The 50 Best Netflix Original Series, Ranked
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40. Marvel’s Jessica Jones
When is one perfect season enough to make up for two more less-than-perfect ones? This surprisingly common phenomenon (see: True Detective, for one) befell Marvel’s grown-up Netflix crime series Jessica Jones. Krysten Ritter’s version of the brooding private investigator is tough-as-nails, and not just because of her super-strength. Jones is like an alcoholic Veronica Mars, a neo-noir heroine whose cynicism is informed by her experiences with abuse. The series’ first season was a success thanks to its fearless mining of these tough themes, but also thanks to the presence of one of the scariest supervillains of all time, David Tennant’s master manipulator Kilgrave. Series creator Melissa Rosenberg goes beyond typical Marvel popcorn fare and instead makes a powerful, harrowing story about what it’s like to be completely under someone else’s control; the first season of Jessica Jones remains haunting and excellent to this day.
39. Sacred Games
India’s first Netflix Original is a sleek, ultra-violent gangster saga based on the novel of the same name by Vikram Chandra. The series’ jarring first shot, of a small dog being thrown from a skyscraper — impact and all — is a gut check meant to weed out the weak-stomached, but it’s also emblematic of the kind of well-packaged shock that’s to come for those who are in for the long haul. It should go without saying that the series is considered controversial, both for its hypermasculine violent streak and for perceived insults to the Indian government. Sacred Games is riveting and groundbreaking stuff, though, a dark mystery that’s intent on unraveling corruption even as it makes sure your eyes are glued to the screen. International star Saif Ali Khan leads the cast as the investigator at the mystery’s heart.
38. Santa Clarita Diet
Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila Hammond (Drew Barrymore) are a normal if dorky suburban couple whose lives totally change when Sheila is turned into a zombie. Only in Santa Clarita Diet, zombies don’t moan and shuffle so much as drink human flesh milkshakes and feel more alive than ever. This gross-out comedy is surprisingly sincere and even thrilling as it follows the former high school sweethearts through an uneasy adjustment period and into some high-stakes murderous hijinks. Meanwhile, their teen daughter Abby (Liv Hewson) and geek neighbor kid Eric (Skyler Gisondo) look into the roots of Sheila’s zombie-ism, to deeply weird results. As a pair of dorky yet newly invigorated real estate agents, Barrymore and Olyphant are both unpredictable and hilarious.
37. Big Mouth
Puberty is gross, and Nick Kroll and the rest of the team behind Big Mouth won’t let you forget it. This animated series follows Nick (Kroll) and Andrew (John Mulaney), a pair of awkward best friends whose friendship only gets more awkward as their bodies start to betray them in all sorts of strange and inevitable ways. Despite its commitment to grossness, Big Mouth is refreshingly educational, empathetic, and open-minded, addressing issues ranging from sexual orientation to reproductive rights with silliness and imagination. Nick, Andrew, and their classmates are plagued by hormone monsters, manifestations of their most horny and confused selves that also have personalities of their own. If that’s not enough to get you on board, the cast is also a who’s who of great comedians, including Jenny Slate, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele, and more.
36. Dead To Me
Although Dead to Me’s first season was advertised as a twist-a-minute thriller, the series is really more of a drama — one that tackles grief and female friendship — that just so happens to take some wild turns. And that’s reason enough to love it! Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini star as two women who find each other at pivotal moments in one another’s lives, and the prickly duo is endlessly watchable. While both have closely-held secrets that are revealed throughout the first season (a second season is set to debut this year), it’s safe to simply say that Applegate’s Jen is an angry widow and Cardellini’s Judy is an emotional woman she befriends at a grief support group. The rest is for you to find out.
35. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
Though the unique style and established mythology of this prequel series may not garner many new viewers, fans of Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s highly imaginative ‘80s puppet movie are sure to love it. One of Netflix’s most ambitious undertakings, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance brings a whole Lord of the Rings-esque world to life in Henson’s signature style and includes a sprawling voice cast with too many celebrities to mention (including at least five Game of Thrones alums). The series takes place in a world called Thra, where the Skeksis ruling class is revealed to be corrupt and evil. Meanwhile, three members of the Gelflings — clan-based elf-like creatures who are under the Skeksis’ rule — Rian (Taron Egerton), Bria (Anya Taylor-Joy), and Deet (Nathalie Emmanuel) face down the Skeksis and become heroes in their own right.
34. Godless
Nothing hits the spot quite like a great TV Western, and Netflix’s first pass at one is a doozy. This miniseries spoils viewers with an inspired cast of underrated favorites; it’s got Michelle Dockery, Scoot McNairy, Merritt Wever, Jack O’Connell, and Tantoo Cardinal, with Jeff Daniels thrown in for good measure. The series is also gorgeous, an atmospheric saga in which the dusty landscape shapes the people who call it home. Writer-director Scott Frank, who penned the screenplay for Logan, brings outlaws and outsiders to life across seven episodes. Unlike several other short-lived series on this list, Godless was planned as a self-contained season, so viewers need not worry about a lack-of-closure finale hangover.
33. The OA
Fantasy mystery series The OA is so out there, it’s nearly impossible to describe, but maybe it’s something you’re meant to feel your way through. The series’ cancellation after two seasons has, after all, inspired emotional reactions and interpretive dance flash mobs. At first, The OA seems as if it fits within a familiar sub-genre; it aims to uncover the truth about a blind woman (Brit Marling) who disappeared for seven years and returned with her eyesight. Is the answer scientific or metaphysical? Other series like Les Revenants and The 4400 have followed similar trajectories, but none have gotten as weird as fast as The OA. To reveal much more would spoil the mysteries of the series, which unfortunately ends on a cliffhanger, but suffice it to say that The OA will take you to places you’ve never been.
32. Love
Judd Apatow puts his awkward-rom-com chops to the long-form test with Love, a three-season series that follows an LA couple who seem just as doomed to fall apart as they do to choose one another. Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) works at a radio station and has some self-destructive tendencies when it comes to relationships, while Gus (Paul Rust), a signature Apatow man-child, is a set tutor to the stars. The two soon find one another, but their road to bliss is anything but straightforward. Prominent indie directors like Lynn Shelton, Maggie Carey, and Joe Swanberg give this story a realistic vibe, and the show matures with its leads.
31. Narcos (and Narcos: Mexico)
These two related crime thrillers in the same franchise follow the rise of the international drug trade through different settings; Narcos focuses on Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) and the DEA’s interactions with the Colombian drug trade, while Narcos: Mexico takes viewers inside the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel through the eyes of drug lord El Padrino (Diego Luna) and DEA agent Kiki Camarena (Michael Peña). Both series use familiar cat-and-mouse tropes to tell stories of power gained and lost, but both also attempt to tell a broader, perhaps lesser-known story about the violence and politics of the so-called war on drugs, and the cultures that were caught in the crossfire.
