What's New on Netflix in November 2026: Movies & Series Worth Your Watchlist

Every month I sit down with the Netflix release calendar, a pot of coffee, and the same problem you probably have: way too many titles and not nearly enough evenings. November 2026 is the most crowded month I have seen all year. The independent tracker What's on Netflix says its relaunched coming soon calendar currently lists over 130 upcoming licensed and original titles, and that is before you count the holiday movie flood.

So we did the filtering for you. Below is our ranked listicle of the 12 November releases we think are actually worth your time, plus a few library additions and documentaries that deserve a spot in your queue. For each pick I have included the release date, why it matters, and the numbers behind the hype, because "everyone is talking about it" is not a reason to give a show eight hours of your life.

November 2026 on Netflix at a Glance

Before we get into the list, here is the short version for the skimmers.

How We Picked These Titles

A quick note on method, because I think transparency matters in a list like this. We weighed four things:

1. Proven audience demand. For returning shows we looked at Netflix's own Top 10 data and the semi-annual Engagement Report. Netflix measures popularity in "views," which is total hours viewed divided by a title's runtime. That metric matters because it lets a two-hour film and an eight-hour series compete on roughly equal footing.
2. Creative pedigree. Oscar winners, festival darlings, and showrunners with a track record got a bump.
3. Critical signal. Where Rotten Tomatoes or trade reviews exist, we factored them in.
4. Uniqueness. We skipped anything that felt like a copy of something already in your queue.

Now, the list.

The 12 Best New Movies and Series on Netflix in November 2026

1. The Hunting Wives: Season 2 (November 26)

Let me start with the obvious one. The Hunting Wives was a genuine streaming phenomenon in 2025, and Season 2 drops on Thanksgiving Day, which tells you exactly how confident Netflix is in it.

The numbers back that confidence. Season 1 was originally built for Starz, but Netflix bought the US rights and the show spent 47 unique days in the Top 10s. In its premiere week it landed at number three on the English TV list with 5.2 million views and 34.6 million hours streamed. Netflix has already renewed it for Season 3 before Season 2 even premieres.

The new season picks up right after that cliffhanger. Sophie (Brittany Snow) is isolated and on the outs with Margo (Malin Akerman), while Margo backs her oil tycoon husband Jed (Dermot Mulroney) in his run for governor. Old secrets and new enemies pull the two women back together.

Why we love it: It is soapy, provocative East Texas pulp that knows exactly what it is. Critics were split on Season 1 (PureWow noted a 70% Rotten Tomatoes rating at launch), but audiences clearly did not care. Plan your Thanksgiving leftovers accordingly.

2. The Altruists (November 19)

If I had to bet on which November title wins awards season, it is this one. The Altruists is an eight-episode limited series about Sam Bankman-Fried (Anthony Boyle) and Caroline Ellison (Julia Garner) and the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX.

The creative team is stacked. Creator and showrunner Graham Moore won an Oscar for writing The Imitation Game, and he co-runs the show with Jacqueline Hoyt (The Leftovers). Netflix's official synopsis frames the pair as idealists who were accused of stealing $8 billion, and Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground is among the executive producers.

What impressed me most is the research. Moore spent four years on the story, reading through 3,000 pages of court transcripts and interviewing members of the FTX inner circle. As he put it to TV Insider, he has "basically given myself a master's degree in Sam and Caroline."

He also told The A.V. Club that the show deliberately avoids impressions, reminding the cast that this "isn't Saturday Night Live" and that the drama cares more about their personal lives than their trading desks.

Why we love it: It turns a dense financial fraud case, full of terms like leverage, customer deposits, and market making, into a dysfunctional love story. If Inventing Anna worked for you, this is the upgrade.

3. Black Doves: Season 2 (November 5)

Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw are back as spy Helen Webb and hitman Sam. When Season 1 dropped in December 2024, Netflix's own Tudum reported it hit number two on the English TV list with 10.8 million views and reached the Top 10 in 89 countries in its first week alone.

The long tail is even more impressive. According to Engagement Report data compiled by FlixPatrol, Season 1 has racked up roughly 63.9 million views and 351.9 million hours across 2024 and 2025. That is the kind of rewatch value that justifies the two-year wait.

In Season 2, the stakes climb. Helen's husband Wallace (Andrew Buchan) is preparing to become prime minister, which makes every leak she passes to the Black Doves more dangerous. New cast members include Ambika Mod (One Day), Neve Campbell, Babou Ceesay, and Sam Riley.

Why we love it: Creator Joe Barton writes spy fiction with real wit. Expect the same blend of tradecraft, betrayal, and dry British humor, minus the Christmas setting.

4. Heartland (November 13)

Jessica Chastain stars as Misty Jones, a former country music megastar pulled out of decades of seclusion to search for her missing niece in Nashville's seedy underbelly. Garrett Hedlund and Ross Lynch co-star.

What's on Netflix called it the gritty Jessica Chastain thriller everyone is watching for this month, alongside The Altruists. I agree. Chastain has an Oscar, a gift for playing women under pressure, and a country music backdrop that gives the mystery a distinct texture.

Why we love it: A missing persons noir with music industry rot at its center is exactly the kind of mid-budget adult drama theaters stopped making. Netflix keeps that genre alive.

5. The Empress: Season 3 (November 12)

Netflix Germany's historical drama about Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sisi, wraps up with its third and final season. The show holds an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has drawn comparisons to Bridgerton and The Crown.

This season, Emperor Franz Joseph (Philip Froissant) returns to Vienna changed by the Sardinian War, while Sisi (Devrim Lingnau) leaves the court to recover her health and meets Count Andrassy.

Why we love it: Final seasons are rare on Netflix, where cancellations often come mid-story. A planned ending means a real payoff. Watch it in the original German with subtitles if you can, as the performances land better.

6. Under Siege (November 6)

This eight-episode Colombian series dramatizes the November 1985 storming of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá by the M-19 guerrilla group and the military retaking that followed. At least 94 people died or disappeared.

The production scale is staggering. The team built a set spanning more than 4,000 square meters, including a 30-meter recreation of the palace façade, and the scripts drew on seven years of research. Showrunner Natalia Santa previously worked on One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Why we love it: It releases on the anniversary week of the real events. For anyone who loved Narcos or Society of the Snow, this is serious, meticulously researched Latin American television.

7. The Body (November 11)

Netflix's YA pipeline is huge, but The Body looks like the one with teeth. Created by Quinn Shephard, it follows Catholic school girls whose dance team initiation goes wrong, triggering prophetic visions and mass hysteria across their town.

Shephard has described the series as "a love letter to all the '90s and Y2K teen movies and erotic thrillers". Think The Craft meets Yellowjackets.

Why we love it: It blends supernatural horror, psychological drama, and a best-friends-to-lovers arc. That genre mash-up is basically the formula for a Netflix YA breakout.

8. Possible Love (November 6)

This is the cinephile pick. Possible Love is the new film from Korean director Lee Chang-dong, who made the acclaimed Burning. Two married couples from very different economic backgrounds cross paths while a labor strike documentary is being filmed, and their hidden desires come to the surface.

Why we love it: Lee makes a film roughly once a decade, and each one becomes a festival talking point. Getting a new Lee Chang-dong feature straight to streaming is a gift.

9. Bass X Machina (November 3)

A steampunk animated reimagining of Bass Reeves, the escaped slave who became the first Black deputy US Marshal. Brian Tyree Henry voices the lead, LeSean Thomas created it, and South Korea's Studio Mir (The Legend of Korra) handles animation across six episodes.

Why we love it: It slots into Netflix's growing lineup of prestige adult animation. If you are counting the days until Blue Eye Samurai returns, this will hold you over.

10. The Mosquito Bowl and NFL Netflix Gameday (November 25)

Thanksgiving Eve is a double feature for sports fans. First, Peter Berg directs The Mosquito Bowl, the true story of college football stars who enlisted in the Marines after Pearl Harbor and played a legendary game before the invasion of Okinawa.

Then Netflix streams the NFL's first-ever Thanksgiving Eve matchup, with the Green Bay Packers facing the Los Angeles Rams live from Los Angeles.

Why we love it: Netflix's push into live events is one of the biggest shifts in streaming right now. A primetime NFL game on a holiday eve is a statement about where the platform is headed.

11. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (November 30)

Illumination's sequel closes out the month. It arrives on Netflix through Universal's animated Pay-1 deal, the licensing window that follows a film's first streaming run (in this case on Peacock).

The box office case is strong. The AP reported the film reached $629 million worldwide after just two weekends, with Universal's Jim Orr saying audience scores "point to a very nice run at the box office." Dark Horizons noted it became the third-highest-grossing video game film ever at that point.

Why we love it: Family movie night, sorted. Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, and Charlie Day all return.

12. St. Denis Medical: Season 2 (November 3)

Our wildcard is a licensed NBC comedy. St. Denis Medical is a workplace mockumentary set in an underfunded Oregon hospital, led by Allison Tolman as devoted nurse Alex.

Why we love it: Not every pick needs to be a prestige event. Half-hour comedies are the best palate cleanser after a heavy drama, and this one has the warm, awkward energy of Parks and Recreation.

Honorable Mentions: Documentaries Worth Your Time

November is also stacked for nonfiction. What's on Netflix counted nine new documentaries this month. Our top three:

• Avedon (November 11): Ron Howard's portrait of photographer Richard Avedon, built on unprecedented archive access.
• The Trials of Karen Read (November 23): A limited docuseries on the case that divided Canton, Massachusetts, featuring interviews with jurors and people inside the house that night.
• Rob Lowe: The Outsider (November 24): Directed by Chris Smith (Fyre), tracing Lowe from The Outsiders to The West Wing and Parks and Recreation.

Comedy fans should also mark Mike Tyson: Return of the Mike (November 3), his first stage return since 2013's Undisputed Truth, and Janelle James: How Romantic (November 10), the Abbott Elementary star's hour-long stand-up debut.

Library Additions We Are Excited About

Licensed titles rarely get headlines, but they are often the best value on the service. Here is what caught my eye:

• Rectify, Seasons 1 to 4 (November 1): One of the most acclaimed dramas of the 2010s, now fully bingeable.
• Will Trent, Seasons 1 to 4 (November 3): A solid procedural, and as Netflix Life points out, a good stopgap for The Lincoln Lawyer fans waiting on new episodes.
• Power, Seasons 1 to 6 (November 9): The full 50 Cent produced Starz crime saga.
• November 1 movie haul: Bridesmaids, Whiplash, Stand by Me, The Mummy, Looper, and Air Force One.

And yes, the holiday movies are here. What's on Netflix reports the streamer has lined up nearly 30 more licensed Christmas movies on top of originals like Tyler Perry's The Gospel of Christmas (November 11) and Guarding Stars (November 18), starring Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki.

Our Suggested November Viewing Plan

If you only have one evening a week, here is how we would pace it:

• Week 1 (Nov 1 to 8): Black Doves Season 2. Six tight episodes, perfect for a weekend.
• Week 2 (Nov 9 to 15): Heartland on Friday night, then start The Empress finale season.
• Week 3 (Nov 16 to 22): The Altruists. Give it your full attention, as the details matter.
• Week 4 (Nov 23 to 30): The Mosquito Bowl and NFL game on Wednesday, The Hunting Wives over the long weekend, and Mario with the family on the 30th.

Final Thoughts

November 2026 is the rare month where Netflix delivers on nearly every front: a returning global hit in Black Doves, an awards contender in The Altruists, a pop culture juggernaut in The Hunting Wives, real festival cinema in Possible Love, and live sports on a holiday. If I had to choose just one, I would start with The Altruists. If you want pure fun, The Hunting Wives is the safe bet.

We will be watching right alongside you. Release dates can shift, so check the Netflix app the week of each premiere.