Say Goodbye to These 8 Netflix Shows Before They Officially Leave Streaming

Image via Acorn TV Published Jul 29, 2026, 12:27 AM EDT Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV. Sign in to your Collider account One of the advantages of streaming is that you can always go back to a show and watch it, even years later. It's always "on," meaning it's available to stream 24/7. But this isn't necessarily actually the case. Netflix, like other streamers, licenses non-original shows for streaming, and eventually, those licenses expire, and the show is removed. Meanwhile, even some Netflix originals are removed from the service from time to time. This means you might find that one day a show you bookmarked ages ago has suddenly disappeared. Consider, for example, that Dexter was removed from Netflix in the U.S. in 2025 and left Netflix in other countries in 2026. In July 2026, Netflix removed Between, a short-lived co-production with Canada that originally streamed a decade ago. Gilmore Girls also recently left the streamer, along with classics like The Bernie Mac Show and Prime Video original series Sneaky Pete. Lots more shows are leaving soon, so make sure to watch them before they're gone. 1 'Home Improvement' (1991–1999) Image via ABC This classic '90s sitcom will be leaving Netflix on August 1. Home Improvement stars Tim Allen as the grunting handyman dad who spends his days on his fictional home improvement show Tool Time and his nights with his wife and three sons. It's a traditional heartwarming sitcom that highlights family, parenting, and all its challenges, told through a humorous lens, as per Allen's signature style. The highlights of every episode are Tim (Allen) and his interactions with his sons, as well as the advice he gets from his wise neighbor Wilson (the late Earl Hindman), whose face is never seen above their backyard fence. The show is relatable, nostalgic, and cleverly written, with plenty of jokes to keep you laughing all the way through. 2 'The Game' (2006–2015) Image via BET Only the first three of nine seasons of The Game have been streaming on Netflix, but they will be leaving the streamer on August 15. The comedy drama is a spin-off of Girlfriends that originally aired on The CW, after which it was cancelled, then revived for BET. There was also a revival that aired for two more seasons on Paramount+. The show centers around Melanie Barnett (Tia Mowry), a medical student who abandons her studies to move to San Diego with her boyfriend Derwin (Pooch Hall), who is pursuing his rookie football career. While there, she meets other women who help her balance her medical education with her boyfriend's rising sports stardom. Fans love the focus on strong female characters in The Game, along with how it portrays complicated relationship dynamics. Sharp, witty, and tackling serious topical issues in later seasons like mental health and the pressures of fame, The Game is one of those underrated series you probably haven't even heard of. But if it sounds like it's up your alley, watch now before it's gone. Along with the talented cast, the special guest appearance cast list is huge, too, including names like Tichina Arnold, Rob Base, Morris Chestnut, Terry Crews, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tiffany Haddish, Jason Momoa, and more. 3 'Better Than Us' (2018) Image via Netflix If you're looking for a hidden sci-fi gem, Better Than Us is Netflix's first Russian original show. With dialogue in Russian (you can watch with subtitles or dubbing), it tells the story of Arisa (Paulina Andreeva), an advanced android who exists in the future year 2029, at a time when androids live alongside humans. When Arisa accidentally kills a man who tries to use her as a sex robot, she goes on the run. If the leaders discover that she went against Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, it will be the end of her. It's easy to see how Better Than Us is so relevant, showcasing a future world that isn't so far off from today, both in date and in the rise of humanoid AI robots doing menial jobs. The story takes a more touching turn when Arisa meets a young girl named Sonya (Vita Kornienko) and acts as her guardian, protecting her and becoming part of a family. The 16-episode season is worth a watch before it's gone on August 16. You get a clever mix of fast-paced, futuristic thriller with family drama, which makes Better Than Us oddly relatable, too. Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The MatrixYou took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare. You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it. The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. Mad MaxThe wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. In the wasteland, that distinction is everything. Blade RunnerYou'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. DuneArrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools. You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect. In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it. Star WarsThe galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of. In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 4 'The Venture Bros.' (2003–2018) Image via Adult Swim If you have been meaning to watch this highly rated adult animated action-adventure series, check out The Venture Bros. before August 16, as that is when it will reportedly be removed from Netflix. The show, which originally premiered on Adult Swim, follows the Venture family, led by their scientist father, as they go on all their adventures. From the world-building to the blending of comedy and drama, The Venture Bros. has been a hit since it debuted. With seven seasons under its belt, the series ties traditional superhero and supervillain stories with the boy adventurer satire of the 1960s. You get a subversive story with compelling characters and plots that intentionally lean into tropes. While The Venture Bros. starts and ends as a satire, the character development and unique narrative sometimes make you forget that's the intent. 5 'Fear the Walking Dead' (2015–2023) Image via AMC It's possible that an extension deal can be made with AMC before the license for Fear the Walking Dead expires on August 19, but if not, that’s the day that all eight seasons will no longer be available to binge. So, if you stopped halfway through and have been meaning to catch up, now is the time. The post-apocalyptic horror drama is the longest-running The Walking Dead spin-off, existing in the same world but telling the story from a different perspective and location. You get to see the onset of the outbreak for the first time in this must-watch zombie show, something The Walking Dead skipped over by only beginning when Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) woke up from his coma. There's the stunning backdrop of Los Angeles and eventually Mexico, and a different mix of characters, even some crossover ones in later seasons. While Fear the Walking Dead admittedly lost its way in the final seasons (I'd recommend even skipping the final season altogether), its first seasons tell a strong story with characters you will adore, like Colman Domingo's Victor Strand, and ones you'll mourn as they depart one by one. 6 'Under Fire' (2021–2024) Image via Netflix One of the rare Netflix originals that will be removed from streaming, the Belgian drama Under Fire will no longer be available to stream starting August 24. The story follows a team of firefighters and their daily work saving people in danger while also dealing with their own internal conflicts. At the heart of the story is the risk of the fire station being closed following a fatal error. Under Fire doesn't offer anything markedly different from other dramas that focus on first responders, but if you're looking for something with a perspective from another country, it might scratch an itch while you wait for your favorite American procedural shows to return or new episodes to come out. 7 'Undercover Law' (2018) Image via Netflix You have until August 31 to binge the extra-long first and only season of this Colombian drama about a group of women who form their own special police force to infiltrate the local drug cartels. What makes Undercover Law, called La ley secreta in its native language, especially compelling is that it's inspired by a real story about a police intelligence unit in Colombia made up entirely of women. Undercover Law follows these women as they manage their double lives, working as wives, mothers, and caretakers while also keeping their dangerous jobs a secret from the people they love. The high-stakes action is gripping and exciting in this Netflix show no one remembers today. If you're looking for a good female-led series, Undercover Law is a worthwhile watch. 8 'A Discovery of Witches' (2018–2022) Image via SKY Another show with the potential for renewal, if that doesn't happen, A Discovery of Witches will be leaving Netflix on August 19. The British fantasy series is based on Deborah Harkness' All Souls Trilogy and centers around Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer), a historian and witch who reluctantly heads back into the world of magic. She gets help from Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode), a biochemist and vampire. The series is smart, romantic, and brings you into a wonderful world of magic, monsters, and fantasy. You see witches, vampires, and demons living among humans. The plot weaves in historical themes, science, and political tensions as various factions come together to fight evil forces.