2018 was a massive year for everybody's favorite film and tv streaming service, Netflix. The online streaming phenomena spent over a whopping $8 billion on fresh original content, almost $2 billion more than it did the year before in 2017. The list of films and shows on offer covers every conceivable genre you can imagine. Like a good science fiction drama? Check our Maniac or Altered Carbon. Fancy an involving crime saga? Give Seven Seconds or Narcos: Mexico a whirl. Prefer a doco? Then Quincy or The American Meme will have you absorbed.
As you can see, Netflix caters for everyone and 2019 is set to be another bumper year for the company. January alone will see 38 new original films and tv shows released on the streaming platform, and atꦡ that rate, there’s bound to be hundreds of options for film and television lovers as the year progresses. But ♍with so many choices how do you know what to spend your time watching?
I’ve done a deep dive on the internet and researched all the upcoming films and shows that have been announced for 2019 to save you the trouble. I’ve collected 30 of the most exciting and enthralling content Netflix is releasing this year that you should put on your must-watch list. From Idris Elba starring as a playboy DJ who becomes a nanny in the comedy Turn Up Charlie!, to the high octane crime thriller Triple Frontier featurin🦋g Ben Affleck and Oscar Isaac amongst others, here are 30 of the best Netflix originals coming in 2019 you don’t want to miss.
30 ဣ 🐭 Triple Frontier
I love a good crime flick and Triple Frontier looks set to deliver in spades. Focusing on five friends who know each other from their time in the military, the group feel underappreciated and believe they've been unfairly compensated for the years they've spent protecting their country. Having decided the only way they'llౠ get what they want is by taking it themselves, 🍒the five decide to rob a wealthy criminal from the south.
If that hasn't got you hyped then check out the action-packed .
Included in the cast is Ben Affleck, Oscar Issac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascall, only adding to my excitement. A firm favorite for one of Netflix’s most anticipated original film✱s of the year.
29 ൲ 🌌 The Umbrella Academy
If you’re worried about all the Marvel superhero series being canned you've nothing to fear with the announcement of The Umbrella Academy. Based on the comic by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, the young adult superhero show focuses on a group of🌊 seven people born with special powers who were adopted by a billionaire after birth. With their foster father and one of their step-siblings' passings, the remaining six must work out what caused his demise while trying to get along. There's also a global apocalypse on the way that needs to be stopped.
The cast includes Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, Mary J. Blige, and Robert Sheehan, while producer Streve Blackman brings a wealth of experience – having been one of the masterminds behind Fargo and Altered Carbon.
28 ✨Living With Yourself 💛
What’s better than one Paul Rudd? How about two! Eight-part series Living With Yourself centers around Rudd’🎀s George Elliot, a man who is struggling with his personal and professional life and unsure where he is heading. Undergoing an experimental treatment meant to make him a better person, Elliot discovers he has been replaced by an improved version of himself.
This one 🍨has a very interesting premise and is told from multiple perspectives of different characters and interweaves a number of abstract plot points as Elliot is forced to ask himself the age-old question, do we really want to better ourselves or are we happy going with the flow?
27 🍨 💃 Velvet Buzzsaw
Jake Gyllenhaal is dipping his toes into the horror genre with this supernatural thriller. After greedy art lovers purchase a collection of paintings by ꦿan un♔known artist, a supernatural force appears wanting to take revenge.
I'm not entirely sold on the plot but with the talented cast – also including Rene Russo, John Malkovich, and Toni Collette – and accomplished director Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) behind the camera, I have high hopes Netflix might finally deliver a decent horror film after the utter rubbish they churned out last 💃year.
26 👍 The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance
I grew up watching Jim Henson and Frank Oz's classic fantasy films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, so the announcement of a spin-off series focusing on characters and events from The Dark Crystal has me intrigued. The 10 episode series explores the world of Thra first seen in The Dark Crystal and follows three Gelflings ꦚ– Rian, Brea, and Deet – as they discover the secret behind the Skeksis' power, finding themselves on a quest to save the worl✤d.
The likes of Mark Hamill, Helena Bonham Carter, Taron Egerton, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Izzard, and Simon Pegg are involved with The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance, so here's hoping the story reflects the talent featured and is as🎶 e꧒ngrossing as the original.
25 First Ladie꧟s ༺
I don't think anyone would have thought Rachel from Friends would go on to become a US leader, but that's exactly what happens in First Ladies. Jennifer Aniston headlines this🔥🙈 interesting Netflix Original as the country's first woman president who also just so happens to be married to another woman.
The tagline for the series, "When Beverly and Kasey Nicholson move into the White House, they’ll prove that behind every great woman… is another great woman," takes a humorous approach, so I imagine First Ladies will be full of laughs while deali𝐆ng with some very important so🅺cial issues.
24 Tuca &ღamp; Bertie 🌠
Animation rules supreme on Netflix with the likes of Bojack Horseman and Big Mouth two of the streaming services best, so I'm pretty stoked for the release of Tuca & Bertie. The half hour program follows the friendship between Tuca, a cocky and free spirited Toucan, and Bertie, an anxious and dr𓆏eamy songbird.
It might not sound all that exciting b🎉ut when you consider Tiffany Haddish (Tuca) and Ali Wong (Bertie) are voicing the two birds you’ll understand why this one should be on your radar. Expect plenty of laughs and some adult themes.
23 Polar
Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Victor Santos, Polar stars the always fantastic Mads Mikkelsen as a retired hitman forced back into the fold after an assassination attempt is made on his life🃏.
Famed Swedish music video director Jonas Akerlund (Madonna’s "" and Blink 182’s "") is behind the camera while Mikkelsen is joined onscreen by Vanessa Hudgens and Little Britain’s Matt Lucas. If it’s anything like the comic, Polar will be highly stylish yet with a minimalist fee🍎l, feature s🍒ome interesting dialogue, and a whole lot of blood.
22 Russian Doll 🐻
If you're a fan of Amy Poehler then you'll be over Russian Doll. Created by Poehler, star Natasha Lyonne (American Pie franchise), and writer/directer Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Lyonne plays Nadia,ꦰ a woman who gets caught in an infinite loop where she attends a party and keeps getting attacked.
This modern Groundhog Day influenced series is sure to contain plenty of laughs as Nadia tries to figure out how to successfully navigate 🉐the evening without dying and having to repeat events all over again.
21 𒆙 Central Park Five
In the spring of 1989 five teens were convicted of the vicious attack on Trisha Meili as she jogged through Central Park. Despite saying they were coerced into confessing to the crime, and the FBI ൲finding their DNA did not match that found on Meili, the five youths – four black and one Mexican – were found guilty and given various prison sentences.
In 2014 all five were exonerated and received $41 million from the Government of New York as compensation.
This sad story of injustice is being brought to the small screen by director and writer Ava Duvernay (Selma) and executive producer Oprah Winfrey. Each episode follows one of the suspects and their experiences while high💧lightin𒁃g the problems of the US justice system. Vera Farmiga, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Michael K. Williams, and Joshua Jackson star, only adding to this gripping drama series.