The miniseries poses a unique opportunity that allows for the best elements of both film and television storytelling. Like a movie, a miniseries is contained, setting itself up for an impactful, deliberate ending. Yet miniseries also benefit from television’s luxury of time. Where a film has a couple of hours to tell its story, a miniseries has closer to six-10.
These Netflix miniseries are perfect from start to finish, making the most out of their unique format and building urgency with every episode as they make their way towards satisfying conclusions.
The Queen’s Gambit
2020
With unique visuals and unexpected suspense, The Queen’s Gambit managed to generate an investment in chess that rivals the most compelling sports drama. Yet it’s the wholly original Beth Harmon, and the ethereal quality that Anya Taylor-Joy brings to her, that takes The Queen’s Gambit to the next level.
Beth’s story originates in a place of familiar tragedy. Orphaned in a car accident and brought to a group home that drugs and overlooks its charges, only to be adopted by a similarly disinterested couple, the show at first seems primed for a somewhat classic story of resilience, chosen family, and hard-earned love. But instead, Beth becomes a product of her circumstances in a wholly original way.
Like her chess game, Beth’s moves in life are consistently unexpected, keeping viewers on their toes. With every episode, the question isn’t just if she will win her next chess competition, but what drastic life choices she will make to get there. The show is a credit to its source material, the equally excellent 1983 novel by Walter Tevis.
Adolescence
2025
There has perhaps never been a screen acting debut of the caliber of Owen Cooper’s performance in Adolescence. The story of Jamie’s suspected murder of a classmate packs an emotional punch that stands out among other series with similar premises (Defending Jacob, Under the Bridge). Adolescence’s one-shot filming approach gives the show a sense of intimacy that forces audiences not to look away.
While the show doesn’t excuse Jamie’s behavior, it does present a holistic reflection of the internet and incel cultures of today’s youth. Jamie is a complete, nuanced individual, which allows Cooper to embody a lifelike consequence of today’s pressing issues. Adolescence builds towards its riveting third installment, while the fourth offers a devastating, yet necessary and cathartic conclusion.
The Haunting Of Hill House
2018
The Haunting of Hill House perfectly demonstrated the quality that character-driven horror can possess without sacrificing scares. The show’s source material, a Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, is a somewhat traditional haunted house tale told from the perspective of an unreliable female narrator. It evokes a similar sentiment to literature like The Turn of the Screw and The Yellow Wallpaper.
Hill House creator Mike Flanagan turns the story into something infinitely more modern, complex, and original. His reimagined characters of the Crain family create unique drama that seamlessly fuels the show’s horror. One of Hill House‘s scariest elements, the Bent-Neck Lady, is a powerful and chilling reminder that the things we fear most may be our very own selves.
Maid
2021
Maid is a character study for the ages. Its thoughtful, nuanced portrayal of not only Margaret Qualley’s Alex, but also Nick Robinson’s Sean paints a non-stereotypical, holistic picture of domestic abuse. With every episode, Alex’s struggle to leave Sean for good gets harder and murkier rather than easier and clearer. At times, Sean is able to convince not only Alex, but the audience, that he’s changed.
It’s a raw, honest story that sees Alex on the path to a better life without ever veering into condescension. By letting the emotions and circumstances speak for themselves, Maid invites the audience to empathize without judgment.
Wayward
2025
Wayward quickly establishes a number of mysteries, and it knows which ones to answer and when. References to a past instance of violence on the job in another town create doubt in the trustworthiness of Mae Martin’s Alex, who would otherwise be the straight-man detective breathing reason into the twisted town of Tall Pines. Just as important, it also clearly causes him to doubt himself.
This all contributes to a feeling of uncertainty and instability that permeates the whole series. Meanwhile, Toni Collette’s Evelyn Wade is delightfully weird, entertaining one moment and chilling the next, languishing in being at the center of Tall Pines’ curiosities — the most unsettling being that the town is completely devoid of children save for the ones at Evelyn’s academy.
The Haunting Of Bly Manor
2020
Mike Flanagan’s follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House cemented a far too short-lived format that had the potential to de-throne American Horror Story, the dominant horror anthology. A fresh take on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, The Haunting of Bly Manor similarly reimagines nearly everything about the classic tale.
Mike Flanagan addresses the potential for more “The Haunting” TV shows after moving his future productions from Netflix over to Prime Video.
It validates the hysterics of its female protagonist, refreshingly painting her as perceptive and capable — qualities that grow, rather than diminish, with every episode. With the time afforded by the miniseries format, Bly Manor establishes a relevant backstory for au pair Dani Clayton and Henry Wingrave, the absent uncle of the children she’s responsible for.
While capturing the atmosphere of James’ eerie, gothic ghost story, Bly Manor ultimately proves to be an unexpected love story. Thoughtful LGBTQ+ characters have become a staple of much of Flanagan’s work, and nowhere is this better exemplified than in Bly Manor.
Unbelievable
2019
Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, and Kaitlyn Dever deliver incredible performances that breathe humanity and emotion into Unbelievable‘s true story. Based on a 2015 news article, the series follows two female detectives whose investigation leads them to a woman charged with a crime after being pressured to admit to falsifying her report of rape.
As the title suggests, the show has the difficult task of displaying the shocking nature of the situation without making it actually impossible to believe. In large part, it’s the raw earnestness of Collette, Wever, and Dever that pulls this off, but the story also unfolds at a perfect pace. Well-timed developments keep the story grounded, evoking deep emotion without losing its plausibility.
Baby Reindeer
2024
Similarly, Baby Reindeer has the spectacle of a premise that feels both sensational and unlikely, with the allure of being rooted in a true story. An unsuspecting man being preyed upon by a female stalker to the point of heart-pounding fear is a compelling inversion of gender stereotypes and assumptions about the typical image of a predator. Yet according to creator and star Richard Gadd, it all happened.
The story only gets more compelling the more we learn about the semi-fictional Donny Dunn. While it’s never used to minimize the things that happen to him, he does have his own baggage, trauma, nuances, and flaws that further complicate things. Like Gadd, Dunn is a performer, and his unique take on comedy, art, and performance contributes to Baby Reindeer‘s offbeat world.
Midnight Mass
2021
Midnight Mass is a Mike Flanagan original, not based on any existing literature, and it’s resounding proof that Flanagan is just as competent in this arena as well. The series blends religious commentary with dark fantasy horror, and it does it all against the backdrop of an eerie, isolated island town. Like the Haunting shows, Midnight Mass tells a riveting, well-executed, and purposeful story.
Midnight Mass doesn’t rely on its high-quality premise, setting, and theme alone. Its protagonist, Riley Flynn (Zach Gilfrod), is a nuanced character with a rich backstory, all of which comes together to inform how he engages with the events to come. Meanwhile, Hamish Linklater delivers an impressive performance dripping with persuasive charisma as the town’s mysterious new priest.
Maniac
2018
Maniac is a colorful, trippy, dystopian playground. Emma Stone and Jonah Hill give noteworthy performances as Annie and Owen, troubled participants in a strange, immersive pharmaceutical trial. As new information about their pasts comes to light, Annie and Owen grow unreliable in different ways, creating a general sense of disorientation with no character to act as a baseline.
Beyond its protagonists, Maniac‘s world is equally untrustworthy. Its ad-fueled society creates an uneasy sense of constant manipulation, which isn’t relieved by the chaotic minds behind Neberdine Pharmaceutical Biotech. It’s exciting, twisty, at times funny, and deserves more attention as a strong Netflix miniseries.