Let’s face it: It’s hard to quit <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a61878509/netflix-shows-look-alike-why/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Netflix. The streamer has come a very long way since we used it to rent DVDs by mail. For the younger crowd: “DVDs” were physical compact discs that we used to watch movies by inserting them into disc players. They looked like CDs. And, okay, CDs were also round and flat discs that we used to listen to music, and…
In 2026, Netflix is still the biggest name in at-home (or, just as important, on-phone) entertainment, maybe second only to YouTube. Though the final season of Stranger Things wasn’t all that, Netflix’s TV offerings are still quite good. Sure, you’ve probably heard the plot repeated to you a handful of times, but that’s what happens when you can’t stop doomscrolling or folding laundry while you’re binge-watching that new thing you promised your friends you’d check out.
The year for Netflix’s original TV started strong, with shows like His & Hersthat has Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal playing an estranged couple, Vladimir starring Rachel Weisz in a steamy romance with a younger colleague, and favorites like The Lincoln Lawyer and The Night Agent that remain favorites for dads and uncles.
The summer kept on giving the goods, with a second season of Beef that might be better than the first, crime dramas like The Witness and I Will Find You, and another season of Kate Hudson overseeing professional basketball in Running Point. Speaking of sports, new seasons of WWE: Unreal, F1: Drive to Survive, and America’s Sweethearts prove we don’t need to be season ticket holders to get up close to all the action.
Summer may be over soon, but there’s still more of a busy year left. Later this year will see the premieres of Assassin’s Creedand new seasons of shows like 3 Body Problem, and Black Doves.For now, these are the must-see shows on Netflix in 2026.
Beef(season 2)
Two years after Beef racked up critical acclaim, creator Lee Sung Jin delivered another helping of simmering tensions in a standalone season 2. Twisting the premise of season 1’s enemies-to-lovers arc, Beef season 2 follows two sets of couples—Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan on one side, Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton on the other—who come to blows over blackmail. For a hot minute, Beef‘s sophomore season had us thinking it was the show of the year. Read Brady Langmann’s review to find out why.
America’s Sweethearts (season 3)
Let’s go girls. One of our favorite all-access sports documentaries came hollerin’ back for a third season, with America’s Sweethearts chronicling a new batch of hopefuls who wish to make the iconic Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders for the 2025–26 season. The twist for season 3? How management sorts through all the new girls who, believe it or not, were inspired to try out after watching the series on Netflix.
I Will Find You
If you’re itching for a crime drama on Netflix, I Will Find You might be exactly what you’re looking for. This adaptation of Harlan Coben’s 2023 novel tells of a man, David Burroughs (Sam Worthington), who is serving life in prison after being framed for murdering his son. Five years into his sentence, he learns from his ex-sister-in-law (Severance‘s Britt Lower) that his son may still be alive. It’s nothing you’ve not seen before, but I Will Find You delivers thanks to an impeccable cast.
Quarterback(season 3)
If America’s Sweethearts is about football’s cheerleaders, then Quarterback is about its darlings on the field: the quarterbacks. Season 3 of the Netflix docu-series follows Jayden Daniels, Joe Flacco, Baker Mayfield, and Cam Ward, who reveal to the cameras all it takes to play in one of the most coveted and most grueling positions in all of professional sports.
The Witness
Where most crime dramas fix their cameras on the obvious stuff—the crime itself, the investigations, the hunt for the true culprit—The Witness chooses a different angle: a father and son caught in the firestorm. Based on the real-life 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell and the memoir Letting Go by Alex Hanscombe, The Witness follows Nickell’s surviving husband and son, who was just two years old when his mother was murdered in front of him, as they live life under scrutiny, anguish, and madness over police efforts that turn up nada.
Running Point (season 2)
When Running Point premiered on Netflix last year, we called it: “If Ted Lasso had bigger balls.” Or something to that effect. Anyway, season 2 of the sports comedy still has cojones, with Kate Hudson’s Isla Gordon still calling the shots over the fictional Los Angeles Waves. But her brother Cam (Justin Theroux), who originally left her in charge, is now back and threatens to undo all of Isla’s sweaty efforts to turn the Waves into championship material. We’re rooting for this one from the nosebleeds.
Little House on the Prairie
Modern life got you down? Is everything too automated and auto-generated and can’t restaurants stop making me read their menus from QR codes?! If the 21st century has got you yearning for far simpler times, Little House on the Prairie is your escape. Based on the iconic books by Laura Ingalls Wilder and following in the footsteps of the epic NBC series that ran from 1974 to 1983, Little House on the Prairie retells the upbringing of Laura Ingalls with her family on the American frontier.
Norway: The Dark Horse
Miss our blissful World Cup summer already? The two-part limited series Norway: The Dark Horse will get you obsessing over the beautiful game again as Netflix cameras follow Norway’s national team ending their 26-year drought and qualifying for the World Cup. We might know how the story ends, but Norway: The Dark Horse is an all-access perspective on how it all unfolded.
Run Away
Netflix started 2026 with a bang, with Run Away hitting the platform on New Year’s Day. The series adapts Harlan Coben’s 2019 novel, which follows a desperate father (played by James Nesbett) in the search for his eldest daughter (Ellie de Lange). To his surprise, he finds her again… but that’s when the real mystery begins. If you want a twisty thriller about painful family secrets, Run Away is what you’re after.
His & Hers
Two Marvel superstars, Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal, pack this binge-worthy miniseries. Thompson leads as a withdrawn ex-journalist who springs back to work when she hears about a murder in her Georgia hometown. She clashes with her estranged husband (Bernthal), who happens to be the detective assigned to the case. His & Hers is what happens when a marriage collides with justice; you’ll want to clear the weekend for this one.
The Lincoln Lawyer (season 4)
The tables have turned for attorney Mickey Haller. In the fourth season of the Netflix hit, which adapts Michael Connelly’s 2020 novel The Law of Innocence, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s Mickey must now prove his own innocence after Sam’s dead body is found in his Lincoln Navigator. Now, Mickey fights for his own freedom while behind bars. Four seasons deep, The Lincoln Lawyer still has gas in the tank.
The Night Agent (season 3)
Every streamer has a spy thriller to hook subscribers, and for Netflix, it’s without a doubt The Night Agent. In its third season, which premiered on Netflix in March, Gabriel Basso returns as FBI agent Peter Sutherland who tracks down a treasury agent-turned-fugitive to Istanbul. This kicks off a globe-trotting investigation that takes Peter, along with a dogged journalist (Genesis Rodriguez) deep into the underworld.
Vladimir
“How Rachel Weisz Got Her Groove Back” is basically the pitch for Vladimir, the steamy Netflix dramedy based on Julia May Jonas’ hit novel. Weisz stars as “M,” a wife, mother, and college professor whose declining personal life leads her in front of Vladimir (Leo Woodall), an attractive young colleague. M is determined to turn her explicit, R-rated daydreams into reality. But will reality actually meet her expectations?
Formula 1: Drive to Survive (season 8)
The race to the 2025 Formula One Championship is chronicled in the eighth propulsive season of Drive to Survive. The seasons kicks off at F1 75 Live in London, with the story centering on six rookies proving their mettle on the track… and the legendary Lewis Hamilton making his move to Ferrari.
WWE: Unreal (season 2)
2025 will forever be remembered as the year John Cena turned heel. WWE: Unreal, the all-access pass into the world behind WWE’s cameras, chronicles the long road to SummerSlam 2025. Along with Cena’s final year as an in-ring star—but first as a legit main event villain—the changing landscape of WWE means Unreal places the spotlight on the era’s top draws (like Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley) and new blood like Penta and commentator Pat McAfee. You think all the drama is inside the ring? Think again.
Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole
Off-putting title aside, the grim and gritty Jo Nesbo’s Detective Hole is a showcase for Tobias Santelmann to show international viewers what he’s made of. Santelmann stars in this Norwegian crime drama as Harry Hole, a rugged Oslo detective on the hunt for a serial killer. Standing in his way is a corrupt colleague, played by Joel Kinnaman. Detective Hole is an ice-cold crime drama that goes down like Aquavit on the rocks.
Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen
Wedding blues? More like wedding boos. In their first post-Stranger Things outing, the Duffer Brothers executive produce Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, from showrunner Haley Z. Boston. Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco co-star as a young engaged couple whose days until “I Do” are haunted by dark visions, paranoia, and other unspeakable forces.
Bloodhounds(season 2)
Bloody knuckles and heartfelt heroics make up Netflix’s Korean-language hit Bloodhounds. In the second season of the hard-hitting action-drama, Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi return as their ex-soldiers turned amateur boxers. They team up once again to throw down in an illegal underground fight league whose organizers threaten their friends and families. You won’t find better workout inspo than this.
