Waging Battle With Dragons, Spy Intrigue in ‘The Agency,’ Recreating Marilyn’s Last Night, ‘The Way Home’ Finale

House of the Dragon

SUNDAY: Those tiresome Targaryens, they of the flowing silver hair who wield the fire-belching dragons, are at it again, with the third season of the Game of Thrones prequel reigniting the conflict between the clan’s “Blacks,” who support heiress Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) as queen, and the “Greens,” who back the maimed King Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney). You may need a flowchart to remember who’s who and who’s on whose side in this grim dynastic saga, which builds in the impressively produced opener to the legendary Battle of the Gullet (as chronicled in George R.R. Martin‘s turgid tome Fire & Blood). This is as epic as TV gets, though it helps if you care about the outcome.

The Agency

SUNDAY: Michael Fassbender reprises his role as the eternally brooding CIA agent code-named Martian in the second season of the cerebral spy drama. Unlike the first year, all 10 episodes are being released at once, observing Martian as he walks a taut tightrope of deception, playing double agent as a mole for the U.K.’s MI6, which has promised to help secure the release of his lover, Samia (Jodie Turner-Smith), being held prisoner in war-torn Sudan. The excellent cast includes Richard Gere and Westworld‘s Jeffrey Wright as Martian’s superiors in the London station, and Downton Abbey‘s Hugh Bonneville as the MI6 agent seeking secret favors.

Celebrity Crime Scene: Marilyn Monroe

SUNDAY: Of all the remembrances of screen sex symbol Marilyn Monroe on the 100-year anniversary of her birth, this special focusing on her death (at 36 in 1962) is among the most macabre. In what the network touts as a “groundbreaking television event,” the scene of Monroe’s untimely death — her bed in a Brentwood bungalow, with the actress found naked and clutching a telephone — is recreated virtually, allowing crime-scene and cold-case investigators to take a fresh look at the circumstances of the long-contested tragedy. Her associations with mob figures and with the Kennedy brothers (then-president JFK and attorney general RFK) have led to decades of speculation that her death, officially classified as a probable suicide, may have had more sinister implications. No doubt this special will add fuel to the fire.

The Way Home

SUNDAY: The time-traveling romantic drama ends its four-season run with one last journey into the secrets of the magical lake. Expect some (though maybe not all) answers from the past and a few surprises in the present for the three generations of the Landry family: Del (Andie MacDowell), daughter Kat (Chyler Leigh), and granddaughter Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow).

Chasing Soccer Glory: America’s Long Game

SUNDAY: With so many viewers glued to the global matches playing out in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico this month, a CNN FlashDoc special explores the rise of soccer’s popularity in the U.S. and the hopes of the U.S. Men’s National Team to make their mark during this year’s World Cup. The special features interviews with U.S. Women’s National Team champs Carli Lloyd and Ali Krieger, and Men’s Team players Matt Freese, Tab Ramos, and Tim Howard reflecting on the recent histories of their respective programs.

INSIDE WEEKEND TV:

• FIFA World Cup: With four matches per day, the tournament continues with games played Saturday in Houston (Netherlands vs. Sweden, 1 pm/ET, Fox), Toronto (Germany vs. Ivory Coast, 4 pm/ET, Fox), Kansas City (Ecuador vs. Curacao, 8 pm/ET, FS1), and Guadalupe, Mexico (Tunisia vs. Japan, midnight/ET, FS1). Sunday matches are played in Atlanta (Spain vs. Saudi Arabia, noon/ET, Fox), L.A. (Belgium vs. Iran, 3 pm/ET, FS1), Miami (Uruguay vs. Cabo Verde, 6 pm/ET, FS1), and Vancouver (New Zealand vs. Egypt, 9 pm/ET, FS1).
• U.S. Open: Morning coverage of the tournament’s final rounds at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club airs on USA Network (10 am/ET Saturday, 9 am/ET Sunday), with NBC and Peacock coverage starting each day at noon/ET.
• The Love Heist (Saturday, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel): Lyndsy Fonseca is a celebrity stylist who teams up with a hunky security chief (Peter Porte) to track down an iconic fashion accessory that goes missing before a Chicago costume gala.
• Don’t Trust the Girls Upstairs (Saturday, 8/7c, Lifetime): Rapper Remy Ma stars as a mom whose crowded house becomes a hotbed of adolescent angst when she takes in her orphaned niece.
• Sanford & Son: Father’s Day at the Junkyard (Sunday, 6 am/5c, Antenna TV): The nostalgia channel marks Father’s Day with a 24-hour marathon of the classic 1970s comedy starring Redd Foxx as curmudgeonly junk dealer Fred Sanford and Demond Wilson as his long-suffering son, Lamont.
• Patience (Sunday, 8/7c, PBS): Patience (Ella Maisy Purvis) hears some sour notes as she helps new boss Frankie (Jessica Hynes) and the team investigate the death of a music student in a rehearsal room.
• UFC Rivals (Sunday, 8/7c, A&E): Mario Lopez is the moderator as a roundtable panel of UFC experts dissects classic rivalries in back-to-back episodes, focusing on the feud between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz in the early 2000s, then turning to the upset involving Canada’s Georges St-Pierre and underdog Matt Serra.
• The Vampire Lestat (Sunday, 9/8c, AMC): The baroque vampire chronicle continues with Molloy (Eric Bogosian) grilling a louche Lestat (Sam Reid) on camera about past escapades in Paris, triggering a tragic aria about the vampire’s first true love who inspired the song “Why Do I Have to Feel.”
• Grantchester (Sunday, 9/8, PBS): Secret passions among rival college quiz teams come to light when a Cambridge student dies after he borrows Alphy’s (Rishi Nair) Bible. Was it suicide or murder?
• The Real Housewives of Rhode Island (Sunday, 9/8c, Bravo): The cast of the newest Housewives franchise returns for a two-part reunion, rehashing the highs and lows of their freshman season.