Paramount+ is buying shows again. After the Paramount Global–Skydance Media merger created a new corporate parent in August 2025, the streamer's head of originals Jane Wiseman is reshaping its slate around star-driven dramas, a broader audience base and, in particular, women viewers (The Hollywood Reporter).

The new commissions are stacked with familiar names. Discretion, a legal thriller from A24, stars Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, with Josh Lucas set opposite them (Deadline). Fear Not, a true-crime limited series from MGM Television, stars Anne Hathaway. A sequel to Clueless brings back Alicia Silverstone. And a new dating show from the production company behind Love Is Blind rounds out the unscripted side (The Hollywood Reporter).

The timing matters. Taylor Sheridan — the creator behind 1923, Landman, Tulsa King, Lioness and Mayor of Kingstown — will leave Paramount+ in a few years, according to the same report. Sheridan's shows have been the streamer's most reliable original pipeline since it rebranded from CBS All Access in 2021. His departure, even a gradual one, leaves a gap the new commissions are clearly designed to fill.

Paramount+ reported more than 81 million subscribers in its latest earnings report. That trails Netflix, Disney+ and HBO Max (The Hollywood Reporter). The streamer's parent company expects total revenue of $30 billion in 2026, with direct-to-consumer revenue growing 10% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, fuelled by 17% growth at Paramount+ specifically (Paramount investor filing). On its FQ1 2026 earnings call, Paramount said it had greenlit a significant amount of new series from third-party studios, citing Discretion as an example (Paramount investor filing).

The strategy has a clear throughline: broaden the audience beyond the Sheridan core. Cindy Holland, Paramount's direct-to-consumer chair — who hired Wiseman — telegraphed the female-focused ambition at the company's 2026 upfront presentation, the annual event where networks pitch advertisers on upcoming programming. An agent described the approach to The Hollywood Reporter as "building a female-forward wheel to expand the brand beyond Taylor Sheridan fare." Paramount+ cites that The Madison, Dutton Ranch and the first season of Marshals all drew slightly more female than male viewers (The Hollywood Reporter).

The bar for a green light is specific. An executive familiar with the strategy said each new show must have a core audience slightly different from the existing base but capture multiple audiences if it succeeds (The Hollywood Reporter). A rep for Paramount Skydance declined to comment on the strategy.

Viewers will not see most of these new series immediately. Paramount+'s new originals are not likely to start debuting until the beginning of 2027, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the meantime, August 2026 brings new seasons of Lioness and The Challenge, plus live MMA action via UFC 330 (Paramount+).

For fans of the Sheridan universe, there is one persistent oddity: Yellowstone, the show that launched the whole franchise, is absent from Paramount+ because of an exclusive licensing deal with NBCUniversal's Peacock (The Hollywood Reporter). The flagship that built the brand sits on a rival service.

There is also a potential corporate wrinkle further out. A proposed $111 billion Warner Bros. merger by David Ellison could make HBO Max a corporate sibling of Paramount+, which would reshape the competitive map — though that deal remains a proposal, not a done transaction (The Hollywood Reporter).

For now, the orders are placed, the stars are attached and the clock is ticking on a 2027 launch window. Wiseman and her team are betting that Kidman, Hathaway and Silverstone can do what Sheridan did: give people a reason to open the app.