I never struggle to wake up on Thursday mornings, and it’s because I know new episodes of two of my favourite podcasts — Reply All and Who? Weekly — are waiting for me. Each episode feels like a hang-out session with my old friends, who happen to share my strange and particular interests. That’s one of my favourite things about podcasts: They’re unabashedly specific. Whether you’re obsessed with true crime or makeup or Gilmore Girls, you’ll find your podcast community.
There are already so many incredible podcasts floating around. And, because we’re lucky and get things we don’t deserve, there will be many more brand new shows arriving in 2018. From a Marvel scripted original to a show featuring the best stories of Reddit, these are the podcasts that everyone's going to be talking about. The mini- Serials, so to speak.
Here are the best new podcasts of 2018. We're including entirely new endeavours, as well as new seasons of shows that change dramatically between seasons.
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Atlanta Monster (HowStuffWorks and Tenderfoot TV)
Premieres January 5
In 2014, Serial inspired a trend of true crime podcasts that just keeps getting better. Currently number one in the Apple Store charts, Atlanta Monster is poised to be the next object of our collective fascination. The chilling podcast looks into the disappearance and murder of 25 African-American children between 1979 and 1981. The Atlanta Child Murders, as this period is called, is being explored in Season 2 of Mindhunter and the upcoming FX series No Safe Place. But only in Atlanta Monster will you hear first-hand accounts from family members, witnesses, and police. The story will unfold week by week.
Self Service with Jerico Mandybur(Girlboss Radio)
Premieres January 14
Is checking your horoscope the first thing you do in the morning? Then Self Service, the second original podcast from Girlboss Radio, will definitely become another fixture of your daily routine. Host Jerico Mandybur walks listeners through different physical and spiritual techniques for tuning out of the world, and tuning into yourself — including on-the-spot meditation. Each weekly episode also features a segment devoted to horoscopes, brought to you by Girlboss ' resident star-gazer and astrologer, Jessica Lanyadoo.
Endless Thread(WBUR)
Premieres January 12
Reddit has long been called the "front page of the Internet." But for those of us who don't spend much time on Reddit, we can feel like we're missing out on cutting-edge internet chatter. That's where Endless Thread comes in. The podcast highlights the best stories floating around Reddit. Endless Thread will appeal to people who already love Reddit, and also to those who have only vaguely heard of the website. Ultimately, Endless Thread is a story-telling podcast — and a good one.
Secrets(Radiotopia Showcase)
Premieres January 12
Radiotopia Showcase is a gift to the podcasting world. The show, essentially, is a platform for creators to present short series about a whole range of subjects. The last season centred on a video game conspiracy that originated in 1980s Portland. This six-episode series, Secrets, is about a far broader topic. It's about the secrets that have haunted individuals throughout their lives.
The Walk(Six to Start and Panolpy)
Premieres January 18
In 2016, Naomi Alderman wrote The Power, an incendiary work of speculative fiction that imagines a world in which all women suddenly gained deadly supernatural ability. In The Walk, Alderman applies her amazing imagination to crafting a story that unspools in 31 episodes. This time, the main character is you, a walker who must walk the length of a war-ravaged United Kingdom to ensure an important package is delivered. The podcast, created by the same folks behind Zombies, Run!, is designed to be an immersive experience: Listeners get active and walk along to Alderman's story. Each episode constitutes a 1-2 mile walk.
West Cork (Audible)
Premieres February 8
Until 1996, the town of West Cork, Ireland, had gone almost a century without a single murder. Then, a few days before Christmas, a 39-year-old French film producer named Sophie Toscan du Plantier was found dead outside her vacation home. The murder remains unsolved. The 13-part episode explores the events of the murder and investigation chronologically, featuring interviews from the local villagers who remember it like it was yesterday. The hosts also speak to the perplexing, unpredictable suspect of the crime, who was more than happy to spend hours with the producers.
Invisibilia(NPR)
Premieres March
Each season of Invisibilia, a podcast about storytelling and the human mind, feels like a brand new show. The episodes in the third season explored a different aspect of the season's overarching theme: Emotional reality and the lies we tell ourselves. This season's theme will be — wait for it – moral ambiguity. Hosts Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel will explore the topic through stories about heists, spies, and internet public shaming.
Wolverine: The Long Night(Stitcher and Marvel)
Premieres in the spring
This spring, the Marvel universe will overtake our earbuds with its first scripted podcast. It was bound to happen. Wolverine: The Long Night finds Logan/Wolverine in a remote town in Alaska in the year 1974. He's trying to escape from society, but the authorities disrupt his solitude after he becomes the primary suspect in a serial murder case. The podcast is set to take the template of a true crime podcast, and fill it with dashes of Wolverine lore. What more could we want?
Adventures in New America(Night Vale Presents)
Premieres in the spring
The producers of Welcome to Night Vale have created a sprawling ecosystem of fictional, absurd, and sidesplittingly clever podcasts. The latest is called The Adventures in New America. According to Vulture, the official description of the podcast is, "A wild blues- and afropunk-tinged ride through the New York City of New America, a country not so different from our own, where jobs and healthcare are hard to come by and bad news is a constant presence...except that it’s also populated by vampire zombies from outer space.” So, it'll be like an updated and improved version of our own reality, right?
Rabbits(The Public Radio Alliance)
Premieres in the spring
In the first season of Rabbits, podcast producer Carly Parker's best friend, Yumiko, goes missing. For weeks, Yumiko had been investigating a strange game called Rabbits. Yumiko would spend days immersed on her computer, sure she was now part of a global conspiracy. The more Carly investigates Yumiko, the more she gets pulled into the same underground game. The thrilling first season ended with quite a twist; the second, with any luck, will pick up where the first left off.
No one would blame you for thinking Rabbits and its sister shows, The Black Tapes and Tanis, were completely real. Instead, these shows mimic the format of podcasts, but have way more supernatural twists.
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