Best new movies and TV series on Netflix New Zealand: November 2025

Each month, loads of new films and TV shows are added to Netflix New Zealand‘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

Death By Lightning: Limited Series (November 6)

Step aside, Lincoln; slow your roll, Kennedy; it’s finally time for the stranger-than-fiction assassination of James Garfield to get its time in the spotlight, with Michael Shannon bunging on some mutton chops to play the slain US President. Matthew Macfadyen is the killer Charles J Guiteau, whose delusional belief that he personally contributed to Garfield’s election was warped into bitterness—and then further, on a fateful day in 1881, into homicidal rage.

Those are the facts, roughly, but this miniseries’ illustrious cast happens to be packed with comedy stars, suggesting a quirkier take on true events. You’ve got Nick Offerman, Bradley Whitford, Shea Wigham and my beloved Betty Gilpin, in four episodes of irreverent and epic US history.

The Beast in Me: Limited Series (November 13)

Who are the people in your neighborhood—really? Claire Danes’ character has this nosy question on her mind, in a tense eight-part drama co-starring the terrific Matthew Rhys. He’s a real estate mogul who’s wife has recently disappeared, and that nagging feeling that he may have had something to do with it leaves Danes obsessed. If the guy really is a murderer, he might be too moneyed and powerful to bring to justice—but she’s a famous author, precisely the kind of person you’d want on the case if you happened to be Mrs Rhys (poor Brittany Snow). Jodie Foster and Conan O’Brien co-produce the series, oddly enough, which should be a rollicking cat-and-mouse game between two formidable acting talents.

Stranger Things 5: Volume 1 (November 27)

A final battle is looming. Well, almost final—Netflix loves to lop the last instalments of its most exciting shows into parts, after all. It’s the start of a final battle at least, with the tubular teens and adult allies of Hawkins, Indiana banding together to find and take down Vecna at any cost.

Linda Hamilton will be a great addition to the sprawling cast, as an agent on the trail of Millie Bobby Brown’s telekinetic kiddo Eleven. One can barely believe it’s been almost a decade, since we first met her and her buddies. That’s the peril of making a TV show that everybody loves: your stars all get too famous too quickly, book a bunch of other high-profile projects, and suddenly fans have to wait years for the whole story to wrap up, with everybody looking a bit too grown-up by the end.

Top Picks: Movies + Specials

Frankenstein (November 7)

The definition of a passion project, Guillermo Del Toro’s vision of Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking horror text has been a long time coming. The director is the ultimate champion of freaks, outsiders, monsters—and finally, Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi will play his Frankenstein and his creature.

Gothic in every sense of the word—hell, it even has Mia Goth as Elizabeth!—it’s a luscious and deeply-felt adaptation, almost to the point of melodrama. After worshipping Shelley’s novel and dreaming of how he’d film it for so long, it’s surprising that Del Toro freely makes changes to such an iconic yarn, expanding and adding (hi, Christoph Waltz’s new character) to the ultimate bad dad story. It shouldn’t surprise you that the line between the sins of the creator and the enraged violence of his creation gets drawn especially thin here, who’s the real monster, etc. etc. etc. Say it with me: it’s alive! It’s alive!

Train Dreams (November 21)

Based on a novella by American author Denis Johnson, this period drama captures the physical and emotional toll it takes to change a country—but there’s also room for beauty, grace, quiet and meaningful reflection. Joel Edgerton captures it all, playing a logger in early 20th century America who is employed to expand the nation’s burgeoning railways. Felicity Jones (forever cast in these sort of parts) is the wife from whom he must spend prolonged periods away, with Kerry Condon and William H Macy among the supporting cast. It’s received strong reviews from critics so far, and in a noisy month of Netflix releases, a bit of literary meditation and Edgerton grit could be just what we need.

All titles arriving on Netflix New Zealand in November

November 1

Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone 3
Jack Reacher
Puss in Boots
Shrek
Shrek 2
Shrek the Third
Shrek Forever After

November 3

Dr Seuss’s The Sneetches

November 4

Leanne Morgan: Unspeakable Things
Squid Game: The Challenge: Season 2

November 5

Heweliusz
Just Alice

November 6

The Bad Guys: Breaking In
Death by Lightning
The Vince Staples Show: Season 2

November 7

As You Stood By
Baramulla
Groom & Two Brides
Mango
Frankenstein

November 10

MARINES
Sesame Street: Volume 1

November 12

The Accountant
Being Eddie
Eloa the Hostage: Live on TV
A Merry Little Ex-Mas
Mrs Playmen
Selling the OC: Season 4

November 13

The Beast in Me
Dehli Crime: Season 3
Dynamite Kiss
Had I Not Seen the Sun: Part 1
Last Samurai Standing
Tee Yai: Born to Be Bad
Unicorn Academy: Chapter 4

November 14

The Crystal Cuckoo
How to Win the Lottery
In Your Dreams
Lefter: The Story of the Ordinarius

November 15

Jake Paul vs. Tank Davis

November 17

Gabby’s Dollhouse: Season 12
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Selena y Los Dinos

November 18

Gerry Dee: Funny You Should Say That

November 19

The Carman Family Deaths
Champagne Problems
Envious: Season 3
The Son of a Thousand Men

November 20

The Follies
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory: Season 4
A Man on the Inside: Season 2

November 21

ONE SHOT with Ed Sheeran
Train Dreams

November 23

The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Legacy
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
Jason Bourne

November 24

Fisk: Season 3
Missing: Dead or Alive?: Season 2

November 25

Is It Cake? Holiday: Season 2

November 26

Jingle Bell Heist

November 27

Stranger Things 5: Volume 1

November 28

Left-Handed Girl
The Stringer: The Man Who Took the Photo

November 30

WWE Survivor Series: 2025

See also
* Best new movies and TV series Stan
* Best new movies and TV series on Amazon Prime
* Best new movies and TV series on Disney+
* All new streaming movies & series