5 Most Underrated Thriller Shows to Watch on Netflix
Netflix has no shortage of thrillers, but some of its most inventive series have never received the attention they deserve. While titles such as Squid Game and Mindhunter became international talking points, other ambitious mysteries, psychological dramas, supernatural stories, and crime thrillers quietly built devoted followings without becoming household names.
The five shows below are particularly easy to overlook. Some were cancelled before they could reach their full potential, while others simply found themselves competing for attention in an enormous Netflix library. All five, however, offer something distinctive, from a multilingual mystery aboard a doomed steamship to a murder investigation that stretches across more than 150 years.
1. 1899
Few Netflix mysteries are as ambitious as 1899. Created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, the team behind Dark, the 2022 series begins with what appears to be a relatively straightforward voyage across the Atlantic. Instead, it quickly turns into a labyrinth of secrets, strange visions, unexplained symbols, and increasingly unsettling discoveries.
The story follows passengers aboard the Kerberos, a steamship traveling from Europe to New York at the end of the 19th century. Their journey changes dramatically when the ship receives a distress signal from the missing Prometheus. What the passengers discover aboard the apparently abandoned vessel sets off a chain of events that completely changes their understanding of the voyage.
At the center of the mystery is Maura Franklin, played by Emily Beecham. As she attempts to understand what is happening around her, Maura becomes increasingly involved in the secrets surrounding both the Kerberos and the Prometheus.
One of the show’s greatest strengths is its international ensemble. 1899 incorporates multiple languages into its story, with Netflix describing the series as juggling up to seven languages in a given episode. Rather than treating the language barrier as a minor detail, the series makes it part of the characters’ experience as immigrants traveling toward a new life.
The production also gives the mystery a striking visual identity. Dreamlike sequences, recurring geometric imagery, atmospheric lighting, and carefully constructed sets make the Kerberos feel increasingly detached from reality as the story progresses.
There is plenty to appreciate even if complicated mystery-box storytelling is not usually your thing. The performances keep the increasingly bizarre plot grounded, while the final revelations dramatically change the way earlier events can be interpreted.
Unfortunately, viewers never got to see the larger story unfold. 1899 was conceived as a three-season mystery, but Netflix cancelled the series after its first season in January 2023.
That unfinished status is frustrating, but it does not erase what works about the eight episodes that exist. For anyone willing to commit to a dense, atmospheric mystery, 1899 remains one of Netflix’s more unusual thrillers.
2. Behind Her Eyes
Behind Her Eyes looks deceptively familiar at first. A single mother becomes involved with her boss, who happens to be married. She then develops an unexpected friendship with his wife. On paper, it sounds like a conventional psychological drama built around infidelity and an increasingly complicated love triangle.
The six-episode 2021 limited series, however, has considerably stranger ideas in mind.
Simona Brown plays Louise, a single mother whose life becomes tangled with David, her new boss, played by Tom Bateman. David is married to Adele, portrayed by Eve Hewson, and Louise soon finds herself caught between the two of them. Netflix’s original description frames the story as a psychological tale of suspense and twisted revelations, and that description becomes increasingly appropriate as Louise discovers that David and Adele’s marriage contains far more secrets than she initially realizes.
The most effective part of the series is the uneasy relationship between Louise and Adele. There is an immediate sense that something about their friendship is wrong, even when neither woman appears to be doing anything obviously threatening.
At the same time, Louise’s relationship with David creates another layer of tension. Their attraction is obvious, but it is surrounded by guilt, secrecy, and the uncomfortable knowledge that Louise is becoming involved with her married employer.
As the episodes progress, the series gradually moves beyond the boundaries of a straightforward domestic thriller. Dreams, buried secrets, and supernatural elements become increasingly important, eventually leading to a notorious final revelation.
That ending has divided viewers ever since the series premiered. Some will find it audacious, while others may struggle with the direction the story takes. Either way, Behind Her Eyes succeeds at doing something a thriller should do: it gives viewers a reason to keep watching because they need to know what is really happening.
The series was adapted from Sarah Pinborough’s 2017 novel of the same name. Steve Lightfoot, known for The Punisher and Hannibal, served as writer and executive producer.
It is not necessarily the kind of show that demands repeated rewatches, but it is an ideal choice for anyone looking for a short thriller with a deliberately unsettling atmosphere and a finale that is difficult to forget.
3. The Midnight Club
Mike Flanagan has become closely associated with Netflix horror thanks to The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass. Yet The Midnight Club, his 2022 series for the streamer, is often overshadowed by those better-known productions.
That is a shame because the show takes a surprisingly thoughtful approach to horror.
Set at Brightcliffe Hospice, The Midnight Club follows terminally ill teenagers who gather together at night to tell frightening stories. They call themselves the Midnight Club and have made a pact: whoever dies first must attempt to send a sign to the others from beyond the grave.
The format allows the series to operate on two levels. The stories told by the teenagers provide individual bursts of horror, while the larger narrative gradually reveals the secrets surrounding Brightcliffe.
That combination gives the series a distinctive rhythm. The characters are dealing with the very real fear of death, yet they use frightening stories as a way to connect with one another. Their friendship becomes increasingly important as the mysteries surrounding the hospice deepen.
Flanagan and co-creator Leah Fong adapted Christopher Pike’s work for the series. The 10-episode first season draws from Pike’s 1994 novel The Midnight Club as well as material from several of his other books.
The result is more than a conventional ghost story. The supernatural elements are intertwined with grief, friendship, fear, and the characters’ attempts to make sense of their own mortality.
Unfortunately, The Midnight Club suffered the same fate as 1899. Netflix cancelled the series after one season in December 2022, leaving several larger mysteries unresolved.
That can make the show a frustrating recommendation for viewers who need every storyline neatly concluded. But the 10 episodes that were released still contain a collection of memorable horror stories and a central mystery that makes the series worth discovering.
4. Bloodhounds
For a thriller built around boxing, Bloodhounds has much more on its mind than what happens inside the ring.
The Korean series follows Kim Gun-woo, played by Woo Do-hwan, a talented young boxer whose life is thrown into turmoil after his mother is targeted by loan sharks. Gun-woo joins forces with fellow boxer Hong Woo-jin, played by Lee Sang-yi, and the two become determined to take down the people exploiting vulnerable borrowers. Netflix describes the series as a story of two young boxers who risk everything to bring justice and protect the people they love.
What makes Bloodhounds particularly effective is the way it combines its physical action with a straightforward emotional core. Gun-woo and Woo-jin’s friendship gives the story an anchor, while the conflict with the loan-sharking operation provides a clear and increasingly dangerous objective.
The fight scenes are a major attraction, but the series does not rely on action alone. The characters are forced to consider how far they are willing to go in the pursuit of justice, particularly when violence becomes the language spoken by the people they are fighting.
The first season also benefits from the chemistry between Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi. Their contrasting personalities and shared determination give the story a strong sense of camaraderie.
And unlike several of the other shows on this list, Bloodhounds has continued beyond its original season. Season 2 premiered on April 3, 2026, with both Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi returning as Gun-woo and Woo-jin. The second season expands the story into an underground international boxing league and introduces Jung Ji-hoon as a new antagonist, Baek-jeong.
Netflix currently lists Bloodhounds as having two seasons.
For viewers who want something faster and more physical than a traditional psychological mystery, Bloodhounds is an easy choice. It delivers hard-hitting action while keeping its focus on friendship, loyalty, family, and the consequences of confronting powerful criminals.
5. Bodies
Bodies takes one of the oldest ideas in detective fiction, a mysterious dead body, and turns it into something much more complicated.
The 2023 limited series follows four detectives investigating the same body in four different periods: 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053. In each era, the corpse appears on Longharvest Lane in London’s East End, and each investigation initially seems to belong to a completely different story. Eventually, the connections between the cases begin to emerge.
The four central detectives are played by Kyle Soller, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Amaka Okafor, and Shira Haas. Stephen Graham also stars as Elias Mannix, whose role becomes increasingly important as the separate investigations begin to converge.
What makes Bodies so compelling is the commitment it gives to each period. The series does not simply use different years as brief stops along a time-travel storyline. Each era has its own atmosphere, characters, social circumstances, and investigative style.
The 1890 storyline feels like a Victorian detective drama. The 1941 investigation carries the weight of wartime London. The 2023 story is closer to a contemporary police procedural, while the 2053 sections introduce a more speculative, futuristic setting.
Eventually, these apparently separate worlds become parts of one enormous mystery. Netflix describes the story as a conspiracy spanning more than 150 years, forcing the four detectives to somehow connect their investigations and understand how the same murder can exist across different points in history.
That ambitious structure is what separates Bodies from a standard time-travel thriller. It is simultaneously a crime story, period drama, science-fiction mystery, and police procedural.
The eight-episode miniseries is also a particularly good option for anyone who wants a complete story rather than another Netflix series that ends just as its larger mythology is taking shape. Netflix lists all eight episodes, with the detectives ultimately working across decades to prevent Elias from changing the course of history.
Compared with more famous time-bending shows such as Dark, Bodies has received considerably less attention. Yet its central concept is remarkably ambitious, and its four timelines give the mystery a scale that few conventional thrillers can match.
The Netflix thrillers worth digging up
The appeal of these five shows comes partly from how different they are.
1899 offers an elaborate mystery wrapped in science fiction and period drama. Behind Her Eyes turns a seemingly familiar relationship thriller into something far stranger. The Midnight Club combines supernatural horror with stories about mortality and friendship. Bloodhounds delivers a more grounded story of crime, boxing, loyalty, and revenge. Bodies stretches a murder investigation across four eras and more than 150 years of history.
Some of these series were cancelled earlier than their creators intended. Others have continued and found new audiences over time. What they share is a willingness to take the thriller genre somewhere unexpected.
For Netflix subscribers looking beyond the biggest titles on the service, these are five shows worth moving closer to the top of the watchlist.