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Pop CultureJune 30, 2025

New to streaming: What to watch on Netflix NZ, Neon and more this week

Guest writer

We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.

Licence To Drive (Neon, July 2)

From the creators of Wheel Blacks: Bodies on the Line comes Licence To Drive, a series follow the transformative journey undertaken by a group of disabled New Zealanders who are pursuing more independence by learning to drive. Each episode follows the learner drivers alongside their patient (and not-so-patient) parents and driving instructors as they experience the uber-relatable highs and lows of being behind the wheel. From autistic twins wanting to take their partners for a cruise, to a man learning to steer with his feet, to a quadriplegic teen trialling groundbreaking adaptive technology, Licence To Drive is bound to be a fascinating and emotional ride.

Dead Ahead (TVNZ+, June 30)

Dead Ahead is a new comedy about colliding with the spirit world.

The charming bilingual local comedy Dead Ahead chronicles the Wharekoa whānau who, after returning to Aotearoa after a decade overseas, have discovered that they’ve somehow upset the equilibrium between the spiritual and physical realms. Unbeknownst to the rest of the whānau, it’s the secret agenda of matriarch Kiri (Miriama Smith) that has unleashed three kēhua, who hope to spook and steer them back in the right direction. Reminiscent of The Canterville Ghost and Coco, the spirited Dead Ahead will haunt the screen with heartfelt and homespun humour.

Heads of State (Prime Video, July 2)

From the director of Hardcore Henry and Nobody, Ilya Naishuller’s newest star-studded project follows two prime ministers (played by Idris Elba and John Cena) who begrudgingly set aside their public rivalry when they’re shot down in Air Force One by a bloodthirsty foreign power. Aided by the kick-ass MI6 agent Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), the enemies-to-besties must rely on each other to survive as they’re hunted across the backroads of Europe by gun-toting mercenaries. A light-hearted action comedy that is sure to blow your head off… with laughter.

Hospice Heroes (ThreeNow, July 6)

Granted unparalleled access to Tāmaki Makaurau’s Tōtara Hospice, Three’s intimate Hospice Heroes welcomes you warmly into the place where people go to die. Medical professionals, volunteers, patients, and their whānau, candidly share their experience of end of life care, a part of life that is universal and inescapable. Despite the potentially morbid subject matter, the tender TV show is also a reminder to live life to the fullest, as the hospice facilitates hot laps at Hampton Downs and pamper parties for patients. Tune in to Hospice Heroes to cry until you laugh, and laugh until you cry.

1917 (TVNZ+, July 1)

Set across the squalid trenches, torched fields and fanged rubble of the Western front, two babyfaced British soldiers receive a seemingly impossible order: they must journey into enemy territory and deliver an urgent message that could save thousands of ensnared Tommies. Directed by Sam Mendes and filmed to look like one continuous take by Roger Deakins, the epic war odyssey was nominated for 10 Oscars in 2020 and won three. Described as “tense, exhilarating and profoundly moving,” keep an eye out for the who’s who of British and Irish acting royalty – Andrew Scott, Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch all make a cameo.

Pick of the Flicks: Johatsu: Into Thin Air (DocPlay, July 3)

Johatsu, refers to the Japanese phenomenon in which thousands of individuals, who with the help of ‘night movers’, sever all ties with their past lives and start anew. Often driven by societal pressures, financial difficulties, and abusive relationships, the subjects in Johatsu: Into Thin Air agreed to participate in Andreas Hartmann and Arata Mori’s austere documentary on the condition that the film will never be screened in Japan. “Unfolding like a suspense thriller,” Johatsu: Into Thin Air is a poignant account of those suspended “between the abandoned, unbearable normality of before and the new normality in the making.”

The rest

Netflix

Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers (July 1)

Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel (July 1)

The Old Guard 2 (July 2)

Tour de France: Unchained: S3 (July 2)

The Sandman: S2 V1 (July 3)

Countdown: Taylor vs. Serrano (July 3)

All the Sharks (July 4)

The Summer Hikaru Died (July 6)

TVNZ+

Dead Ahead (June 30)

The Burning Girls (June 30)

Elsbeth (July 1)

Diddy: In Plain Sight (July 1)

The Emoji Movie (July 1)

Now You See Me (July 1)

Now You See Me 2 (July 1)

I Feel Pretty (July 1)

Booksmart (July 1)

Dirty Grandpa (July 1)

1917 (July 1)

Spy Kids 4 (July 1)

The Dog House S6 (July 5)

Susan Calman: Great British Cities (July 6)

America’s Got Talent S19 (July 5)

The Essex Millionaire Murders (July 6)

ThreeNow

This City is Ours (July 1)

90 Day: The Last Resort (July 4)

Hospice Heroes (July 6)

Neon

Chowder (June 30)

Regular Show S1-2 (June 30)

Ben 10 S3-4 (June 30)

Ben 10: Alien Force S2 (June 30)

Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix (Red) (June 30)

My Fair Lady (June 30)

Murder Under The Friday Night Lights S4 (July 1)

Joker (July 1)

Joker: Folie A Deux (July 1)

Blue’s Clues & You S1-S3 (July 1)

Bubble Guppies S6 (July 1)

Butterbean’s Café S2 (July 1)

Dora and Friends: Into the City! S2 (July 1)

Days of our Lives S61 (July 1)

Licence To Drive (July 2)

The Loud House S4-S6 (July 2)

Rugrats (2021) (July 2)

Spongebob Squarepants S10-S13 (July 2)

Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Open (July 2)

Mia Farrow – Shadows & Light (July 2)

Licence To Drive S1 (July 2)

Practical Magic (July 3)

Monster Summer (July 4)

Polyfamily (July 4)

Mystery at Blind Frog Rach S4 (July 4)

Richard the Stork and the Mystery of the Great Jewel (July 5)

Sniper: The Last Stand (July 5)

Prime Video

The Hunger Games (June 30)

Heads of State (July 2)

Disney+

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Reunion Special (July 1)

ZOMBIES (Sing-Along version) (July 2)

ZOMBIES 2 (Sing-Along version) (July 2)

ZOMBIES 3 (Sing-Along version) (July 2)

Hamster & Gretel: S2 (July 2)

Miraculous World London: At the Edge of Time (July 4)

Sharks of the North (July 6)

Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory (July 6)

Investigation Shark Attack (July 6)

Shudder/AMC+/Acorn/HIDIVE

Puppet Master (July 1)

Puppet Master II (July 1)

Puppet Master III (July 1)

The ABCs of Death (July 1)

The Madame Blanc Mysteries S4 (July 2)

Call of the Night S2 (July 4)

DocPlay

School of Hard Knocks (June 30)

Johatsu: Into Thin Air (July

Keep going!

It’s Xavier Horan’s life in TV (Photo: TVNZ / Design: Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureJune 28, 2025

‘So fulfilling’: Xavier Horan on making new spiritual comedy Dead Ahead

My Life in TV

Guest writer

It’s Xavier Horan’s life in TV (Photo: TVNZ / Design: Tina Tiller)

The star of new TVNZ comedy Dead Ahead takes us through his life in television.

Few New Zealand actors can attribute their career to the early work of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Xavier Horan certainly does. As a young aspiring actor, Horan’s first ever audition – for a BBC documentary series – saw him choose to reenact the dramatic final scene from his favourite movie, Commando. “Arnold Schwarzenegger has come down to the sewer, and his daughter is in there, played by Alyssa Milano,” Horan remembers. Sadly he didn’t get the role, but his love of watching action movies before he goes to sleep at night has never changed. “Those are the foundations of my career. I’ve always got to go back and remember them.”

Since those early days, Horan’s acting career has taken him out of the sewer and into everything from Shortland Street to The Dead Lands, The Bad Seed to Westside. Horan’s latest project is new TVNZ series Dead Ahead, a comedy about a family that returns to Aotearoa after living in London for several years. When the Wharehoka whānau arrive at their new home, their presence sparks a shift in the delicate balance between the spiritual and physical realms. Strange things begin to happen, and before long, three tīpuna appear in the household to guide the whānau in the right direction.

Xavier Horan (far right) and the cast of Dead Ahead (Photo: TVNZ)

Horan stars alongside Miriama Smith, Nicola Kawana, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Pana Hema Taylor and Scotty Cotter, and the show is produced by his wife, Nicole Horan. Dead Ahead’s dialogue includes both reo Māori and English, and Horan loves that the show focuses on the connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. “As Māori, we have this belief that there is a spiritual world, and when our time comes, our body may stay here but our spirit still lives.” Filled with interesting and quirky characters, Dead Ahead is a gentle, humorous exploration of how our ancestors can influence our lives in the present.

Before Dead Ahead launches on TVNZ+ next week, we sat down with Horan and asked him all about his life in television, including the cartoon he loved as a kid and the hit show he couldn’t stop watching.

My earliest TV memory is… It’s 1986, I’m four and I’ve just got home from kōhanga reo. My mum was going to teachers training college, so I’d be with my nanny. She was a little old kuia, who was quite a grumpy old lady. She was a teacher at the kōhanga reo, so I had to walk with her and walk back, and then I’d get home in time to watch Rawiri Paratene on Play School.

The TV show I used to rush home from school to watch was… Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think it was 1989 and I was in standard two. TV3 had just come out, and one of the first shows in the afternoon was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was like, “holy crap, this is awesome”.

A moment from my own career that haunts me is… At Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Rawiri Paratene and Rachel House cast a whole lot of us, and it was my first time acting on stage. The play was Troilus and Cressida and I played Hector. Maaka Pohatu and I had this big fight scene, and there’s a lot of old people in their little bright yellow coats, just looking up at you. One night it was quite frosty, and I came flying in the air, thrusting at Maaka’s head. My toe landed right on the edge of the stage, I skidded and ended up falling off the stage into these three old ladies. Luckily it wasn’t with too much force.

The TV ad I can’t stop thinking about is… Tina from Turners is pretty funny at the moment.

The last TV show I binge watched was… The Day of the Jackal with Eddie Redmayne. I just came back from Jordan with my wife, who was making a documentary series called Earth Oven with Temuera Morrison. On the flight there, I just couldn’t stop watching the Day of the Jackal. I had to finish it on the way back.

My favourite TV moment from my own career is… I loved doing the boxing fights on Westside. I got to help choreograph the stunts in The Convert with Lee Tamahori, and it’s a dance. It has to be well-rehearsed, because we can’t get hurt. I’ve been fortunate enough to do all my stunts and now be a stunt coordinator. I love all of that stuff.

My favourite TV project is… Dead Ahead, for so many reasons. It was so fulfilling. It was made out here in South Auckland, so for once I was not traveling to bloody Bethells or Henderson and going to work was only a 15 minute drive. We started and finished every day with a karakia. The key marker for me is that at the wrap party, everyone was so grateful, so happy. That’s what I valued, that human experience. No one was bickering, no one had problems, and the mahi was fun.

The TV show I loved and wished I was involved with is… The Night Agent. I hear they’re doing season three, I’ve got to give Luciane [Buchanan] a call, man. I really like that show. That drama, that intrigue, the action, the fight scenes are awesome, all the twists and the turns.

The show I’ll never watch, no matter how many people tell me to is… EastEnders. It just brings up memories. I feel like whenever EastEnders was on, there was always trouble.

The last show I watched on TV was… The Studio with Seth Rogen. They got a lot of great cameos. It’s a really cool, interesting insight into the Hollywood industry, the decisions they have to make and some of the lies they tell to save their arse.

Dead Ahead streams on TVNZ+ from Monday June 30.