5 New Netflix Shows Everyone Will Be Watching This August

Summer is the one time of year when it feels easy to blend a busier schedule with plenty of downtime. After all, who doesn’t enjoy spending a day at the beach, making your way to a patio party with friends, and finishing your day up watching some great new shows on the couch? Luckily, this season’s TV hot streak is showing no signs of cooling off before Labor Day. If you’re ready to wrap up the summer on a high note, here are some of the new Netflix shows everyone will be watching this August.

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Netflix has no shortage of gripping thrillers set in the U.K., having brought us shows like The Diplomat and Black Doves. Now, the streaming service is at it again with Hostage, the next addictive show dripping with international intrigue that’s sure to get your adrenaline pumping.

While hosting visiting French President Vivienne Toussaint (Julie Delpy), British Prime Minister Abigail Dalton (played by Suranne Jones, who is also an executive producer on the series) finds out that her husband has been kidnapped. The sole ransom demand? Jones must resign.

Toussaint is also blackmailed as part of the same scheme, setting off an escalating series of events that bring commitment to family to a place where it’s at odds with the halls of power. Ultimately, it’s the individual personalities of the two powerful women—and what they hold dearest to themselves—that set the landscape for what unfolds.

“She is put in such extreme circumstances, and we see that when push comes to shove she puts her country over her family,” Jones told Netflix blog Tudum of her character. “The original, working title for the series was The Choice, and that’s why.”

Very few TV spinoffs see much in the way of popularity, and even fewer can match the runaway success of Wednesday.

In 2022, the crazy and kooky chronicles of the Addams Family daughter became a smash hit practically overnight, propelling its young star Jenna Ortega into the spotlight and even sparking a few viral dance crazes. Now, the show is finally coming back with the first batch of episodes of its second season.

The show is picking up where it left off, as Wednesday returns to school at Nevermore with her brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) in tow. But it’s not just her sibling that’s coming along for the ride: Her entire family features even more prominently this time around, including her mother Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones), her father Gomez (Luis Guzmán), her favorite Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen), and even a new appearance by her beloved Grandmama (played by Joanna Lumley of Absolutely Fabulous fame). The best part? It’s all still directed by Tim Burton.

“This season, Wednesday’s journey is darker and more complex as she navigates family, friends, new mysteries, and old adversaries, propelling her headlong into another year at Nevermore,” co-showrunners and executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar told Tudum.

In light of the show’s success, production appears to be pulling out all the stops with guest appearances, too—including a cameo from Lady Gaga herself later in the season. But don’t worry about waiting too long for the second batch of episodes: They’ll drop next month.

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As one of Netflix’s earliest success stories, Bojack Horseman has remained an adored animated series in recent decades by both fans and critics. Now, creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg is coming back to the streaming service with another mature cartoon that’s so hotly anticipated, it was already greenlit for a second season.

Long Story Short focuses on the Schwooper family, sliding back and forth in time to show the highs and lows that come with adulthood. Along with the same trademark blend of sincere humor and emotional gravitas that made Bojack Horseman the roaring success that it was, the show is voiced by talented actors, including Paul Reiser, Abbi Jacobson, Ben Feldman, Max Greenfield, and Nicole Byer.

Figuring out what you want when you’re young can get complicated. But what happens when you find yourself in a new place torn between two brothers?

In the second season of this young drama, Jackie (Nikki Rodriguez) is headed back to the quaint cowboy town of Silver Falls, Colorado, after spending a summer completing a theater workshop at Juilliard in Manhattan. But when she returns, she finds herself tying up the loose ends she left in her love triangle between buttoned-up and bookish Alex (Ashby Gentry) and his mysterious and brooding brother, Cole (Noah LaLonde).

If you haven’t watched the show’s first season yet, you might want to get caught up for what’s to come.

“Season 2 is bigger and better,” Melanie Halsall, the show’s creator, told Tudum. “We’ve got massive set pieces in each episode, and the stories are more intricate. We found our feet with our characters, [and] the actors really understand their characters now. When I was coming back, I was excited to start shooting again because I knew we had great stories to tell.”

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True crime may be one of the best genres for a quick podcast or couch binge session, but it’s not always about murder or swindling. In this new documentary, investigators look into one of the largest jewel thefts in history, which took place in Antwerp, Belgium, in 2003.

A purported $100 to $500 million worth of diamonds were said to have been nabbed during the caper. But while the precious stones were never recovered, detectives pinned the job on a notoriously capable group of jewel thieves called “The School of Turin,” Deadline reports.

The material also appears to be in good hands: Not only is Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Documentaries involved, but it’s also working with production company Raw, which previously dropped the hugely popularly Don’t F*** with Cats and The Tinder Swindler documentaries. You can learn all about this historic heist when it goes live on Netflix on August 8.