3 exciting Netflix thrillers to watch this week (July 20-26)

Published Jul 20, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT After graduating from Marist University with a degree in communications and journalism, Dan Girolamo has over 10 years of experience writing about entertainment and sports. Dan's work can be seen in various publications, including Digital Trends, SportsCasting, and Tom's Guide. Throughout his career, Dan has interviewed several high-profile filmmakers and creatives, including Brendan Fraser, Jamie Lee Curtis, Caitriona Balfe, Frank Grillo, Miranda Cosgrove, Jai Courtney, Chris Columbus and James Cameron. Dan joins How-To Geek as a Senior Editor. When he's not writing about entertainment, Dan is either watching a movie or praying for the New York Knicks to win a championship. It's 2026, and audiences still love Will Ferrell. The comedian's newest show on Netflix, The Hawk, is currently sitting at No. 1 on the service. On the movie side, a Spanish-language thriller, Desire, is No. 1 on the charts. If you're still searching for more thrillers after these picks, give Desire a shot. As for thrillers to stream on Netflix U.S. this week, my top selection is an Oscar-winning black comedy by two brothers that later inspired an FX TV show. My eyes are also on a dystopian survival movie from 2012 and an underrated action franchise. 3 Angel Has Fallen Gerard Butler finds himself in another desperate situation Gerard Butler deserves a medal for his contributions to action movies. While many big stars have jumped into comic book land for superhero adaptations, Butler has kept chugging away as a true action hero, one without superhuman strength or X-ray vision. Butler’s dedicated fanbase helped turn Has Fallen into a franchise, with the third installment, Angel Has Fallen, now on Netflix. First, Mike Banning (Butler) saved the president during an attack at the White House. He then rescued the president during an attack in London. In Angel Has Fallen, Banning is framed for an assassination attempt on U.S. President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) that puts the leader of the free world in a coma. Banning is forced to go on the run, where he finds help from an unlikely source: Clay Banning (Nick Nolte), his estranged father. Quiz 8 Questions · Test Your KnowledgeName that Netflix thrillerTrivia challenge From twisted mysteries to edge-of-your-seat suspense — can you identify these Netflix thrillers from a single clue? MysterySuspenseCrimePlot TwistsCharacters Begin In which Netflix thriller does a woman discover that her seemingly perfect husband has been living a secret double life, complete with a second family in another city? AThe StrangerBBehind Her EyesCYouDThe One Correct! The Stranger (2020) is based on Harlan Coben's novel and follows Adam Price after a mysterious woman reveals his wife has been hiding a shocking secret. The show is a British production and was a massive hit for Netflix upon release. Not quite. The answer is The Stranger, a 2020 Netflix adaptation of Harlan Coben's novel. It follows Adam Price as a chance encounter with a mysterious woman unravels devastating secrets about his wife and his entire life. Continue Which Netflix thriller follows a brilliant but obsessive stalker named Joe Goldberg who works in a bookstore and uses social media to insert himself into his targets' lives? AMindhunterBDirty JohnCYouDOzark Correct! You stars Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg, a charming yet deeply disturbed man whose inner monologue narrates his dangerous obsessions. The show originally aired on Lifetime before Netflix picked it up and turned it into a global phenomenon. Not quite. The answer is You, starring Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg. The show's genius lies in its unreliable first-person narration, which forces viewers to uncomfortably sympathize with a serial stalker and killer. Continue In Bird Box, the characters must keep their eyes covered to avoid a mysterious force. Which actress plays the lead character Malorie? AToni ColletteBSandra BullockCCate BlanchettDNaomi Watts Correct! Sandra Bullock delivers a gripping performance as Malorie in the 2018 Netflix post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box. The film was so popular it reportedly became one of Netflix's most-watched original films within its first week of release. Not quite. Sandra Bullock plays Malorie in Bird Box (2018). The film was based on Josh Malerman's novel and spawned the infamous 'Bird Box Challenge' on social media, which Netflix had to publicly discourage people from attempting. Continue Which Netflix thriller is set in the fictional German town of Winden and involves time travel through a cave system spanning multiple generations of intertwined families? A1899BDarkCThe SinnerDSuburra Correct! Dark is a German-language Netflix original that premiered in 2017 and ran for three seasons. It's widely regarded as one of the most complex and intellectually rewarding thriller series ever made, weaving together time travel, fate, and family trauma. Not quite. The answer is Dark, Netflix's acclaimed German-language thriller. The show's intricate plot spans multiple time periods and requires serious attention — many fans keep detailed family trees just to follow all the connections between characters. Continue In Ozark, Marty Byrde is a financial advisor who is forced to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel. Which actor plays Marty? ABryan CranstonBMichael ShannonCJason BatemanDKevin Spacey Correct! Jason Bateman plays Marty Byrde in Ozark, a role that earned him Emmy nominations for both acting and directing. Bateman is also an executive producer on the show, which ran for four seasons and concluded in 2022. Not quite. Jason Bateman plays Marty Byrde in Ozark. Known before this for comedic roles, Bateman's dramatic turn in Ozark surprised many critics and audiences — he even directed several episodes and received Emmy recognition for his work both in front of and behind the camera. Continue Behind Her Eyes is a psychological thriller famous for its shocking finale. What supernatural concept drives the story's climactic twist? ADemonic possessionBAstral projection and soul swappingCTime loopsDFalse memory implantation Correct! Behind Her Eyes (2021) culminates in a reveal involving astral projection, where a character has used out-of-body experiences to swap souls with another person. The twist divided audiences but became one of the most talked-about endings in recent Netflix history. Not quite. The shocking twist in Behind Her Eyes involves astral projection and soul swapping. The show lulls viewers into thinking it's a straightforward thriller about an affair before pulling the rug out completely in its final episode — a move that went massively viral online. Continue Which Netflix thriller is based on true events and follows a con artist who posed as a German heiress named Anna Delvey to scam New York's elite social circles? ABad VeganBThe Tinder SwindlerCInventing AnnaDDirty Money Correct! Inventing Anna (2022) was created by Shonda Rhimes and dramatizes the real story of Anna Sorokin, who used the alias Anna Delvey to defraud banks and socialites out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Julia Garner plays the lead role. Not quite. The answer is Inventing Anna, the Shonda Rhimes-created series about real-life con artist Anna Sorokin. Sorokin, who used the name Anna Delvey, was convicted of fraud in 2019 and reportedly watched the show about herself while in immigration detention. Continue In the Netflix thriller Squid Game, what is the prize money (in South Korean won) offered to the winner of the deadly competition? A10 billion wonB25 billion wonC45.6 billion wonD100 billion won Correct! The prize in Squid Game is 45.6 billion South Korean won, which equates to roughly $38 million USD. The specific amount accumulates as each player dies — adding approximately 100 million won per death — giving the horrifying competition a chilling economic logic. Not quite. The prize money in Squid Game is 45.6 billion South Korean won. The figure isn't arbitrary — it grows with each contestant's death, with 100 million won added per person, making the mounting total a constant and grim reminder of lives lost in the competition. See My Score Challenge CompleteYour Score / 8 Thanks for playing! Try Again If the Has Fallen series had debuted in the 1990s, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Jean-Claude Van Damme would have been jockeying to play Banning. I mention this because Butler wants to be like those action legends, and the Has Fallen series channels those movies we loved 30 years ago. They are not perfect, but they are wildly fun, ridiculous, and entertaining. Amazon Fire TV Stick (HD) Integrations Alexa Storage 8GB A simple and affordable streaming device that supports all your favorite services in HD. 2 The Hunger Games I volunteer as a tribute to watch the movie ​​​​​​​ After the conclusion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, young adults were searching for the next big adaptation aimed at them. Thankfully, Suzanne Collins supplied the source material for the Hunger Games novels, a dystopian franchise about a society where young teens are forced to fight to the death in an arena. In The Hunger Games, Panem is looking for two tributes—one boy and one girl—from each of the 12 Districts to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised battle royale where adolescents kill each other until one person is left standing. Katniss Everdeen of District 12 volunteers to take the place of her younger sister. As we learn, Katniss is no ordinary tribute, as her rebellious tendencies and survival instincts propel her to stardom. Although Katniss manages to outsmart some of her competition, she quickly realizes that no one wins when playing under the Capitol's watchful eye. To this day, it’s still shocking to witness the violence in The Hunger Games. Children and teenagers die in the arena, which might be hard for some to fathom. If you can get past its brutality, you’re rewarded with an excellent dystopian thriller with blockbuster action sequences, emotional themes, and a star-is-born performance from Lawrence. All five Hunger Games movies are now on Netflix, including the prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. 1 Fargo A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere ​​​​​​​ The Coen Brothers love to poke fun at humanity, especially its absurd nature. They find humor in the darkest and bleakest of scenarios. Arrogance, greed, and cowardice are traits they return to for specific characters in their movies. Those traits are found in Minneapolis sales manager Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo. In desperate need of money, Jerry (William H. Macy) plans to extort his wealthy father-in-law by kidnapping his wife and holding her for ransom. Jerry travels to Fargo, North Dakota, and hires two thugs—Gaear (Peter Stormare) and Carl (Steve Buscemi)—to kidnap his wife in exchange for money. After successfully kidnapping Jerry's wife, Gaear and Carl run into a setback when they kill a state trooper who pulls them over. This brings pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) into the fold. With her signature Midwestern charm, Marge spearheads the investigation and quickly learns that the murder is not a cut-and-dry case. Fargo is as close to flawless as a movie can get. Every string pulled by the Coen Brothers works—from McDormand's casting and the ominous setting to the Oscar-winning script and Roger Deakins' stunning cinematography. It's one of the rare thrillers that is as funny as it is violent. One moment, you're laughing at Mike Yanagita crying in the restaurant, and then, you're shell-shocked by the state trooper's death. Fargo is a must-see movie, and it's under 100 minutes. Can't beat that efficiency. Fargo Release Date March 8, 1996 Netflix has more to offer Thrillers are merely one of Netflix's many genres. If you're interested in award-winning movies, stream Gone Girl or Apollo 13. If you're looking ahead to the future, throw The Last House and Ray Gunn on your Netflix watchlist. These are two of the movies I'm looking forward to on Netflix this year. Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four