Netflix is the home of some of the best thriller shows of recent times. That’s what one would call a perfect amalgam. While the genre is undoubtedly one of the world’s most popular, the streaming giant is the world’s largest. Indeed, it is like logging into one of the most comprehensive databases of entertainment to binge-watch some of the best series ever made, not just in the thriller genre but in TV history.
But the question is: How do we define a thriller? Is it a crime saga about a notorious drug trafficker, or a story of helpless underdogs fighting for survival in a deadly game show? Can a drama about a politician, who ruthlessly removes his opponents, be called truly ‘nail-biting,’ or is the tag more fitting for a fantastical tale of a group of young people trying to survive in an alternate dimension?
Simply put, the answer is that all of them are thrillers because they are fast-paced and keep audiences hooked with bated breath – almost in a state of constant tension – with every development in the story. The excitement that thriller TV shows build with every frame is unmatched, especially due to the fact that a longer format allows for a structured build-up of the plot as well as a deeper exploration of characters.
Like all other genres in entertainment, thrillers originated in literature. Over the last century, it found place and recognition — first on the big screen and then on the smaller one. Now, with streaming quickly replacing the idiot box, thrillers have not only found a broader and younger audience but also refreshing ideas and styles that keep them relevant in the information age.
Yet, irrespective of the change over the years, thrillers are an umbrella genre within which several sub-genres can neatly fit themselves.
What are ‘nail-biting’ thrillers?
Several of the best thriller TV series on Netflix have crime or action as driving elements. Others take the path of suspense, while the rest rely more heavily on aspects such as dystopian settings or even the murky world of espionage.
There are some shows which are sometimes included among thrillers due to certain aspects of their stories. But such shows are not tagged as ‘thriller’ by Netflix, which instead lists them as ‘drama’ or ‘sci-fi.’
Usually, dramas and some crime shows could be engrossing but not nail-biting. Such shows include the complex sci-fi show 3 Body Problem and the political drama The Diplomat. Though they have some minor sensational quotients, they are not thrillers in the true sense because they do not need to be thrilling with each frame. The focus of such shows is on more dominant genre elements. This means that thriller itself becomes a sub-genre and not the main genre in such shows.
It points to the fact that unlike romance or comedy, which have a more defined nature, thriller lacks a clear line of demarcation between itself and other genres. This is why anything that has action (except superhero), mystery, suspense, or intrigue becomes part of the broader genre of thriller.
Thus, the best thriller series on Netflix include a variety of shows as diverse as the Korean smash hit Squid Game and American political drama House of Cards to the Japanese dystopian show Alice in Borderland and the Spanish crime drama Money Heist.
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Directed by: Lee Chang-hee
Cast: Choi Woo-shik, Son Suk-ku, Lee Hee-joon
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 8
IMDb rating: 7.2
Synopsis: Lee Tang (Choi), a struggling worker at a convenience store, accidentally kills a person after an altercation. Unbeknownst to him, the person was a serial killer. Tang discovers that he has a unique gift of identifying evildoers, which also motivates him to kill more. His actions put a brilliant detective named Jang Nan-gam (Son) on his tail.
More about the series: A Killer Paradox is a K-drama that is based on the Naver webtoon of the same name by Kkomabi.
Directed by: Yoon Jong-bin
Cast: Ha Jung-woo, Hwang Jung-min, Park Hae-soo, Jo Woo-jin, Yoo Yeon-seok, Kim Min-gwi, Chang Chen
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 6
IMDb rating: 7.3
Synopsis: A civilian businessman named Kang In-gu (Ha) is forced to cooperate with the National Intelligence Service to ensure the arrest of South Korean drug lord Jeon Yo-hwan (Hwang) in Suriname. The mission is suicidal because Yo-hwan, who poses as a pastor, has a stranglehold on the corrupt leadership of the island country.
More about the series: The Korean television show is based on the true story of a businessman identified only as “K,” who infiltrated and brought down the drug empire of Cho Bong-haeng in Suriname on the direction of Korean intelligence.
Created by: Shawn Ryan
Cast: Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Fola Evans-Akingbola
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 10
IMDb rating: 7.5
Synopsis: Peter Sutherland (Basso) is a low-ranking FBI agent. He does the monotonous job of manning a telephone as the night operator. His uneventful life is turned upside down when one night the telephone rings and thrusts him into a conspiracy that threatens the agency and the US government.
More about the series: The Netflix thriller series is based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk. Days after its release, The Night Agent became the sixth most popular English-language show in Netflix history.
Directed by: Shinsuke Sato
Cast: Kento Yamazaki, Tao Tsuchiya, Nijirō Murakami, Ayaka Miyoshi, Aya Asahina
Seasons: 2
Episodes: 16
IMDb rating: 7.7
Synopsis: Arisu (Yamazaki) is a jobless and aimless gamer who suddenly finds himself in an alternate-dimension Tokyo with his two friends. They are forced to compete in deadly games for survival. Arisu soon meets a young woman named Usagi, who knows more about the world they are in.
More about the series: The hit Japanese dystopian thriller is based on the manga of the same name by Haro Aso. According to Netflix, season 2 became the most viewed Japanese show in history with 200 million viewing hours worldwide within four weeks of its release. Following the tremendous success of the show, Netflix renewed it for a third season in September 2023.
Created by: Silvana Aguirre, Carlos Contreras
Cast: Marco de la O, Humberto Busto, Alejandro Aguilar, Rodrigo Abed
Seasons: 3
Episodes: 35
IMDb rating: 7.8
Synopsis: Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán works his way up the ladder in the Mexican underworld, first with the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s and then as the drug lord of the Sinaloa Cartel in the 1990s. Eventually, he meets his end.
More about the series: The series is based on the life of El Chapo, one of the world’s most powerful drug kingpins. After twice escaping from high-security prisons in Mexico, he was finally apprehended and handed over to the US where he remains under imprisonment serving a life sentence.
Created by: Kim Jin-min
Cast: Han So-hee, Park Hee-soon, Ahn Bo-hyun
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 8
IMDb rating: 7.8
Synopsis: A young woman (Han) trained by an underworld gang assumes a fake identity and infiltrates the police to find her father’s killer.
Created by: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Cast: Lee Jung-jae, Park Hae-soo, Wi Ha-joon, HoYeon Jung
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 10
IMDb rating: 8
Synopsis: Struggling with debts, Seong Gi-hun (Lee) accepts an invitation to join a strange competition modelled on children’s games. He discovers that hundreds like him are also participants in the game. The grand prize is KRW 45.6 billion, but the catch is that only one will live to take it home.
More about the series: South Korean television’s biggest-ever success on the international stage, Squid Game is the most-watched Netflix show of all time.
Among the numerous accolades it received were the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (for Lee) and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (for Jung) — both firsts for any Korean artist. Lee also won the Primetime Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the first Asian actor to do so for a non-English role.
Squid Game season 2 was announced in 2022 and is set for release in 2024.
Created by: Yoo In-sik, Jang Yeong-cheol, Jeong Gyeong-sun
Cast: Lee Seung-gi, Bae Suzy, Shin Sung-rok
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 16
IMDb rating: 8.1
Synopsis: Following the death of his young nephew in a plane crash, a stuntman named Cha Dal-geon (Lee) becomes desperate to find the truth. He finds help in covert operative Go Hae-ri (Bae), who is also on a mission to unearth a corruption scandal linked to the crash.
Created by: Álex Pina
Cast: Úrsula Corberó, Álvaro Morte, Itziar Ituño, Pedro Alonso
Seasons: 5
Episodes: 42
IMDb rating: 8.2
Synopsis: A gang of eight robbers led by a mysterious man known as ‘The Professor’ (Morte) attempt to steal EUR 2.4 billion from the Royal Mint of Spain in what seems like the most perfect heist ever. But the police are bent on preventing the unusual robbers from carrying out their plan.
More about the series: Money Heist remains one of Netflix’s biggest non-English language hits of all time. Elements depicted in the Spanish crime thriller, such as the Salvador Dali masks and red jumpsuits worn by the robbers, became pop culture icons. It led to the spin-off series Berlin (2023–), based on the character played by Pedro Alonso in the original series.
The show was adapted in South Korea as Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area (2022) with a completely new story, characters and a setting in the Korean peninsula.
Created by: Lior Raz, Avi Issacharoff
Cast: Lior Raz, Hisham Sulliman, Shadi Mar’i, Laëtitia Eïdo
Seasons: 4
Episodes: 48
IMDb rating: 8.3
Synopsis: Doron (Raz), an Israel Defense Force (IDF) veteran, is forced to rejoin his unit to nab a target at a wedding who he believed was dead. But the mission backfires and Doron is dragged into a conflict of much greater proportions.
More about the series: Fauda is an Israeli thriller and one of Netflix’s most popular shows, though it was criticised by a few for its depiction of the wider Israel-Palestine conflict. The show was adapted in India as Tanaav (2022), with new characters and a story revolving around the India-Pakistan relationship.
Created by: James Manos Jr.
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Vélez
Seasons: 8
Episodes: 96
IMDb rating: 8.6
Synopsis: Dexter Morgan is a mild-mannered blood-splatter analyst with the Miami police. But his darkest secret is that he is a serial killer who murders other killers.
More about the series: The critically acclaimed show won four Primetime Emmys and two Golden Globes during its run.
Created by: Beau Willimon
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly
Seasons: 6
Episodes: 73
IMDb rating: 8.6
Synopsis: Francis Underwood (Spacey), a US representative from South Carolina, embarks on a ruthless game of political intrigue in which he removes his opponents within his party one after the other. Eventually, Francis climbs the ladder to become the President of the US. His most trusted partner in his mission is his brilliant wife, Claire (Wright).
More about the series: Widely hailed as one of the best political thriller shows of all time, House of Cards is the American adaptation of the 1990 British television series of the same name which, in turn, was based on the eponymous 1989 novel by Michael Dobbs. The series, which won seven Primetime Emmys, is widely credited with increasing Netflix’s popularity.
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(Hero and Featured images: Netflix)
This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– What’s the best thriller on Netflix at the moment?
House of Cards is the best thriller on Netflix. A Killer Paradox is the latest thriller show.
– Are there any good thriller series on Netflix?
There are several good thriller series on Netflix. These include House of Cards, Alice in Borderland and Dexter.
– What is the best psychological thriller on Netflix now?
Some psychological thriller movies such as Joker and The Killer are among the best in the genre on Netflix.
– What is the difference between a thriller and a psychological thriller?
A thriller is an umbrella term, which includes psychological thriller. The latter may be less fast-paced than other types of thrillers.
