Each month, loads of new films and TV shows are added to Netflix‘s library. Eliza Janssen presents her picks for titles worth watching. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down.
Top Picks: TV
The Four Seasons: Season 1 (May 1)
May-December romance; entering the winter of your years; a midsummer night’s fling. It’s wild how much time (and the weather) can test our strongest relationships, from decades-long friendships to marriages that have maybe lost their spark. Tina Fey produces, writes and stars in this hilarious new marital comedy, based on a little-known Alan Alda film from the 1980s.
She and fellow SNL alum Will Forte play a couple who have always vacationed with the same close group, including Colman Domingo and Steve Carell…until Steve calls it quits on his trusted yet tired marriage. The shockwaves ripple through the pack of friends, spiralling into chaotic catch-ups and embarrassing new partners. Hot tip: if you’re trying to ensure your new squeeze makes a good impression on your dearest mates, tell ’em to leave the acoustic guitar and Elton John covers at home.
Bet: Season 1 (May 15)
At my school, kids were obsessed with playing foursquare and nurturing their Tamagotchis. At the preppy private school in this OTT manga adaptation, wealthy students love nothing more than putting their money where their precocious mouths are, betting big on an underground gambling circuit.
Canadian actor Miku Martineau plays our hero Yumeko, a Japanese transfer student and secret gambling addict: with her shadowy past and brilliant instincts, she’s all set to shake up a corrupt and twisty hierarchy, where the moneyed rule like gods and students in debt are treated like an underclass. I wonder if they ever have time to learn anything at this school.
Sirens: Limited Series (May 22)
Heed the charismatic call of this new black comedy, featuring the month’s most exciting cast. We’re talking Julianne Moore as a domineering philanthropist billionaire, talented young Aussie Milly Alcock as Moore’s obsessed personal assistant, the delightful Meghann Fahy as Alcock’s concerned sis checking in on things, and Kevin Bacon and Glenn Howerton as rich jerks along for the ride.
Part of me hopes that the mysterious show’s title is quite literal, with Moore playing some kind of brainwashing rich mermaid. Wouldn’t that be dope? In any case, the acting and acerbic script from the creator of Maid should make it worth your time.
Top Picks: Movies + Specials
Cuckoo (May 8)
The name says it all: this tangled horror film, starring a very stressed-out Hunter Schafer, is quite bonkers. The best bit is English character actor Dan Stevens, playing the freaky German doctor who takes a disturbing interest in Schafer’s family and mute sister in particular. In our review from Katie Parker, she praised Tilman Singer’s movie for how it “neatly sidesteps many of the horror-grief cliches”, choosing to instead tread into far stranger territory.
Nonnas (May 9)
Based on a true story—and the true observation that nobody on earth is a better chef than one’s own grandma—this heartwarming and stomach-rumbling comedy features Vince Vaughn as a morose bloke with a brilliant idea. Why not hire a team of tremendously talented nonnas to cook in a commercial kitchen? And hey, what if a few of them were bonafide gangster movie legends, like Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire and more? Susan Sarandon, Linda Cardellini and Joe Mangianello co-star, in what is certainly a film to pair with a big bottle of Aldi vino and a microwaveable lasagna.
Fear Street: Prom Queen (May 23)
Heavy is the head that wears the crummy plastic crown. I completely ate up Netflix’s trio of R.L. Stine adaptations, with all three Fear Street entries offering fun and finely-characterised riffs on horror subgenres from the slasher to the period witchhunt drama. And now, Shadyside’s infestation of malevolent masked figures comes back for another stab, set in fabulous 1988.
When candidates for prom queen begin to get gruesomely picked off one by one, our poor final girl will end up fighting for her life rather than a tiara and sash. Not sure why this is coming out in May and not around Halloween, as with the franchise’s other instalments.
All titles arriving on Netflix New Zealand in May
May 1
Angi: Fake Life, True Crime
The Biggest Fan
The Four Seasons: Limited Series
The Hill
Past Lives
May 2
Unseen: Season 2
May 4
Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
May 5
Britain and the Blitz
Mighty Monsterwheelies: Season 2
May 6
The Devil’s Plan: Season 2
Untold: Shooting Guards
May 7
Full Speed: Season 2
Last Bullet
The Northman
May 8
Blood of Zeus: Season 3
Cuckoo
FOREVER
Karol G: Tomorrow Was Beautiful
May 9
Bad Influence
A Deadly American Marriage
Nonnas
The Royals
May 10
Backlash: 2025
May 12
Red, White & Brass
Tastefully Yours
May 13
Bad Thoughts
The Expendables
Untold: The Liver King
May 14
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden
Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story
Snakes and Ladders
May 15
Bet
Franklin
Love, Death & Robots: Volume 4
Pernille: Season 5
Secrets We Keep
Thank You, Next: Season 2
Vini Jr.
May 16
Dear Hongrang
Football Parents
The Moogai
The Quilters
Rotten Legacy
May 20
Sarah Silverman: Postmortem
Untold: The Fall of Favre
May 21
Newly Rich, Newly Poor
Real Men
May 22
Sirens
Tyler Perry’s She The People
May 23
Air Force Elite: Thunderbirds
Big Mouth: Season 8
Brassic: Seasons 1-5
Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders
Fear Street: Prom Queen
Forget You Not
Off Track 2
May 24
Our Unwritten Seoul
May 26
CoComelon: Season 13
Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life
May 28
F1: The Academy
May 29
Dept. Q
May 30
Aunty Donna’s Coffee Cafe
The Heart Knows
A Widow’s Game
Coming Soon
Losmen Bu Broto: The Series
Lost in Starlight
Mad Unicorn
Rhythm + Flow: Poland
