Every month, Netflix adds movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for some of December’s most promising new titles for U.S. subscribers. (Note: Streaming services occasionally change schedules without giving notice. For more recommendations on what to stream, sign up for our Watching newsletter here.)
‘Black Doves’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Dec. 5
Created by Joe Barton (known for the stylish series “Giri/Haji” and “The Lazarus Project”), this twisty thriller has Keira Knightley playing Helen, a secret agent so deeply undercover that she is married to the British politician she is spying on — and is the mother to his children. When Jason (Andrew Koji), a man Helen was having an affair with, is very publicly assassinated by London mobsters, Helen’s boss, Reed (Sarah Lancashire), and her close colleague Sam (Ben Whishaw) try to keep the investigation into the murder from reaching back to her and blowing her cover. “Black Doves” is set in a pulp fiction version of England where everyone is hiding something and no one fully trusts anybody — a place where information is currency and people survive on guile.
‘Maria’
Starts streaming: Dec. 11
The third film in the director Pablo Larraín’s trilogy of biopics (after “Jackie” and “Spencer”), “Maria” is a showcase for Angelina Jolie, who plays the opera diva Maria Callas. Set during the final week of the singer’s life, the movie has Callas in a druggie stupor, imagining that she is sitting for an interview in which she reflects on her tumultuous life. Jolie reportedly spent months in opera training, not to learn how to copy Callas’s voice but rather to make sure she could stand, move and breathe like a master.
‘No Good Deed’ Season 1
Starts streaming: Dec. 12
At the start of this dark dramedy, a Los Angeles couple, Paul (Ray Romano) and Lydia (Lisa Kudrow), are anxious to sell their house: a beautiful, century-old home in an upscale neighborhood. A handful of motivated buyers, played by Luke Wilson, Linda Cardellini, Teyonah Parris, O-T Fagbenle, Abbi Jacobson and Poppy Liu, circle the property while Paul and Lydia try to hide their secret reasons for the sale — and their relationship with a dangerous ex-con played by Denis Leary. Similar to the creator Liz Feldman’s previous Netflix series, “Dead to Me,” “No Good Deed” is about people who seem outwardly to be enjoying some material success but whose personal lives are in shambles; privately, they all feel they’re on the brink of disaster.
‘Your Friend, Nate Bargatze’
Starts streaming: Dec. 24
The stand-up comedian Nate Bargatze was popular before he hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the first time in 2023, but that episode — and a second hosting gig in October — helped boost him into comedy’s A-list. This month, Bargatze will be hosting a Christmas-themed variety show for CBS (airing on Dec. 19 and also available on Paramount+); and then on Christmas Eve, he will debut this third Netflix stand-up special. It makes sense for Bargatze to be delivering new material at a time when families are gathering and looking for something to do. He is one of the rare modern comics whose profanity-free jokes are suitable for pretty much all ages, touching on such universal topics as marriage, parenting and how to navigate the modern world’s sometimes confusing etiquette.
‘Squid Game’ Season 2
Starts streaming: Dec. 26
The first season of the Korean mystery-thriller “Squid Game” became an unexpected international phenomenon, captivating audiences with its depiction of an elaborate tournament in a remote location in which desperate people risk their lives for a huge cash prize. As Season 2 begins, rumors about the game have begun to leak out, and several people are looking to find it — including the former players Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun). The series’s Emmy-winning writer-director, Hwang Dong-hyuk, returns for the second of a planned three-season run, bringing back the visually spectacular and nerve-racking contests of Season 1. He also adds more social commentary, examining the brokenness of a world, very much like our own, where such a deadly underground competition could exist.
Also arriving:
Dec. 4
“The Children’s Train”
“Churchill at War”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
“That Christmas”
“Tomorrow and I” Season 1
Dec. 5
“Beastars” Season 3, Part 1
“Jentry Chau vs. the Underworld” Season 1
Dec. 6
“Biggest Heist Ever”
“Camp Crasher”
“Echoes of the Past” Season 1
“Mary”
“A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter”
Dec. 9
“The Great British Baking Show: Holidays” Season 7
“Rubble & Crew” Season 1
Dec. 10
“Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was …”
“Polo” Season 1
Dec. 11
“The Kings of Tupelo: A Southern Crime Saga”
“Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World”
“One Hundred Years of Solitude” Season 1
“Queer Eye” Season 9
Dec. 13
“1992”
“Carry-On”
“Disaster Holiday”
Dec. 17
“Aaron Rodgers: Enigma”
“Ronny Chieng: Love to Hate It”
Dec. 18
“Julia’s Stepping Stones”
Dec. 19
“The Dragon Prince” Season 7
“Virgin River” Season 6
Dec. 20
“Ferry 2”
“The Six Triple Eight”
Dec. 31
“Avicii — I’m Tim”
“Avicci — My Last Show”
“Michelle Buteau: A Buteau-Ful Mind at Radio City Musical Hall”
The post The Best Movies and TV Shows Coming to Netflix in December appeared first on New York Times.
