The 15 Best Things Coming to Netflix in October 2024

Halloween-worthy movies, true crime and sports docs, and Laura Dern gets her cougar moment in a new film

Chris Nashawaty,

AARP

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En español

Published January 22, 2024

/ Updated September 30, 2024

Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth facing each other in a scene from the Netflix movie Lonely Planet

(Left to right) Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth star in "Lonely Planet."

Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

It’s October, and spooky season is upon us. Like all of the streaming services, Netflix will open its cobweb-festooned vault and bust out its back catalog of horror movies in time for Halloween. But if dimming the lights and scaring yourself silly in front of the TV isn’t your thing, fear not, the streamer also has you covered with a fresh slate of offerings that runs the gamut from oddball dating shows to sports and true crime documentaries to star-studded original movies. So find a cozy spot on the sofa and dig into these 15 titles we’re most excited about this month. Each is guaranteed to pair well the fun-size candy bars left behind by this year’s trick-or-treaters. Boo!

Coming Oct. 2

Love Is Blind, Season 7

Is it really possible that we’ve been watching random strangers select romantic partners while blindfolded for six seasons now? Where does the time go? For the uninitiated, the premise of Netflix’s hit reality series has a group of unlucky-in-love singles (from the D.C. area this time around) trying to forge authentic connections based on criteria besides looks. There are cool privacy pods, messy love triangles, grown men who call each other “bro” more than they should, and bad decisions galore. Think of it as The Bachelor with the lights turned off.

Unsolved Mysteries, Volume 5

We all remember the original 1987-2002 Unsolved Mysteries hosted by the stiff and stentorian Robert Stack. But in case you weren’t aware, Netflix revived the cold-case series last October … and it’s pretty darn good. In addition to the usual missing persons investigations, the new update of the show dabbles in mysteries involving the supernatural, including a visit to the UFO mecca, Roswell, this season. So get out your tinfoil hats and buckle up. The truth is out there, people.

Coming Oct. 4

The Platform 2, R

Netflix is finally rolling out the eagerly awaited follow-up to Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s 2019 Spanish-language chiller about a squalid vertical prison in a not-too-distant dystopian future. The plot of this creepy-looking import sounds more than a little bit like Chris Evans’s Snowpiercer — the inmates who live on the top floors of this towering and hellish jail have it better than the unlucky souls on the lower levels who fight over scraps of food — but no matter. Based on the delightfully twisted trailer, we’re in.

Coming Oct. 8

David Chang

Adam Rose/Netflix

Dinner Time Live With David Chang, Season 2

David Chang, the affable star chef, is back to host the sophomore season of this behind-the-curtain cooking show with a new batch of celebrity guests who swing by to sample the delectable goods and engage in some delicious between-bites banter. This season, the culinary creations will feature holiday themes. As the title suggests, Dinner Time will air live on the streamer every Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET, beginning Oct. 8. Bring your appetite and don’t fill up on bread.

Coming Oct. 9

Starting 5, Season 1

While other streamers have spent zillions on the rights for live sporting events, Netflix has carved out a niche with its immersive, behind-the-scenes documentaries that take you inside the games. Joining its already-crowded stable of reality series about Formula 1 (Formula 1: Drive to Survive), the NFL (Quarterback) and the PGA (Full Swing) is this new 10-episode look at what it’s like to be a star off the court in today’s NBA. The show focuses on the all-star starting five of Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James, Domantas Sabonis and Jayson Tatum.

Coming Oct. 11

Lonely Planet

Laura Dern, 57, plays a reclusive author who travels to an exotic writer’s retreat in Morocco to finally finish her latest book. All she wants to do is hole up in her room, curl up with her laptop and let the muse strike. But distraction comes in the form of a hunky, soulful Liam Hemsworth, who whisks her away from the blinking cursor on her computer screen and into a flirtation straight out of a Harlequin romance. Written and directed by Erin Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant, 61.

Coming Oct. 16

Ancient Apocalypse: The Americas

Journalist and best-selling author Graham Hancock, 74, hosts this doc series that poses a big “What if.” Namely, what if there was once a lost prehistoric civilization whose advanced knowledge was passed down and spread across the continents? I know, I know, it sounds like quackery. But it’s the man’s life’s work, for Pete’s sake! Ancient Apocalypse invites you to join Hancock on his quest. And before you say “No, thanks,” consider that Keanu Reeves, 60, makes an appearance in one of the episodes. And if anyone knows about ancient history, it’s the time-traveling star of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Coming Oct. 17

The Lincoln Lawyer, Season 3

Attention binge-watchers, Michael Connelly’s Mickey Haller is back. Everybody’s favorite crusading attorney with an office in the back seat of his car returns for a fresh batch of L.A.-based conspiracies, criminals and the occasional knuckle sandwich. The latest season is based on the fifth book in Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer saga, The Gods of Guilt, with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo returning as the charmingly gruff Mickey alongside series regulars Neve Campbell, 50, and Elliott Gould, 80. All 10 of the new episodes drop on Oct. 17, so clear your calendar.

Coming Oct. 18

Woman of the Hour, R

Anna Kendrick makes her directing debut and stars in this creepy thriller about an aspiring young actress who meets a guy on the cheesy ’70s dating show The Dating Game and immediately senses that something is off about him when they go out to dinner. Her radar is dead on. The winning bachelor turns out to be Rodney Alcala (played by Daniel Zovatto), a convicted sex offender who became a notorious serial killer. If this all sounds a bit contrived and far-fetched, think again. Woman of the Hour is actually based on a true story. Something tells me that Netflix didn’t screen this for this season’s Love Is Blind contestants.

Coming Oct. 23

The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox

A disclaimer: I’ve been a die-hard Red Sox fan since the late ’70s, so I may be a bit biased here. But I’d argue that the team’s Cinderella story comeback from being down 3-0 to the dreaded New York Yankees and going on to win their first World Series in 86 years is, hands down, the greatest sports soap opera of all time. Even if you’re not a Sox fan (we don’t judge), you’ll want to check out this inspiring look back at a scruffy team that defied the odds, never threw in the towel and finally exorcized their demons by beating the Evil Empire.

This Is the Zodiac Speaking

In the late 1970s, a mysterious killer terrorized the San Francisco Bay area with a series of brutal murders, which he followed up with cryptic cat-and-mouse letters to the media, anointing himself as the Zodiac Killer. His identity was never discovered. In this new Netflix investigative doc series, a family comes forward to share suspicions about someone very close to them. A must for true-crime buffs.

Coming Oct. 24

Beauty in Black, Season 1, Part 1

From always-busy creator Tyler Perry, 55, comes this new catwalk series loaded with stars, scandal and sexy people doing sexy things. Set in Atlanta, the 16-episode show follows the arcs of two very different women (Divorce in the Black’s Taylor Polidore Williams and For Better or Worse’s Crystle Stewart) who are on a collision course involving money, power and survival. Perry’s series unspools in the city’s strip clubs and the offices of a family-owned hair care dynasty. Expect drama.

Coming Oct. 25

Don’t Move, R

This dark thriller sounds like a more sinister riff on that Jason Statham movie Crank — you know, the one where he has to keep his heart rate up and racing to stay alive. Produced by horror maestro Sam Raimi, 64, Don’t Move is a harrowing story about a killer who injects a female victim with a paralytic agent forcing her to flee, fight and hide before her body completely shuts down. American Horror Story’s Finn Wittrock and Yellowstone’s Kelsey Asbille star.

Coming Oct. 30

Martha Stewart smiling as she uses a fork on a dessert at the Let Them Eat Cake National Pastry Competition at the Plaza Hotel in New York

Martha Stewart at the Let Them Eat Cake National Pastry Competition on July 16, 1990 at Plaza Hotel in New York.

Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images

Martha

The queen of domesticity, Martha Stewart, 83, sits down for an interview in this intimate documentary from The World According to Dick Cheney director R.J. Cutler, 62. Topics discussed with her and her circle of acquaintances go deeper than the usual fluff about dead-heading flowers and hyping her business empire. The film chronicles her rise and fall, which led to a stint behind bars. Stewart has already taken issue with the film in the press, which only makes Cutler’s film more intriguing.

Coming Oct. 31

The Diplomat, Season 2

Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell, 56, return for a second serving of political intrigue in this crackling, high-stakes drama. Russell plays the U.S. ambassador to the UK whose career and survival are in jeopardy after a terrorist bombing strikes the heart of London. Who’s responsible? And closer to home, could her husband know more about it than he’s letting on? No spoilers here. You’ll have to tune in to find out.

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Chris Nashawaty, former film critic for Entertainment Weekly, is the author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story and a contributor to Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.