It will be a very busy winter on the smaller screens, with a number of shows coming back after two- or three-year gaps because of the writers and actors strikes of 2023. A few of the more hotly awaited returnees, such as “Severance” and “Andor,” are included in this chronological list of premieres.

But the focus is on the new and unknown: What will we get from Robert De Niro’s first American series (Netflix’s “Zero Day”) or from the first scripted television show from the great director Marco Bellocchio (“Exterior Night” on MHz Choice)? That’s where the excitement lies. (All dates are subject to change.)

“American Primeval”

In a new Western that looks to fall at the gothic-violence end of the spectrum, Betty Gilpin plays a woman trying to cross the Wasatch Mountains — through a gantlet of bandits, wolves, marauding tribes and “riled-up Mormons” — with the help of a hard-boiled guide played by Taylor Kitsch. The show’s writer, Mark L. Smith, worked with Alejandro G. Iñárritu on the screenplay for the notably gruesome Western “The Revenant.” (Netflix, now showing)

“Severance”

This elaborate, poker-faced, often dead-on satire of American office life — contained in a life-supporting matrix of sci-fi conspiracy thriller — returns after a three-year hiatus. Can it maintain its delicate balance with the same panache across a 10-episode second season? An impressive array of new performers joins the cast, including Bob Balaban, Gwendoline Christie, Alia Shawkat and Merritt Wever. (Apple TV+, now showing)

“Star Trek: Section 31”

If you thought — correctly — that “Star Trek: Discovery” did not have enough Michelle Yeoh across its five seasons, this spinoff offers an all-too-brief corrective. Starring Yeoh as the alternate-universe, secret-agent version of her character Philippa Georgiou, it was developed as a series but has ended up a made-for-streaming film. (Paramount+, Jan. 24)

“Asia”

The latest armchair extravaganza from David Attenborough and the BBC Studios Natural History Unit devotes seven episodes to the animals of the planet’s largest continent and signals the first time that Asia has been the focus of a big BBC wildlife series. In February, American TV will finally rise to this particular challenge when NBC presents 10 episodes of “The Americas,” narrated by Tom Hanks — and made by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit. (BBC America and AMC+, Jan. 25)

“Watson”

Morris Chestnut plays Dr. John Watson in a medical mystery set six months after Sherlock Holmes was killed — or was he? — by Moriarty. It is not a spinoff of CBS’ “Elementary,” in which Lucy Liu played Watson, but the showrunner of “Watson,” Craig Sweeny, was a writer for that earlier series. (CBS, Jan. 26)

“Great Migrations: A People on the Move”

The latest documentary series from Henry Louis Gates Jr. takes on a rich and complicated subject: the patterns of movement by Black people that have shaped Black life in America, and American life in general, since the Civil War. (PBS, Jan. 28)

“Paradise”

If “This Is Us” was your twisty, tear-filled cup of tea, you will want to check out this mystery thriller that reunites that show’s creator (Dan Fogelman) and star (Sterling K. Brown). Brown plays the lead agent on the security detail of a former president (James Marsden); within the first 10 minutes of the pilot someone important is dead, and the flashbacks and long speeches begin. (Hulu, Jan. 28)

“Bull(expletive)”

For fans of motorcycle-gang dramas who have been antsy since Kurt Sutter’s “Mayans M.C.” ended in 2023, this atmospheric, inspired-by-true-events Danish drama tracks the rise in the 1970s and ‘80s of a local biker gang that finds itself in violent conflict with the Hells Angels. (Viaplay, Jan. 30)

“Vietnam: The War That Changed America”

Documentarians are just about out of Vietnam War anniversaries to commemorate: This six-part series is pegged to the fall of Saigon, and the end of the war, in April 1975. It is a we-were-there production, combining relatively familiar archival footage with new interviews of survivors, some of whom can be seen looking very young in the half-century-old images. (Apple TV+, Jan. 31)

“Common Side Effects”

From the department of big buzz comes this animated comedy-thriller about ordinary people fighting Big Pharma to get a magically healing mushroom out to the world. The creative team includes Joe Bennett, a creator of “Scavengers Reign,” and executive producers Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. (Adult Swim, Feb. 2)

“Clean Slate”

Norman Lear gets a posthumous executive-producer credit — neither his first nor his last — on this comedy starring George Wallace and Laverne Cox as an Alabama car wash owner and his estranged transgender daughter. (Amazon Prime Video, Feb. 6)

“Sly Lives! (a.k.a. The Burden of Black Genius)”

Questlove follows up his infectious “Summer of Soul” with a documentary about a soul (and rock, and pop, and funk) titan, Sly Stone. Musicians such as D’Angelo, Nile Rodgers and George Clinton will weigh in, but the most interesting testimony might come from former bandmates, including innovative bass player and noted Stone antagonist Larry Graham. (Hulu, Feb. 13)

“The White Lotus”

Well, Season 3 has Carrie Coon and Walton Goggins, so that’s something. (HBO, Feb. 16)

“Exterior Night”

Italian director Marco Bellocchio — who has as strong a claim as anyone to the chimerical title of greatest living filmmaker — made this six-part drama about the 1978 kidnapping and killing of the politician Aldo Moro, an event whose unsettling effect on the Italian psyche echoes the impact of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in America. (MHz Choice, Feb. 18)

“Zero Day”

Robert De Niro’s first series-regular role, in the melancholy 2023 Argentine dramedy “Nada,” was an eccentric choice. This, his first American series (at age 81), is more what you would expect: He plays a former U.S. president who is asked to save the world. (Netflix, Feb. 20)

“Suits L.A.”

The surprising success of “Suits” as a Netflix rerun has an unsurprising result. Aaron Korsh, who created the original, set in New York, is behind this spinoff. The Los Angeles version has a new cast led by Stephen Amell of “Arrow”; Gabriel Macht’s Harvey Specter, last seen marrying his former secretary in the “Suits” finale, will make an appearance. (NBC, Feb. 23)

“Beyond the Gates”

The first new daytime soap since “Passions” debuted in 1999 is the product of a partnership between CBS Studios and the NAACP and focuses on a wealthy Black family in the Washington suburbs. Tamara Tunie and the venerable Clifton Davis star. (CBS, Feb. 24)

“Berlin ER”

Among the wave of hospital melodramas premiering this winter — “Doc” on Fox, “The Pitt” on Max, “Pulse” on Netflix — this German-language series created by British writer and doctor Samuel Jefferson looks the least plastic and the most interesting. (Apple TV+, Feb. 26)

“Daredevil: Born Again”

Has any actor done more service to Marvel for less mass-market visibility than Charlie Cox? This will be at least the sixth TV series in which he has played blind hero Matt Murdock. (The fifth also premieres this winter, Disney+’s animated “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.”) “Born Again” has extra nostalgia value as the first of the many pre-Disney+ Marvel series to get a second life — Cox and many of his co-stars, including Vincent D’Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll and Elden Henson, reprise their roles from Netflix’s 2015-18 “Daredevil.” Can we please get “Jessica Jones: Still Cranky” next? (Disney+, March 4)

“Douglas Is Cancelled”

Hugh Bonneville’s facility for playing likable, dangerously clueless father figures — the Earl of Grantham in “Downton Abbey,” Mr. Brown in the “Paddington” movies — should come in handy in this dark comedy about a veteran British news anchor brought down by an ill-considered joke. Steven Moffat (“Doctor Who,” “Sherlock”) wrote the four-episode miniseries; Karen Gillan plays Douglas’ less-than-supportive co-host. (BritBox, March 6)

“Deli Boys”

The sons of an immigrant convenience-store mogul learn that the mango pickles and bad coffee were a cover for the sale of more profitable merchandise in this broad gangster comedy from Pakistani American actor and writer Abdullah Saeed. (Hulu, March 6)

“Dope Thief”

Brian Tyree Henry of “Atlanta” and Wagner Moura of “Narcos” play two small-time Philadelphia hoods who dress up as drug-enforcement agents to rob equally low-level dealers. Screenwriter Peter Craig (“The Mother”) created this series based on the 2009 novel by Dennis Tafoya. (Apple TV+, March 14)

“Ludwig”

Sketch-comedy master David Mitchell (“Peep Show,” “That Mitchell and Webb Look”) plays it straight, more or less, in this quirky mystery series, which was rapturously received in Britain. He is Ludwig, a maker of puzzles, whose twin brother, a detective, disappears; to solve the case, Ludwig assumes his brother’s identity and his job. The happily ubiquitous Anna Maxwell Martin plays the detective’s wife. (BritBox, March 20)

“The Residence”

Shondaland returns to the White House for the first time since Shonda Rhimes’ “Scandal” premiered in 2012. This new series, created by Paul William Davies, a writer and story editor on “Scandal,” is a murder mystery with a comic edge starring Uzo Aduba and Randall Park as cops investigating a death during a state dinner. (Netflix, March 20)

“Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light”

A decade after the BBC’s “Wolf Hall,” Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis return as Thomas Cromwell and his difficult boss, Henry VIII, in an adaptation of the final novel in Hilary Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy. In the Henry chronology, it comes after the beheading of Anne Boleyn and, assuming it follows the book, will proceed inexorably toward another execution. (PBS, March 23)

“Your Friends & Neighbors”

A decade after “Mad Men,” it’s dark secrets in the suburbs again for Jon Hamm. This time, he plays a fired and divorced hedge-fund guy who starts breaking into the houses of his wealthy neighbors, in a drama created by Jonathan Tropper of “Warrior” and “Banshee.” (Apple TV+, April 11)

“Andor”

The thinking person’s “Star Wars” series finally returns for its second season. The really exciting news: Alan Tudyk joins the cast as the acerbic droid K-2SO. (Disney+, April 22)

Other returning shows: “Animal Control” (Fox, Thursday); “Vera” (BritBox, Thursday); “The Way Home” (Hallmark+, Saturday); “RuPaul’s Drag Race” (MTV, Friday); “Solo Leveling” (Crunchyroll, Saturday); “Astrid” (PBS Passport, Sunday); “Vienna Blood” (PBS, Sunday); “Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches” (AMC, Sunday); “Antiques Roadshow” (PBS, Monday); “Finding Your Roots” (PBS, Tuesday); “The Rookie” (ABC, Tuesday); “Will Trent” (ABC, Tuesday); “The Traitors” (Peacock, Jan. 9); “The Upshaws” (Netflix, Jan. 9); “Alpha Males” (Netflix, Jan. 10); “Goosebumps: The Vanishing” (Disney+, Jan. 10); “All Creatures Great and Small” (PBS, Jan. 12); “Miss Scarlet” (PBS, Jan. 12); “Rogue Heroes” (MGM+, Jan. 12); “Harley Quinn” (Max, Jan. 16); “XO, Kitty” (Netflix, Jan. 16); “Sisi: Austrian Empress” (PBS Passport, Jan. 17); “Father Brown” (BritBox, Jan. 23); “Harlem” (Amazon Prime Video, Jan. 23); “The Night Agent” (Netflix, Jan. 23); “Eva the Owlet” (Apple TV+, Jan. 24); “Mythic Quest” (Apple TV+, Jan. 29); “Mo” (Netflix, Jan. 30); “The Recruit” (Netflix, Jan. 30); “NCIS: Sydney” (CBS, Jan. 31); “Funny Woman” (PBS, Feb. 2); “Invincible” (Amazon Prime Video, Feb. 6); “Sweet Magnolias” (Netflix, Feb. 6); “Cobra Kai” (Netflix, Feb. 13); “Yellowjackets” (Paramount+, Feb. 14; Showtime, Feb. 16); “Reacher” (Amazon Prime Video, Feb. 20); “Surface” (Apple TV+, Feb. 21); “1923” (Paramount+, Feb. 23); “Dark Winds” (AMC, March 9); “The Wheel of Time” (Amazon Prime Video, March 13).