Credit: Netflix

Subscribers can put off their Netflix & Chill plans as much as they want during the workweek. But when the weekend comes around, a sense of urgency kicks in to catch up on everything new.

Just a few days into October, Netflix has already unleashed a handful of shows that have netizens raving like never before.

Since most of the week goes into adulting, the weekend is all that’s left to kick back and relax with a watchlist worth ditching outdoor plans for.

So, if you’re ready to skip another outing and have the excuses ready, here are the five best series to stream this weekend and keep you company.

The five best series to stream on Netflix this weekend

Below (Jamie Childs, Helen Shaver, and Stephen Dun, 2026)

Every new week has its share of Netflix Original highlights, and the one with all the attention on the series front is Below, starring Josh Hartnett. At the heart of the six-episode thriller, set in a small Newfoundland town, is a generous but headstrong fisherman who never really recovered from his father’s mysterious death decades ago. When an enigmatic sea creature wreaks havoc on his hometown, Calvin must do everything in his power to keep the tight-knit community from falling apart.

Desperate to protect his son and family, Calvin joins forces with a visiting marine researcher to face the creature and uncover the town’s hidden truths before it’s too late. Below centres on the residents of this small Canadian town terrorised by a mysterious sea creature, where everyone must step up to safeguard their own and a vanishing way of life. The thriller combines local myth and folklore with equal parts suspense, heart, and humour.

East of Eden (Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, 2026)

Although a week has passed since Zoe Kazan’s East of Eden, based on John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel, hit Netflix shelves, this is a reminder for those who have yet to make time for the masterpiece. The Netflix limited series chronicles the intergenerational family saga of the Trasks and the Hamiltons, reimagining the biblical Cain and Abel story. Spanning from the late 19th century to World War I, the story opens in the East with half-brothers Adam and Charles Trask.

East of Eden centres on Cathy Ames, the indelible antihero, originally portrayed as the symbol of sin on the pages. The Netflix adaptation doesn’t exactly absolve Cathy of her actions. However, it tries to reason what shaped her into who she becomes, capturing two parallel generations of fractured brotherhood, trauma, and human agency governed by the Hebrew concept of timshel, with a focus on her twins.

Inside the Circle (Alejandro Lozano and Bernardo De la Rosa Villarreal, 2026)

Next on our weekend watchlist is Inside the Circle, a gritty political thriller that will inevitably leave you on your toes. The Mexican thriller centres on four lifelong friends who face intense personal and professional unravelling after a video links murdered actor Pamela Dosantos’ death to a powerful military general and defence secretary. The story starts with Tomas, a reporter who accidentally shares the last video of the actor before her death that shows her entering General Escolta Salazar’s home.

Shortly after, Tomas and his friends, Jamie, Amelia, and Mario, realise the video has trapped them in a life-or-death conspiracy, as each has a stake on the line. For Jamie, the situation is complex because he’s negotiating a government contract while Amelia is herself a congressperson in Salazar’s party. As for Mario? His daughter gets entangled with hacker friends, forcing the tight-knit group into a race against time to come up with a plan to survive the crisis as a result of infuriating one of the most influential figures the country has seen.

Haunted Hotel (Erica Hayes, Christopher Nance, Bob Suarez, and Meg Waldow, 2025-Present)

After a horror-packed comedy in its debut season, Haunted Hotel is officially back for more, just in time for Halloween. The second season of the hit adult animated series brings back the Freeling family to focus as they continue running the chaotic, ghost-ridden Undervale Hotel. In the newest instalment, Katherine’s hotel business is finally doing well enough, so much so that she needs to hire new help.

But the new staff brings their own secrets and mysteries, with one particularly enigmatic employee eerily reminding them of the elusive Attic Ghost. The eight-episode second season of Haunted Hotel takes viewers back into the horrifying corridors, giving them a front-row seat to monster-of-the-week misadventures, tiring property renovations, family dysfunctionality, and of course, the quintessential chaos of the troublesome demon Abaddon.

Take Charge of My Heart (Park Soo-won, 2026)

If supernatural thrillers and comedic horrors have you craving something light-hearted, go for Take Charge of My Heart, the 12-episode rom-com series on Netflix. The K-drama follows Na Bo-bae, a screenwriter with high-voltage electrical powers, which she gained after being struck by lightning as a child. As a result, every time she touches anything or anyone for a matter of fact, it causes severe shocks, prompting her to live in isolation to avoid hurting anyone.

Then there’s Baek Ho-rang, a prosperous third-generation heir to a top conglomerate’s resort group, who has a massive secret: an artificial heart that’s dangerously low on batteries. But as fate would have it, when Bo-Bae and Ho-rang accidentally kiss, something unlikely happens. Bo-bae realises her electricity doesn’t pose a threat to Ho-rang, and to make things interesting, her touch recharges his artificial heart’s battery.