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Netflix has built a subscriber base more than 270 million strong on the backs of some great original TV series, and there’s a fair chance you’re watching (or have already binged) the biggies, from Stranger Things, to Bridgerton, to The Witcher, Ripley, and more. Even if you haven’t seen them, these shows are buzzy enough that you know their names—but there’s more where they came from, including shows that are as good as (or better than) those flagship series.
Here, in no particular order, are 40 of Netflix’s most entertaining, underrated originals—shows you maybe aren’t watching, but definitely should be.
The Residence (2025 – , renewal pending)
The latest from Shondaland (that’s Shonda Rhimes’ production company, natch) is maybe 10% too silly, and similarly a bit too derivative of other comedy-mysteries like Only Murders in the Building and Knives Out—and yet! There’s a ton of fun to be had in this juicy, twisty-turny series set behind-the-scenes at the White House. During a state dinner for Australia, complete with guest Kylie Minogue, White House Chief Usher A. B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito) dies, possibly by suicide but probably by murder. Idiosyncratic, bird-loving consulting detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) is called in to solve the crime that the White House staff would like to keep as quiet as possible, especially given the party going on downstairs. Randall Park, Ken Marino, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Bronson Pinchot, Mary Wiseman, Jane Curtin, and Al Franken are just a few of the actors playing guests and suspects. You can stream The Residence here.
A Man on the Inside (2024 – , renewed for a second season)
Though their styles are very different, A Man on the Inside feels a bit like a successor to Michael Schur’s earlier series, The Good Place, and not only because they both star Ted Danson. There’s a deep humanity at the core of both shows, and that serves Inside particularly well, even when it isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. Ted Danson plays Charles Nieuwendyk, a slightly hapless retired professor and recent widower who listens to his daughter’s plea for him to find something to keep him active: He answers an ad from a private investigator looking for someone to go undercover living at a retirement community in San Francisco in hopes of discovering who’s been stealing jewelry. As he comes to care about the people he’s investigating, and lying to, his job only gets harder. You can stream A Man on the Inside here.
Black Doves (2024 – , renewed for a second season)
Spy shows are having a moment right now, and Black Doves feeds that while also standing apart a bit, playing somewhere in between realistic(-ish) dramas like The Agency and more action-oriented James Bond thrillers. Keira Knightley heads the cast here as Helen Webb, wife of Britain’s defense secretary and also a mercenary spy whose identity is compromised when her lover is killed. See? Juicy. The titular Black Doves, for whom she works, send Sam (Ben Whislaw) to protect her. You can stream Black Doves here.
Delicious in Dungeon (2024 – , renewed for a second season)
An anime import from Japanese animation studio Trigger (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners), Delicious in Dungeon is a cute and clever fantasy series with just enough action to keep things lively. A group of adventurers set out on a traditional dungeon crawl-type adventure only to have the sister of the leader eaten by a red dragon. Out of supplies but in a rush to catch the dragon who’s fled to the lowest levels of the dungeon, the party comes to the attention of a dwarven master chef, who convinces them that their idea of cooking and eating dungeon monsters isn’t merely practical—it could be high culinary art. You can stream Delicious in Dungeon here.
The Decameron (2024)
A funny, dark, ultimately surprisingly humane show that takes on Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century short story collection with Bridgerton-esque swagger. With the plague ravaging Florence, a bunch of nobles and attendants make their way to a countryside villa to wait out the plague and drain the liquor supplies. Rules and mores are turned upside down, particularly by the servant Licisca (Tanya Reynolds), who kind of accidentally kills her lady on the way to the villa and decides to take her place. Somehow, despite being about mostly terrible people, this makes for an entirely addictive binge experience. You can stream The Decameron here.
The Åre Murders (2025)
So popular are Scandinavian cop dramas that Nordic noir is its own sub-genre (I’ve just learned), and this Swedish import is picking up very solid reviews. Plain-spoken, troubled (as in: under suspension) detective Hanna Ahlander leaves Stockholm to spend some time unwinding at her sister’s place in remote Åre. Of course, a missing girl finds her back on the job, and up against local police officer Daniel Lindskog, who she’s very reluctant to trust. Looking for a bleakly beautiful landscape and ambiguous morality? Åre might be the place for you. No word on whether or not more seasons are planned. You can stream The Åre Murders here.
Cassandra (2025)
There’s not much of M3GAN in this import, unless you’d care to imagine Cassandra as our favorite AI doll’s German mum. Here, a family movies into the oldest smart home in the country, built in the 1970s and retaining its AI household helper. Cassandra’s been alone for over 50 years, and, while she seems quite friendly and helpful, she’s very determined that she’ll never be on her own again. A creepy robot with deliciously retro style. You can stream Cassandra here.
Supacell (2024– , renewed for a second season)
There’s a whole lotta superpower shows out there, despite us all having long since agreed that we’re burned out on superhero stuff. And yet, there are still stories that break through and reveal themselves as something special. Such is the case with British import Supacell, lead by former Doctor Who companion Tosin Cole as Michael, a young delivery driver in East London who discovers he can move through space and time. One such trip leads him to conclude that he needs to track down four other people in similar circumstances in order to avert tragedy. Smartly, this isn’t a show about people becoming superheroes, but instead trying to live their increasingly complicated lives as superheroes—and the dangers in which they find themselves are more genuinely thrilling as a result. You can stream Supacell here.
Blood & Water (2020– , renewed for a fifth season)
In many respects it’s a top-tier teen drama, starring Ama Qamata as Puleng Khumalo, a teenage girl who’s lived her entire life in the shadow of a sister that was taken as a baby by human traffickers; Puleng’s parents even hold a birthday celebration for the sister each year. When invited to a party by popular Fikile Bhele (Khosi Ngema), a student at an elite school in Cape Town, Puleng can’t help noticing their similarities. Steeped in the story of her sister, Puleng transfers to the school to get to the bottom of things. There’s plenty of juicy high school drama and family secrets, but the show is elevated by its unexpected dramatic heft. It concluded its fourth season early in 2024 (an increasingly rare lifespan in the days of modern streaming cost-cutting), with a fifth season renewal pending. You can stream Blood & Water here.
Shadow and Bone (2021–2023, two seasons)
Based on the fantasy books of Leigh Bardugo from her series of the same name, the series follows Alina Starkov, an orphan and cartographer who discovers and grows into her vaguely magical Grisha abilities. It’s a beautiful and dense fantasy world—one that might be a little hard to grasp at first, but only because the series is content to drop you into its world without a lot of exposition. It’s worth the investment, even if a fan campaign to bring the show back for a third season didn’t succeed. You can stream Shadow and Bone here.
The Brothers Sun (2024)
A fun action-comedy and member of the Netflix one-season-and-done club (get used to it, I guess), The Brothers Sun stars Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh as Eileen Sun, the exiled matriarch of a family of Taiwanese gangsters. She’d come to Los Angeles years before, taking a son, Bruce (Sam Song Li), who grew up knowing little of his origins and has few ambitions beyond being really great at improv comedy. An assassination attempt sends his older brother to L.A., drawing Eileen and Bruce back into the fold—and into danger. You can stream The Brothers Sun here.
The Midnight Club (2022)
The least buzzy of Mike Flanagan’s Netflix offerings is every bit as good as Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, etc. Based on the YA novel by Christopher Pike, it involves a group of eight terminally ill young patients at a bucolic hospice home run by a secretive and mysterious doctor (A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Heather Langenkamp). Each night the kids meet secretly to share scary stories, with each also promising to return from beyond the grave when the time comes. Very spooky, and surprisingly moving. It was planned as more than a miniseries, and the cancellation leaves some questions unanswered, but the ending is still pretty satisfying. You can stream The Midnight Club here.
Sex Education (2019–2023, four seasons)
There’s a fair bit of sex on TV (having migrated from the now largely sexless movies), but that’s not the same thing as sex positivity. In this British comedy-drama, Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson star as an insecure, shy teenager named Otis and his mother, Jean, a frank and sometimes painfully honest sex therapist. When a school bully needs some sex advice, Otis dispenses some of the wisdom he’s picked up from mom, eventually making a name for himself around school by selling his knowledge as expertise. It’s a funny and charmingly raunchy show, treating sex with humor and positivity, and also introduced the world to reigning Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa, who co-stars. You can stream Sex Education here.
Special (2019–2021, two seasons)
One of the benefits of the age of streaming television has been the increase in real representation for diverse groups—in many cases moving light years beyond broadcast TV in telling stories by and about more than just the usual suspects. Special is a great example: a heartfelt, funny work/sex comedy about a gay man with cerebral palsy, starring and created by… a gay man with cerebral palsy (Ryan O’Connell). The result is charming and real, while also touching on perceptions of disability, as early on, Ryan rewrites his own narrative by telling people that his distinctive mannerisms are the result of a car accident. You can stream Special here.
Heartbreak High (2022– , renewed for a third and final season)
There’s a lot of history here that you don’t really need to enjoy the show, but Heartbreak High is a sorta soft-reboot of a popular and long-running 1990s show in Australia, which was itself a spin-off from a 1993 movie. Here, there’s a pretty solid blend of teen drama (sealing with issues related to gender identity, race, and teen sexuality) and comedy (the main characters corralled into the Sexual Literacy Tutorial, with the unfortunate acronym SLT). It all starts with Amelie and Harper, two students at a diverse Sydney high school, who set off a firestorm when they create a detailed map of the sexual exploits of the school’s students. You can stream Heartbreak High here.
Dark (2017–2020, three seasons)
Dark began as a mystery involving a missing child and evolved over its three seasons into one of the most complex series on television: a time travel-driven narrative that explores (appropriately) dark family secrets over the course of several generations. The first Netflix original import from Germany (after a few minutes, you won’t even notice the subtitles). It’s got a striking look and an incredibly atmospheric feel. After a few minutes, you won’t even notice the subtitles. 1899, from the same creators, was cut short after only one season—but Dark comes to a satisfying conclusion. You can stream Dark here.
Dead Boy Detectives (2024)
A particularly vocal fanbase couldn’t save these dead boys from Netflix’s axe, but its one season is nonetheless a satisfyingly complete story and an altogether fun comedy-drama. George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri star as Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne, two mismatched ghost friends who have elected to dodge the afterlife in favor of remaining on Earth to solve supernatural crimes. Young punk Charles was killed in 1989 after intervening to stop some bullies, while posh Edwin died in 1916 as part of a prank gone wrong, and he’s still trying to come to terms with his attraction to boys. Their operation is turned upside down when they meet Crystal (Kassius Nelson), a young psychic who can communicate with them. You can stream Dead Boy Detectives here.
Lockwood & Co. (2023, one season)
Another one-season-and-done show, Lockwood & Co. is a clever supernatural detective series with a neat premise. In an alternate modern Britain, ghosts are an everyday occurrence, which is not to say they aren’t a nuisance—their touch is deadly. Technological progress has largely ground to a halt, while ghost-hunting agencies abound and, since adults lose the ability to sense ghosts directly, kids and teens are on the front lines. Ruby Stokes (Bridgerton) plays Lucy Carlyle, an extremely sensitive listener who was cast aside when she was unfairly blamed for several deaths at her first job. With nowhere else to go, she joins up with the shady, unregulated Lockwood & Co., a two-orphan operation working outside the law. It’s YA, generally, but smart and spooky all the same. You can stream Lockwood & Co. here.
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous/Chaos Theory (2020 – , eight seasons)
While the latest Jurassic World movies have skewed more toward nostalgia, these two animated action series’ haven’t forgotten that dinosaurs are at least as fun for kids as they are for middle-aged parents who remember seeing Jurassic Park back in the day. Camp Cretaceous, which ran for five seasons, takes place in and around the first Jurassic World movie and involves a bunch of kids invited to the title camp for a bit of dino-themed fun—you can imagine how it goes. Chaos Theory follows the kids—most of them, anyway—six years later. You can stream Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous here.
Derry Girls (2018–2022, three seasons)
A legitimate sitcom that just happens to be set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles of the 1990s, when clashes between nationalists and unionists frequently resulted in violence. It’s a fascinating contrast, brought to life by a writer and creator (Lisa McGee) who lived it. It’s also laugh-out-loud funny—though doesn’t make any allowances for audiences unaccustomed to Irish accents, so don’t feel bad if you need subtitles until you get the hang of it. The show ended after three seasons, but comes to a satisfying conclusion. You can stream Derry Girls here.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018 – 2020, five seasons)
Nimona creator ND Stevenson also re-invented She-Ra for five seasons with plenty of action, heart, and some of the most impressive queer representation you’re likely to find in a family cartoon. Aimee Carrero plays Adora, an orphan raised to be a soldier in the evil Horde alongside her best friend Catra (AJ Michalka). When Adora discovers a magic sword that transforms her into the legendary Princess of Power, she switches sides to rebuild the Princess Alliance to resist the tyrannical rule of Hordak. The series turns on rebuilding old bonds, including with the love she left behind. You can stream She-Ra here.
Virgin River (2019– , renewed for a seventh season)
We have plenty of edgy TV lately, and there’s nothing at all wrong with something a bit cozier. Virgin River stars Alexandra Breckenridge as Mel, a nurse practitioner and midwife who finds unexpected complications when she moves to the title Northern California town. It’s high-end comfort viewing, and has a pretty dedicated fanbase, even without the buzz of something like Stranger Things. You can stream Virgin River here.
Sweet Magnolias (2020– , fifth season renewal pending)
In a similarly cozy vein (in the best possible way), Sweet Magnolias stars JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Brooke Elliott, Heather Headley and Jamie Lynn Spears as a group of childhood friends supporting each other through various life crises in Serenity, South Carolina. The cast is engaging, and the quality of the performances adds some emotional heft to the show’s sweetness. You can stream Sweet Magnolias here.
3 Body Problem (2024 – , renewed for second and third seasons)
This one might not be entirely off your radar, given that it represents the increasingly rare instance in which Netflix actually renewed a show. An adaptation of the heady Liu Cixin novel series, it begins during China’s cultural revolution and finds astrophysicist Ye Wenjie (Zine Tseng and Rosalind Chao) making contact with an alien civilization, and making choices that will haunt humanity as the narrative moves into the present. You can stream 3 Body Problem here.
What do you think so far?
Arcane (2021 – 2024, two seasons)
Another one that’s pretty popular (and Emmy-winning), but that you might miss if you’re put off by the premise and/or its very slow release cycle. There are few scenarios in which a top-down game involving online opponents shooting lasers across a map should produce a show this impressive, but here we are. The League of Legends lore forms the backdrop for the show, but the pull is in the narrative involving two sisters caught up in the growing conflict between a utopian city and its oppressed underclass, without whom it couldn’t exist. The painted animation style is truly something special. You can stream Arcane here.
Gentefied (2020–2021, two seasons)
A half-hour comedy-drama, but with an emphasis on the comedy, Gentefied follows three Mexican-American cousins who have built lives in Los Angeles, only to be faced with a new challenge: the looming gentrification of the neighborhood they helped to build. This bilingual series has a lot of heart, and, though cut short after two seasons, the second is even better than the first. You can stream Gentefied here.
The Way of the Househusband (2021–2023, two seasons)
It’s a little bit of a throwback, sure: the Mr. Mom-style story finds a former yakuza boss getting out of the business in favor of taking over the household chores while his wife goes off to work. Wild! Still, there’s plenty of fun to be had as the deeply intense Tatsu deals with the daily complications of normal life. It takes a typical anime action show star and drop him into a show about making dinner—a solid premise executed with tongue firmly in cheek. You can stream The Way of the Househusband here.
Raising Dion (2019–2022)
There’s a bit of a Stranger Things-vibe to Raising Dion—a single mom helps her kids to cope with a wildly unexpected turn of events in their lives—but instead of supernatural horror, they’re dealing with their burgeoning superpowers. Seven-year-old Dion, specifically, develops mysterious abilities following the death of his scientist father (played in flashback by one of the show’s producers, Michael B. Jordan). The show wisely doesn’t shy away from depicting the unique challenges of being a Black single mother, which grow further complicated, naturally, when your kid can freeze objects in mid-air. You can stream Raising Dion here.
Young Royals (2021–2024 , three seasons)
Steamy soap Young Royals follows the fictional Prince of Sweden, Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) as he embarks on a romance with another student, Simon Eriksson (Omar Rudberg) at their elite boarding school. While possessed of all the addictive qualities of the teen drama genre, Young Royals takes itself a bit more seriously than some, and feels remarkably fresh in its commitment to casting age-appropriate actors in all the key roles. You can stream Young Royals here.
Sacred Games (2018–2019, two seasons)
A crime-drama with a uniquely complex facility with world-building, this Indian import begins with an honest Mumbai cop played by Hindi-language film star Saif Ali Khan. Just as the rookie has become entangled in the police department’s corruption, he’s contacted by a long-believed-dead crime boss who warns him that, without his help, everyone in Mumbai will be dead in 25 days. The familiar cop-show beats play out against a larger-than-usual canvas, making for one of the best recent crime dramas from any country. You can stream Sacred Games here.
Atypical (2017–2021, four seasons)
There are plenty of shows featuring characters who serve as analogs for individuals on the autism spectrum (think Big Bang Theory), but very few that seem willing to, I dunno, forefront characters with autism. In that regard, Atypical isn’t perfect—in trying to show the positive face of autism, the well-intentioned series doesn’t always let the characters feel like real people. Still, issues aside, it’s a likable and funny show that gets closer to a realistic portrait of life on the spectrum than most. You can stream Atypical here.
Sense8 (2015–2018, two seasons and two specials)
Look, it’s a superhero show, but with orgies. That’s not the actual tagline, but maybe the show would’ve gone past two seasons had it been. Really, though, it’s a high-concept science fiction premise involving eight strangers from around the world who find with and between themselves with a deep, inexplicable connection. On one level, that means they can share their special abilities when needed. On another, it’s an impressively uplifting call for connection, and a recognition of our mutual interconnectedness. Also, the show is super queer—unsurprising, given it sprung from the minds of the Wachowskis (who co-wrote the episodes with Babylon 5‘s Michael J. Straczynski). You can stream Sense8 here.
3% (2016–2020, four seasons)
The metaphor isn’t terribly subtle: In a near-future dystopia, the young, impoverished people of Inland have one chance to get out—“The Process,” a gamut of tests and puzzles to determine who will get to set off forever to live in a bountiful paradise. Most fail, and some die, leaving 3% of participants to move on to a utopia that it’s not much of a spoiler to say isn’t quite all it’s cracked up to be. Yeah, it’s more-or-less a Brazilian Hunger Games, but with longer-form storytelling and well-drawn characters that sell the concept. You can stream 3% here.
Alias Grace (2017, one season)
In some ways, it’s the other recent Margaret Atwood novel adaptation (existing well in the shadow of the bigger, buzzier Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu), but this miniseries is every bit as biting and well-crafted. It’s based on the true story of a poor Irish immigrant found guilty of a double homicide in 1843 under somewhat mysterious circumstances, and following a life of trauma. Years later, a psychiatrist comes to examine her and explores her past and the circumstances that might (just might) have driven a disenfranchised and powerless girl to murder. You can stream Alias Grace here.
Star Trek: Prodigy (2021 – , third season renewal pending)
Like One Day at a Time, Prodigy became a Netflix original in a roundabout way, having been ditched by Paramount+ (Star Trek‘s kinda/mostly streaming home) after the first season. A bit of smartly entry-level Trek, the show finds a bunch of orphaned teens forced to work in a labor colony discovering a long-lost Federation starship that they use to make their escape. With some help from the ship’s built-in command training program (Kate Mulgrew, reprising her role as a holographic version of Voyager‘s Captain Janeway), the kids make their escape into a bigger universe. It’s some of the best modern Trek, with an all-ages style and increasingly epic scope. You can stream Star Trek: Prodigy here.
Gyeongseong Creature (2023 – , third season renewal pending)
A bigger hit globally than in the U.S., this South Korean import blends historical drama with monster horror in a fun, compelling way. Set in 1945 Gyeongseong (what is now Seoul), and during the Japanese occupation of Korea, the series finds the titular monster arising out of human experimentation conducted in secret by the Japanese army. The scars of occupation have been justifiably fertile ground for storytelling in the last few years (see also Apple’s Pachinko), and Gyeongseong adds science fiction action to that mix. You can stream Gyeongseong Creature here.
Hilda (2018 – 2023, three seasons)
Hilda’s world feels like it could have come from the mind of Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, but with more trolls (it’s not Japanese, for the record, but based on a British graphic novel). The title character lives with her mother in the remote wilderness, a magical landscape filled with magic and animals that adventurous Hilda is very familiar with. Circumstances force the two to move to the city of Trollberg, a place that appears to have significantly less magic. It’s a distinctly lovely-looking show, with a curious and empathetic protagonist who’s also incredibly stubborn and set in her ways. It’s wonderful for kids and adults, and stars Belle Ramsey (The Last of Us) as the title character. There’s also a feature-length movie (Hilda and the Mountain King, also on Netflix). You can stream Hilda here.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (2020, three seasons)
A collaboration between DreamWorks and the South Korean animation studio Mir (The Legend of Korra), this enchanting adventure series follows Kipo Oak as she seeks out her father in unique future dystopia: at some point, mutated animals rose up against their human oppressors and forced humans into underground burrows. During her journey, Kipo discovers new things about herself (for example, that she’s not 100% human), and finds friends and allies among the animals. It’s a gorgeous and delightful adventure, with a fair bit of casual diversity and queer representation. You can stream Kipo here.
Anne With an E (2017–2019, three seasons)
It doesn’t sound, on its face, like a great idea: Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic novel Anne of Green Gables is pretty well synonymous with old-timey kid lit and a beloved ‘70s miniseries, and any modern adaptation could have run to treacly irrelevance or edgy revisionism. Instead, the reboot revisits the novel and mines its text (and subtext) for new ideas without betraying the spirit of the work. It feels perfectly fresh modern in unexpected ways. You can stream Anne With an E here.
Kingdom (2019–2020, two seasons and then some)
It’s not exactly a history lesson, but Kingdom does open a window into the middle of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, a centuries-long era that ran to nearly the 20th century. During which time there wasn’t an actual zombie plague—so liberties have been taken. The show very deftly combines horror and medieval-esque political intrigue, making it something wholly unique to either genre. Based on a webcomic series authored by show creator Kim Eun-hee, it was Netflix’s first original South Korean series. So far there are two seasons and a feature-length special episode, with a spin-off movie Ashin of the North. You can stream Kingdom here.
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