With reported COVID-19 cases decreasing in number in many parts of the country and the vaccine being slowly rolled out, Hollywood has begun its reboot. With strict COVID-19 protocols in place to protect casts and crews, many new movies and television shows will be released in the coming months and can soon be found on streaming platforms such as Hulu, HBO, Disney+, and Netflix. 

As always, there are shows returning for their next long-awaited season. Many of the popular returning in 2021 that include: 

• Cobra Kai (season 3) on January 8, on Netflix
• All American (season 3) on January 18, on The CW
• Riverdale (season 5) on January 20, on The CW
• The Flash (season 7) on February 23, on The CW
• Outer Banks (season 2) in April 2021, on Netflix
• The Walking Dead (season 11) in May, on AMC

One of the most popular film and television series concerns the Marvel Comics Universe (MCU) which will be expanded in 2021 to include some long-awaited shows and movies. Disney+ will premiere the mini-series Wandavison on January 15, making it the first MCU show for Disney+. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was supposed to have held that honor as it was scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in August 2020, but production was halted due to the pandemic. The six-episode min-series is now scheduled to make its debut on March 19. The movie Black Widow, another MCU Disney project, had an originally scheduled release date in May of 2020 and is now scheduled for release on May 7 of this year.

Other highly-anticipated 2021 scheduled film releases include:

• F9 (Fast & Furious 9) on May 28
• In the Heights on June 18 
• Top Gun: Maverick on July 2
• Dune on October 1
• Mission: Impossible 7 on November 19
• West Side Story on December 10
• The Matrix 4 on December 22

Despite the pandemic, the entertainment industry has made a new way of life that still allows for the release of new projects. With such a troublesome 2020, it is reassuring that things are somewhat returning to normal in the entertainment industry in 2021. There are plenty of television shows and movies to look forward to, and hopefully, they are all going to help make 2021 a better year.