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Peak TV or not, 2025 is poised to be a major year for Netflix. The oldest streamer in the biz retains a loyal customer base as well as an ad-based tier, and welcomes back multiple juggernaut shows for new seasons over the next twelve months.
The dust has barely settled on “Squid Game” Season 2 as we look ahead to Season 3, while the final “Stranger Things” installment arrives three years after its predecessor. Fan favorites “You” and “Wednesday” will return after taking a break in 2024, as will a handful of new shows with major stars and creative talent attached to them. A Taylor Kitsch and Peter Berg team up? Check. Shondaland murder mystery? Check. “Mindy Kaling sports comedy?” Check check check. Find all that and more in our 2025 Netflix preview, featuring fresh and returning shows you can stream very, very soon.
1. “American Primeval” (January 9)
The year begins in the Wild West with this limited series from Peter Berg, Mark L. Smith, and Eric Newman, described as a “violent collision of culture, religion, and community.” Berg and Newman previously worked together on Netflix’s “Painkiller,” which also starred Taylor Kitsch. This time around, Kitsch plays the mysterious Isaac, a loner in the lawless territory that Sara (Betty Gilpin) is trying to navigate with son Devin (Preston Mota) — but they’ll find it filled with more foes than friends on a perilous cross-country journey. The cast includes Kim Coates, Dane DeHaan, Jai Courtney, and more as a mix of historical and fictional figures populating the trek.
2. “Mo” Season 2 (January 30)
Possibly one of Netflix’s best but more under-the-radar series returns at the end of January, with Mo (creator and star Mo Amer) continuing his journey to seek asylum in the United States. The cliffhanger Season 1 finale had him stranded across the border, unable to return because he doesn’t have a U.S. passport — but according to Netflix, “Little does he know that the journey home is just the start of his troubles, and there’s a new guy in town ready to steal both his longtime love, Maria — and his falafel taco recipe.” IndieWire praised “Mo” Season 1 for “[managing] to be a family comedy, a romance, and occasionally a crime drama without compromising or switching tone. Surely it would be easier to to give Mo punchlines in a stressful scenarios, but Amer’s above that: He’s a funny man who doesn’t have to make light of heavier scenes.”
3. “The Residence” (March 20)
Shondaland is going back to the White House with this “screwball whodunnit” from showrunner Paul William Davies, about a murder at the country’s most prestigious address. The eight-episode series was apparently inspired by the book “The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House” by Kate Andersen Brower, which dives into various presidencies as told by White House staffers who are deeply acquainted with the building’s 132 rooms — but also, according to Davies, the classic film “Charade.” After a body turns up during a massive White House party, the staff brings in detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) and FBI agent Edwin Park (Randall Park) to solve the case. The cast includes Giancarlo Esposito, Susan Kelechi Watson, Jane Curtin, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, and many more.
4. “Squid Game” Season 3
Hey, have you heard of this show? Director Hwang Dong-hyuk’s action-packed drama returns for its third and final season with Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) seeing through his mission to end the deadly games. After Season 2’s failed attempts and with a handful of new players whose lives are at stake, he’ll have to escape the confines of being a player — not to mention unmask the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) for who he is and what got him to the top.
5. “Running Point”
‘Running Point’Katrina Marcinowski/Netflix © 2024Mindy Kaling teams up with Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen for this comedy series (co-created with Elaine Ko) about a woman who ends up in charge of her family business: running a major basketball franchise. Kate Hudson, Scott MacArthur, and Drew Tarver star as the Gordon siblings, all of whom work for the Los Angeles Waves and have to adjust to Isla (Hudson, who also serves as executive producer) becoming the boss “in the unpredictable, male-dominated world of sports.” That’s right, it’s “Succession” meets “Ted Lasso” with basketball. Stassen will serve as showrunner and the cast includes Brenda Song, Chet Hanks, Jay Ellis, Scott Evans, and Max Greenfield.
6. “Stranger Things” Season 5
The Duffer brothers’ sci-fi ’80s tribute draws to a close after nearly 10 years with its fifth and final season in 2025. Season 4 (back in 2022) revealed that the Mind Flayer a.k.a. Vecna is Eleven’s former Hawkins Lab steward (Jamie Campbell-Bower) and the first child to have been in Dr. Brenner’s custody (Matthew Modine). Years of being trapped in the Upside Down warped his body and also charged him full of supernatural power until he finally broke through, and now he’s ready to take down Elle, Hawkins, and probably the rest of the world. Nell Fisher, Jake Connelly, and Alex Breaux will join the existing cast.
7. “Too Much”
Lena Dunham and husband Luis Felber co-created this romantic comedy series about woman picking up the pieces of her life after a catastrophic breakup. Megan Stalter plays lead Jessica, who moves to London for a fresh start and connects with Felix (Will Sharpe) “while she plans to live a solitary life like a Brontë sister.” The cast of the 10-episode series includes Emily Ratajkowski, Richard E. Grant, Rita Wilson, Andrew Rannells, Michael Zegen, Rhea Perlman, Stephen Fry, and many more, with Felber’s band Attawalpa providing music.
8. “Wednesday” Season 2
‘Wednesday’BERNARD WALSH/NETFLIXThe internet’s favorite dancing glum teen detective is back and busier than ever at Nevermore Academy. Jenna Ortega’s Emmy-nominated protagonist “navigates family, friends, new mysteries, and old adversaries, propelling her headlong into another year at Nevermore” in a journey that is “darker and more complex,” according to showrunners and executive producers Al Gough and Miles Millar. The duo are keeping plot points close to the chest, but Season 2 is adding cast members Steve Buscemi, Billie Piper, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, and Noah Taylor along with existing regulars and recurring roles.
9. “The Four Seasons”
Who ordered the reboot of “The Four Seasons” (1981) — and who do we thank for casting Tina Fey and Steve Carrell? Probably Fey, for starters, who co-created the eight-episode series with longtime collaborators Tracey Wigfield and Lang Fisher. Like the film, the show will follow a group of couples who vacation together every season and how they handle the aftershock of one pair splitting up. The series also stars Will Forte, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Erika Henningsen. Along with the showrunners, the series is executive produced by David Miner, Eric Gurian, and Jeff Richmond, with Alda and Marissa Bregman producing.
10. “You” Season 5
Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) is back for one final (deadly) hurrah. Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo will take over showrunning duties from series creator Sera Gamble as Joe returns Stateside and finds out that his past isn’t as far behind him as he thought. Charlotte Ritchie is back as Joe’s new beau Kate — the rare returning character because, you know, he killed everyone — but expect loose ends from throughout the show’s run to resurface. New cast members include Madeline Brewer as Bronte, “an enigmatic and free-spirited playwright” (which unfortunately sounds exactly like Joe’s type) Griffin Matthews as Kate’s brother, and Anna Camp in a double role as her twin sisters, Raegan and Maddie. Most importantly, Season 5 may finally answer: what happened to the pee jar?
English (US) ·