The most exciting Netflix Original films and shows coming in 2019

Netflix is changing the way we watch films and television shows forever, and it’s almost impossible to keep up with the vast array of new content published on the service every day.

Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and the Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs were just some of Netflix’s original productions that blew us away in 2018, – and there are plenty more where they came from.

2019 is set to be the biggest year yet for Netflix Originals.

To help you navigate through the colossal content splurge coming to Netflix next year, here are the upcoming Netflix projects we’re most excited to see.

Show: Stranger Things S3

The beloved ’80s sci-fi series returns in 2019 with what promises to be the biggest series yet. Episode titles for Stranger Things S3 were recently released, and to say we’re hyped would be an understatement.

With Hawkins Lab now shut down and the gateway to the Upside Down seemingly shut, everything seems rosy but the Mind Flayer still lurks and it set to unleash all hell onto Hawkins this time around.

Launching: TBC

Movie: Triple Frontier

The latest from acclaimed filmmaker J.C. Chandor (A Most Violent Year, All is Lost) and writer Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty), Triple Frontier has had something of a chequered production history but is finally getting a release in 2019.

Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, and Pedro Pascal lead the cast as a group of ex-soldiers who rob an infamous drug lord after struggling to make ends meet since their end of service.

Launching: March

Show: Star Trek: Discovery S2

A second season of Star Trek: Discovery was commissioned by CBS and Netflix almost immediately after the debut season landed. Showrunner Alex Kurtzman has up-the-ante with the addition of the USS Enterprise, Captain Pike, and a young Spock (Ethan Peck) to proceedings.

Launching: January 18

Movie: The Irishman

Scorsese. De Niro. Pacino. Pesci. Four names together to get the blood pumping, and next year the foursome come together for The Irishman.

A passion project from Scorsese, and reportedly one of Netflix’s most expensive films ever with a budget of around $175million, it tells the story of labour union official Frank Sheehan (De Niro) and his involvement in bringing down Jimmy Hoffa (Pacino).

Launching: TBC

Show: Nightflyers

With the phenomenally successful Game of Thrones coming to an end next year, attention is turning to creator George R.R. Martin’s other works.

First up is Nightflyers, which Martin calls “Psycho In Space”, and is a co-production between SyFy and Netflix, based on the novel and short stories collection first released in 1980.

Launching: TBC

Movie: Six Underground

After passing the Transformers torch, director Michael Bay returns with another action thriller, this time from Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick, the writers of Deadpool and Zombieland.

Ryan Reynolds leads a cast that includes Dave Franco, Melanie Laurent, and Corey Hawkins. If the set videos are anything to go by, Bay may have out Bay-ed himself with this one.

Show: The Umbrella Academy

The Umbrella Academy is based on the popular, Eisner award-winning comics and graphic novels created and written by Gerard Way, of My Chemical Romance fame. It tells the story of a family of strange superheroes called the Hargreeves, who must save the world from the apocalypse. Naturally.

Developed by Steve Blackman (Fargo, Legion), the show stars Ellen Page, Tom Sheehan, Colm Feore, and Mary J. Blige as a super-villain.

Launching: February 15

Movie: Velvet Buzzsaw

Set to make its debut at Sundance in January, the buzz for the new film by Nightcrawler’s Dan Gilroy is already picking up steam.

The writer-director re-teams with his Nightcrawler stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo for a film set in the “world of contemporary art in Los Angeles”. John Malkovich and Toni Collette will also star.

Launching: February 1

Show: Central Park Five

Ava DuVernay, the Oscar-nominated director of Selma and 13th, is tackling another shocking true life story for Netflix, this time as a limited series.

In 1989 a jogger is brutally raped, and five teenagers are wrongly convicted of carrying it out. Jovan Adepo (Fences) and Chris Chalk (12 Years A Slave) lead the cast with Vera Farmiga, Michael K. Williams and John Leguizamo co-starring.

Launching: TBC

Movie: The King

Written by Joel Edgerton and David Michod (who also directs), The King is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV: Parts 1 & 2 and Henry V.

Oscar Nominee Timothee Chalamet stars as King Henry V with a stellar supporting cast that includes Edgerton, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn, Lily-Rose Depp, Thomasin McKenzie, and Sean Harris, with Brad Pitt as one of the film’s producers.

Launching: TBC

Show: Our Planet

David Attenborough has a new nature show on Netflix

Sir David Attenborough brings his trademark knowledge to Netflix next year with Our Planet, a new series that is an eclectic celebration of the globe as well as a look at the damages and issues facing it thanks to mankind.

Launching: April 5

Movie: The Laundromat

After his brief retirement, director Steven Soderbergh continues his renaissance with his latest based around the story of the infamous Panama Papers, teaming again with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (Contagion, Side Effects).

Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, and Matthias Schoenaerts lead the cast.

Launching: TBC

Show: The Crown S3

Olivia Colman takes over from Claire Foy as the Queen, with the new season taking place from 1964 until 1976 during Harold Wilson’s reign as PM. Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham-Carter take over from Matt Smith and Vanessa Kirby respectively, with Josh O’Connor playing a 20-year-old Prince Charles.

Launching: TBC

Show: Jessica Jones and The Punisher

Hanging on as the last of the two remaining Netflix Marvel shows, after Iron Fist, Daredevil and Luke Cage were cancelled, Jessica Jones and Frank Castle (AKA The Punisher) return for their sophomore – and, potentially, final – seasons.

Launching: The Punisher – January, Jessica Jones TBC

Movie: The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

The directorial debut of Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave, Doctor Strange), this is based on the true story of William Kamkwamba, a young boy in Malawi who created a wind turbine that helped his village get power.

Launching: TBC

Movie: Polar

Mads Mikkelsen stars in an adaptation of the distinctive noir comic-books series of the same name about an international hitman who is forced out of his retirement after an attempt is made on his life.

Jonas Ackerlund (Lords of Chaos) directs the film with Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) and Vanessa Hudgens (Spring Breakers) also part of the cast.

Launching: TBC

Movie: Dolemite Is My Name

Rejoice, Eddie Murphy is back! Taking the lead role in this biopic, Murphy plays comedian Rudy Ray Moore who appeared in many blaxploitation films in the 1970s.

Wesley Snipes, Craig Robinson, Keegan-Michael Key, and Chris Rock co-star in the film from director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow).

Launching: TBC

Murder Mystery

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston reunite for this comedy about a vacation gone awry after a meeting with a mysterious stranger.

Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans, David Walliams, and Terence Stamp are all along for the ride.

Launching: TBC

READ MORE
Best Netflix Original films of 2018
Worst movie plot holes of 2018
The stars we lost in 2018