6 Best Netflix Shows Released Since 2015

From BoJack Horseman to Stranger Things, there are so many phenomenal Netflix shows that have become fundamental to the streamer’s legacy. Netflix may have a number of classics that have long ended, but in the last decade, it has still continued to deliver excellent original content. From terrifying horror shows, to laugh-out-loud funny sitcoms, to emotional coming-of-age series, these shows have stood out for their nuanced characters and well-written dialogue.

Netflix has always been best appreciated for its core series that built its reputation, but over the years, it has continued to add a number of incredible new series to its catalog. Some of these series have since ended with excellent finales, while others are still ongoing. These are the 6 best Netflix original shows that the streaming platform has released since 2015, ranked.

6

‘Heartstopper’ (2022–2026)

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Based on the webcomic turned graphic novel series by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper is a coming-of-age romance series that tells the love story of teenagers Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) and Nick Nelson (Kit Connor). After being assigned to sit next to each other in form class, Nick and Charlie strike up an unlikely friendship. The two live very different lives; Charlie has been bullied at school since getting outed as gay the year before, and Nick plays for the rugby team. Still, Nick and Charlie become very close very quickly, and they start to fall for each other along the way.

Heartstopper is a truly beautiful and well-written series that puts Nick and Charlie’s romance front and center. There is a sweetness to all of their scenes, but the show also doesn’t shy away from each of their deeper struggles. Additionally, Heartstopper is full of fantastic LGBTQ+ representation all around, with a fully-developed and nuanced cast of main characters who each have their own meaningful arcs throughout the course of the series.

5

‘Santa Clarita Diet’ (2017–2019)

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Santa Clarita Diet is a hilarious dark comedy series that follows a normal family living in the suburbs of Santa Clarita: married couple and realtor duo Sheila (Drew Barrymore) and Joel (Timothy Olyphant), and their teenage daughter, Abby (Liv Hewson). One day, though, Sheila gets sick with a mysterious stomach virus and suddenly dies. Immediately, she comes back to life, and Joel and Abby realize that Sheila is now a zombie.

Despite her unfortunate new circumstances, Sheila feels like becoming a zombie has finally given her the chance to truly live for the first time. She wants to take risks and feel alive, and she’s ready to shake things up. It also means killing and eating people to survive, which she’s a little more concerned about. Joel loves Sheila more than anything, so he works to figure out how to help her kill as ethically and discreetly as possible. The result is a laugh-out-loud funny series with excellent zombie lore, a wonderfully over-the-top sense of humor, and a beautiful family story at its center.

4

‘Julie and the Phantoms’ (2020)

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Julie and the Phantoms follows Julie Molina (Madison Reyes), a teenage girl who’s been grieving since the death of her mother a year earlier. Julie and her mother shared a love of music, so Julie’s been unable to sing or play since then, and she’s now being kicked out of her school’s music program. While cleaning out her mother’s older studio, Julie accidentally awakens the spirits of three ghosts who used to use the space to practice for their band: Luke (Charlie Gillespie), Alex (Owen Patrick Joyner), and Reggie (Jeremy Shada).

Luke, Alex, and Reggie were in a band called Sunset Curve 25 years ago, but they died right before they were expected to finally become successful. Now, the three of them encourage Julie to start singing and playing music again. They push her to re-audition for the music program, but during the audition, they accidentally play with her. It then becomes clear that the ghosts can be seen while they’re performing with Julie, so the four of them start a band together. Julie and the Phantoms is a beautiful show about grief and love – and it has phenomenal music.

3

‘Bridgerton’ (2020–Present)

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Based on the book series of the same name by Julia Quinn, Bridgerton is a regency-era romance series that follows the love lives of the eight Bridgerton children, with different romantic leads each season. The series is now four seasons in, and has so far told four love stories: those of Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor) and Simon Basset (Regé-Jean Page), Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley), Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), and Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) and Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). The series will be returning next year for its fifth season to tell the love story of Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza).

Bridgerton has become one of Netflix’s standout series. It is a swoonworthy romance series that crafts an excellent central relationship each season, while also giving each of the leads their own arcs outside of their relationship. It also has an excellent setting, a playful and more modern take on the regency aesthetic, and deeply compelling storylines – not to mention some of the best and most romantic quotes of any Netflix series.

2

‘Dark’ (2017–2020)

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In 2017, Netflix released one of the greatest time travel series of all time. Dark is a German sci-fi thriller series that starts with a simple premise: in 2019, a child has just disappeared from the small town of Winden, and not for the first time. Back in 1986, another child suddenly disappeared, and both of these tragedies connect back to four central families. The series moves through its initial two timelines to follow these two investigations, all while slowly revealing more about the underlying supernatural factors at play.

Dark is a brilliant and suspenseful series with clever and thoughtful storylines, complex characters, and deeply emotionally resonant themes. Its core mysteries are engaging and handled very well, culminating in some of the best TV plot twists of all time. Dark draws its viewers in early on with its mystery box style of storytelling, while also slowly delivering a series of truly gut-wrenching and tragic reveals throughout its run.

1

‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)

Some of Netflix’s best series, especially from this last decade, are Mike Flanagan‘s collection of horror miniseries. An especially phenomenal show among these is Midnight Mass, which is set on the small and isolated Crockett Island. Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns home for the first time in a very long time, after four years in prison for killing a teenage girl in a drunk driving accident. Riley lost the new life he’d built away from home when he was arrested, so he now has to move back in with his parents and reunite with familiar faces from his past. At the same time, a new pastor named Father Paul (Hamish Linklater) comes to town to take over for the church’s aging and ill priest.

Riley struggles to both make amends to the people from his past and stick to his sobriety without the routine of prison. All the while, Father Paul starts to perform shocking miracles that quickly win the entire town over. Riley is no longer religious, but through one-on-one AA meetings, he gets to know Father Paul. Slowly, though, Riley starts to realize that Father Paul is hiding massive secrets that could affect the whole town. Midnight Mass is a terrifying and suspenseful horror series with a captivating central mystery, but it is also just a truly beautiful masterpiece of a series. It explores themes of loss, religion, and guilt in creative and insightful ways, and its characters all feel very real.