If you're a fan of unsolved mysteries, then Netflix already has plenty of shows for you, but with Unknown it moves from true crime and history to much larger questions.
This is a four-part docuseries, with a new feature-length documentary releasing each week through July 2023, and its alternative focus could make it one of the best Netflix shows if you want something a little different.
Unknown explores mysteries about the world, which we still don't know the answers to today. Each episode has a heavy grounding in science or archeology to explore its topic, so you'll also learn something new about the world as you watch.
If you're interested, here's everything you need to know about the four-part Netflix docuseries Unknown.
Unknown release date
Each entry into the Unknown series releases each Monday through July, 2023.
The first feature, Unknown: The Lost Pyramid, came out on Monday, July 3. Next is Unknown: Killer Robots, which released on Monday, July 7. Then we moved back to archaeology with Unknown: Cave of Bones on Monday, July 14 and wrapped up with Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine on Monday, July 24.
No entry in Unknown is expected to release on the final Monday of the month, the 31st.
Unknown: The Lost Pyramid
First up is Unknown: The Lost Pyramid, and you can see a trailer for it below:
The movie explores two different mysteries surrounding ancient Egyptians, firstly the prospect of there being a lost pyramid that we don't currently know about, and secondly there being a rare tomb full of treasures and archaeological finds that hasn't been looted yet.
We follow two Egyptologists, Dr. Zahi Hawass for the former mystery and Dr. Mostafa Waziri for the latter, as they race to unearth these lost mysteries of the ancient civilization.
Unknown: Killer Robots
The second movie of Unknown is called Killer Robots and we do have a trailer for this movie:
While the title Killer Robots may seem a bit scary, it's literally what the documentary is about: the military's quest to create AI-powered killing machines that'll help them win wars.
The documentary follows the soldiers and scientists that are working to create these killer robots, but it also explores the efforts of activists to stop them or at least make the general public aware of the dangers involved.
Unknown: Cave of Bones
From something futuristic to something even more ancient than pyramids: Cave of Bones has a trailer that you can see above.
The documentary takes us back to the 'Cradle of Humanity, an anthropology site in South Africa where more pre-human bones have been found than anywhere else in the world. It's a fundamental area for us understanding humanity's past but Unknown's taking it further.
Lee Berger attempts to prove that the bones weren't from ape-like creatures with no society, but from a people with burial rituals (and presumably more beside). It could change how we view early humanity and evolution.
Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine
The final Unknown documentary — which also has a trailer, above — takes us from humanity's past into its future.
Cosmic Time Machine (which isn't about actual time machines, sadly) follows NASA as it worked to make the James Webb Space Telescope, which you may remember from the news in July 2022 as the first photos from this expedition were well publicized.
Not much else is known about this documentary just yet, though the name makes it sound very exciting, so stay tuned for more on this as its release gets closer.
