By Gina Duncan

My favorite activity this summer was watching movies and binge-worthy television on Netflix. I did it while sunbathing at the pool, on a family road trip to Cincinnati, and during long hours of travel to Thailand.

It was the summer Netflix released a new season of Stranger Things–eight episodes to be exact–and you couldn’t drag me away from my screen. It was EPIC! I obviously wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get enough of those 80s kids and their fight against the supernatural as Stranger Things 3 had a record-breaking season.

Then I jumped into other summer series: Dead to Me, Black Mirror, The Chef Show, and another season of Queer Eye. A few original Netflix movies also caught my eye like After, and the popular psychological thriller entitled Secret Obsession. I shamelessly found myself re-watching the Marvel movies again, so I could get in the mindset to watch Avengers: Endgame in the theatre and understand the magnitude of Marvel’s Phase IV announcement at Comic-Con last month. 

With new original films and series being released almost every day in August, you won’t run out of binge-worthy Netflix shows to watch anytime soon.

New seasons of GLOW and Dear White People, as well as the anticipated new Wu Assassins, are sure to have you glued to your screens. So I can honestly say I am looking forward to the end of summer. I am excited to tell you about the 56 new shows being released, but before you get to the list of all 56 let’s talk about several noteworthy options.

Netflix is ending the summer with a bang. The critically acclaimed and heavily debated series about suicide and the extreme consequences of bullying, 13 Reasons Why, returns for a third season set to release August 23. Based on the trailer, it appears that they are changing directions from the suicide of Hannah Baker plotline to a murder mystery. Spoiler Alert: Who killed football player Bryce Walker?

In the children’s series, Ask The Story Bots five colourful creatures come out of the computer to get the answers to kid’s most interesting questions such as: “How do you make music?,” “Where do plants come from?,” and “How do cell phones work?” You get to see responses to these questions from a lineup of superstar guests, such as John Legend, Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Garner, and Alyssa Milano.

The comedy Otherhood is about redefining relationships. Three suburban moms portrayed by Angela Bassett, Felicity Huffman, and Patricia Arquette venture out on a road trip to New York City to confront their sons about not calling them on Mother’s Day. Otherhood takes a hilarious but honest look at motherhood.

Samantha White and the students from the fictional Ivy League Institution of Winchester University are back in Dear White People. In its junior year, this series continues to educate us on the controversial modern American racial and social issues that cross over into the classroom for students. It is a true lesson on interracial relationships, how to navigate your sexuality, colour bias, coping with grief, disappointment, sexual assault, and academic pressures.

The New York Times online magazine, Vulture, proclaims the “Derry Girls is television at its best.” Back for a second season, the show is about a group of teenage girls from Northern Ireland. The story takes place during the end of the “Troubles,” a particularly violent period between nationalists from Ireland and United Kingdom loyalists. Despite a storyline centred on such a dark period in history, the show uses humour to portray teenage awkwardness and self-discovery to illustrate that sometimes life is remarkably mundane yet glorious, simultaneously. 

Wu Assassins is a new Netflix original series filled with epic martial arts scenes and great storytelling. When the ancient superpowers of a thousand monks are at stake, to what ends would you go to save the world–especially if it means going against your family to do it. There’s a war between good and evil. Who will win? You don’t want to miss this one.

Season two of Mindhunter will have you looking over your shoulder. The hit Netflix show about the first serial killer investigations is back. It continues to take us on a journey through the most intense criminal minds and heartfelt investigations to uncover the truth.

Jim Henson’s muppet world is back with a prequel to the original with, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and it is beautifully crafted with voice-overs from Taron Egerton, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helena Bonham-Carter, Mark Hamill, Awkwafina, Keegan-Michael Key, and Andy Samberg. I’m looking forward to seeing how executive producer Lisa Henson pays tribute to her father’s legacy.

So with a whopping 56 films and shows to watch it’s time to get started. Sit back and relax. Maybe you will find your next binge-worthy show. As you read through our list, feel free to share your favourite Netflix show in the comments.

Netflix New Films and Shows

Streaming Now

  • Ask the StoryBots: Season 3
  • Basketball or Nothing
  • Dear White People: Volume 3
  • Derry Girls: Season 2
  • Otherhood
  • She-Ra and The Princesses of Power: Season 3
  • Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj: Volume 4
  • Enter the Anime
  • No Good Nick: Part 2
  • Dollar
  • The Naked Director
  • Wu Assassins
  • Cable Girls: Season 4
  • The Family
  • GLOW: Season 3
  • The InBESTigators
  • Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling
  • Sintonia
  • Spirit Riding Free: Pony Tales
  • Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready
  • Cannon Busters
  • 45 rpm
  • Apache: La vida de Carlos Tevez
  • Better Than Us
  • Diagnosis
  • Green Frontier
  • Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus
  • The Little Switzerland
  • MINDHUNTER: Season 2
  • QB1: Beyond the Lights: Season 3
  • Sextuplets
  • Super Monsters Back to School
  • Victim Number 8
  • Simon Amstell: Set Free
  • American Factory
  • Hyperdrive
  • Love Alarm
  • 13 Reasons Why?: Season 3
  • El Pepe: Una vida suprema
  • HERO MASK: Part II
  • Rust Valley Restorers
  • Million Pound Menu: Season 2
  • Trolls: The Beat Goes On!: Season 7
  • Falling Inn Love
  • Kardec
  • Workin’ Moms: Season 3
  • The A List
  • CAROLE & TUESDAY
  • The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
  • Droppin’ Cash: Season 2
  • La Grande Classe
  • Mighty Little Bheem: Season 2
  • Styling Hollywood
  • True and the Rainbow Kingdom: Wild Wild Yetis
  • Un bandido honrado

Release Date TBA

  • Sacred Games: Season 2

Not only is Netflix entertaining, but it is an amazing window to the imagination, and at times a thought-provoking look at the world.

You can take it with you wherever you go, picking right up where you left off the last time you put it down. Netflix’s original films and shows can inspire, thrill, make you cry, or laugh. It can take you from the gritty streets of San Francisco with Wu Assassins to the make-believe world of Dark Crystal. 


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