Netflix has revealed its most-watched shows of 2023, and we’ve gone through and chosen the top seven thrillers so you don’t have to.
The worldwide streaming platform continues to dominate the cultural scene, with megahits including the Squid Game reality spin-off, the David Beckham documentary, and the dark comedy Beef.
But as the December nights get darker, so do our TV preferences, and we’re all for a sense of adrenaline after watching a thriller, if only to break up our afternoons laying unconscious on the sofa.
Netflix has published a handy overview of its most-watched programming from January to June this year, based on hours seen, as it reflects on the year.
We’ve gone through the exhaustive lists and picked the finest thrillers from that time period, so if you’re stuck for anything to watch this holiday season and are bored of Love Actually, look no further.
The Night Agent
The Night Agent was not just the most-watched thriller, but also the most-watched show on Netflix in the first half of this year, with over 812,000,000 hours viewed.
The synopsis reads: ‘While monitoring an emergency line, a vigilant FBI agent answers a call that plunges him into a deadly conspiracy involving a mole at the White House.’
The series, which stars Gabriel Basso and Luciane Buchanan, is based on Matthew Quirk’s novel of the same name, and a second season is scheduled for 2024.
The Glory
South Korean online series The Glory ranks third on Netflix’s most hours seen list, after comedy-drama Ginny & Georgia.
Moon Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo), a girl who has been bullied by her peers, intends to finally get revenge on her tormentors.
The Glory was a critical and commercial success, as well as a Critics’ Choice Award nominee.
You
In the fourth season of You, murdering maniac Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) fails yet again to have a healthy outlook on women and quench his murderous need.
This time, after wreaking havoc across the United States, from New York to Los Angeles, he has relocated to London and is working as a professor before everything goes wrong.
You will return for a fifth season in 2024, but it will be the final appearance of serial murderer Joe, as Netflix declared the series was coming to an end.
Kaleidoscope
When Kaleidoscope was launched, Netflix fans were perplexed as to which sequence to watch the episodes in.
The series, created by Matchstick Men author Eric Garcia, debuted on the streaming site on January 1 and spans 25 years.
The show depicts a bunch of criminals commanded by Leo Pap, played by Giancarlo Esposito from Breaking Bad, as they attempt to carry off an intricate robbery.
Bloodhounds
Bloodhounds received 146,700,000 hours of viewing time at the start of the year, surpassing Black Mirror.
The suspenseful thriller follows three friends who work for a charitable moneylender and come together to take down a nasty loan shark who preys on the financially needy.
Bloodhounds is a South Korean drama starring Woo Do-hwan from Mad Dog and Save Me and Lee Sang-yi from Once Again.
Triptych
Triptych is a Mexican drama about a forensics agent whose life is jeopardised when she discovers she is an identical triplet.
Triptych is based on a true story, and while the makers haven’t stated where they got their inspiration, it’s thought to be the documentary Three Identical Strangers.
In the documentary, three guys from various regions of the United States meet by chance and are surprised to learn they are identical triplets.
Breaking Bad
It’s been a decade since Breaking Bad, widely regarded as the finest TV show ever filmed, ended, but it’s still attracting fans.
Season 2 of the thriller, starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, racked over 116,200,000 hours viewed on Netflix this year.
For those who have been living under a rock, the drama follows a schoolteacher who is stricken with cancer but discovers that his insurance will not cover his treatment, forcing him to enter the dangerous world of crime.