Best Shows on Netflix Right Now: What to Watch in 2026

September 14, 2026 • Victoria Taylor

September 14, 2026 9 min read

With thousands of series competing for attention, deciding what to watch on Netflix right now can sometimes take longer than actually watching something. Netflix’s Top 10 is useful for seeing what everyone else is streaming, but popularity does not necessarily mean quality. Our guide to the best shows on Netflix right now combines the biggest current Netflix hits with outstanding series that remain well worth discovering.

Right now, one show in particular is dominating the conversation. Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen has returned for Season 2, bringing Theo James and Kaya Scodelario back into its wonderfully stylish world of aristocrats, organised crime and increasingly complicated family loyalties. The new season premiered on September 3, 2026, and has quickly become one of the biggest shows on Netflix, topping the current US chart. Netflix has already confirmed that the series will return for Season 3.

But The Gentlemen is far from the only reason to open Netflix. From crime thrillers and dark comedy to science fiction, mystery and prestige drama, these are our picks for the best Netflix shows to watch right now.

1. The Gentlemen

Best for: Crime, gangster drama and dark comedy

Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen has become one of Netflix’s most entertaining crime series, taking the world of his 2019 film and developing it into something much richer. Theo James stars as Eddie Horniman, an aristocrat who unexpectedly inherits his family’s estate only to discover that a considerable cannabis empire is operating beneath it.

Season 2 takes that idea considerably further, with Eddie expanding his empire beyond England while putting increasing pressure on his relationship with Susie Glass, played by Kaya Scodelario. What makes the second season especially interesting is the darker family story underneath all the trademark Guy Ritchie humour, as Eddie’s relationship with his older brother Freddy begins to echo Michael and Fredo Corleone in The Godfather.

2. Outer Banks

Best for: Adventure, mystery and escapist binge-watching

Few Netflix shows understand pure binge-watching pleasure quite as well as Outer Banks. What began as a sun-drenched teenage treasure hunt gradually developed into an increasingly elaborate adventure series involving lost fortunes, family secrets, dangerous criminals and friendships that somehow survive an astonishing amount of chaos. The fifth and final season arrived on Netflix in August 2026 and has brought the series back into the Netflix Top 10.

3. Adolescence

Best for: Powerful British drama

Adolescence is almost the opposite of traditional binge television. The British drama is tense, uncomfortable and formally audacious, with each episode constructed as a continuous shot. The story begins after a 13-year-old boy is arrested for the murder of a teenage girl, but rather than becoming a conventional whodunit, the series examines the family, school and social environment surrounding him. Stephen Graham gives an extraordinary performance as the boy’s father.

4. Stranger Things

Best for: Science fiction, horror and adventure

Stranger Things became one of the defining television shows of the Netflix era for good reason. What begins as a relatively contained mystery about the disappearance of a young boy in Hawkins, Indiana expands across five seasons into a huge science-fiction and horror saga. Netflix is continuing to expand the universe with the animated spin-off Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, renewed for Season 2 almost immediately after its April 2026 debut.

5. Black Mirror

Best for: Dark science fiction and psychological thrillers

Few television series have had as much impact on how we talk about technology as Black Mirror. Charlie Brooker’s anthology takes contemporary anxieties about artificial intelligence, social media, surveillance, virtual reality and digital identity and pushes them a few uncomfortable steps into the future. The anthology format means there is no need to watch the episodes in order, making it particularly easy to sample.

6. Baby Reindeer

Best for: Dark, uncomfortable drama

Baby Reindeer begins with a deceptively straightforward premise: struggling comedian Donny Dunn encounters a lonely woman called Martha while working behind a bar. Her attachment to him rapidly becomes obsessive, and what initially contains elements of extremely dark comedy evolves into something much more unsettling. Richard Gadd’s series refuses to turn its characters into simple victim-and-villain archetypes.

7. Beef

Best for: Dark comedy and character drama

A moment of road rage between two complete strangers becomes the foundation for one of Netflix’s funniest and most psychologically perceptive series. Steven Yeun and Ali Wong play Danny and Amy, two deeply unhappy people who become obsessed with destroying one another after an insignificant traffic confrontation. It is funny, nasty and unexpectedly moving.

8. Ripley

Best for: Crime, noir and beautifully photographed television

Patricia Highsmith’s Tom Ripley has appeared on screen many times, but Netflix’s Ripley justifies returning to familiar material through sheer confidence of execution. Andrew Scott plays Ripley as a quiet, watchful and increasingly dangerous outsider sent to Italy to persuade wealthy Dickie Greenleaf to return home. Shot in striking black and white, the series takes its time.

9. Wednesday

Best for: Mystery, comedy and gothic fantasy

Jenna Ortega’s performance transformed Wednesday Addams into the centre of one of Netflix’s biggest international hits. The series sends Wednesday to Nevermore Academy, where the familiar Addams Family character finds herself surrounded by werewolves, sirens, strange teachers and murder investigations. Part detective story, part supernatural drama and part deadpan comedy.

10. The Diplomat

Best for: Political thrillers and intelligent drama

Keri Russell stars as Kate Wyler, an American diplomat unexpectedly appointed US ambassador to the United Kingdom during an international crisis. The pleasure of The Diplomat comes from watching extremely intelligent people attempt to solve geopolitical problems while simultaneously creating spectacular problems in their personal lives, particularly Kate’s chaotic marriage to Hal Wyler, played brilliantly by Rufus Sewell.

11. The Crown

Best for: Historical and prestige drama

Few Netflix productions have ever looked as expensive or confident as The Crown. Across six seasons, Peter Morgan’s drama follows Queen Elizabeth II and the British royal family through decades of political change, scandal, tragedy and shifting public attitudes toward the monarchy, with different actors taking over the central roles as the characters age.

12. The Queen’s Gambit

Best for: Character-driven drama

The Queen's Gambit Netflix series poster

A television drama about competitive chess does not sound like an obvious global phenomenon, but The Queen’s Gambit proved otherwise. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Beth Harmon, an orphan who discovers an extraordinary talent for chess while simultaneously developing addictions that threaten both her career and her life. It is a limited series, ideal for anyone searching for a short Netflix series to binge.

13. Dark

Best for: Complex science fiction and mystery

If Stranger Things represents Netflix science fiction at its most accessible, Dark sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. The German series begins with a missing child in a small town and gradually unfolds into an extraordinarily complicated story involving several families, multiple generations and the nature of time itself. Not a programme to watch while scrolling through your phone.

14. Mindhunter

Best for: Serial killer and psychological crime drama

David Fincher’s influence can be felt throughout Mindhunter, a meticulously controlled crime drama about the early development of criminal profiling within the FBI. Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany play agents who begin interviewing imprisoned serial killers to understand how they think. Although only two seasons were made, it remains one of the best crime series on Netflix.

15. Ozark

Best for: Crime thrillers and Breaking Bad fans

Jason Bateman plays financial adviser Marty Byrde, whose work laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel forces him to relocate his family to the Missouri Ozarks. From that relatively simple premise, Ozark develops into a sprawling story of organised crime, political influence and a family gradually becoming inseparable from the criminal world it initially wanted to escape. Anyone searching for shows like Breaking Bad on Netflix should start here.

What Is the Number One Show on Netflix Right Now?

Netflix rankings change constantly and also vary from country to country, so the answer can change within days. At the time of this update in September 2026, The Gentlemen Season 2 is at the top of Netflix’s US Top 10 television chart, following the new season’s September 3 release, with Outer Banks Season 5 also among the major current hits. That distinction is worth making because the most popular show on Netflix right now and the best show on Netflix right now are not necessarily the same thing — Netflix’s rankings measure viewing, whereas this list is editorial.

What Are the Best Crime Shows on Netflix Right Now?

Netflix remains particularly strong for crime and thriller series. The Gentlemen is the obvious current recommendation for anyone wanting something fast, stylish and entertaining, while Mindhunter offers something considerably darker and more psychological. Ripley is a beautifully controlled slow-burn crime drama, Ozark provides a much larger multi-season criminal saga, and The Diplomat brings similar tension into the world of international politics rather than organised crime.

What Are the Best Thriller Series on Netflix?

For pure suspense, start with The Gentlemen, Ripley, Mindhunter or Ozark. Those wanting something more psychological should try Baby Reindeer or Black Mirror, while Dark combines mystery and science fiction into a much more intricate puzzle. The advantage of Netflix’s library is that “thriller” can mean very different things — The Gentlemen is energetic and funny, Ripley is patient and atmospheric, Mindhunter is unsettling because of its realism.

What Should I Watch on Netflix Tonight?

If you want one simple recommendation, watch The Gentlemen Season 2. It is the series generating the most attention on Netflix right now, and it is accessible enough to work as pure entertainment while having considerably more going on underneath its surface. For something more serious, choose Adolescence. For an adventure binge, try Outer Banks. For a dark crime drama, watch Ripley or Mindhunter. For science fiction, start with Black Mirror, Dark or Stranger Things.

Best Shows on Netflix Right Now: Our Verdict

Netflix’s enormous catalogue means that the hardest part is often separating genuinely good television from whatever happens to be occupying the Top 10 that week. The best Netflix shows are not necessarily the newest ones, which is why this list combines current releases with series that remain worth watching years after they first appeared.

Right now, though, The Gentlemen Season 2 is our standout recommendation. Guy Ritchie’s crime series has grown beyond its original gangster-comedy premise into a surprisingly compelling story about ambition, family, inheritance and betrayal — read our full breakdown in The Gentlemen Season 2 Review: The Godfather Parallel Explained. If you have already finished it, Netflix still has an unusually deep selection to explore, from Adolescence and Ripley to Black Mirror, Dark, Mindhunter, Beef and The Queen’s Gambit.

We will continue updating this guide as new Netflix series arrive and the best shows on the platform change.

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