The five best series to watch on Netflix this weekend
Now that we’re well into the New Year, the Netflix watchlist for the first weekend of 2026 should look like it’s in par with the festive mood board.
Although it’s a challenge in itself to get over the holiday break, thankfully, there’s no void in the world that great entertainment cannot fill. Especially considering the week it has been, following the teary farewell to Stranger Things, this weekend demands more than the last.
While it may be somewhat early to expect new stuff already, fortunately, Netflix is always a step ahead of us.
So, for the five best series to watch on Netflix this weekend, we bring a mix of old and new, ensuring you’re spoiled for choice while at it.
The five best series to binge on Netflix this weekend
Run Away (Nimer Rashed and Isher Sahota, 2026)
Nothing screams a cosier start to a new year than a fresh piece of Harlan Coben adaptation, and this time around, Netflix didn’t waste a minute before launching Run Away right on New Year’s Day. The eight-episode thriller, based on Coben’s 2019 novel of the same name, follows Simon, a family man at heart, whose picture-perfect family life comes crashing down when his eldest daughter, Paige, runs away.
When Simon runs into her next in a city park, vulnerable and out on drugs, he sees it as his only chance to bring her back home. But upon discovering that she’s not alone in this, the unexpected confrontation spirals into unprecedented violence, and in the aftermath, Simon loses Paige yet again. While this might be the ultimate definition of so close yet so far, his search and the subsequent investigation reveal that this is only the tip of the iceberg. And if he keeps walking down the rabbit hole, the secrets can upend his family once and for all.
Land of Sin (Peter Grönlund, 2026)
When it comes to the Swedish slate of crime thrillers, the audience is usually sold. Thus, it’s no wonder that Netflix chose New Year’s to unleash a gripping new whodunit, Land of Sin, that hit the shelves on January 2nd. Created and directed by Peter Grönlund, the five-episode thriller takes you deep into the Scanian countryside where a horrific incident has sent shockwaves through the town.
Land of Sin follows the investigation of a teenager named Silas, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances on the Bjare peninsula. The case is assigned to a “perpetually angry” but genius detective, Dani, who teams up with his recently graduated police colleague Malik to solve the crime. While their investigation guides them into a patriarchal hellhole, underneath it all lies an intense family dispute that dates back generations.
Stranger Things (Duffer Brothers, 2016-2025)
Stranger Things couldn’t have chosen a better day to pull down its curtains after nearly a decade run on Netflix. But if you’re one of those who kept these days spoiler-free, sprinting away from anything and everything related to the Upside Down, the series finale belongs to the weekend. If the first volume left us craving for more answers, the second volume at least brought a few, especially regarding the Upside Down and its mysteries.
What remains to be seen is whether the Hawkins gang outshines the supernatural evil forces to save the world one last time. So, in case you want to sneak in the series finale into the weekend watchlist, we understand. But if there’s any advice we’d like to give before you go into the Stranger Things universe one final time, it’s that you’d better be prepared.
Secrets We Keep (Per Fly, 2025)
Another gripping crime drama Netflix dropped in 2025 and left us at a loss for words is Secrets We Keep. The Danish thriller is set in one of the most affluent neighbourhoods outside of Copenhagen, where nearly every well-to-do family has an au pair from the Philippines. Similarly, Mike and Cecilie are no different, and neither are their next-door neighbours, Rasmus and Katarina.
However, when one fine morning, Cecilie’s neighbour’s au pair, Ruby, vanishes into thin air, leaving a trail of intense investigation, Cecilie cannot help but project her suspicion onto those she called friends for so long. Although the case may not seem like her business, after all, the reason she cannot turn a blind eye is that she’s the last person Ruby asked for help before her disappearance.
Karma (Lee II-hyung, 2025)
Lastly, to close the weekend marathon, we suggest a rather underrated Netflix series, Karma, from the streamer’s South Korean slate of productions. Based on the Kakao webtoon of the same name by Choi Hee-seon, the thrilling K-drama revolves around six seemingly very different people, who are unknowingly entangled with each other by a single, tragic, debt-driven act.
Karma primarily follows a man deep in debt, whose attempts at a desperate scheme end up pulling in five other people, sparking a cycle of violence and revenge. While the act may have been an outlet to escape his present situation, little does he know that there’s no future without their past, and that looks quite bloody to say the least.