The best Netflix shows to enjoy right now (updated May 2025)

Here's our pick of the best Netflix shows to enjoy right now, as we reckon you might need some help with its vast library!

We will regularly update our list with the shows that the team on What to Watch has really enjoyed. Anything we've especially loved recently, I will add to the Editors' picks section.

We've then put our selections into genre sections — comedy, documentaries, dramas, horror, crime, fantasy, and sci-fi — so you can quickly go to the genre that especially interests you.

The great thing about Netflix is that there's rarely a week that goes by without them releasing something good, like You season 5 and the rather wonderful documentary series, The Diamond Heist, to name a couple of recent releases.

Please add in the comments section any shows you think we should add. Here you go...

• These are the best shows on Apple TV Plus

Best Netflix shows — editors' picks

Black Doves

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 6
• Average episode length: 55 minutes

We all love a good spy thriller, don't we? And this one will have you engrossed! Rather weirdly set at Christmas, it boasts an all-star cast including Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, and Sarah Lancashire. Knightley stars as Helen Webb, a dedicated wife and mother who has been secretly operating as a spy for a decade.

She works for a shadowy organization called The Black Doves, to whom she's been passing on her politician husband’s secrets. But when her secret lover is murdered, her own life comes under threat…

Black Doves season 2 is on the way!

The Diamond Heist

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 3
• Average episode length: 41-47 minutes

This three-part true crime documentary sounds like a Guy Ritchie movie, so it’s appropriate that he’s the executive producer. It tells the story of an audacious attempt to steal £350 million worth of diamonds, including the famous Millennium Star, from London's Millennium Dome back in 2000.

What I especially love about the series is that you get both sides of the story from the robbers and the cops.

The Åre Murders

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 5
• Average episode length: 44 minutes

Netflix has been releasing some great Nordic Noir crime dramas in 2025, and the pick of the bunch for me is The Åre Murders. Based on books by Viveca Sten, which I can also recommend, The Åre Murders very much reminded me of classic Scandi hit The Killing.

Carla Sehn stars as cop Hanna Ahlander, who retreats to her sister’s house in Åre after falling foul of her bosses and being dumped. However, she can’t resist getting involved when a young woman goes missing from the beautiful Swedish village…

The Perfect Couple

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 6
• Average episode length: 42-63 minutes

Based on an Elin Hilderbrand novel, The Perfect Couple has a big-name cast, which includes Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, and Billy Howle.

The Perfect Couple is about two well-off families that are about to unite for a wedding, however, a body appears on a beach, and the investigation surrounding it threatens to reveal plenty of family secrets. Multiple members of each family could be harboring truths that threaten to unravel the whole affair.

Baby Reindeer

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 7
• Average episode length: 27-45 minutes

Ostensibly inspired by a true story, Baby Reindeer is about a pub worker who finds himself stalked by an older woman who's done this to people before. He has to try and convince the police about this issue, while maintaining his personal relationships and his aspirations to become a comedian.

It became one of Netflix's most talked-about shows in its history and is well worth a watch.

Best Netflix series — comedy

Never Have I Ever

• Number of seasons: 4
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 22-31 minutes

A coming-of-age comedy, Never Have I Ever is about the complicated life of a modern-day first-generation Indian American teenage girl, Devi, an overachieving high school student who has a short fuse that gets her into difficult situations.

The show follows her as she gets into new situations and experiences things she's never experienced before.

Man vs. Bee

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 9
• Episode length: 10-20 minutes

Man Vs Bee follows Trevor Bingley (Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson), a bumbling father who takes up a new job as a professional housesitter.

During his first assignment at a luxury mansion that's full of flash cars and priceless art, he becomes troubled by a pesky bee who just won't seem to leave him alone and enters into an ongoing war that might well have disastrous consequences for the homeowners...

Sex Education

• Number of seasons: 4
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 47-59 minutes

Asa Butterfield stars as awkward teenager Otis Milburn, who ends up reluctantly giving sex advice to his classmates based on the teachings of his sex therapist mother (Gillian Anderson) in Sex Education.

Otis strikes up an unlikely friendship with rebel Maeve, which starts to threaten his relationship with his best pal Eric. With plenty of cringeworthy moments along the way, this wickedly funny and surprisingly touching show is certainly one of the best Netflix shows to watch.

God's Favorite Idiot

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Episode length: 30 minutes

In God's Favourite Idiot, mid-level tech support worker Clark Thompson falls in love with co-worker Amily Luck at exactly the same time he becomes the unwitting messenger of God, filling his world with roller skating, a lake of fire and an impending apocalypse.

It stars real-life couple Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone in the lead roles and is a funny, lighthearted comedy that plays on themes of religion and love to create this wacky eight-part series.

Emily in Paris

• Number of seasons: 4
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 24-38 minutes

Emily in Paris: Season 4 Part 1 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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Emily in Paris is a comedy-drama by Sex and the City creator, Darren Star. that follows Emily (Lily Collins), an American marketing executive who lands her dream job at a luxury French fashion firm in the 'City of Light'. Despite not speaking a word of French, she moves to Paris.

There, she struggles to navigate her new life, juggling friendships, relationships, and work as her Midwestern upbringing clashes with Parisian culture.

Dead To Me

Dead to Me | Season 1 Official Trailer [HD] | Netflix - YouTube

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• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 26 - 33 minutes

When tightly-wound widow and mum-of-two Jen Harding (Christina Applegate) meets free-spirited Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini), an unexpected friendship soon forms between them. In Dead to Me Jen uses anger and resentment to cope, whereas Judy has a more positive outlook.

The pair bond over recently losing a loved one, but a dark secret soon threatens to tear their friendship apart. The series explores grief, lies, anger and a whole host of other emotions as the duo try to navigate life during grief.

Cobra Kai 

• Number of seasons: 6
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 22-40 minutes

Cobra Kai is a martial arts comedy series that is a sequel to the original Karate Kid movies. Set 34 years on from the original films, Cobra Kai sees Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso's old rivalry reawakening after Johnny reopens the Cobra Kai dojo to get his own life back on track.

Ralph Macchio and William Zabka both returned to play adult versions of their characters. Daniel (Macchio) is a successful but dissatisfied car dealer, and Johnny (Zabka) is a part-time handyman before he begins teaching karate to his teenage neighbor, Miguel Diaz. Hilarious and heartwarming.

The Good Place

• Number of seasons: 4
• Approximate episodes per season: 13
• Average episode length: 22 minutes

Four very different people find themselves in the afterlife, and realize they've been sent to The Good Place. Kristen Bell stars as Eleanor Shellstrop, who soon discovers that she's been mixed up with another woman by the same name and doesn't actually belong there.

Joining her is supposed soulmate Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper), socialite Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil), and Jacksonville DJ Mendoza (Manny Jacinto). Together, they find themselves trying to navigate the mysterious Good Place and figure out why they ended up there.

Best Netflix series — documentaries

Wild Wild Country

• Number of seasons: 1
• Episodes: 6
• Average episode length: 64 - 71 minutes

Wild Wild Country is an enthralling series following how Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his then personal assistant Ma Anand Sheela built a controversial cult in the middle of the Oregon desert.

The six-parter’s twists can you leave you aghast as the cult clashes with the American locals. Things get very weird! Certainly one of the best Netflix series to watch!

The Staircase

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 13
• Average episode length: 45 minutes

This mesmerizing series, directed by Oscar-winner Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, tells the story of author Michael Peterson, who phoned the police to say his wife had died after falling down the stairs at their home.

Peterson was charged with murder, and his trial sees a string of twists as you try to work out what really happened. One of the best Netflix series ever!

Michael Peterson's story was also been made into a true-crime drama, also called The Staircase, starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette.

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

• Number of seasons: 2
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 40 - 45 minutes

This is a documentary on the colorful and controversial American zoo owner Joe Exotic, real-name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, currently in prison after being convicted of a failed murder plot against his nemesis, animal rights activist Carole Baskin.

Exotic hired a hitman to murder her, but the supposed killer was, in fact, an undercover FBI agent.

In Tiger King season 2, the team picked up right where we last left off. It shed new light on the lives of many of the figures and how their lives have changed since Tiger King first aired in March 2020.

Babies

• Number of seasons: 2
• Approximate episodes per season: 6
• Average episode length: 50 minutes

Babies is a fascinating documentary series chronicling the first year of a baby’s life by following 15 families from around the world. It reveals the answers to such questions as why babies don't sleep through the night and how they learn a language.

Formula 1 – Drive to Survive

• Number of seasons: 7
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 27-51 minutes

Formula 1: Drive to Survive - Season 7 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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Formula 1: Drive to Survive gives viewers an exclusive peek behind the curtain at the F1 racing. Starting with the 2018 FIA Championship in series 1 (released in 2019), the show lets us learn an awful lot more about the drivers out on the track and the huge number of people working at every event in the F1 calendar.

The most recent season, released in March 2025, covered the 2024 season, including Lewis Hamilton's surprise move to Ferrari.

Who Killed Malcolm X?

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 6
• Average episode length: 60 minutes

American civil rights leader Malcolm X was gunned down in New York in 1965 and many questions about his assassination are raised in this series. Who Killed Malcom X? will help you understand this huge event in American history a lot better.

The Pharmacist

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes: 4
• Average episode length: 47-60 minutes

A search by small-town pharmacist Dan Schneider to find his son’s killer starts small. But his murder investigation turns into a mission to uncover the truth behind American’s opioid crisis and the part doctors play in it.

The Pharmacist is an important look into an ongoing issue in America.

Best Netflix series — dramas

One Day

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 14
• Average episode length: 19-38 minutes

One Day has been breaking viewers' hearts ever since it debuted on Netflix as the show, based on a David Nicholls book, has become a bona fide hit.

The story is about two university graduates, Emma and Dexter, over the 20 year period after their graduation. We get to see as their romance comes and goes and other parts of their life get in the way.

Virgin River

• Number of seasons: 6
• Approximate episodes: 10
• Average episode length: 45 minutes

While Virgin River could best be described as a romance, we don't have a section for that in this list, so instead we're calling it a drama.

The show is about the titular rural town in northern California, which our main character Mel travels to get away from her troubled life. In it she'll find love, heartbreak and drama in equal measure.

The show has become beloved among streaming fans, and given that the series of books it's based on is nearly 30 novels long, there could be a lot more to come.

Heartstopper

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes: 8
• Average episode length: 26-33 minutes
• Find it on Netflix here

Heartstopper tells the story of Charlie Spring, a schoolboy who falls in love with classmate Nick Nelson. It also explores the lives of their friends Tao, Elle, Tara, and Darcy, in a delightfully heartwarming and emotional coming-of-age story.

Beef

Number of seasons: 1

Approximate episodes per season: 10

Episode length: 30 minutes

Beef follows the aftermath of a road rage incident between two strangers. Danny Cho, a failing contractor with a chip on his shoulder, goes head-to-head with Amy Lau, a self-made entrepreneur with a picturesque life.

The increasing stakes of their feud unravel their lives and relationships in this darkly comedic and deeply moving series. Beef season 2 is on the way...

Bridgerton

• Number of seasons: 4 (including Queen Charlotte spin-off)
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Episode length: 60-70 minutes

If you've somehow not heard of Bridgerton, firstly, where have you been?! Anyway, it's a romantic period drama based on Julia Quinn's series of novels.

Set in Regency-era London, the show follows the eight Bridgerton siblings as they attempt to find love and happiness within high society. The first season focused on Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and her relationship with Simon Basset, the Duke of Hastings (played by Regé-Jean Page, who's rumored to be the next James Bond).

Bridgerton season 2 switched the focus over to Anthony Bridgerton's (Jonathan Bailey) quest for love as he becomes entangled with a new heroine, Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley).

While Bridgerton season 3 focuses on Penelope Featherington's (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton's (Luke Newton) love story. Bridgerton season 4 is on the way! Please also check out the wonderful spin-off Queen Charlotte, which actually has more depth than the main series.

The Crown

• Number of seasons: 6
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Episode length: 47-61 minutes

Peter Morgan's historical series follows the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, from her coronation through to key moments in history such as the moon landing.

Claire Foy plays the monarch in the first 2 seasons, with Olivia Colman taking over in seasons 3 and 4. Imelda Staunton plays the role in season 5 and season 6, the final series.

The all-star cast joining them includes Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies, Charles Dance, Helena Bonham Carter, and Victoria Hamilton.

The Queen's Gambit

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 7
• Episode length: 59-61 minutes

The Queen's Gambit might be quite old now, it was released in 2020, but if you missed it, please give it a watch, as it's easily one of the best Netflix shows around. We follow chess prodigy Beth Harmon, wonderfully played as an adult by Anya Taylor-Joy, who battles her own demons and sexism in the world of chess as she aims for the top.

The Lincoln Lawyer

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Episode length: 45-55 minutes

Based on a book and movie of the same name, The Lincoln Lawyer follows Mickey Haller, a criminal defense lawyer who operates out of the back of a Lincoln Navigator car. We follow Haller as he investigates a crime and tries to work out how to best protect his client.

All three seasons have been a big hit for Netflix and a fourth series is on the way.

Best Netflix series — horror

Wednesday

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 50 minutes

If you haven't seen the latest Addams Family spin-off, you're missing out as Wednesday has been a global hit among fans all over the world, and a second season is coming out in the summer of 2025.

In Wednesday, Jenna Ortega plays the titular protagonist after she's sent to Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts that her parents once attended. However, even she struggles to fit in and soon finds herself at the center of a murder mystery...

Squid Game

Number of seasons: 2

Approximate episodes per season: 8

Average episode length: 60 minutes

With many members of the South Korean public cash-strapped, they jump at the chance to take part in a tournament that has a massive 45.6 billion won prize (£28m) up for grabs. At first, it seems simple; all they have to do is play popular children's games against other players, but it soon takes a very dark turn.

The first episode sees Seong Gi-hun approached by a mysterious stranger who informs him about the games, and he soon finds himself taking part in a murderous game of "Red Light, Green Light", where players are killed off if they break the rules.

Squid Game season 3 is on the way...

Locke and Key

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 40 - 56 minutes

In this dark supernatural drama based on a comic book series, widowed Nina Locke (Scandal’s Darby Stanchfield) moves her family into her late husband’s ancestral home, Keyhouse.

There, her children discover several mysterious keys that unlock mysterious doors throughout the home, revealing some deadly secrets and gifting them supernatural powers.

Teen drama and spooky goings-on soon follow through Locke & Key as the kids discover there's an evil entity who wants nothing more than to collect all the keys for itself...

The Haunting of Bly Manor

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 9
• Average episode length: 46-66 minutes

The second entry in Mike Flanagan's Haunting anthology (after The Haunting of Hill House) is more of a traditional Gothic ghost story compared to the previous series, but it's no less gripping.

In The Haunting of Bly Manor, young au pair Dani Clayton (Victoria Pedretti) is hired to look after two young children at a stately home and begins noticing spirits in and around the home. From that moment, things at the manor begin to grow more and more unsettling...

Midnight Mass

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 7
• Average episode length: 60-71 minutes

Midnight Mass is Mike Flanagan's newest horror series. Rather than taking place in another haunted estate, this seven-episode series transports us to an insular community living on Crockett Island.

We follow Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford, Friday Night Lights) who has just returned to his isolated hometown after spending four years in prison for killing a young woman in a drunk driving incident. At the same time, a new, mysterious priest (Hamish Linklater) arrives and begins to renew the town's flagging faith, prompting the arrival of mysterious omens and exacerbating divisions between the townsfolk.

Best Netflix series — crime

Adolescence

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 4
• Average episode length: 60-65 minues

This powerful drama has become the most talked-about show of 2025. Adolescence follows the experiences of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper) and his shocked parents when the terrified teenager is arrested on suspicion of stabbing a teenage girl classmate to death. It’s a crime Jamie denies he was responsible for, and events after his arrest play out in four emotional episodes.

His dad Eddie (Stephen Graham) is forced to act as his "appropriate adult," and the series shows how the accusation turns the family’s world upside down.

The Gentlemen

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 43-67 minutes

The Gentlemen was created by auteur film director Guy Ritchie (and based on his 2019 movie with the same name).

The show is about Eddie, a former military man who's just inherited a massive estate after his estranged father passed away. What he quickly finds out is that this property is actually home to the UK's biggest drug farm, which quickly drops Eddie into the dangerous world of cannabis distribution.

Theo James stars as Eddie with Kaya Scodelario and Daniel Ings also taking main roles (with the latter getting lots of praise for his role). Giancarlo Esposito, Ray Winstone and Freddie Fox are also in it. It exhibits Guy Ritchie's signature brand of humor.

The Gentleman season 2 is on the way..

Bodies

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 55-61 minutes

There's crime, drama and sci-fi in Bodies, enough to make it a smash hit with viewers.

The show takes place in four different time periods: 1890s, 1940s. 2020s and 2050s, when the exact same dead body turns up in the exact same location. A detective in each period begins to hunt for information in a chase that'll cause their paths to cross in weird ways.

The Night Agent

• Number of seasons: 2
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 45-56 minutes

The Night Agent follows a low-level FBI agent who works nights in the basement of the White House manning a phone line for undercover spies that never rings. But one day, it does, setting into motion a chain of events that uncovers a conspiracy that reaches all the way to the Oval Office.

The first series was quite brilliant, although to be honest, the second series didn't achieve the same heights. Let's hope the third series can reclaim the magic...

Lupin

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 40-52 minutes

Lupin is a stylish French crime series that follows professional thief Assane Diop (played by Omar Sy).

Assane was orphaned as a child after his father took his own life in prison when he was framed for a crime he did not commit. Inspired by an Arsène Lupin novel his father gifted him as a child, Assane sets out to get revenge on the wealthy entrepreneur responsible for his father's imprisonment.

Better Call Saul

• Number of seasons: 6
• Approximate episodes per season: 9
• Average episode length: 42-61 minutes

This Breaking Bad spin-off follows criminal lawyer Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) before he set up his office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It takes place before the events of Walter White's story, where McGill transforms into morally changed Saul Goodman.

The darkly comedic series sees the trials and tribulations of the struggling working class lawyer, and the kind of people he meets along the way. Corrupt police officer and Breaking Bad favourite Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) is a recurring character alongside Jimmy.

Not only one of the best Netflix TV series, but one of the best series of all-time.

The big thing to know is that Better Call Saul’s final season is being broken up into two parts. Part 1 features seven episodes, with Part 2 starting on July 11 (July 12 in the UK).

Narcos

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 43 - 60 minutes

The series follows the rise of real-life Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar (played by Wagner Moura), his skirmishes with US drug enforcement agents, and the aftermath of his death.

You

• Number of seasons: 5
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 41 - 50 minutes

Adapted from the novel of the same name, You follows New York bookstore manager Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) as he falls for writer Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail). But this is far from your ordinary love story, as Joe is charming, obsessive and calculating. And will do just about anything to win Beck over...

You has become one of Netflix's enduring stalwart series, with fans finding each series more and more exciting. You season 5 landed in April 2025 and rapidly went to the top of the Netflix charts.

Ozark

• Number of seasons: 4
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 52 - 80 minutes

This crime thriller series follows financial adviser Martin 'Marty' Byrde (Jason Bateman) as he moves from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks with his family. Along with his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) and teenage children Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and Jonah (Skylar Gaertner), they all seem like your average family.

But Marty is not as normal as he seems, as he serves as the top money launderer for the second largest drug cartel in Mexico. And when things go awry, he's forced to uproot and appease a drug boss to keep his family safe.

Mindhunter

• Number of seasons: 2
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 34 - 73 minutes

In the 1970s, two FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) interview serial killers to solve open cases and gain greater insight into the psychopathic minds of notorious killers.

The duo rely on deeper psychological evaluation as they believe that more traditional crime solving methods aren't as beneficial anymore. The series focuses on the development of the two agents and their new criminal field.

I Am Not Okay With This

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 7
• Average episode length: 28 minutes

This series is made by the creators of Stranger Things and The End of the F***ing World and is based on a graphic novel of the same name.

The high school drama stars It’s Sophia Ellis as 15-year-old Sydney who is dealing with the loss of her father and her sexuality as well as superpowers that she can't control.

Best Netflix series — fantasy

One Piece

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 56 minutes

An adaptation of a popular anime, One Piece has proven the favorite of Netflix's assorted attempts to turn an animated show into a live-action one.

One Piece focuses on an aspiring pirate called Monkey D. Luffy on his quest to find the mysterious 'One Piece' which would make him the King of the Pirates. On his quest travels to strange lands, meets odd characters and assembles a rag-tag crew of friends.

Fans of anime will like how One Piece turns the typically-exaggerated animation style into a successful live action show, but there's enough heart and fun to win over all viewers.

Ragnarok

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 6
• Average episode length: 45 minutes

A Norwegian coming-of-age drama in which a group of teens in a small town believe that melting glaciers and dangerous pollution can only be stopped by drawing upon a Norse legend.

This fantasy series sees a Norwegian town suffering from warm winters and violent downpours and a group of teens think the only way to stop them is to intervene in time.

Arcane

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 9
• Average episode length: 39-44 minutes
• Find it on Netflix here

Arcane is an action-packed animated series based on the world of the hugely popular video game, League of Legends.

The show tells the origin stories of two of the game's playable characters, Vi and Jinx, two sisters who find themselves on opposing sides of a growing civil conflict between the cities of Piltover and Zaun.

Released to widespread critical acclaim for its beautiful animation, voice acting performances and its compelling, emotional story, Arcane is easily one of the best Netflix series available to watch both for fans of the game and for casual viewers alike.

The Witcher

• Number of seasons: 3
• Episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 47 - 67 minutes

Based on the Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski (which were popularised by the video game series of the same name), The Witcher follows solitary monster hunter Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) as he struggles to find his place in the world around him.

Destiny soon hurtles him towards Princess Ciri (Freya Allan) and a powerful sorceress; the three work together to navigate the volatile continent they live on.

Here's how to read The Witcher books in order.

Kingdom

• Number of seasons: 2
• Episodes per season: 6
• Average episode length: 36 - 56 minutes
• Find it on Netflix here

Kingdom combines political scheming with a fantasy world situation to create a tense and gripping show.

The series is set in South Korea hundreds of years ago, when a zombie outbreak threatens to destroy the nation. We follow the Crown Prince, who sets out with his ragtag entourage to stop the threat, as well as various members of the palace, to understand how the outbreak started and why the rules aren't doing enough to stop it.

Best Netflix series — sci-fi

The Silent Sea

• Number of seasons: 1
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 39-51 minutes

The Silent Sea is a Korean sci-fi thriller set in the near future where the planet is suffering from a critical lack of food and water due to desertification.

It follows a small team of astronauts led by Han Yun-Jae (Gong Yoo), a soldier from a space agency. The team is dispatched on a mission to the moon where they must retrieve a sample from Balhae Lunar Research Station, a research station that was abandoned after several of the station's crew supposedly died of a radiation leak.

Lost in Space

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 39-65 minutes

Lost in Space is Netflix's reboot of the sci-fi series of the same name. It follows the Robinson family, a family of space colonists who crash-land on an alien planet after their spacecraft is attacked.

There, they and many other colonists fight to survive in their new, hostile environment. Along the way, Will Robinson assists an alien robot who he brings back to the colony to assist them.

The Umbrella Academy

• Number of seasons: 4
• Approximate episodes per season: 10
• Average episode length: 40 - 60 minutes

Created by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy is a series based on Gerard's comic books of the same name.

Like the comics, the show revolves around the dysfunctional Hargreeves family, a group of children with superpowers who are adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves and turned into a crimefighting team who are tasked with saving the world by Sir Reginald.

The bizarre team fractures as the children become teenagers. After hearing news of their adoptive father's death, the surviving six members of the so-called Umbrella Academy reunite to uncover the mystery of their adoptive father's death, and to prevent an imminent apocalypse.

Dark

• Number of seasons: 3
• Approximate episodes per season: 8
• Average episode length: 44-73 minutes

Dark takes place in a fictional German town called Winden which suddenly has its shady secrets exposed when children start mysteriously disappearing from the town.

Slowly, the town's residents begin to unravel a time-travel conspiracy that has been going on for generations in Winden, exposing the dark pasts of prominent families as the citizens continue to pursue the truth.

Black Mirror

• Number of seasons: 7
• Approximate episodes per season: 3
• Average episode length: 41 - 89 minutes

Charlie Brooker's sci-fi anthology series explores the dark side of technology, and how it can backfire. Each story is set in an alternative timeline not too far from our own, and tells a twisted tale.

Rory Kinnear, John Hamm, Bryce Dallas Howard, Andrew Scott and Miley Cyrus have all joined the popular series throughout the years. The series even included an interactive special episode where a young video game programmer started to lose his grip on reality whilst adapting a sprawling fantasy novel.

Black Mirror season 7 arrived in 2025 to widespread critical acclaim with Peter Calpadi and Chris O’Dowd among the cast.