10 best new Netflix shows to watch this summer

By Joe Allen Published July 28, 2025

Although Netflix came to prominence in large part because it had an archive of preexisting shows that you wanted to watch, the streaming service has spent years ensuring that its original library is robust. If you’re looking for something new on Netflix, you’ve got plenty of options.

To celebrate the year that the streamer has already had, we picked the 10 best new shows (meaning they started in 2025) that you can watch on the streaming service this summer. Check them out below:

Pulpy, fun, and the perfect binge-watch for the laziest days of summer, The Hunting Wives tells the story of a big-city woman who moves to rural Texas and finds herself falling under the influence of a wealthy socialite.

As she learns more about the world in which her friend operates, she begins to realize that these wealthy women are all hiding secrets from one another. Starring Brittany Snow and Malin Ackerman, The Hunting Wives is not all that serious, which is partly why the show is a good time.

You can watch The Hunting Wives on Netflix.

Lena Dunham’s long-awaited follow-up to Girls, Too Much is just as smart and incisive as that show, and no less funny. Although this show doesn’t star Dunham, it very much feels like a pseudo-sequel to Girls. The series follows a New York City workaholic who moves to London to take a job and live in isolation.

When she finds herself bewitched by an unproblematic man, she dives deeper and deeper into a relationship that can only end badly. Too Much might be too much for some, but for most, it’s a sharp, witty comedy about people who can’t get out of their own way.

You can watch Too Much on Netflix.

Adapted from a manga of the same name, Sakamoto Days is a brilliant new anime series about a hitman who makes the choice to retire for love, only to find that he can’t leave his past as far behind as he might have hoped.

The contrast between the central character’s quiet family life and the things he has to do to maintain it gives Sakamoto Days much of its juice, but the show’s pacing is excellent. Its willingness to shift from mundane to thrillingly violent in an instant is guaranteed to keep you on your toes.

You can watch Sakamoto Days on Netflix.

Adolescence was a major hit for Netflix, but if you haven’t caught this four-part miniseries yet, it’s certainly worth your time. The show follows the aftermath of a teenage boy’s arrest for the murder of one of his classmates. Across the four episodes, we learn more about the kid, his school, his family, and the detectives investigating the crime.

Although it can be a harrowing watch for anyone trying to raise kids in the world we’re living in, Adolescence is also a show that dares to ask questions without easy answers and leaves you to sit with every unsettling detail.

You can watch Adolescence on Netflix.

Anchored by a brilliant central performance from Matthew Goode, Dept. Q is one of the most heralded new series that Netflix has released this year. The show follows a detective who is coming back to work following an incident that paralyzed his partner and killed another cop.

Wracked by guilt, he’s tasked with solving a cold case that slowly envelopes his entire life. While the idea of obsession in detective work is not exactly new, Goode breathes new life into his character. While Dept. Q can be dark, that doesn’t mean it’s particularly hard to watch.

You can watch Dept. Q on Netflix.

Netflix has largely avoided making its own version of a late-night talk show until Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney. The series, while technically a late-night show, is much weirder than what you might expect from network alternatives.

Mulaney is willing to experiment and willing to make his audience and his guests a little bit uncomfortable in the process. The show is wildly funny, but part of the joy of watching is the show’s unpredictability, even if that means that not every moment or bit is perfect.

You can watch Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney on Netflix.

Another soapy, insanely fun show to make its debut on Netflix this year, Sirens follows two sisters who have taken wildly divergent paths through life as they reunite. When one discovers that the other has become the personal assistant of a hugely wealthy and slightly deranged woman, she begins to suspect that their relationship is not a healthy one.

Anchored by a trio of great performances from Megahnn Fahey, Milly Alcock, and Julianne Moore, Sirens features some beautiful sets and locations and also manages to be a fairly sharp satire of a particular kind of wealthy person.

You can watch Sirens on Netflix.

Sometimes all you need in a compelling TV show is two young actors with remarkable chemistry. Forever has a relatively simple premise. It follows two former childhood friends who reunite as teenagers and fall heartbreakingly, desperately in love with one another.

As they realize that being in love is not enough to make their lives any easier, they deal with all the heartache and yearning that comes with any first love. Forever would be nothing without its central performers, Lovie Simone and Michael Cooper Jr., who make every scene they share sing.

You can watch Forever on Netflix.

Uzo Aduba has been making her bones on Netflix since the streamer first launched original comedies, and with The Residence, she finally gets the chance to lead her own show. In the series, she plays an eccentric detective called to the White House to solve a murder that occurred at a state dinner.

Although the show could be too political, The Residence manages to keep a rather light tone. It’s a careful and impressive balancing act.

You can watch The Residence on Netflix.

Based on a strange, frightening true story, Apple Cider Vinegar tells the story of two women who, in parallel, begin selling their millions of followers on alternative medicine, even as they begin to realize that what they’re selling doesn’t work the way they say it does.

Anchored by another brilliant performance from Kaitlyn Dever, Apple Cider Vinegar is an unsettling story about the very idea of wellness and why so many people are looking for alternative remedies.

You can watch Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix.