The 18 Netflix Original Series to Be Excited About in 2018
If you have a Netflix account, odds are you aren’t short on things to watch. The streaming giant has been putting out unprecedented content week-in and week-out, whether it’s Netflix original series like “Ozark,” foreign acquisitions like “Peaky Blinders,” original movies like “Bright,” festival pick-ups like “Mudbound,” comedy specials, documentaries, and more, more, more.
Well, in 2018, Netflix is not slowing down. With nearly $8 billion to spend on original content and a mission to make half its library Netflix originals, there’s plenty of exciting options heading to subscribers’ queues this year. Below, IndieWire has rounded up a preview of 18 new shows, with an eye toward proven creators and exciting properties that are trying to craft the next big show.
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“Altered Carbon”
Release Date: February 2, 2018
Length: 10 hourlong episodes
Creator: Laeta Kalogridis
Cast: Joel Kinnaman, Martha Higareda, James Purefoy
Creator and showrunner Laeta Kalogridis originally optioned the rights to “Altered Carbon” with the intention of making it into a feature film. Richard K. Morgan’s novel, set more than 300 years in the future, tells of a society that’s been utterly transformed by technology. Per the official synopsis, “consciousness can be digitized; human bodies are interchangeable; death is no longer permanent.” But a film adaptation would’ve demanded an R-rating to honor the original material — including murder, sex, and more graphic content — and a big budget to match, so Kalogridis is now making it into a TV show. Sci-fi fans get ready. This could be the “Sense8” replacement you’ve been craving.
“Seven Seconds”
Release Date: February 23, 2018
Length: 10 hourlong episodes
Creator: Veena Sud
Cast: Regina King, Russell Hornsby, Clare-Hope Ashitey
Regina King wasn’t in much of “The Leftovers'” final season, so her new show better have been worth it. Granted, that’s a high bar, but “Seven Seconds” certainly offers a premise worth investing in: “After a white cop accidentally hits and critically injures a black teenager, a northeastern city explodes with racial tensions, an attempted cover up and its aftermath, and the trial of the century.” OK, so perhaps this is more in line with “American Crime” than any of King’s previous work, and her role is bound to be intense: She’s playing the kid’s grieving mother. As for behind-the-scenes talent, Veena Sud is the creator “The Killing,” and no matter how you feel about the later seasons, that first one was exquisite. Here’s hoping she can capture the magic even longer with King at her side.
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“Disenchantment”
Release Date: 2018
Length: 10 half-hour episodes
Creator: Matt Groening
Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Nat Faxon, Eric Andre, John DiMaggio
Matt Groening has created two animated series: “The Simpsons” and “Futurama.” To say expectations are high for this — his third animated comedy and first at Netflix — would be an understatement. He’s got a stellar cast in his corner: Nat Faxon and Eric Andre are hilarious character actors, and Abbi Jacobson is an underrated voice actor, especially given her recent accomplishments in “BoJack Horseman” and her awesome new podcast, “A Piece of Work.” Plus, she’s playing a “hard-drinking young princess” with a “feisty elf companion” and “her personal demon, Luci.” So this half-hour comedy set in medieval times is off to a good start on paper. But can the follow-through live up to the hype?
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“Dogs of Berlin”
Release Date: 2018
Length: 10 hourlong episodes
Creator: Christian Alvert
For anyone who liked Netflix’s first original German-language series, “Dark,” get excited for No. 2. “Dogs of Berlin” isn’t a supernatural thriller, but it is a drama focusing on two Berlin police detectives who team-up against their will to take down an underworld willing to destroy the cops at any cost. They face attacks so personal, it’s hard to tell which side of the law they should be on. Christian Alvert, a writer-director of films including “Antibodies” and “Case 39,” will write, direct, and serve as showrunner on his second TV series (after the 2014 show, “Tatort”).
Read More:‘Dark’ Spoilers Review: Anyone Expecting ‘Stranger Things’ is in for a Hypnotic, Jarring TV Puzzle
“Everything Sucks!”
Release Date: 2018
Length: 10 half-hour episodes
Creators: Ben York Jones, Michael Mohan
Cast: Peyton Kennedy, Jahi Winston, Patch Darragh, Claudine Mboligkpelani Nako
‘Member the ’90s, guys? Netflix sure hopes so. After finding immense success in teen period dramas with “Stranger Things,” the streaming giant has picked up another coming-of-age story, this time set in the following decade. “Everything Sucks!” follows two groups of high school misfits — the A/V club and drama club — in a comedy series aiming to be the next “Freaks and Geeks” or “Happy Days.” That would go along nicely with Netflix’s lineup of actual ’90s comedies, including “Full House” and “Friends.”
“Green Eggs and Ham”
Release Date: 2018
Length: 13 half-hour episodes
Everything you need to know about this animated Dr. Seuss adaptation can be found in Netflix’s announcement of the series:
We think this will be a hit
Green Eggs and Ham is a perfect fit
for our growing slate of amazing stories
available exclusively in all Netflix territories.
You can stream it on a phone.
You can stream it on your own.
You can stream it on TV.
You can stream it globally.
If that kind of Seuss-ian interpretation charms you, then the Ellen DeGeneres-produced series is probably going to click. If not, maybe wait ’til we get a first look or a cast list. You never know if it’s going to turn out like “The Lorax” or “Horton Hears a Who.”
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“Kiss Me First”
Release Date: Early 2018
Length: Six hourlong episodes
Creator: Bryan Eisley
Director: Misha Manson-Smith
Cast: Tallulah Haddon, Simona Brown, Matthew Beard, Haruka Abe
A mix of live-action and CGI scenes seems like just the right creative concoction for a story about a lonely video game addict who meets a “party girl” with a dark secret. The two meet online, in a gaming site known as Agora, but they become friends in real-life… until one disappears and the other starts investigating what happened while assuming her missing friend’s identity. A co-production with E4, the mystery series shot in London and Croatia starting back in December 2016, so even with extensive post-production work, we’re expecting this one sooner rather than later.
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“Lost in Space”
Release Date: May 2018
Length: 10 hourlong episodes
Creators: Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless
Cast: Toby Stephens, Molly Parker, Ignacio Serricchio, Parker Posey, Maxwell Jenkins
Adapted from the 1965 series of the same name — and probably not at all from the 1998 movie starring William Hurt and an unjustly maligned Matt LeBlanc — the reboot of “Lost in Space” is sticking very close to the original conceit: The Robinson family, a crew of travelers on a mission to colonize a new planet, get stranded light years from their intended destination and must figure out a way to get back on track. In the new series, Toby Stephens is Commander John Robinson with Parker Posey playing Dr. Smith. Most importantly, the robot known for shouting, “Danger, Will Robinson!”, will appear in a yet-unseen modified form. The look of this big budget reinvention will play a big part in its success.
Read More:The 20 Best New TV Shows of 2017
“Maniac”
Release Date: 2018
Length: 10 half-hour episodes
Creator: Patrick Somerville
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Cast: Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Justin Theroux, Sonoya Mizuno, Sally Field, Julia Garner, Jemima Kirke
Honestly, for all the photos and details surfacing about this hotly anticipated dark comedy, there’s not much more you need to know beyond Justin Theroux’s recent Instagram post. If this is what the series is going to look like, then we’re 100 percent on board. From “The Leftovers” writer and producer Patrick Somerville and “True Detective” Season 1 director Cary Fukunaga, “Maniac” is an adaptation of a 2014 Norwegian series about two patients in a mental institution who live somewhere between the real world and their wild fantasy worlds. With all this talent involved, those worlds are only limited by the finest of imaginations.
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