Music
4 min read
This is a bit of a strange year for Netflix. The streamer earned Oscar nominations in March for Frankenstein and Train Dreams, but the only major trophies came from KPop: Demon Hunters—a surprise success that Netflix only really championed after it blew up. Meanwhile, on the TV side, the streamer is now without its moneymaker, Stranger Things, which bowed on New Years’ Eve. As HBO preps Harry Potter’s return and Amazon continues to tease a new James Bond on the horizon, Netflix needs a big new tentpole to call its own.
So far, the streamer’s biggest hit came early in the year with The Rip. The crime thriller, helmed by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, is a tense film that really put its stars to good use during a time when major studios are usually cold with new releases. Netflix got Steven Knight on board to reboot Peaky Blinders for a new generation, and it even won what must have been a highly competitive bidding war for the BTS documentary. We’ll see how the rest of the year plays out for the streamer as it looks to refocus following the failed Warner Bros. merger. But for now, these are the best original Netflix films of 2026 so far.
The Rip
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon team up once again for a crime thriller about corruption in the Miami-Dade Police Department. The duo plays members of the special Tactical Narcotics Team, who—alongside characters played by Teyana Taylor and Steven Yeun—begin to question one another when a large sum of cash from a drug bust goes missing. Of course, Affleck and Damon’s friendship on and off the screen is hard to rip apart, even when their characters are tested throughout a tense, action-packed shakedown with over $20 million in seized drug money at stake.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Tommy Shelby’s (Cillian Murphy) legacy lives on in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, which is essentially an extended final episode of the hit British TV drama. The Immortal Man bridges the original series with its upcoming reboot, complete with a dramatic end for Murphy’s celebrated gangster. Barry Keoghan plays Duke Shelby, Tommy’s eldest son and the new leader of the Peaky Blinders. It’s a tale of old-school gang warfare vs. the new, brash upstarts—all set during the turbulent World War II-era politics of the early 1940s. And if you’re looking forward to more Peaky Blinders to come, it’s a must-watch hand-off before Jamie Bell and Charlie Heaton take over in the sequel series.
The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel
Before John Frusciante and Chad Smith joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers to form the California rock band that we know today, lead singer Anthony Kiedis and Flea shared the stage with the late guitarist Hillel Slovak. He was a major influence on the Chili Peppers’s early sound, according to the band, before he died of a heroin overdose in 1988. In The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel, Kiedis and Flea recall their memories of Hillel nearly 40 years after his death. It’s a touching documentary about Slovak’s lasting impact on the band that also features interviews with Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons and funk legend George Clinton.
BTS: The Return
BTS’s comeback in one of this year’s biggest stories in music—let alone just K-Pop. The boy band went into hiatus for nearly six years to complete their time in South Korea’s mandatory military service, and now they’re finally reuniting for their fifth album, Arirang. The new behind-the-scenes documentary walks fans through the group’s recording sessions for the album as they contemplate how to make their grand return in a genre that’s already changed drastically since they left in 2022.
War Machine
It’s humans vs. machines (well, one machine really) in Alan Ritchson’s new sci-fi action film, War Machine. The Reacher star plays a staff sergeant in the Army Rangers who investigates a fallen asteroid and is then attacked by a robot from space. Whatever the machine wants with Earth is unknown, but it certainly means business. Thankfully, even a rote plot that replaces the Predator with the killer robot from Robocop is enough to entertain for a simple Netflix action thriller.
One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5
Still missing Stranger Things? Feeling miffed by the way the sci-fi series ended? Well, you can reminisce with the cast and/or vent our your frustrations in One Last Adventure, a documentary that details the pressures of filming the final season of such a beloved TV show. Series creators Matt and Ross Duffer also provide insight into the decision-making process for Season 5’s finale—including everything from how they wrote Vecna’s demise to why they ended the series back where it all began.