The Guardian’s June 2026 streaming guide: From zombie outbreaks to Tassie bureaucracy
The Guardian’s latest cultural dispatch highlights a diverse array of titles, including the zombie thriller We Bury the Dead, the musical sequel Wicked: For Good, and the Cape Fear series, alongside local dramas and satirical comedies.
In June 2026, The Guardian published a comprehensive guide detailing the most compelling television and film content available for streaming in Australia. The curated list spans major platforms including Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Prime Video, ABC, and SBS, offering a snapshot of the current digital landscape for Australian audiences. The selection ranges from high-profile Hollywood sequels to intimate local dramas, reflecting a broad spectrum of genre preferences and cultural interests.
Among the notable new releases is We Bury the Dead, a zombie film directed by Zak Hilditch. The narrative follows an American woman, played by Daisy Ridley, who travels to a quarantined Tasmania after an experimental weapon detonation turns the population into flesh-eating ghouls. The Guardian describes the film as a rock-solid genre piece that focuses on emotional adaptation to catastrophe rather than pure spectacle. Also arriving is Office Romance, a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein, which the guide notes appears algorithmically primed for success despite its saccharine premise.
Local content features prominently in the digest, with The Shoe Salesman, a Melbourne drama about a struggling Nigerian businessman, receiving a worldwide free-to-air premiere on SBS. The film, starring Okey Bakassi, explores themes of identity and heritage against the backdrop of a looming lease expiry. Additionally, The Tassie Team, a satirical comedy starring Sam Pang as an AFL administrator, offers a sharp critique of bureaucracy and red tape in regional sports development.
International thrillers and dramas also dominate the guide’s highlights. The Witness, an eight-part adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel, stars Sam Worthington as a prisoner seeking to prove his son’s survival. Meanwhile, Shelter presents a dark premise involving a married couple plotting to murder each other while hiding from violent criminals in a remote cabin. The Guardian’s review of Shelter cites Variety critic Owen Gleiberman, noting the film’s chaotic and violent tone.
The guide also tracks significant returns and adaptations, including the return of the prestige drama Mad Men and the director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. The latter aims to restore the grislier elements softened by the studio in the original 2008 release. Other key titles include the musical sequel Wicked: For Good, the surrealist crime series Dalí, and the Cape Fear series produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, featuring Javier Bardem as the menacing Max Cady.