streaming platform and are available to stream for the very first time. Our top selection even earned a rare 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, making it an absolute must-watch.
Screen Rant also has fresh options for what to binge-watch this weekend on Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+, and Hulu on Disney+. Don’t forget to catch up on what you may have missed on HBO Max during the week as well. Without further ado, here are Screen Rant’s top 3 picks to binge-watch on HBO Max this weekend to kick October 2025 off right.
The Young Pope
If you loved Jude Law in Netflix’s Black Rabbit, then make sure to check him out on the celebrated HBO series The Young Pope. Even though the miniseries was released back in 2016, it’s still one of the best political dramas streaming on HBO Max, with an absolute killer performance from Law as the young pope himself, Lenny Berlado.
In The Young Pope, Lenny Belardo is named the first-ever American pope, which at the time had never happened before in more than 2000 years. Lenny, originally a cardinal from New York City, travels to the Vatican to become the head of the Catholic Church, where he is joined by Diane Keaton’s Sister Mary, his confidante.
If you enjoyed last year’s Oscar-winning film Conclave, then you’ll surely love The Young Pope, especially due to Law’s natural magnetism. The series, which earned 2 Emmy nominations, was so well-received that a sequel miniseries, The New Pope, was released in 2020, once again starring Law and featuring a new performance by John Malkovich.
Both critically acclaimed series essentially act as companions to each other, so if you end up loving The Young Pope, then go ahead and check out The New Pope, which is also streaming on HBO Max. The series is also beautifully shot, with The Washington Post calling it, “a chilling, challenging and visually stunning piece of work.”
Station Eleven
Station Eleven is one of the most critically acclaimed yet overlooked miniseries on HBO Max right now. The 2021 dystopian sci-fi miniseries earned a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 98% and was nominated for 7 Emmys, including awards for Directing, Cinematography, and Writing, but came up empty-handed in all categories.
Station Eleven was partially directed by Emmy-winning director Hiro Murai, best known for his work on Donald Glover’s groundbreaking FX/Hulu series Atlanta. The series was developed for television by Patrick Somerville (The Leftovers) and is based on the celebrated novel by Emily St. John Mandel.
NPR’s review of Station Eleven noted, “The stakes remain impossibly high, the story uniquely compelling, but the net effect is to find this chronicle of a shattered, scattered human civilization strangely comforting, even hopeful.” It only received one negative review on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Washington Post saying it “may be too attached to its rose-colored glasses.”
Many viewers were fascinated by the unique, time-jumping narrative structure of Station Eleven, while several critics were moved by the underlying sense of hope and optimism in the show. If you enjoyed The Leftovers and other character-focused post-apocalyptic sci-fi series like The Last of Us, then Station Eleven is absolutely worth watching this weekend.
Common Side Effects
If you’ve just watched Wayward on Netflix and are looking to keep up the offbeat energy with elements of alternative medicine, then Common Side Effects is a great new series on HBO Max to dive into. The series earned 100% Rotten Tomatoes score for its first season, which was released back in February 2025.
Common Side Effects is celebrated for its high level of originality in story, character, and animation. The series expertly blends dark comedy with elements of the conspiracy thriller genre to create a truly unique and immersive viewing experience that will hook you from the first episode.
Despite being nominated for a 2025 Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program, Common Side Effects is seriously flying under the radar on HBO Max. This could be the result of the lingering bias some viewers still have against animated series, equating them to cartoons or comedies.
Common Side Effects is funny, but it’s much more of a thriller series than a true comedy show like South Park or Rick and Morty. Based on its TV-MA rating, it should not fall into the category of a standard cartoon, either. If you give Common Side Effects a fair shot like many satisfied viewers and critics have, you may surprise yourself by enjoying the series, which is universally considered one of the best new animated shows on HBO Max available to stream right now.
