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The best Netflix series of 2023 had quite a year, didn't they? Looking back, 2023 will most likely be remembered as the year Hollywood came to a halt. Writers and actors took to the picket line to demand higher pay in the streaming era, fairer treatment, and guarantees that artificial intelligence would not encroach on their work. Their efforts were successful, and in the wake of the strikes productions were paused, shows were canceled, and studios scrambled to make cutbacks — but that didn't stop people from streaming. Even in an off-peak era, Netflix delivered great, quality TV.
From returning favorites to cozy international delights to violent revenge tales, the best Netflix shows made us feel everything. We swooned over young love, laughed along with the Straw Hats, drooled over a delicious bowl of home-cooked toshikoshi soba, "you did not go over the wall" brought us to tears, and, frankly, we'll never look at a chimpanzee without thinking of poor Camille L'Espanaye. (Perhaps there is such a thing as feeling too much?)
Without further ado, keep scrolling to revisit the best Netflix series of 2023.
Heartstopper
The first season of Heartstopper depicted the burgeoning, slow-burn romance between chirpy high school outcast Charlie Spring (played by Joe Locke) and rugby star Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), capturing the fluttery feeling of first love through tender dialogue, lingering glances, and charming animations. The second season of the schmaltzy teen drama doubles down on the magic, taking Charlie and Nick's sweet love story to the next level while also elevating the roles of scene-stealing supporting characters like Charlie's best friend Tao (William Gao), his crush Elle (Yasmin Finney), and her friend Darcy (Kizzy Edgell).
Now a couple, Charlie and Nick are navigating their relationship at their own pace — Nick slowly opens up about his bisexuality, coming out to his mother (a gentle Olivia Colman) and close friends while reckoning with sharing his identity with his disapproving older brother and estranged father; and Charlie learns to let Nick in, even if it means allowing himself to be vulnerable about his struggles. No matter how deep the subject matter, Heartstopper floats above the heartache, in a space where queerness exists without any expectations.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
The thing about prequels is that you already know how the story ends. And in the case of Queen Charlotte and King George III, the monarchs in Netflix's mega-successful Bridgerton franchise, we know that their love story is a tragic one. When we meet them in Bridgerton's first season, HRH King George is mentally unfit to rule, leaving Queen Charlotte to serve as a shrewd societal figurehead for the crown. She mostly spends her time matchmaking, meddling, and lounging with her royal pomeranians.
Yet, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story fills in the gaps, creating a multidimensional matriarch who is instrumental in shaping a more egalitarian society. Unlike the fiery, passionate romances depicted in previous seasons, the love between young Charlotte (portrayed by India Amarteifio) and George (Corey Mylchreest) is one built on sacrifice and commitment. Born out of obligation, it bloomed into something real. It's no less incendiary — there are many sexy romps around the palace, made even steamier by the leads' impenetrable chemistry — but it's a mature type of love, best conveyed through acceptance, understanding, and hushed conversations under the bed.
Glamorous
Is Glamorous the absolute best show that Netflix produced in 2023? No. But this soapy delight does offer one of the year's best-scripted scenes: a group of gay men dressed in drag and lip-syncing for their lives to "Cell Block Tango" from the musical Chicago in its entirety. It's seven full minutes of riveting television, starring Joel Kim Booster, Matt Rogers, Brock Ciarlelli, Zane Phillips, Michael Hsu Rosen (a Broadway alum with a stunning pirouette), and Miss Benny as the six merry murderesses of the Crookem County Jail.
Aside from musical numbers, Glamorous has a lot to offer, including but not limited to a melodramatic queer love triangle, a glossy depiction of the beauty industry, corporate power moves, gender non-conforming representation, storylines that center on social media faux pas (as Rogers’s character would say, "Not this!"), and Kim Cattrall serving looks as compassionate makeup mogul Madolyn Addison. If you enjoyed the workplace camp of The Bold Type, this is the show for you.
Beef
At its core, Beef is a show about rage. From the electrified meet-hate and cat-and-mouse chase that frames the series to the simmering self-loathing and emptiness it exposes, Beef takes its probing existential questions and sets them on fire: What is our purpose in life? Do we carry our parents' trauma? What is privilege and who has it?
The dark comedy stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun — whose on-screen chemistry adds gas to the flame — as Amy Lau and Danny Cho, two irascible people who go about their lives repressing their anger and sadness only to unleash their fury onto each other following a road-rage incident in suburban Los Angeles. Amy and Danny are vindictive, messy, and deeply flawed. They shatter the myth of the Asian American model minority, presenting complex characters who can be both despicable and empathetic. More than a feud, Amy and Danny's dangerous push-and-pull satiates a deeper hunger to take control, to chew up their hatred and spit it back out.
Blue Eye Samurai
The elevator pitch for Blue Eye Samurai might sound something like this: a stunning animated historical drama meets a bloody Tarantino revenge fantasy set in the Edo period of 17th-century Japan. It follows Mizu (voiced by Maya Erskine), a master of the sword sworn off by society because of her mixed-race identity, dubbing herself a "creature of shame," who sets out to kill the four white men who were in Japan at the time of her birth — one of her four possible fathers. (It's like Mamma Mia! without all of the singing and if Sophie was a lethal assassin motivated by vengeance.)
Visually, the animation is fluid and cinematic, with traditional bunraku and live-action martial arts influences. But what makes Blue Eye Samurai exceptional is the emotional depth of its storytelling. From husband-and-wife team Michael Green and Amber Noizumi, the story was inspired by the birth of their daughter. More specifically, the moment Noizumi, half-Japanese herself, looked into her child's blue eyes and wondered, "Why am I so excited that I have a baby who looks more white?” For all of its brutality, Blue Eye Samurai is a story of deep self-acceptance.
One Piece
For some reason, Hollywood has always struggled to adapt anime to screen. Either the casting is all wrong (Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell… really?) or the medium's dynamic action sequences and epic battles that defy the laws of physics don't translate well to live-action. (Even Netflix failed with its stiff adaptation of Cowboy Bebop, which was canceled after only one season.) So it makes sense that streamer's take on One Piece, a beloved anime with over 1,100 episodes and counting, was initially met with a lot of trepidation from fans.
Yet, One Piece succeeds where so many live-action anime adaptations fail with its quirky band of distinct characters, expertly choreographed fight sequences, and authentic worldbuilding that bridges its grounded emotional stakes with the whimsy of its nautical fantasy. The show is also anchored by the sheer magnitude of Iñaki Godoy's mega-watt charisma as Monkey D. Luffy, the young hero of this adventurous pirate's tale. Luffy thinks with his heart, a prominent characteristic of all shonen protagonists, and Godoy completely nails his golden-hearted naiveté as the ragtag Straw Hat crew take to sea to find the One Piece, a bounty of hidden treasure. But the real treasure is the friendship they find along the way (awww) and the first truly great adaptation of a Japanese classic.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Think of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off as less of a remake and more of a remix of the 2010 cult favorite Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Sure, the main cast is back to voice the animated versions of the characters they played in the live-action film. This includes Michael Cera as the titular Scott Pilgrim, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona Flowers, Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, Brie Larson as Envy Adams, Mae Whitman as Roxie Richter, Ellen Wong as Knives Chau, and many more. But the story takes a much different turn when it shifts its focus to Ramona Flowers at the end of the first episode.
From there, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off becomes Ramona's story — finally — and she must reconnect with her seven evil exes to solve the mystery of what happened to the eponymous slacker. In doing so, she reconnects with herself, healing old wounds and tying up loose ends (in battle, of course) to come to a resplendent place of self-acceptance. Whereas the women in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World served only to elevate Scott's journey, this series gives characters like Ramona and Knives fully-realized backstories and motivations of their own. And it still maintains Bryan Lee O'Malley's witty, fast-paced dialogue and signature humor. Case in point: Ramona delivers Netflix DVDs.
XO, Kitty
Following the massive success of the To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy, its (little) sister series XO, Kitty had pretty big shoes to fill. But Kitty Covey (a charming Anna Cathcart) isn't interested in following in Lara Jean's footsteps. The fluffy teen romp follows Kitty to Seoul, South Korea, where she surprises her long-distance boyfriend, Dae (Minyoung Choi), by enrolling at his high school. (Super subtle, Kitty.) Imagine her surprise when she realizes her boyfriend has a girlfriend, Yuri (Gia Kim).
Of course, all is not how it seems, and the true nature of Dae and Yuri's relationship is much more complicated — fans of the fake relationship trope, this one's for you! XO, Kitty leans into the mess of it all, setting up every teen drama cliché (meet-cutes, love triangles, camping trips, school functions gone awry, detention bonding, etc.) and turning them upside-down by centering the romantic tension on Kitty and Yuri. Like every good coming-of-age story, XO, Kitty is about self-discovery and it offers one of the sweetest depictions of a sapphic queer awakening on TV. Kitty may have chased a boy to Seoul, but he's not the one who makes her stay.
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Mike Flanagan sure loves family trauma. Fresh off the cancellation of teen thriller The Midnight Club, Netflix's premier horror creator returns to his dastardly roots with a loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's 1839 Gothic tale The Fall of the House of Usher. Flanagan has a gift for delivering chilling scares with a heaping side of existential dread (Poe would be proud), and The Fall Of The House Of Usher is no exception.
It begins where most horror stories end: with a death — six deaths, to be exact. They are the children of Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood), the CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company reckoning with the decisions that left him childless and alone, without a legacy to leave behind. The character-driven story recounts each child's demise in gruesome, gritty detail — each death references a famous work from Poe — ultimately leading to Roderick Usher's belated confession. It's a show that has a lot to say about the choices we make and how they build the foundation of our lives. As the Usher house crumbles and its shadowy halls decay, only the rot remains.
The Glory
The Glory isn't an easy watch. The twisty-turny K-drama is full of heavy themes and harrowing machinations, following Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo) as she enacts a revenge plot 20 years in the making. As a teen, Dong-eun endured relentless violent phyiscal attacks from a group of rich students, led by the class's ruthless queen bee Yeon-Jin (played as a adult by a standout Lim Ji-yeon, who revels in her character's deliciously deranged behavior). Now in her thirties, carrying the physical and psychological scars from her youth, Dong-eun executes her carefully constructed plan to take them all down.
The show's biggest feat is how it balances a multitude of maximalist storylines — revenge plots, murder mystery, domestic violence, class warfare, school bullying, cheating spouses, illegitimate children, will-they-won't-they romances, to name a few — without taking away from its emotional center. Each episode unfolds like its own mystery, as the true motives for Dong-eun's vengeance become clearer — each plot thread leading right to the drama's satisfying conclusion.
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House is a quaint slice-of-life story about two childhood best friends who move to the geisha district of Kyoto to follow their shared dream of becoming geiko (the word for geisha in Western Japan). While graceful Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi) excels in her training as a maiko, or a geiko apprentice, tomboyish Kiyo (Nana Mori) does not. Yet, Kiyo discovers a new passion, becoming the makanai, or live-in cook, for the geiko and maiko who live in Saku House.
Based on the manga Kiyo in Kyoto by Aiko Koyama, The Makanai is a show about food and camaraderie, much like The Bear except without all of the intensity and trauma — here, a 16-year-old girl pours her love into the dishes she makes. Written and directed by celebrated auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda, the series also dispels the highly sexualized image of geishas in Western culture. Geiko are artisans, highly trained and specialized in dance and performance, they follow certain practices and rules, and they also live their lives just like other young women — they have crushes, friendships, and ambitions of their own. The Makanai is the true definition of comfort food: a rich, warm feast for the senses and a cozy spoonful of soup for the soul.
