8 Forgotten Netflix Miniseries Where Every Episode Is a Masterpiece

Image via Beth Dubber / ©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection Published Oct 8, 2026, 6:53 AM EDT Remus is a writer, editor, journalist, and author with an eye for detail and an extremely active imagination. He is an enthusiast of everything to do with the graphic medium, whether it's Western comics and their adaptations or manga and anime. Remus is also the author of the sci-fantasy novel Once Upon a Time in Hyperspace and several works of short fiction in the mystery, comedy, and horror genres. Sign in to your Collider account The miniseries format has been a big success for Netflix, particularly in the past few years, so it’s hardly shocking that the platform boasts several standout works in this style, including acclaimed titles like Adolescence and Baby Reindeer. Bridging the gap between the high-budget productions of cinema and the intimate storytelling of television, these shows have become massive critical and commercial successes. However, beyond those widely recognized hits, the streaming platform is also home to many excellent miniseries that haven’t received the same level of attention. The challenge of a one-season story is that you don’t have the luxury of reigniting popular interest with new installments, which makes it easy for even the greatest miniseries to fade from public memory. But though they may be forgotten, that doesn’t diminish their brilliance, and they’re still remarkable achievements, even if they never achieved enduring popularity. With that in mind, here’s a look at some near-perfect Netflix miniseries that deserve to be revisited even though practically nobody remembers them anymore. 1 ‘Alias Grace’ (2017) Image via Netflix A Canadian drama miniseries directed by Mary Harron and written by Sarah Polley, Alias Grace is an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1996 novel, which follows a fictionalized take on real events from the 19th century. Sarah Gadon stars as Grace Marks, a young housemaid convicted of a high-profile murder, who reveals her story to a psychiatrist hired to evaluate her mental state. Edward Holcroft, Rebecca Liddiard, Zachary Levi, Kerr Logan, David Cronenberg, Paul Gross, and Anna Paquin star in key supporting roles. Most audiences these days know of Margaret Atwood primarily because of The Handmaid’s Tale, but as haunting as that near-future story may be, this journey into the past is every bit as powerful. Alias Grace was highly acclaimed by critics in its day, earning praise for its gripping story, complex characters, and sharp social commentary, and it's a truly fascinating period thriller that opens a window into a little-explored time and place. The show garnered several accolades as well, including two Canadian Screen Awards and an Emmy nomination. 2 ‘Unbelievable’ (2019) Image via Netflix Based on a real-life case detailed in T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong’s Pulitzer Prize-winning news feature and their book A False Report, Unbelievable is a crime drama miniseries created by Susannah Grant, Ayelet Waldman, and Michael Chabon. Kaitlyn Dever stars as 18-year-old Marie Adler, whose rape assault report was dismissed by police officers as a false allegation, and the show explores her nightmarish experiences with the police and judicial system, as well as an investigation years later by two relentless detectives (Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) who are looking for a serial rapist who may have been responsible for the assault on Marie. Unbelievable is not an easy watch, but it’s a show that a lot more people ought to see. A powerful and painful narrative about how victims of abuse are unfairly persecuted by the very systems meant to protect them, the show handles its real-life events with grace and sensitivity, honoring the struggles of the victims while sharply criticizing the dysfunctions of the justice systems. Featuring one of Kaitlyn Dever’s most compelling performances to date, Unbelievable is a criminally overlooked series that remains tragically relevant today, decades after the true events that inspired it. 3 ‘Maniac’ (2018) Image via Netflix Created by Patrick Somerville and directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Maniac is a black comedy-drama miniseries loosely based on the 2015 Norwegian show. Emma Stone and Jonah Hill star as two strangers who take part in a pharmaceutical trial testing a treatment that can supposedly cure all psychological disorders, embarking on a mind-bending trip through hallucinatory worlds. The series also features Justin Theroux, Sonoya Mizuno, Gabriel Byrne, and Sally Field as part of its main cast. Released on Netflix in 2018, Maniac was very well-received by critics and audiences, garnering praise for its performances, direction, and retro-futuristic visuals. A darkly comedic and psychologically layered series, Maniac is an intriguing experience that takes its characters (and the viewers) in unpredictable directions. The show is driven by the amazing performances of Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, with the former receiving a Satellite Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her role. 4 ‘Dracula’ (2020) Image via BBC One An adaptation of Bram Stoker’s eponymous Gothic novel created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, BBC’s Dracula is a reimagination of the iconic character through a 21st-century lens. Starring Claes Bang as the titular vampire, the miniseries explores Count Dracula’s centuries-spanning legacy of gore and terror, from his beginnings in Transylvania to modern-day London, following his lifelong battle with his arch nemesis, Agatha Van Helsing (Dolly Wells). The show’s ensemble cast also includes John Heffernan, Morfydd Clark, Samuel Blenkin, Lydia West, Matthew Beard, and more in supporting roles. Arguably one of the most elegant modern adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Gatiss and Moffat’s adaptation of the 19th-century literary classic is a meticulously crafted and highly sophisticated production anchored by its impeccable performances. Driven by the fiery chemistry between Bang and Wells, the miniseries cleverly reinterprets the vampiric Count’s familiar story, finding new heights of horror, humor, and emotion in the process. Visually stimulating and sharply written, the show is a contemporary television masterpiece that deserves a lot more attention. Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner. 🧢Dustin(Stranger Things) 🗼Emily(Emily in Paris) 🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday) 🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game) FIND YOUR BEST FRIEND → 01 How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it. AWe got loud about the same obsession and never stopped. BThey invited me somewhere before we had properly met. CWe bonded over disliking exactly the same thing. DThey noticed I was struggling and stayed with me. NEXT QUESTION → 02 What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours. AA ridiculous plan neither of us should attempt. BSomewhere new, photographed heavily, ending very late. CSomewhere quiet, few people, zero small talk. DSomething simple, and a conversation that actually matters. NEXT QUESTION → 03 You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it. AThey are already putting their shoes on. BThey answer instantly and turn it into a plan. CThey answer and say something unflattering and true. DThey listen for an hour and never check the time. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected. ASupport first. We can review the mistake later. BA relentlessly positive reframe of the entire disaster. CThe blunt version. Do not soften it for me. DPatience, and no judgment about how I got here. NEXT QUESTION → 05 What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are. AI am all in, always, about everything. BI can turn almost any situation into a good time. CI say the thing nobody else in the room will. DI look after whoever is having the worst day. NEXT QUESTION → 06 You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks. ALoudly, briefly, then back to normal by Tuesday. BThey apologise first, enthusiastically, with a gift. CCold silence, then one dry joke that fixes everything. DWe talk until we both understand what actually happened. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap. ATo make my life bigger than it would be alone. BTo push me out of the house and into my own life. CTo catch me when I start lying to myself. DTo be the person who never gave up on me. NEXT QUESTION → 08 Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get. AWe would still drop everything for each other, instantly. BWe still make plans, and we still actually go. CWe still cut through each other's nonsense in one sentence. DThey stood by me once when it cost them something. REVEAL MY BEST FRIEND → The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your life would be like. Dustin HendersonYou do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he. What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the plan. Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense, enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind. You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous, and they last for decades because of it. He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously, which is far rarer than it sounds. You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet. Emily CooperYou are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she. Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with yourselves. Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion, which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy levels. You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when something was happening somewhere else. She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly, publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts. She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very good photo. Wednesday AddamsYou have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this list. Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for an enormous amount. You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally incapable of offering you anything else. Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a performance out of caring. Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you. Seong Gi-hunYou look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend. Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself. You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long after anybody would blame you for leaving. He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes back and tries again, which is more than most manage. He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 5 ‘Maid’ (2021) Image Via Netflix Based on Stephanie Land's 2019 memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive, Maid is a drama series created by Molly Smith Metzler that stars Margaret Qualley as Alex, a young mother and the titular maid. After escaping an abusive relationship, Alex takes a job cleaning houses to provide for her daughter, and the show explores her struggles navigating dysfunctional relationships and government red tape while dreaming of a future as a writer. The series also stars Nick Robinson, Anika Noni Rose, Tracy Vilar, Billy Burke, and Andie MacDowell in key roles. After its premiere in 2021, Maid quickly became one of Netflix’s most popular English-language TV shows, earning acclaim from critics and audiences alike for its moving, dramatic story. A grounded and heartbreakingly realistic story inspired by true events, the series has been widely praised for its narrative and acting, particularly Margaret Qualley’s intense performance as the central protagonist. Maid earned several accolades as well, including three Emmy nominations and three Golden Globe nominations, and it was named one of the top 10 TV shows of the year by the American Film Institute. 6 ‘Clark’ (2022) A Swedish crime comedy-drama miniseries starring Bill Skarsgård, Clark explores the real-life story of notorious criminal Clark Olofsson, as described in his book Vafan var det som hände? Directed by Jonas Åkerlund, the series recounts Olofsson’s life and crimes, particularly the infamous Norrmalmstorg robbery, which originated the term “Stockholm Syndrome." Besides Skarsgård, the show also stars Vilhelm Blomgren, Isabelle Grill, Malin Levanon, Hanna Björn, Peter Viitanen, Sandra Ilar, and more in supporting roles. On the surface, Clark is a wildly comedic, almost gleeful story about a highly flamboyant criminal, but underneath that is a subtle yet clear critical examination of Olofsson’s life and psyche, revealing the sociopathic and delusional tendencies behind his bravado and charisma. Though the show may not be very widely known, it’s easily one of Bill Skarsgård’s best performances and a highly enjoyable, energetic, and vibrant period crime saga. His performance earned Skarsgård a Kristallen Award, the Swedish equivalent of an Emmy. 7 ‘Bodies’ (2023) Image via Netflix Based on the DC Vertigo graphic novel written by Si Spencer, Bodies is a sci-fi mystery thriller miniseries created by Paul Tomalin that explores a complex time travel conspiracy. The story begins with the discovery of a mysterious corpse that appears in the same spot in London in four different time periods — 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053 — following the Metropolitan Police detectives who investigate the case in their respective times. Shira Haas, Amaka Okafor, Kyle Soller, and Jacob Fortune-Lloyd lead the cast as the detectives, with Stephen Graham, Tom Mothersdale, Greta Scacchi, Michael Jibson, and more appearing in lead roles. Bodies is a sci-fi masterpiece that slowly unravels an intricate four-dimensional mystery that moves backwards and forwards in time, earning critical acclaim for its complex narrative and compelling performances. Though it’s relatively underrated, this mindboggling thriller series is easily one of the best ever made in its genre, using recurring motifs, layered character dynamics, and intriguing sci-fi concepts to create a truly fascinating journey through space and time. And while it does all that, the show also maintains a powerful emotional core, particularly through the characters played by Kyle Soller and Amaka Okafor. 8 ‘Pluto’ (2023) Image via Netflix Produced by Genco and animated by Studio M2, Pluto is a sci-fi anime mystery series adapted from the manga by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki, which is in turn inspired by Osamu Tezuka’s iconic Astro Boy series. Set in a futuristic world where humans and advanced robots co-exist, the show follows a robot inspector who is investigating a series of robot and human murders, uncovering connections to a devastating war in the recent past. Shinshū Fuji, Yoko Hikasa, Mamoru Miyano, and more star as the original Japanese voice cast, with Jason Vande Brake, Laura Stahl, Keith Silverstein, and others voicing the English dub. Unlike the family-friendly Astro Boy manga and TV series, Pluto is a darker, more mature reimagining of Osamu Tezuka’s beloved characters, brought to life through stunning animation and an emotionally deep narrative. Essentially a neo-noir psychological thriller set in a futuristic sci-fi world, the show explores powerful themes of trauma, hatred, and humanity. The series was a critical darling when it first premiered in 2023, and though it isn’t as widely known as its landmark predecessor, Pluto is easily one of the most elevated, complex, and gorgeously animated anime series of the 2020s. Pluto Release Date 2023 - 2023-00-00 Directors Toshio Kawaguchi