The Best Original Series on Netflix to Stream Now (September 2025)

Beginning a new TV show is always a toss-up gamble, but with Netflix’s track record, the odds are more in your favor.

The streamer that practically invented the binge-watching model has built a powerhouse library of original series spanning every genre, many of which have become some of the most talked-about pop culture phenomena. Some, like Stranger Things and Bridgerton, are still ongoing with upcoming seasons and episodes to stream. While others, such as Squid Game and You, are available to dive into from start to finish.

If you’re looking for your next TV fixation, these Netflix Originals should be at the top of your must-watch list.

Wednesday

Cue the finger snaps! Executive produced (and partly directed) by Tim Burton, this gothic crime comedy series stars Jenna Ortega as the deadpanned titular character. Wednesday falls heir to her mom’s psychic powers and uses them to solve a murder at her boarding school, Nevermore Academy. Whether you’re a “normie,” an “outcast” or a disembodied hand, this supernatural show is worth taking a stab at.

Season 2 premiered in two parts. Netflix released the first four episodes on Aug. 6, 2025, followed by the remaining four in the second installment on Sept. 3. Lady Gaga also made a guest star appearance on the season.

Watch Wednesday on Netflix

Squid Game

Red light, green light! This Korean dystopian thriller show centers around a Hunger Games-style competition, where 456 financially desperate contestants gamble their lives in a series of lethal games for a life-changing cash prize. The third and final season premiered in June 2025, making it the perfect show to binge-watch to avoid the pain of waiting after major twists and finale cliffhangers.

Watch Squid Game on Netflix

You

You — the psychological thriller starring Penn Badgley — was an instant hit for Netflix in 2018. Badgley plays Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager who turns his intense crushes into sinister relationships through social media stalking and dark obsession. All five seasons are available to stream in full.

Watch You on Netflix

Adolescence

With police pounding at his door at dawn, 13-year-old Jaime Miller (Owen Cooper) is arrested for the murder of a female classmate. What follows are four hour-long episodes — each filmed in one uninterrupted take — exploring the fallout, from the lasting impact on his family to the external forces that shaped his actions and continue to influence young men today.

Watch Adolescence on Netflix

Nobody Wants This

On Netflix’s modern rom-com series Nobody Wants This, thirtysomething podcast host Joanne (Kristen Bell) isn’t exactly a role model for healthy relationships. However, when she meets Noah Roklov (Adam Brody), a Jewish rabbi, love turns her perspective around — despite all the surface-level reasons they shouldn’t work on paper. Season 2 premieres on Oct. 23, 2025, with the primary cast members returning, including Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons, Jackie Tohn and Sherry Cola. Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester, who has been married to Brody since 2014, will make a guest appearance.

Watch Nobody Wants This on Netflix

Heartstopper

As Alice Oseman‘s signature pastel-colored leaves fall on the screen, so does the heart of the soft-spoken, music-loving Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) — Truham Grammar School for Boys’ only out gay student — who finds himself deeply drawn to Nick Nelson (Kit Connor).

Heartstopper delivers an adorably innocent and poignant queer love story, earning its place as a shining gem in Netflix’s sweeping roster of romance series. Binge the first three seasons now, as the story will wrap with a final movie currently in the works.

Watch Heartstopper on Netflix

Outer Banks

Starring Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline and Madison Bailey, this teen mystery follows two divergent groups of teens — the privileged “Kooks” and the working-class “Pogues” — who live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as they try to uncover the mystery of John B.’s (Stokes) missing father. Both parts of season 4 are available to stream now, with a fifth and final season on the way.

Watch Outer Banks on Netflix

The Umbrella Academy

The Umbrella Academy is an action-packed series following seven adopted siblings born with mysterious powers. The siblings were taken in by a billionaire father (Colm Feore), who created the Umbrella Academy as a way to prepare the kids to save the world. After years of estrangement, the heroes reunite to solve a mystery about their dad. This series stars Elliot Page, Aidan Gallagher, Tom Hopper and Ritu Arya, among others.

Watch The Umbrella Academy on Netflix

Emily in Paris

Marketing executive Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) is sent to work at her company’s Paris branch on the hit series Emily in Paris. The fashion-infused show follows Emily as she navigates friendships, new romantic interests and plenty of career hijinks. Stream the first four seasons before Emily heads to Rome on season 5, which is set to release in December 2025.

Watch Emily in Paris on Netflix

Cobra Kai

Strike first, strike hard, no mercy! Taking place three decades after the original Karate Kid films, Cobra Kai finds the former rivals Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) as senseis of their own dojos, where a new wave of students join their old-age beef. Stream all six seasons of the series.

Watch Cobra Kai on Netflix

Baby Reindeer

Based on Richard Gadd‘s self-referential one-man show of the same name, this six-time Emmy Award-winning thriller features Gadd as a fictionalized version of himself in the role of Donny Dunn, a struggling comedian and bartender. Finding himself caught in the rapidly increasing obsession of Martha Scott (Jessica Gunning) — a regular patron who dubs him “Baby Reindeer” and begins to stalk him — Donny is forced to confront a long-buried trauma.

Watch Baby Reindeer on Netflix

Bridgerton

Inspired by Julia Quinn‘s best-selling romance novels, Bridgerton takes place in Regency-era London. The series follows the title family as its members search for love and avoid being the subject of Lady Whistledown’s gossip column.

The first season focuses on outcast Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page) and eligible bachelorette Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), and each subsequent season follows another member of the family. Season 3 centers around Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and her feelings for Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). The upcoming fourth season is about Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and his romance with Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha).

Watch Bridgerton on Netflix

One Day

Originally adapted into the 2011 film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, David Nicholls’ worldwide best-selling novel One Day got a new life with a 14-episode British series. After Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) part ways after their first encounter on the night of their 1988 graduation, the pair find themselves drawn back to each other on the same date every year, unveiling small glimpses of a decades-long relationship.

Watch One Day on Netflix

The Crown

With an impressive cast of some of Britain’s best actors — including Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Matt Smith — The Crown has been capturing the audience’s attention since its premiere in 2016. So much so, fans were saddened to bid adieu to the sixth and final season (which was nominated for 18 Emmys, per Deadline) at the end of 2023. The show chronicles the life of the late Queen Elizabeth II from her ascension to modern times, looking at the most dramatic moments of the royal family‘s public (and private) lives.

Watch The Crown on Netflix

Never Have I Ever

Co-created by Mindy Kaling, the coming-of-age rom-com Never Have I Ever stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Darren Barnet and Poorna Jagannathan. Devi (Ramakrishnan) is a first-generation Indian American teenager who wants to become more popular at school, so she defies the ways her friends and family have held her back. Stream all four seasons through the bittersweet series finale.

Watch Never Have I Ever on Netflix

The Witcher

Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) is a magical monster hunter, known as a “witcher,” who is struggling to find his place in the world on this fantasy drama series. Along the way, he solves mysteries and pursues adventures leading to his destiny. In 2022, Netflix announced Liam Hemsworth would take over as Geralt on season 4 after Cavill’s departure. Season 3 is streaming in full, featuring Cavill’s final episodes as the titular character.

Watch The Witcher on Netflix

Beef

On this Emmy-winning dramedy anthology, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun star as two spiteful strangers who meet during a fit of road rage. Unable to let go of their vehicle face-off, the rivals go to drastic lengths to inflict harm on the other and fulfill their hunger for revenge. A second installment is on the way with a new storyline and cast, including Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny, Charles Melton and more.

Watch Beef on Netflix

Ozark

The series finale of this four-season crime drama wrapped in 2022. Financial planner Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) relocates his family to the Ozarks of central Missouri to escape the consequences of a money laundering scheme gone wrong. Ozark also stars Laura Linney, Julia Garner and Sofia Hublitz.

Watch Ozark on Netflix

Stranger Things

This critically acclaimed sci-fi horror series features a cast of young friends (Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink and Gaten Matarazzo) growing up in small-town Indiana in the 1980s. The teens encounter mystery after mystery, including supernatural creatures and a government cover-up. Stranger Things will conclude with its fifth season in three parts — the first volume releases on Nov. 26, 2025, the second half on Christmas and the series finale on New Year’s Eve.

Watch Stranger Things on Netflix

Orange Is the New Black

Based on Piper Kerman‘s memoir of the same name, this series begins with Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), a privileged New Yorker who gets sentenced to prison when her past catches up to her. Over seven seasons, Piper adjusts to prison life, and the show later pivots to the lives of other women at Litchfield Penitentiary. Costars include Laura Prepon, Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Laverne Cox, Natasha Lyonne and Samira Wiley, among many others.

Watch Orange Is the New Black on Netflix