Check out the best movies and TV series to stream in May 2023

It’s that time of year when Canadians experience their annual weather-based identity crises. Come May 1, we throw off our puffer coats and park ourselves on the sunny side of the patio, praying for sun and warmth and just a hit of that Vitamin D. Mother Nature often rewards our optimism with torrential rain, the odd flash frost and a whole lot of grey. But this year, the joke’s on her. We’ve got more than enough to keep us entertained indoors while she sorts out the season.

In a month that kicks off with the Coronation of King Charles III, Netflix is streaming the dramatic stories of not one, but two, queens. First up is the highly anticipated Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story—a prequel that provides Regency fans with the intriguing, fictionalized backstory of everyone’s favourite, Whistledown-obsessed royal. Next up is a limited docu-series from producer Jada Pinkett-Smith, which focuses on the tumultuous life of another famous regent: Queen Cleopatra. Not enough drama for you? Try Apple TV Plus’s City on Fire, Disney Plus’s The Clearing, or Crave’s Little Bird on for size. And don’t miss the big two-part season finale of CTV’s Sullivan Crossing on Sunday, May 14th.

If reality’s more your bag, you might need to take some time off work and truly settle in for a marathon or two of epic proportions. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars are back for an eighth season, while Queer Eye’s Fab Five are heading to the Big Easy in a quest to make New Orleans even more fabulous, one case at a time. Can you believe? And don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about Season Three of The Kardashians—as if they’d even let us. Selling Sunset is returning too, but we’re even more excited for the new Canadian-made binge-worthy series Listing Large. There’s always room for more real-life real estate drama in our lives, especially when you throw in more jaw-dropping places and enviable spaces.

Toward the end of the month, you’ll be able to catch one of the biggest names in film trying his hand at television. That’s right, The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is helming a new spy adventure series, FUBAR. Co-starring Monica Barbaro, it follows a father and daughter who have been lying to each other for years about their involvement in the C.I.A. Arnie isn’t the only one caught up in spy games this May. J. Lo is back on screen as a former assassin forced out of hiding to protect her estranged daughter in The Mother.

May also brings us the return of The Muppets, new comedy specials from Hannah Gadsby and Wanda Sykes, documentaries on Ed Sheeran and Anna Nicole Smith, a new Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne romantic comedy (Platonic), and a new Disney action comedy, American Born Chinese, starring 2023 Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan

Take a look at the curated list below of what’s coming your way across all platforms, and then be sure to mark your calendars with as many as you can fit in!

May 1:

White House Plumbers (New limited series, Crave)

Go behind the scenes of the Watergate scandal in this five-part series starring Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux as E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, Nixon’s infamous political saboteurs. The two, former CIA and FBI agents respectively, were initially hired by the White House to investigate the Pentagon Papers leak but ended up bringing down the government they were hired to shore up. Chronicling the saga from 1971 onward, White House Plumbers sheds light on some of the lesser-known events that led to one of America’s greatest political crimes. Premiering Monday, May 1 at 9 pm ET, with new episodes streaming each subsequent Monday.

May 3:

Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All (New docu-series, Disney+)

May 4:

The Other Two (Season 3, Crave)

This comedy is back for a third go-round after its first two critically-acclaimed seasons aired earlier this year. Follow along as two adult siblings, Brooke and Cary (Heléne Yorke and Drew Tarver), try to cope with their talk-show host mother (Molly Shanon) and the sudden pop-star fame of their much-younger brother, Chase Dreams (Case Walker). When we last left them, the aspiring twosome had finally made a success of themselves, so how are they having to measure up to others all over again? Tune in to find out…

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (New series, Netflix)

May 5:

Silo (New series, Apple TV+)

May 9:

Hannah Gadsby: Something Special (Stand-up special, Netflix)

May 10:

The Muppets Mayhem (New series, Disney+)

Queen Cleopatra (New docu-series, Netflix)

May 12:

Crater (New movie, Disney+)

City on Fire (New series, Apple TV+)

The Mother (New movie, Netflix)

Queer Eye (Season 7, Netflix)

RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars (Season 8, Crave)

Sashay this way for the eighth season of the fan-favourite, which features 12 queens from across the Drag Race universe serving their best lewks for a spot in the “Drag Race Hall of Fame” and that all-important $200,000 cash prize! Keep your eyes peeled for Canada’s Drag Race alum Jimbo among this year’s competitors. The new series debuts with two episodes on Friday, May 12, with new episodes landing each Friday.

May 16:

Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me (New documentary, Netflix)

May 17:

High Desert (New series, Apple TV+)

Sisters (New series, Crave)

Set in Ireland, the six-part original series follows two young women (Susan Stanley and Canadian Sarah Goldberg), continents apart, who discover they are half-sisters and decide to embark on a road trip to seek out their alcoholic father. With macabre comedy at the ready, the series explores how the absence of parents can influence each and every aspect of your lives, even as adults. The series debuts on Wednesday, May 17.

May 19:

White Men Can’t Jump (New film, Disney+)

May 23:

Wanda Sykes: I’m An Entertainer (Stand-up special, Netflix)

May 24:

American Born Chinese (New series, Disney+)

The Clearing (New series, Disney+)

Platonic (New movie, Apple TV+)

May 25:

FUBAR (New series, Netflix)

The Kardashians (Season 3, Disney+)

May 26:

Little Bird (New limited series, Crave)

The six-part limited series follows Bazhig Little Bird (Darla Contois), a young Indigenous woman who was forcibly removed from her home in Long Pine Reserve in Saskatchewan at age five, before being adopted into a Montréal Jewish family, becoming Esther Rosenblum. Once she reaches her 20s, she decides to leave everything she knows behind to search out the family she lost. As she begins to track down her siblings, she learns that her adoption was a part of the racist government policy that became known as the Sixties Scoop, causing her to question who she is and who she wants to become. The series follows a weekly release schedule.

May 29:

Reality (New movie, Crave)

Based on the 2019 play, “Is This a Room”, writer/director Tina Satter has adapted her own work into this HBO original movie, which premiered earlier this year at the Berlin International Film Festival. It follows a 25-year-old former American intelligence specialist, Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney), who finds herself on the wrong side of the FBI when they accuse her of mishandling classified information. Based on a true story, the film’s dialogue is based on the transcripts of real conversations between the ex-agent and her accusers.

HIDDEN GEM: Inside Amy Schumer

It’s been 10 years since television viewers were first introduced to the wild and chaotic mind of comic Amy Schumer. Revisit the classic comedy sketch show, marvel at the hilarious cameos you’d forgotten about, and take a journey into her provocative and wondrously wicked world, where nothing is off limits and everything is funny.

Watch all 4 seasons now on CTV Throwback: https://www.ctv.ca/shows/inside-amy-schumer