First Look At "Only Murders In London" : Preview
December 8, 2026. Mark the date. Season six of "Only Murders in the Building" lands on Hulu and Disney+ with a twist nobody saw coming : Charles, Oliver and Mabel are packing their bags and crossing the Atlantic. For the first time in the show's history, the trio leaves New York City behind. That alone makes this season worth watching closely.
London calling : a brand new setting for our favourite podcasters
The premise is simple but brilliantly effective. Cinda Canning, the podcasting icon who first inspired Charles, Oliver and Mabel to launch their own true crime show, turns up dead. Before she dies, she summons the trio to London to find her killer. The city becomes both their playground and their trap.
What makes this setting so sharp is the contrast it creates. The podcast trio built their entire reputation cracking cases in the corridors and elevator shafts of a Manhattan apartment building. Now, they're dropped into the spiritual home of the cosy murder mystery, a world of drizzle, eccentricity and social codes they don't quite understand. Think Agatha Christie's territory, but with a podcast microphone and a lot more bickering.
The show's co-creator John Hoffman has been steering the writers' room alongside Steve Martin since the very beginning, and this creative duo clearly decided that five seasons of New York was enough. The move to London isn't just a location change; it reshapes the entire dynamic of how the characters operate, investigate and interact with suspects.
Those suspects, by the way, are described as particularly English-eccentric, which tells you everything you need to know about the tone the writers are going for. Expect red herrings wrapped in politeness and clues hidden behind dry wit.
A stacked cast list that demands your attention
Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez return as the core trio. That's not a surprise. What is worth pausing on is the guest cast assembled for this London chapter :
- Olivia Colman, no stranger to British crime drama
- David Tennant, whose range across comedy and thriller is genuinely rare
- Meryl Streep, returning after her memorable appearance in earlier seasons
- Nicola Coughlan, fresh off massive international recognition
- Martin Freeman, who spent years playing Watson opposite a famous fictional detective
- Tina Fey, reprising her role as Cinda Canning
That's not a guest list, it's an event. The combination of British comedy royalty with American TV legends suggests the writers are leaning fully into the culture clash at the heart of this season. Colman and Freeman alone bring enormous credibility to the London setting.
On the production side, executive producers include John Hoffman, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Dan Fogelman, Jess Rosenthal, Ben Smith, Jennifer Crittenden and Gabrielle Allan. That level of involvement from the on-screen talent in the production decisions tends to keep a show's tone consistent, which explains why "Only Murders in the Building" has never lost its identity across five seasons.
| Key info | Details |
|---|---|
| Season | 6 (subtitled "Only Murders in London") |
| Premiere date | December 8, 2026 |
| Release format | Weekly episodes |
| Platform (US) | Hulu / Hulu on Disney+ |
| Platform (international) | Disney+ |
| Co-creators | Steve Martin & John Hoffman |
Where to watch and what to catch up on first
Internationally, Disney+ is your home for this season. In the United States, it streams on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+, with new episodes dropping weekly rather than all at once. That weekly rhythm matters : it keeps the audience guessing and the conversation alive between episodes, which suits a mystery series perfectly.
If you're not caught up, all five previous seasons of "Only Murders in the Building" are already available on Hulu and Disney+. Five seasons of sharp writing, clever plotting and genuine comedic chemistry between the leads. That's a solid binge before December.
Tracking what's available where is something we spend a lot of time on, and Disney+ has quietly built one of the strongest libraries for this kind of prestige television. If you're already a subscriber and planning a trip to the parks, you might also want to check out our guide to Disney+ shows to watch before Disney World for some inspired viewing choices.
One practical note : weekly episode drops mean you'll want to track the release schedule, especially if you're outside the US and relying on Disney+ international. Time zone differences can shift the availability window by several hours.
What this London chapter could change for the show's future
Moving a long-running series out of its iconic setting is a genuine creative risk. The Arconia building in New York wasn't just a backdrop; it was practically a character in its own right. Replacing that with an entirely foreign city, new suspects and new cultural codes requires the writing team to rebuild the atmosphere from scratch while keeping the character dynamics intact.
The question the season asks its characters is quietly unsettling : can Charles, Oliver and Mabel solve Cinda Canning's murder without their own story ending the same way hers did ? That meta layer, podcasters investigating the death of the podcaster who inspired them, is the kind of narrative recursion this show has always done well.
If season six works, it proves the show can travel. And a show that can reinvent its geography has a longer runway ahead of it. Watch this space, and watch December 8th.