3 Elite Series to Binge on Netflix This Weekend (Oct 17-18)

Published Oct 16, 2026, 8:41 AM EDT

In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 3000 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Harlan Coben, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom. You can also hear Jake every week as the resident film and TV journalist on Track Radio. 

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At the same time as he stars in one of the big box office hits of the month, the Colleen Hoover adaptation Verity, Josh Hartnett also leads the biggest show currently on Netflix. The six-episode miniseries Below, written and created by The Umbrella Academy's Jesse McKeown, has stolen the top spot on the Netflix charts in America from Florence Pugh's East of Eden. Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), Mackenzie Davis (The Martian), and Ruby Stokes (Rocks) also feature in the series. But Below isn't the only show that should be on your radar. With that in mind, here's a look at three shows you should binge-watch on Netflix this weekend.

For more recommendations, check out our list of the best shows and movies on Netflix.

Disclaimer: These titles are available on US Netflix.

1 'Solar Opposites' (2020–2025)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% | IMDb: 7.9/10

One of the most exciting returning shows this weekend is Solar Opposites, which first aired back in 2020 and has now delivered six seasons in five years on Hulu. This week, Netflix got its hands on one of the best animated series of the past few years, following a group of aliens living in middle America after their planet is destroyed.

Strangely sentimental and perfectly easy to watch, Solar Opposites should be at the top of your watchlist this weekend. Season 6 of the series, which first premiered last year on Hulu, earned a strong 83% score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the voice performances, with one writing that Season 6 is "a fearless, funny, and emotional finale that proves Solar Opposites belongs among the greats of adult animation."

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 Henderson

You 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 Cooper

You 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 Addams

You 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-hun

You 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

2 'Hollywood Arts' (2026)

Another new arrival on Netflix this weekend is the teen sitcom Hollywood Arts, which is perfect for entertaining the younger members of the family over the coming days. Developed by Jake Farrow and Samantha Martin, the series is a sequel spin-off to the acclaimed teen sitcom Victorious, which aired on Nickelodeon in the early 2010s and starred Victoria Justice as Tori Vega.

16 years later, this spin-off follows struggling actress Trina Vega (Daniella Monet), the older sister of Justice's Tori, as she returns to Hollywood's premier performing arts school as a substitute teacher. Alyssa Miles, Erika Swayze, Emmy Liu-Wang, Peyton Jackson, and Martin Kamm also star in the series, which is described as having "something for everyone, whether you’re a fan of the original series or new to the Hollywood Arts campus."

3 'The Diplomat' (2023–Present)

Rotten Tomatoes: 92% | IMDb: 8.0/10

Of all the new and returning shows on Netflix this weekend, this is the most likely to rise to the top of the streaming charts. The Emmy-nominated Keri Russell returns in the fourth season of The Diplomat as Kate Wyler, the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. In the new season, Kate joins forces with First Gentleman Todd Penn to stop a dangerous alliance between President Grace Penn and her husband, Hal Wyler.

Also starring Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi, Rory Kinnear, Allison Janney, and more, this indulgent, gripping political thriller is one of the best shows on Netflix. The Debora Cahn-created series has grown in confidence and quality in its first three seasons, picking up 10 Emmy nominations along the way, including a win for Janney in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series category.