The Listener’s December Viewing Guide: Rose Matafeo’s new show and Squid Game’s second season

Kids in space

Streaming: Disney+

Star Wars meets The Goonies – or perhaps The Goonies in the Star Wars universe, given that this spin-off seems mercifully not inclined to suffocate itself in matters of lore and canon (if you must know, it’s set in the same New Republic time frame as The Mandalorian). Four children make a discovery that sends them far away from their home planet, and in the struggle to get back, they meet a mysterious character called Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law, taking a break from villain roles) and various other allies and enemies. Creators Christopher Ford and Jon Watts have both served time in the Marvel Universe, notably on Spider-Man movies, but Watts said in a recent interview his lodestar was the 1980s kids’ films of Goonies creator Amblin Entertainment, whose work “always stands out to me because there was a feeling that they took the kids seriously. They didn’t feel like kids’ movies when you watched them as a kid, and even now looking back, they feel like grown-up films that just happened to star kids.”

Jamaican true detective

Screening: Sky HBO, 8.30pm. Tuesdays from December 3

Streaming: Neon

The most recent novels of Jamaican writer and Booker Prize winner Marlon James – Black Leopard, Red Wolf and its sequel Moon Witch, Spider King – have been described as being like an African Game of Thrones. But the author’s first foray into television isn’t a fantasy epic but a contemporary detective series. Set in Kingston, the James-scripted Get Millie Black stars Tamara Lawrance as the titular character, a former Scotland Yard detective who returns to her birth country and joins the local force. She is soon on a missing-persons case that involves a young girl who has disappeared and a wealthy suspect, who her former UK employers, in the form of visiting Scotland Yard Inspector Luke Holborn (Joe Dempsie) may also have an interest in. The trailer suggests this has the Caribbean gothic vibe of some of James’ early novels, and looks moody, gritty, and humid.

Wild in the country

Screening: TVNZ 1, 8.30pm, Wednesdays from December 4

Streaming: TVNZ+