There's no need to waste your time trawling through all the countless new TV shows and movies added to Netflix this week (Saturday, December 2 to Friday, December 8), as we're here to help you work out what to watch. It's literally in the name!
As What to Watch's streaming expert, I've picked 6 of the most noteworthy new additions to Netflix this week, so you jump straight into finding something you love. This list has international and US picks, of different genres and demographics. There's a documentary, TV shows and movies, so whatever you're into, you should find something to watch.
So how did I select these Netflix Originals? Well, a diverse range was important, but I've also looked at which have the most buzz around them, which come from noteworthy casts and crews, and which promise to be the most entertaining!
With that out the way, let's dive into the three TV shows, two movies and one docuseries that I've picked for this week.
Welcome to Samdal-ri
- Type: TV show | Releases: Saturday, December 2 | For fans of: Korean shows, romances, Past Lives
First up we've got Welcome to Samdal-ri, and I've picked this one because of Netflix's unstoppable force when it comes to Korean shows lately. The streamer keeps picking up shows that end up being smash hits, and this could be another popular pick amongst fans of the country's dramas.
Welcome to Samdal-ri is about two childhood friends who grew up together on Korea's Jeju Island. Life gradually pulls them apart, as well as one mysterious incident, but after several years life decides to push them back together. They have to figure out if their friendship is still there... or is it something else?
The fact that this is billed as a romance probably gives the plot away a little bit, but it'll still be fun to watch two estranged friends fill the gaps between them. The plot bears more than a passing similarity to recent Indie smash hit Past Lives too, so if you liked that movie, this could be right up your street.
Blood Coast
- Type: TV show | Releases: Wednesday, December 6 | For fans of: French shows, crime dramas
You can probably understand a lot of the tone of Blood Coast just from the name! This is one I've chosen as the direct opposite of the above tonally, but also because it's being billed as the new show of Olivier Marchal, who also directed Prime Video's Overdose and Netflix's Rogue City.
Blood Coast is about a group of police officers who don't operate by the book. They're in Marseille, which is about to be the frontline for a crime war, and they need to track down a criminal to stop the fighting before the whole town is plunged into chaos.
Unlike many recent Netflix shows, this is only a 6-parter, so it promises to be fast-paced and action-packed. No time wasted here!
World War II: From the Frontlines
- Type: Docuseries | Releases: Thursday, December 7 | For fans of: war documentaries
Now it's time for our sole documentary of the week: I picked World War II: From the Frontlines because it's something a bit different from Netflix. The streamer churns out its true crime, cooking and animal documentaries, but it's made less of an effort with war docs.
As the title gives away, World War II: From the Frontlines is a documentary that shows what it was like to be on the frontline of the Second World War, both as a soldier but for different people in the services too.
The fact that this documentary is narrated by John Boyega is one of the few things that Netflix has said about this documentary, as it's making much less of a song and dance about it than other shows. But if you know someone who loves their war docs, this could be good viewing for them.
Analog Squad
- Type: TV show | Releases: Thursday, December 7 | For fans of: feel-good dramas, Thai shows
Netflix has begun to pick up speed on its Thai shows lately, showing them off to the world more and more, and Analog Squad could be a great show to shine a light on productions from the country.
The plot of Analog Squad could be ripped straight from a feel-good indie movie: it's about a man who hires a few random people from his life in order to pretend to be his family, so that he can impress his estranged and dying father. Yet this fake family slowly learns to become a real one.
I'm mainly including Analog Squad because the trailer feels like it's finding a fun spin on this classic feel-good story, but also because it's one of the rare TV shows that is set in the 90s. Given how obsessed TV is with the 80s, it's a nice change of setting!
Blood Vessel
- Type: Movie | Releases: Friday, December 8 | For fans of: crime thrillers, Nollywood
Last up — I'm not just including this because its title is a pun — is the new Nigerian crime thriller Blood Vessel. Though it has an eerily similar name, it's got nothing to do with Blood Coast.
The movie centers on six people, who are running away from their town after oil pollution makes it uninhabitable. However the boat they choose to stow away upon turns out to be just as dangerous as the town they're escaping, with mysteries on every deck.
Blood Vessel is an anticipated Nollywood movie that's part of Netflix's big push for African cinema,
Leave the World Behind
- Type: Movie | Releases: Friday, December 8 | For fans of: psychological thrillers, novel adaptations, Knock at the Cabin
Netflix's most flashy and buzz-worthy production of the week is the new psychological thriller movie Leave the World Behind, which it has been teeing up as one of its late-year releases for some time now.
It stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke as a couple who go vacationing on Long Island when another couple, played by Mahershala Ali and Myha'la, arrive saying that a blackout and more threats are affecting the world. From here the two families have to work out whether they can trust each other, and what's going on in the world.
The movie is based on a book, and it sounds a lot like another 2023 movie-based-on--a book Knock At The Cabin, so if you were one of the many people who liked that, you might like Leave the World Behind too. Either way it's two-plus hours of creepy goings-on and people lying to each other, so it's nice counter-programming from all the Christmas movies and shows too!
