COMING ATTRACTIONS

The 8 New Netflix Shows to Watch in 2019

From the raunchy and progressive Sex Education to the Idris Elba DJ dramedy Turn Up Charlie.


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Jon Hall/Netflix

After reports that Netflix was planning to produce 700 new shows in 2018, one can only project that the network would plan to produce even more in 2019. The current roster of programming for the upcoming year is already an exciting one, with highly anticipated foreign series finally landing on the U.S. version of the platform and comic book adaptations gracing the small screen. Considering the success of last year’s new shows—like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and the Golden Globe-winning show, The Kominsky Method—Netflix knows when they have a hit on their hands, and it seems like this year they’ll be doling out a few more. From the recently released Sex Education to a Dolly Parton–themed anthology series, here are the eight Netflix shows to watch out for in 2019.

Sex Education

In Sex Education, Asa Butterfield stars as Otis, a gawky teenager who, despite his own sexual dysfunction, has the gift of helping others with theirs. Once he takes some cues from his mother, a sex therapist played by Gillian Anderson, Otis and a surly classmate named Maeve (played by Emma Mackey) form an anonymous sex therapy clinic for their classmates, unbeknownst to the school’s administration. This progressive teen comedy just hit Netflix on January 11.

Always a Witch

Always a Witch, or Siempre Bruja, is an upcoming Colombian series based on Isidora Chacón’s novel Yo, Bruja, about a 19-year-old slave named Carmen (played by Angela Gaviria) who time travels from 1646 to the present just as she is about to be burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft. Netflix is leaning hard into the success of other witch-related series, such as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and giving audiences more magic to behold when this show premieres February 1.

Trigger Warning With Killer Mike

Run the Jewels rapper Killer Mike tackles religion, pornography, education, racism, and more taboo topics in Trigger Warning With Killer Mike, a six-episode docuseries with a provocative edge. If the title is any indication of what’s to come, a lot of people might not be happy with how Killer Mike broaches these subjects, but if anyone couldn’t care less about what other people think, it’s Killer Mike. Trigger Warning premieres on January 18.

Turn Up Charlie

TURN IT UP, CHARLIE

Nick Wall/Netflix

In Turn Up Charlie Idris Elba plays a down-on-his-luck DJ who gets hired to nanny for his famous best friend’s daughter. When you hear “Idris Elba plays a DJ named Charlie,” it might sound like fiction (and it is, technically, in this instance), but let’s not forget that the actor is also a DJ in real life, and you can catch him on stage at Coachella in April. Until then, however, Netflix will be your premiere source for Idris Elba DJ content when Turn Up Charlie premieres on March 15.

Russian Doll

A never-ending party might not sound like a bad idea, but trust us, it is for Natasha Lyonne’s character in Russian Doll. Nadia (Lyonne) keeps dying over and over again, and must race against the clock (and against some party guests played by Greta Lee, Chloe Sevigny, and Orange Is the New Black‘s Dascha Polanco) to figure things out. Sure, the conceit might get tired after a few episodes, but it is fun to watch a sinister version of Groundhog Day play out on the small screen on February 1.

Black Earth Rising

While she may be best known for her larger-than-life comedic turn as Tracey in Chewing Gum, Michaela Coel flexes her dramatic acting muscles in Black Earth Rising, in which she stars as a Rwandan orphan who uncovers the truth about her adoptive British family, and the United Kingdom’s connections to the Rwandan genocide. The series took off on BBC Two in the U.K.—and Coel’s received critical acclaim—but will be distributed on Netflix in the U.S. on January 25.

The Umbrella Academy

In 2007, My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way developed a series of comics called The Umbrella Academy. Now, Netflix has adapted the graphic novels for the small screen into a series starring Ellen Page and Mary J. Blige. The premise of the story is that 43 babies are born on the same day in 1989 to random women, and seven are adopted by a mysterious billionaire. Years later, all of the “siblings” band together to uncover the deadly fate that befalls their adoptive father, and to save the world from the apocalypse.

Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings

Singer-songwriter Dolly Parton performs in concert during her ‘Pure & Simple Tour’ at the Frank Erwin Center on December 6, 2016, in Austin, Texas. / AFP / SUZANNE CORDEIRO (Photo credit should read SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP/Getty Images)

Suzanne Cordeiro/Getty Images

This Dolly Parton themed scripted anthology series will include eight individual episodes based on the iconic musician’s songs. Details on the project have been scarce, but Julianne Hough and Kimberly Williams-Paisley has already been confirmed for the “Jolene” episode, which will be all about Williams-Paisley’s character pleading for Hough’s character to not take her man, and Kathleen Turner has been cast to appear as a World War II era fortune-teller in the episode inspired by “These Old Bones.” Of course, Parton, who was basically the main character in the Jennifer Aniston Netflix movie Dumplin’ though she never showed up on-screen, will be appearing throughout the series at various points. An official premiere date has yet to be set for later in 2019.

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