6 Netflix Originals to look forward to in 2018

2017 saw a host of exciting new Netflix Originals arriving on the service’s ever-expanding roster including critically acclaimed shows like Mindhunter, Ozark and GLOW. Netflix is showing no signs of slowing down its output any time soon either with 2018 shaping up to be their biggest year yet with around 80 original movies and countless new series lined up for release.

Netflix is clearly making a huge investment in original content with recent reports suggesting that the streaming giant could spend an enormous $8billion this year on it’s own in-house output.

With this sizeable investment in play, it’s no surprise to see that there’s a huge amount of exciting new Netflix Originals arriving over the next 12 months. Here are just a select few to whet your appetite:

Everything Sucks! – February 2018

In a move that is sure to make anyone over the age of around 27 feel mighty old, the 90s is now officially long enough ago that a nostalgic show based on its pop-culture is viable.

Everything Sucks! is a coming-of-age comedy set in 1996 and written by the team of Ben York Jones and Michael Mohan. The show will focus on the hijinks of a group of lovable misfits (naturally) based in the AV and Drama clubs at a typical American high school and looks all set to do for the 1990s what Stranger Things did for all things 1980s. Fingers crossed we can also expect a thoroughly enjoyable soundtrack to accompany the show’s action.

Incidentally, the trailer also features a neat VH1 “Pop-Up Video” style walk-through of all it’s little references, which is in itself enough to prompt a wave of nostalgia for many of us.

Dogs of Berlin

After the success of their first German Language series Dark, Netflix has now commissioned a second series from over in Deutschland called Dogs of Berlin. The show looks set to be a tense police drama and is being created by Christian Alvert, the director of Antibodies, Case 39 and Sci-Fi Horror Pandorum.

Dogs Of Berlin will follow two wildly different cops, one an East Berlin native, one of Turkish descent, who must reluctantly work together as they delve into the Berlin underworld and take on drug cartels, the mafia and neo-nazi’s. It looks set to be a grittily realistic and thoroughly engrossing crime thriller.

Maniac

Little is known about Maniac beyond that it’s a dark comedy based on a Norwegian fantasy series and follows the wild adventures conjured by the imaginations of two patients in a psychiatric hospital.

The pedigree of the people involved however is certainly cause for great excitement. The series is written by acclaimed American novelist Patrick Somerville, directed by Cary Fukunaga who has recently directed True Detective Season 1 and Beasts Of No Nation, and will star Emma Stone, Jonah Hill and Justin Theroux. Expect this one to be an especially quirky and truly unique offering.

Disenchantment

Given the immense success of both The Simpsons and Futurama, Matt Groening’s new animated series for Netflix comes with a fairly colossal amount of expectation attached. The adult-orientated show will follow the experiences of an alcoholic princess, voiced by Broad City‘s Abbi Jacoson, who shares adventures with her elf sidekick and personal demon in a strange medieval realm.

We’re in something of a golden era for adult animation and Netflix themselves have already delivered the absolute gem that is Bojack Horseman in to that mix, as well as two solid efforts in F is for Family and Big Mouth. Given Groening’s considerable pedigree, there’s every reason to be hopeful of more of the same here.

Seven Seconds

One of Netflix’s most high-profile forthcoming dramas is this new crime series from Veena Sud, creator of the American version of The Killing. Seven Seconds is an anthological crime drama, with season one following the aftermath of a black teenager inadvertently being critically injured by a white police officer in Jersey City.

In the aftermath of this seismic event, racial tensions bubble over as we witness the entire story unfold including an attempted cover up and a huge public trial. Gavin O’Conner, director of Warrior and The Accountant, will helm the show and the strong cast includes Clare-Hope Ashitey (Children of Men) and Regina King (American Crime).

Altered Carbon

Based on the hit cyberpunk sci-fi novel by Richard K. Morgan, this big budget new series comes courtesy of showrunner Laeta Kalogridis who actually first optioned the rights to the story some 15 years ago. Deciding against developing it into a feature film, Kalogridis has instead opted to take full advantage of the creative freedom that Netflix can now offer.

By all accounts Altered Carbon will be extremely loyal to the source material and we can therefore expect a fairly unflinching and violent tale. Set 300 years in the future, its based in a society where technology has become all encompassing and human consciousness can simply be uploaded in to a younger body. Immortality is now possible, but at a price. Expect a visceral and daring dystopian future with more than a hint of Blade Runner about it.

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