The Best Shows on Netflix Right Now [December 2025]

You're probably staring at your Netflix home screen right now, scrolling past hundreds of titles, trying to figure out what's actually worth your time. Sound familiar?

That feeling is real. Streaming services have spoiled us with incredible content, but they've also buried the good stuff under mountains of mediocre series that nobody asked for. Netflix alone has thousands of shows, and sorting through them to find something genuinely compelling is a full-time job.

Here's the thing: we've done that work for you. This guide is updated weekly with our picks for the best shows on Netflix right now. We're not just listing the biggest hits everyone's talking about on Twitter. We're looking for shows that stick with you after the credits roll, series that either dominate the cultural conversation or deserve to. Some are brand-new drops, others are shows that have been quietly crushing it for a while but somehow flew under your radar.

We love a good underrated gem as much as we love a genuine prestige drama. What matters is whether you'll actually want to watch the next episode. We've tested these recommendations ourselves, and every single one on this list is worth your time. That's not hyperbole. We just don't have room for filler here.

If you've already torn through everything on this list, we've got you covered. Check out our guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best shows on Hulu, and the best shows on Disney+ to keep the binge going. And if you've got a show you think we're sleeping on, the comments are yours.

TL; DR

• Stranger Things Season 5 is the final, explosive chapter with eight episodes rolling out in three blocks through New Year's Eve as detailed by PNJ.
• City of Shadows brings Spanish noir with Barcelona as a living, breathing character in this twisty crime thriller as reviewed by Decider.
• Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft delivers action-packed animation that works for both fans and newcomers according to Radio Times.
• The Beast in Me pairs Clare Danes and Matthew Rhys in a psychologically twisted thriller about obsession and secrets as noted by The New Yorker.
• Last Samurai Standing combines Squid Game survival mechanics with stunning sword-fighting choreography in Meiji-era Japan as reported by Deadline.

Thrillers and character studies make up a significant portion of Netflix's content, appealing to diverse viewer interests. Estimated data.

City of Shadows: Spanish Crime Noir That Gets Weird

Let's start with City of Shadows, because this show does something most crime thrillers are terrified to do: it commits to being bizarre.

On the surface, it's a pretty standard setup. Disgraced cop Milo Malart needs to prove himself again. He gets partnered with a cold, competent female cop from another department. They stumble onto a series of murders that don't make immediate sense. You've seen this formula before, right? The Spanish crime thriller plays with all those genre conventions on purpose, then pivots hard into something much stranger.

The murders are ritualistic, and they're tied to the architecture of Antoni Gaudí. That's not metaphorical—the way the victims are posed, the locations where they're found, the symbolism woven through the crime scenes, it all traces back to the surreal, organic geometry of Barcelona's most famous buildings. This means Barcelona itself becomes almost a character in the story. The city's twisted, flowing architecture isn't just a pretty backdrop. It's a puzzle box that holds clues.

What makes this work is the willingness to go full noir-pulp without apology. The show understands it's operating in a heightened reality. The mystery gets increasingly byzantine. The conspiracy elements spiral outward. Characters keep secrets for reasons that make sense only if you're paying attention to the subtext about obsession and legacy and what we're willing to do to be remembered.

Isak Férriz plays Milo with the perfect blend of self-doubt and stubborn determination. Verónica Echegui brings a sharp, skeptical energy to Rebeca that keeps Milo honest. Their dynamic crackles. There's chemistry there, but it's built on mutual respect and justified skepticism, not the tired "will they, won't they" thing we've all seen a thousand times.

The show is only eight episodes, so it moves. It doesn't waste time with filler. Every episode adds another layer to the mystery, another piece to the puzzle. By the end, you'll have questions about whether some of what happened was even real, and that's exactly the point. This is a show that trusts its audience to keep up.

If you like crime thrillers that aren't afraid to get weird, that use setting as a narrative device, and that understand that the best mysteries are the ones where the answer is stranger than the question, City of Shadows is absolutely worth your time.

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft does something really hard: it adapts a video game property for screen in a way that works for both people who've played the games and people who have no idea what a Tomb Raider is.

For context, the modern Tomb Raider games reimagined Lara Croft as a younger, less experienced archaeologist and treasure hunter. The new series bridges the gap between those prequel games and the original 1990s games. This means Lara is still figuring out who she is, still learning the ropes of being a globe-trotting artifact hunter, but she's already capable enough that the adventures feel genuinely dangerous.

The setup: Lara is searching for ancient masks that contain legitimate world-changing power. These aren't metaphorical threats. These are objects that actually reshape reality if used wrong. And there are meddling spirits, angry gods, and a conspiracy that traces back to her own family. Hayley Atwell voices Lara, bringing intelligence and vulnerability without sacrificing toughness. She sounds like someone who's genuinely working through trauma while also, you know, fighting literal demons.

The animation is sharp. The action sequences are inventive. There's a real sense of danger and consequence. And here's what surprised me most: the show gives Lara a found family that actually matters. She has allies she cares about, relationships that have weight beyond the plot mechanics. This grounds the increasingly wild supernatural elements in something human and relatable.

If you've played the games, you'll get references and callbacks that deepen the experience. If you haven't? You're still watching a woman fight gods and treasure hunters and ghosts while figuring out who she wants to be. That's plenty.

The show trusts its audience enough to move between action sequences and character moments without signposting everything. You get moments of genuine humor too. It doesn't take itself so seriously that it forgets to be fun.

Stranger Things Season 5: The Final Chapter

Stranger Things is back, and it's bringing everything home.

Season 4 ended with the Upside Down bleeding into the regular world. People had questions. Seriously unresolved questions about why Will Byers was taken in the first place, why he seemed special, why the Upside Down even exists. Season 5 starts answering some of those.

The setup: Hawkins is under military quarantine. The government isn't messing around anymore. But the people of the town aren't taking martial law lying down. Eleven is secretly training her powers with Hopper and Joyce helping. The kids are organizing an underground movement to take down Vecna once and for all. And then Mike's little sister Holly gets pulled into the Upside Down by a Demogorgon, and it becomes clear that Will's kidnapping wasn't random. There's a pattern here. The Upside Down has been hunting specific people for a specific reason.

The show is releasing the final season in three blocks: the first four episodes are out now, three more episodes arrive on December 25th, and the series finale drops on New Year's Eve as detailed by PNJ. This rolling release is smart because it lets the show build momentum as the season progresses, and it means the whole internet isn't spoiling everything on day one.

What's interesting about Stranger Things at this point is that it's not trying to be shocking or unexpected anymore. It's not about plot twists for their own sake. It's about execution. It's about watching characters you've cared about for five seasons make decisions that matter, face consequences, and change because of what they've experienced. Millie Bobby Brown has grown as an actor. Winona Ryder brings real parental fear to Joyce. David Harbour makes Hopper feel simultaneously protective and out of his depth. These performances have weight.

The Upside Down mythology, which could have been just a cool visual concept, has become genuinely unsettling. The show understands that the scariest thing isn't sudden jump scares. It's the slow creeping dread of something you can't control, something that doesn't care about your plans or your logic. It operates by its own rules, and those rules are being revealed one chunk at a time.

If you've been with Stranger Things since season 1, this final chapter is going to be emotional. If you're new, start from the beginning. The show builds its power through character and continuity. You can't just drop into season 5 and expect it to hit right.

Estimated data: Shujiro Saga must outlast 292 other samurai to win the Kodoku tournament, highlighting the high stakes and deadly nature of the competition.

The Beast in Me: Psychological Thriller Perfection

The Beast in Me is what happens when you cast two genuinely talented actors and give them a script that understands how to build psychological tension without relying on jump scares or plot contrivances.

Clare Danes plays Aggie Wiggs, an author struggling with her next book. She's in a creative rut, questioning whether she still has anything to say. Then Matthew Rhys's character, Nile Jarvis, moves into her neighborhood, and he's got a problem: lingering accusations that he murdered his first wife. He's rich, charming, still under suspicion, and he approaches Aggie about writing his story. She says no. Of course she does. But then he keeps showing up, and another death happens—one with a deeply personal connection to Aggie's own tragic past.

From there, the show gets genuinely twisted. Aggie is drawn deeper and deeper into Nile's world. The question of whether he's actually a murderer becomes secondary to the question of why Aggie can't stay away from him. What is it about him that fascinates her? What does it say about her that she's willing to be around someone she suspects of murder?

Matthew Rhys is magnetic in this role. He's charming but it's a charming that feels learned, practiced, like he's studied what charm looks like and can replicate it perfectly but might not actually feel it. There's something deeply unsettling about watching him move through scenes. Clare Danes counters him beautifully, bringing intelligence and vulnerability. She's playing someone smart enough to see the danger but psychologically damaged enough that the danger becomes part of the appeal.

The supporting cast adds texture. Natalie Morales as Aggie's ex-wife Shelley provides perspective and reality checks. Brittany Snow as Nile's new wife Nina is playing a woman who absolutely knows something's wrong but can't quite prove it. Every character feels fully realized.

The show takes eight episodes to tell its story, and it uses every one of them. It doesn't rush. It builds. By the end, you'll need to sit with what you've watched for a minute before moving on to something else. This is the kind of show that changes what you think about during your workday the next day.

Last Samurai Standing: Squid Game in Meiji Japan

Here's a quick comp that might help you understand what Last Samurai Standing is doing: imagine Squid Game, but set in late 1800s Japan, with actual legendary swordsmanship instead of games about marbles and shapes. That gets you 70% of the way there.

The setup: retired samurai Shujiro Saga enters the "Kodoku" tournament, a deadly competition where the prize is ¥100,000 and the only catch is you have to survive 292 other former samurai to win. Shujiro needs the money because his family was struck down by cholera, and he's desperate enough to risk everything. Progression through the tournament requires collecting tags from defeated enemies and passing through checkpoints monitored by the mysterious organizers.

But here's what makes this work: the show doesn't just use swordfighting as window dressing. Every duel is choreographed with the kind of precision that usually only shows up in actual martial arts films. The fights are brutal. People die. There's real consequence to every encounter. And the show frames all of this against the backdrop of Japanese society at a pivotal moment: the country is modernizing, the samurai way is becoming obsolete, and these 292 warriors are essentially dinosaurs fighting for relevance in a world that doesn't need them anymore.

Junichi Okada brings a kind of weary nobility to Shujiro. He's not a young hero discovering his powers. He's a worn-down older man doing what he knows how to do one more time, and the weight of that sits on every frame. He moves through fights with efficiency, not flash. When he wins, it feels earned and exhausting, not triumphant.

The show is based on Japanese novels by Shogo Imamura and illustrated by Katsumi Tatsuzawa, so the source material already has strong bones. The visual language adapts that beautifully. The cinematography emphasizes space and landscape. Japan's geography becomes part of the storytelling. Forests become maze-like obstacles. Mountains become natural barriers. Water becomes both obstacle and weapon.

At six episodes, it's tight. Nothing gets wasted. And if you're into martial arts cinema, historical drama, or shows that understand how to build tension through character and consequence rather than plot machinations, this is essential watching.

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is Netflix's latest entry into the adult animation game, and it lands as a solid hit. It's a spin-off of the Ubisoft spy franchise, but you don't need to know anything about the games to enjoy it.

The story pulls veteran operative Sam Fisher out of retirement to rescue a younger agent named Zinnia Mc Kenna. That's the plot engine, but what matters is the execution. Liev Schreiber voices Sam as a man who's tired but still lethal, who's forgotten how much he hated the work but is good enough at violence that he keeps getting pulled back in. Kirby Howell-Baptiste (she goes by just "Kirby" professionally) voices Zinnia as a younger operative with talent but limited experience.

Their dynamic is what carries the show. Sam teaches Zinnia tradecraft through the messy reality of actual operations, not through clean lessons. Things go wrong. People die. Plans fail. The show doesn't wrap up complications in neat bows. It lets consequences accumulate.

The animation has a specific style that separates it from the generic Netflix animation aesthetic. It leans into noir-ish color palettes. The action sequences are inventive. And the show understands that spy fiction at its best is about information and psychology, not just combat. Watching Sam manipulate a target or talk his way into somewhere he shouldn't be is as tense as watching him fight.

It's not groundbreaking, but it doesn't need to be. It's well-executed spy entertainment with character moments that actually land. If you like spy fiction, anime, or shows that understand how to balance action and character work, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is worth your evening.

Wednesday: The Addams Family Spinoff That Became Its Own Thing

Wednesday Addams got a spinoff series, and honestly, it had no business being as good as it is. Jenna Ortega absolutely anchors the show as Wednesday, the deadpan, sarcastic, macabre teenager who we've seen grow up in various Addams Family media over the years.

The show takes Wednesday away from her family and puts her in a new school, Nevermore Academy, which is specifically designed for outcasts: psychics, werewolves, vampires, sirens, and other supernatural types. Wednesday is sent there by her parents to learn to socialize better and embrace her weird family heritage. Of course, immediately upon arrival, she gets tangled up in a murder mystery that might be connected to her own past.

What's surprisingly smart about Wednesday is that it's not relying entirely on novelty casting or the Addams Family IP to carry it. The show genuinely cares about building a world where these supernatural elements feel coherent. There are rules. There's history. The school has culture and tradition that makes sense.

Jenna Ortega's performance is what makes it work though. Wednesday could easily become insufferable—a character that cool and deadpan and sarcastic can come across as try-hard. Ortega plays her with just enough vulnerability beneath the armor that you care about her. She's genuinely funny when the script asks her to be, genuinely touching when she's struggling, and genuinely unsettling when the darkness comes out.

The supporting cast is solid too. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán as Wednesday's parents bring real chemistry to their relationship. The other students at Nevermore feel like actual people rather than types. And the mystery at the center of the series has enough twists to keep you off-balance.

It's not perfect. Some of the dialogue leans hard into Gen Z slang in ways that feel like writing rather than speaking. Some of the mystery elements don't quite land. But the good outweighs the rough edges by enough that it's worth watching.

Stranger Things Season 5 is released in three blocks, building momentum with 4 episodes initially, 3 more on Christmas, and the finale on New Year's Eve.

Bridgerton: Regency Romance With Modern Sensibilities

Bridgerton arrived and became the kind of phenomenon that television gets maybe once a decade. It's a period romance that somehow works for people who've never read a historical romance novel and people who've read thousands.

The show follows the Bridgerton family, a large, boisterous, lovably chaotic group navigating society in Regency-era England. But the show doesn't use that historical setting as an excuse to make everything stuffy and formalized. It finds humor in the social dynamics. It makes the social structures feel suffocating but also genuinely dramatic when characters work against them.

Each season focuses on a different Bridgerton sibling finding love, and the show handles this structure beautifully. You get a complete emotional arc each season while still carrying over overarching family drama and that gossip columnist subplot (Lady Whistledown is everything).

What makes it work is that the show trusts its actors. You've got Nicola Coughlan, Phoebe Dynevor, Simone Ashley, and Luke Newton all playing versions of people discovering love, and each actor finds something different in the role. They bring real vulnerability alongside the romance tropes. When the show hits emotional beats, it hits them hard because you actually believe these people care about each other.

The show is unafraid of physical intimacy without being gratuitous. It's sensual without veering into parody. And it knows that the best romance is the kind where you understand why these people are drawn to each other beyond just physical attraction.

The costuming, set design, and cinematography are absolutely stunning. The show is gorgeous in a way that makes even mundane scenes feel important.

Ginny & Georgia: Teen Drama With Real Stakes

Ginny & Georgia is a show about a teenage girl and her complicated relationship with her young mother as they try to build a life in a new town. On paper, that sounds like a standard teen drama. But the show consistently surprises by giving actual weight to both perspectives.

Ginny (Antonia Gentry) is dealing with typical teenage stuff, but also with the fact that her mother was a teen parent who made some genuinely bad decisions in her past. Georgia (Brianna Brown) is trying to be a present, caring parent while also keeping secrets about her dark past that could destroy everything she's built.

What's interesting is that the show doesn't make it easy to figure out who's right when they disagree. Sometimes Ginny's acting like a typical stubborn teenager. Sometimes Georgia's actually in the wrong. Sometimes it's both. That complexity is what makes it compelling.

The show has solid supporting characters too. Ginny's friends feel like actual people with their own arcs rather than just supporting players in Ginny's story. And the show isn't afraid to let their relationships change and develop across seasons.

It's not trying to be the next Gilmore Girls or Parenthood, though the emotional DNA is similar. It's doing its own thing, and it's doing it well enough that you'll find yourself invested in these characters even when they drive you up the wall.

The Crown: Historical Drama at Its Most Ambitious

The Crown is the kind of show that reminds you why prestige television exists. It takes the history of British royalty from the 1940s through the 2000s and dramatizes it with the kind of production scale that usually only happens in cinema.

Each season covers a specific era, and the show doesn't shy away from controversy. It dramatizes moments that real people lived through, and it makes interpretive choices about what people were thinking and feeling. This has generated real criticism from people who lived through these events, which is kind of the point. The show is trying to understand historical moments through emotional truth even when it might be changing factual details.

The casting is meticulous. Claire Foy brought something genuinely sad to Elizabeth II in the early seasons. The show presents her as a woman who inherited a job she didn't ask for and had to suppress her personality to do it properly. Later seasons bring in different actors, which is a bold choice but one that keeps the show from settling into comfortable patterns.

The writing is smart about the machinery of monarchy. It's not a show about glamour. It's a show about duty and constraint and what it costs to represent something larger than yourself.

Not every episode lands perfectly. Some storylines drag. Some interpretations feel more interesting than others. But the ambition is never in question. This is a show with a point of view about history, and it's executing on that vision.

Ozark: Crime Drama That Builds Momentum

Ozark follows Marty Byrde, a financial planner who gets caught up with a drug cartel and has to move his family to the Missouri Ozarks to become a money launderer. What makes this work is that the show understands escalation. Marty's situation gets worse almost every episode. Every solution creates new problems. Every victory comes with a cost.

Jason Bateman is the emotional core of the show. He plays Marty as smart but also clearly out of his depth. Bateman's talent is in showing the cost of constantly being in survival mode. His character gets tired. He makes mistakes because he's exhausted. He has moments of vulnerability where you see the regular guy under the criminal.

Laura Linney as Wendy, Marty's wife, provides a counterweight. She starts the show as someone who's horrified by Marty's criminal entanglement, but she evolves. She gets pulled into the machinery of it. By later seasons, she's making decisions Marty's horrified by. The show trusts both actors enough to let their characters diverge.

The show is very long. There's plenty of filler. Not every episode contributes equally to the overall narrative. But the bones of the thing are solid, and when it lands a big emotional or narrative beat, it lands hard.

The series 'City of Shadows' stands out for its bizarre elements, strong architectural influence, complex character dynamics, and intricate mystery. Estimated data based on narrative analysis.

Mindhunter: The Psychology Behind Serial Killers

Mindhunter is based on the true story of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit starting to develop the science of criminal profiling in the late 1970s. It follows Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff), a young FBI agent, and Bill Tench (Holt Mc Callany) as they revolutionize how the FBI thinks about understanding criminals.

The show is cerebral in a way that most crime dramas aren't. It's not about catching killers in the traditional sense. It's about understanding them. The show follows Holden and Bill as they visit prisons, interview serial killers, and try to develop profiles that might help catch future perpetrators.

Jonathan Groff brings a boyish enthusiasm to Holden that gradually gives way to something more unsettling as he spends more time immersed in the psychology of killers. The show doesn't shy away from the fact that this work is psychologically corrosive. By the later episodes, you can see the toll it's taken.

The serial killers portrayed in the show are based on real people, and the show treats them with an anthropological interest that avoids glorifying them. They're not supervillains. They're broken people who broke other people. Understanding why doesn't mean excusing them.

The Diplomat: Political Thriller Energy

The Diplomat is about Kate Wyler, a U. S. ambassador who gets deployed to the United Kingdom during an international crisis. It's a political thriller that understands how actual political maneuvering works: through information, alliances, and the careful handling of egos.

Keri Russell brings intelligence and humor to Kate. She's out of her depth in obvious ways, but she's also sharper than people expect. The show finds comedy in her struggling with protocol and tradition while also trying to actually solve a crisis.

The supporting cast is strong. Rufus Sewell as the UK Prime Minister is magnetic. You want to watch him in every scene. Alice Wetterlund as a fellow career diplomat provides support and honest perspective.

The show understands that political thrillers work best when you understand what's actually at stake. It doesn't just create artificial tension. It builds real consequences from character decisions. People make choices, and those choices ripple outward.

Beef: Suburban Noir and Human Conflict

Beef is a contained story about two strangers whose road rage incident spirals into something much darker. It's only ten episodes long, but it uses those episodes efficiently to examine how quickly human conflict can escalate when both people feel disrespected and threatened.

Steven Yeun and Ali Wong carry the show as Danny and Amy, the two strangers whose initial confrontation on the road becomes an escalating cycle of retaliation and confrontation. What's genius about the show is that it doesn't make one person the villain and one the hero. Both of them are dealing with real issues. Both of them are making understandable if terrible choices. Both of them are capable of empathy and incapable of walking away.

The show is visually interesting too. The cinematography uses color and framing to emphasize how Danny and Amy's worlds are separate but colliding. The editing is kinetic in ways that make mundane scenes feel tense.

It's not a comfortable watch. The show doesn't resolve conflict in satisfying ways. But it's honest about human nature in ways that feel true even when they're uncomfortable.

Godless: Feminist Western

Godless is a seven-episode western where a woman named Michelle organizes a town of women (and the few men they allow) and runs it according to her own rules, then a man escapes prison and shows up threatening to disrupt everything.

Jeff Daniels plays the escaped convict with genuine menace. He's not a mustache-twirling villain. He's someone who's genuinely convinced of his own righteousness and willing to do terrible things in service of what he believes.

Michelle Dockery carries the show as Michelle. She's running a town on her own terms, and the show respects that. She's not perfect. She makes mistakes. But she's making decisions rather than having them made for her.

What's interesting about Godless is that it takes the western genre and asks what it would look like if women had agency in that world. It doesn't do this in a preachy way. It just shows it. Shows women making decisions, running things, determining their own fates.

It's visually beautiful too. The cinematography emphasizes landscape and space in ways that make the town feel real and lived-in.

The Tomb Raider franchise has evolved significantly, with the 2010s reboot era capturing the largest share of sales. Estimated data based on franchise history.

Severance: Mind-Bending Workplace Thriller

Severance has this premise: what if you could have a procedure that completely separates your work consciousness from your personal consciousness? You'd go to work and have no memory of your personal life. You'd go home and have no memory of work. Complete separation.

Adam Scott plays Mark Scout, a man who gets the procedure and then discovers that something deeply unsettling is happening in the company where he works. The show uses the severance concept to explore ideas about work-life balance, corporate control, and what it means to have agency over your own consciousness.

The show is methodical. It takes time to build atmosphere and raise questions. By the time you understand what's actually happening, you've been thoroughly unsettled.

The cinematography is all cold tones and geometric spaces. The office where Mark works feels dystopian even though it's just corporate architecture. The contrast between that and his warm home life emphasizes the separation.

This is a show that rewards careful attention. The show is very intentionally constructed. Little details pay off. Conversations that seem throwaway contain important information.

The Diplomat: International Politics Meet Personal Chaos

Wait, I covered The Diplomat already. Let me shift to something else.

Squid Game: The Phenomenon

Squid Game came out and became a genuine cultural moment. It's a Korean series about people in desperate financial situations being invited to play childhood games for a massive cash prize, except losing means death.

It's not subtle. It's a very direct commentary on inequality and desperation and what people will do when they're pushed into a corner. The show doesn't pretend to be about anything else. It knows what it's about and commits fully to that.

The games themselves start simple. Marble games. Light games. Then they escalate. The show builds tension through these sequences, but the real power comes from how it treats the characters. These aren't disposable people in a game show. They're people with histories and relationships and reasons for being there. The show makes you care about whether they live or die.

Sung-ho Jung as the lead, Seong Gi-hun, brings real vulnerability and exhaustion to the role. By the end of the series, you've watched him go through genuine trauma.

The show is fundamentally about the mechanisms that keep poor people trapped. It's angry in a way that doesn't play well for everyone, but if you can handle the darkness and the moral clarity of its viewpoint, it's compelling.

The Perfect Couple: Mystery Meets Wealth

The Perfect Couple is a murder mystery about a wealthy family and the death of a bride hours before her wedding. It's based on a Kristin Hannah novel and has that particular kind of thriller structure where everyone has secrets and nobody's what they seem.

The show has a solid cast. Nicole Kidman brings authority and controlled anxiety to the role of the wealthy matriarch. The mystery unfolds in a way that keeps you guessing about who's responsible and why.

It's not the most original mystery. The beats are familiar if you've watched any wealthy-people-with-secrets drama. But the execution is solid enough that you'll stay engaged trying to figure out what actually happened and why.

The Crown maintains high viewer ratings across its seasons, reflecting its ambitious storytelling and production quality. (Estimated data)

One Piece: The Anime Adaptation That Actually Works

One Piece is the live-action adaptation of the massively popular anime and manga series. It follows Monkey D. Luffy as he assembles a pirate crew and sails across the ocean searching for the legendary treasure, the One Piece.

The show had an enormous bar to clear given how beloved the source material is. And somehow, it mostly clears it. Iñaki Godoy as Luffy brings a genuine goofy charm to the character. The supporting cast as Luffy's crew all bring energy and humor.

The show understands that One Piece at its core is about found family and adventure. It's not trying to make it dark or gritty. It's playing the material relatively straight while finding opportunities for humor and heart.

The production design is impressive. The ships feel real. The costumes capture the spirit of the source material while being functional for live action. The action sequences are kinetic and fun.

If you've never encountered One Piece before, this is a solid entry point. If you're a fan of the source material, it's respectful enough to the original while being its own thing.

Wednesday Again: Because It's Worth a Second Mention

Actually, I already covered Wednesday. Let me pick something else.

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a true crime dramatization about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. It's based on real events and real victims, and the show is very aware of the ethical complications of dramatizing someone's trauma for entertainment.

Evan Peters plays Dahmer with a kind of blank disaffection that's unsettling. He's not a theatrical villain. He's a person who was broken in ways that led him to break other people.

What makes the show more interesting than just true crime spectacle is that it focuses on the people who tried to protect his victims or stop him. It gives attention to the families. It doesn't shy away from the fact that institutional failure and racism allowed Dahmer to kill far more people than he should have been able to.

Ryan Murphy directed this, and his particular style of building drama through meticulous detail and emotional manipulation is on display here. The show is very constructed, very stylized in its telling.

It's not comfortable viewing, and it doesn't try to be. But if you're interested in understanding how someone becomes a serial killer and how systems fail to stop them, it's worth engaging with.

The Deepest Breath: An Underwater Love Story

The Deepest Breath is a Netflix documentary about a competitive freediver and her relationship with the person who saves her when something goes wrong. It's a genuinely moving story about human connection and the willingness to risk everything for another person.

Freediving is this intense, extreme sport where athletes hold their breath and dive to incredible depths. The documentary captures the physicality and the mental discipline required. But it's also a love story between two people who share this experience.

The documentary is beautifully shot. The underwater sequences are stunning. The cinematography captures the grace and the danger of what these athletes are doing.

If you like sports documentaries or stories about human connection, this one lands. It's not long, but it uses its runtime efficiently to tell a complete story.

Full House Rebooted: Nostalgia and New Adventures

Fuller House is the revival of Full House, following DJ Tanner raising her own children with the help of her sister and her best friend. It's bringing back the cast from the original show for guest appearances and callbacks.

It's earnest in ways that some people find charming and others find nauseating. The show is very much playing on nostalgia for the original series while also trying to tell new stories with grown-up characters.

It's broad. It's sentimental. The humor leans on situational comedy and heartwarming moments rather than jokes that land. But if you have nostalgia for the original show, there's value in seeing what happened to these characters.

The Haunting of Hill House: Gothic Horror That Actually Works

The Haunting of Hill House is a Netflix series that takes Henry James's novel and creates something new while respecting the emotional core of the original.

It's about a family that lived in a haunted house when they were children. Now, as adults, they're dealing with the trauma from that experience and the way it shaped them. The show cuts between past and present, showing how each family member was affected.

The horror in this show isn't jump scares. It's atmospheric dread. It's the slow creeping realization that something is fundamentally wrong with the house. It's the way the house gets into your head and makes you question your own sanity.

Mike Flanagan directed this and created something genuinely creepy without relying on gore or cheap tricks. The show builds horror through character and atmosphere.

The performances are strong too. Henry Thomas brings real vulnerability to the father character dealing with his own demons. Carla Gugino is heartbreaking as the mother.

If you like gothic horror or stories about family trauma, this is essential watching.

FAQ

What makes a show worth watching on Netflix?

A show worth watching has strong performances, solid writing, and something to say. It could be a thrilling mystery that keeps you guessing, a character study that makes you understand someone you'd never expect to sympathize with, or an adventure that makes you believe in a world completely different from your own. The common thread is that it respects your time. Every episode should feel like it's moving the story forward or deepening your understanding of the characters.

How often is the Netflix guide updated?

Our guide gets updated weekly to reflect new releases and to remove shows that are no longer available or have fallen out of our recommendations. Netflix constantly adds new content, so the landscape shifts rapidly. The shows listed here are current recommendations as of December 2025, but availability and quality can change.

Should I watch shows in a specific order?

Not necessarily, but certain shows like Stranger Things and Bridgerton build heavily on previous seasons, so you'll get more out of them if you start from the beginning. One-off series or anthology shows like City of Shadows or Last Samurai Standing can be watched standalone. When in doubt, start with season one.

What if I've already watched everything on this list?

We maintain guides for the best shows on Hulu, Disney+, and other streaming services. Beyond Netflix, you might explore anime on Netflix specifically, or look for international shows that often get overlooked. You could also explore some of the films on Netflix rather than series.

Are all of these shows appropriate for all ages?

No. Some of these shows contain violence, language, or adult themes. Stranger Things has some scary moments and is better for older teens. Ozark and Monster contain serious darkness. Godless has violence. Make sure to check ratings and content warnings before starting a show with younger viewers.

How long does it take to watch through these shows?

It depends on the show. Last Samurai Standing is six episodes, so you could finish it in one extended viewing session. Stranger Things seasons are longer, and Ozark has four full seasons totaling dozens of hours. Most shows on this list run between eight and thirteen episodes per season, which means roughly 3-5 hours of content per show.

The Bottom Line

Netflix is vast, and most people waste an embarrassing amount of time scrolling before committing to something. These shows skip that nonsense. They're worth your time because they deliver on quality, character, and storytelling. Some are new releases. Some have been quietly crushing it for a while. Some are based on existing intellectual property and somehow work despite the odds against them.

The shows on this list span genre and tone. There's mystery and romance, action and character study, comedy and darkness. That's intentional. Different moods call for different shows, and you should have options depending on what you need to watch right now.

Start with City of Shadows if you want something weird and twisted. Start with Stranger Things if you want to finish a beloved series. Start with Tomb Raider if you want pure action and adventure. Start with The Beast in Me if you want something that'll make you uncomfortable in the best way.

More than anything, trust that these are shows that respect your intelligence and your time. That matters. In a world of infinite content, that actually matters.

Key Takeaways

• City of Shadows stands out as Spanish noir that weaves Barcelona's Gaudí architecture into a ritualistic murder mystery as reviewed by Decider.
• Stranger Things Season 5 arrives in three release blocks through New Year's Eve, answering long-standing questions about Will's kidnapping as detailed by PNJ.
• Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft successfully adapts the video game franchise with stunning animation and genuine stakes for both newcomers and fans according to Radio Times.
• The Beast in Me pairs Clare Danes and Matthew Rhys in a psychologically twisted thriller about obsession that builds tension through character rather than plot as noted by The New Yorker.
• Netflix offers 25+ quality shows across genres—from animation and crime thrillers to period romance and survival competitions—with consistent weekly updates to match new releases.

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