The 13 Best TV Shows to Watch on Disney+ Right Now

Since its premiere in November 2019, Disney+ has consistently provided Disneyphiles with a nonstop stream of amazing content, including classic animated and live action movies, original programming, and some delightful obscurities from the studio’s vault. We’ve assembled a shortlist of the best TV shows currently available on the streaming service.

Doctor Who
The Mandalorian
The Muppet Show
Loki
The Simpsons
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
WandaVision
Behind the Attraction
Gravity Falls
Spider-Man (1981)
Star Wars Rebels
Agent Carter
What If...?

Doctor Who

If you want the original 13 seasons of the modern Doctor Who, you’ll still have to have Max. But Disney+ is home to the newest regeneration of the iconic, space-and-time-hopping science fiction adventure. After her deviously clever take on the role, Jodie Whittaker has handed over the sonic screwdriver to Ncuti Gatwa, who brings big energy to playing the Time Lord with the freedom to go wherever and whenever he pleases. Along with new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), the series is off to a roaring start with space babies and a hang out with The Beatles.

The Mandalorian

Jon Favreau made himself a Disney mainstay directing two Iron Man films (and later, “live action” adaptations of two of their animated classics), but he became an architect of their multi-tiered universes with The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars show since the franchise was reborn in 2016 with The Force Awakens. Set in the time after Return of the Jedi, the show focuses on the adventures of a bounty hunter hired to retrieve a character that became instantly and iconically known as “Baby Yoda,” featuring Pedro Pascal and a revolving door of stars including Giancarlo Esposito, Omid Abtahi, Temuera Morrison, and Werner Herzog.

The Muppet Show

This puppet-hosted variety show has gone through multiple iterations over the years, including spinoff films, sequels, and reboots. But nothing beats the original five-year run where Jim Henson and his gifted team of puppeteers enlisted high-profile actors and celebrities of the era to showcase the personality of Kermit, Miss Piggy, and their felt-covered colleagues. Particularly since the final seasons never made the jump to physical media, this collection is a treasure trove of great comedic gags and guest stars bringing the Muppets to life in extraordinary, unforgettable fashion.

Loki

Loki creator Michael Waldron took the beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe villain and gave him a vehicle for more mischief while (moderately) taking accountability for his past deeds. Tom Hiddleston leads a cast featuring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Richard E. Grant, and Owen Wilson—the actor you never knew you absolutely needed to become a part of the MCU. The second season wrapped up in November 2023, which may be the end of this small-screen adventure.

The Simpsons

Even if you have not actively watched this animated comedy mainstay in years, The Simpsons is such an indelible part of the pop culture firmament that it has become a security blanket and always-easy solution if there’s a second when you don’t know what to watch. What’s wonderful about Disney+ is that it collects every episode from 1989 to present, offering an opportunity to see how the show has grown over the years and also what essential elements have made it such an enduring staple for one generation after the next.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Although its initial impact should have viewers seeking out the seven-season animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (also available on Disney+), this spinoff/sequel show not only offers a wonderful visual alternative to live-action films, but storytelling and mythology that they either have not yet explored, or may not have the bandwidth to do. As with The Clone Wars, Dave Filoni created the show not only to examine a period of time in between the central trilogies, but to highlight characters who might show up in an action figure window box, though otherwise would be unlikely to see much action.

WandaVision

Jac Schaeffer built this show around the appealing but mysterious duo of Scarlet Witch and Vision to serve as audiences’ first foray into Phase Four of the MCU, leading to the 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Whether or not those words mean anything to you, Schaeffer cleverly draws upon a rich legacy of television storytelling tropes throughout various decades in order to highlight the characters’ disorientation and offer a referendum on gender roles and cultural norms as they have changed—and sometimes haven’t.

Behind the Attraction

Fans of Disney’s theme parks will particularly enjoy this series, created by Brian Volk-Weiss, which explores the history of many of their most famous attractions. The series offers a fun look behind the scenes at these experiences that have enchanted parkgoers since the earliest days of Disneyland, with episodes dedicated to such attractions as Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, and more.

Gravity Falls

Alex Hirsch not only created this cult animated series but shepherded it to its conclusion—a rarity among, well, most TV shows. The series follows the adventures of 12-year-old twins Dipper and Mabel Pines as they explore the (fictional) town of the title and its many mysteries. Between its 40 episodes and a collection of short films, the award-winning show taps into classic storytelling techniques while adding welcome doses of inventive humor to elevate and transform them.

Spider-Man (1981)

Until all of Spider-Man’s many television incarnations are made available physically or on streaming services, this short-lived 1981 animated series must suffice, and it more than delivers: Picking up where the 1967 series left off, it offers wall-to-wall web-crawling action along with a delightful rogue’s gallery of Marvel villains, including Lizard, Dr. Doom, Red Skull, Kraven the Hunter, Doctor Octopus, and more. When you finish Spider-Man, be sure to check out Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends—another great animated Spidey series from 1981—which has finally arrived on streaming.

Star Wars Rebels

Any Dave Filoni-related Star Wars property is worth exploring, and this series is no exception: Set after the events of Revenge of the Sith, the series actually explores the adventures of characters audiences fell in love with in the films, as well as new, never-seen-before characters exploring the world they inherited. Best of all, a number of original cast members, including James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, Frank Oz, and Billy Dee Williams, show up to reprise their roles in a completely new format.

Agent Carter

Although it lasted just two seasons, this spinoff of Captain America: The First Avenger offered scruffy, wholesome, empowering charms that few other Marvel-related series seemed to, as Hayley Atwell reprised her role as a Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) operative navigating secret organizations—and the sexism of the 1940s and ‘50s—with her lost love Steve Rogers as inspiration. The show doesn’t get into the metatextual explorations of its successors (especially the other ones listed here), but it offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of an MCU character with no powers other than her intellect and resourcefulness using their noble example to make a difference in the world.

What If...?

What If...? is a thrilling manifestation of fan curiosity and speculation, paired with a talented team of animators and revolving door of all-star voice actors. Based on and built out of the premise of a comic series of the same name, the Marvel series takes the daydreams of love, hate, and imagination around iconic characters and properties and follows them to an exciting, unpredictable conclusion. Jeffrey Wright stars as The Watcher, a character who famously observes the comics multiverse (and occasionally gets involved), while everyone from Seth Green to the late Chadwick Boseman offers their talents as characters you already love, or soon will.

Read More Streaming Lists:

A version of this story ran in 2021; it has been updated for 2024.