The Best Binge-Worthy Shows on Netflix This Month

Fate: The Winx Saga (2021): Best Supernatural Series With a Strong Female Cast

At a boarding academy for teenagers with magical gifts, a new arrival from California named Bloom (Abigail Cowen) is desperate to suppress her pyrokinetic abilities. At the behest of her mentor Stella (Hannah van der Westhuysen), Bloom starts using her powers to protect her peers from demonic creatures known as "The Burned Ones."

Fate: The Winx Saga is a reboot of Winx Club, an Italian animated series that aired on Nickelodeon in the mid-2000s. Best described as a mix between Harry Potter and Riverdale, this live-action version isn't for kids, but rather for adults who may have grown up with the original show.

Lupin (2021): Best French Take on Sherlock Holmes

Inspired by the fictional French character Arsène Lupin, Lupin follows Assane Diop (Omar Sy), a thief who uses his savvy to avenge his father's death at the hands of corrupt businessman Hubert Pellegrini (Hervé Pierre). English-speaking audiences will likely notice strong similarities between Diop and Sherlock Holmes, another famous character from the same time period.

If you like the first episode, you'll want to binge the whole series, so set aside a good chunk of free time. The first five episodes of Lupin are available now, and five more will be out later this year.

Although the show is French, all of the dialogue is in English, so you don't have to worry about subtitles.

Bridgerton (2020): The Best British Romantic Period Drama on the Small Screen

Loosely based on Julia Quinn's novel series, Bridgerton acquaints American audiences with "the Ton," the notoriously extravagant British high-society that ruled early-1800s London. Julie Andrews flawlessly narrates this sultry period drama about jealous families competing for favor and fortune.

A mere month after the first season dropped, Bridgerton had been streamed by over 80 million Netflix users, making it the most-watched show on the platform. Unsurprisingly, it's already been renewed for another season. The first eight episodes alone are enough to justify the monthly cost of a Netflix subscription.

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous (2020): Best Animated Spin-Off of a Popular Franchise

At Camp Cretaceous, six lucky kids get to spend a summer on an isolated island with a bunch of dinosaurs. What could go wrong? If you've seen any of the Jurrasic Park films, you can see where this is going.

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous fits perfectly into the Jurrasic Park universe, introducing new characters to familiar territory with lots of whimsical surprises. Like the movies, this cartoon is enjoyable for all ages, but especially for young children obsessed with dinosaurs.

The Idhun Chronicles (2021): Best High-Fantasy Anime Series Set in Modern Times

After his parents are killed, teenage Jack (Itzan Escamilla) learns that he's from another world called Idhun, where an evil sorcerer named Ashran has taken over. With nothing else to lose, Jack teams up with a young wizard named Victoria (Michelle Jenner) to take on the assassin sent to purge all exiles.

The plot is pretty dark, but it's not nearly as violent as some other anime shows on Netflix. The latest season may be the last, so if you want more of The Idhun Chronicles, you'll have to read the manga series that inspired the show.

Alien Worlds (2020): Best Speculative Documentary About Life on Other Planets

There are thousands of planets outside of our solar system, and it's very possible that at least one of them supports some form of life. In this four-part British docuseries, Sophie Okonedo takes viewers on a journey to computer-rendered worlds where whales fly and trees walk.

While the alien species depicted are all speculative, the science on which they are based is solid. Each episode includes interviews with experts who apply their knowledge of Earth's atmosphere to predict what extraterrestrial habitats would look like.

Alice in Borderland (2020): Best Sci-Fi Series for Gamers

Alice in Borderland, an adaptation of the popular Japanese manga series, is about three video game-obsessed teens who long for a more interesting reality. They get their wish and find themselves in an alternate version of Tokyo, where they must participate in a series of deadly games to stay alive.

If you've played the video game The World Ends With You, you'll likely notice similarities with Alice in Borderland. Indeed, the story of gamers getting trapped inside a video game has been done plenty of times before, but never have the stakes been quite this high. At just eight episodes, you can easily get through the entire series in a weekend.

The Queen's Gambit (2020): Most Watched Original Netflix Series

Following her mother's death, Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) is sent to an orphanage where she picks up the game of chess to pass the time. After getting adopted, her new family encourages her to compete in tournaments, and everyone quickly learns that Beth is a chess prodigy.

Inspired by a 1983 book by Walter Tevis, The Queen's Gambit was a sleeper hit for Netflix, earning more views than any other original series in the first month of its release. Having won Best TV Series of the Year at the 2020 IGN Awards, The Queen's Gambit has enough to keep critics, chess enthusiasts, and casual viewers entertained.

Tiny Pretty Things (2020): Best Teen Drama About Ballet School

Neveah (Kylie Jefferson) gets an invitation to a prestigious ballet school in Chicago after a student is murdered. While she expected the world of professional dancing to be cutthroat, nothing could have prepared her for the drama awaiting her at the Archer School of Ballet.

Tiny Pretty Things has sparked a lot of controversies online for its racy scenes, which has only fueled interest in the series. While the show is about teenagers, it's clearly meant for audiences 18 and older.

Selena: The Series (2020): Best Biopic Series About an 80s Pop Icon

This series chronicles the life of Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, from her meteoric rise as a pop star to her tragic death at age 23. The father and sister of the real-life Selena serve as co-producers, so it's as authentic a look at the entertainer's life as you can get.

If you remember the 1997 movie of the same name starring Jeniffer Lopez, don't think of Selena: The Series as an extended version of that. The series stands on its own, and with only nine episodes, you can easily binge it over a weekend.

Mr. Iglesias (2019): Best High School Comedy With a Diverse Cast

Gabriel Iglesias plays Mr. Iglesias, a teacher who returns to his old high school to work. After discovering a plot by the administration to convince low-performing students to drop-out, Iglesias takes misfit students under his wing.

Comedies about high school from the teacher's perspective are rare, and this one knocks it out of the park. Teachers and students alike will identify with the show's humor and conflicts. Mr. Iglesias manages to be heartwarming without feeling hokey and serious without feeling melodramatic.

Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts (2020): Best Post-Apocalyptic Technicolor Wonderland

With only three short seasons released over less than one calendar year, Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts goes down quickly and leaves you wanting more. One of the best new animated series in years, Kipo follows its titular character (Karen Fukuhara) as a quest to find her father turns into one of self-discovery.

Ultimately, it's up to young Kipo and her friends (Sydney Mikayla, Dee Bradley Baker, et al.) to broker peace between humans who have fled underground in the face of a technicolor apocalypse and the wonderous beasts that took their place on the surface.

Tiger King (2020): Best Documentary About the Worst People Doing the Weirdest Things

Tiger King is the kind of documentary series that proves real life really can be stranger than fiction. Hewn together from material filmed for a doomed reality show and footage recorded by the titular Tiger King himself (Joe Exotic), this docuseries peels back the curtains to provide an in-depth look at big cat conservationists and collectors in the United States. In addition to Exotic, it also highlights Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue and Doc Antle's Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species.

With only seven episodes, and a follow up special, it takes some discipline not to just shotgun the entire thing in one sitting. Each installment of Tiger King is more baffling than the last, from Doc Antle's strange cult of personality to Carole Baskin's missing husband and the increasingly erratic, and sometimes criminal, behavior of Joe Exotic.

Glow (2017): Best Mom Jeans and Leotards

Aspiring actress Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie) falls backward into the world of costumed wrestling when she and estranged friend Debbie Eagan (Betty Gilpin) end up leading the cast of the GLOW professional wrestling promotion. Their soured relationship is played out in the ring, as wrestlers Zoya the Destroya and Liberty Belle, as they and a cast of colorful characters try to make GLOW a success as a live show, a storyline-rich TV show, and finally an elaborate Las Vegas stage show.