The Best Foreign-Language TV Shows on Netflix

While you may not have traveled past the US offerings on Netflix, the streaming service offers many foreign-language shows that surpass their American counterparts. And they tend to have shorter seasons so you can go through a series in just a few days.

There are dozens of series from around the globe on Netflix, but the ones below are some current favorites of mine. Some I discovered while watching tons of trailers in order to recommend what you should watch on Netflix every month; others presented themselves to me through the wonders of the Netflix algorithm.

Before you make your way through these shows, let me say that subtitles are not your enemy. If you don't need visual assistance, I beg of you to watch foreign shows with subtitles and not dubbing. There's so much to be conveyed in an actor's voice, and you can lose the feeling of a scene, an episode, or an entire series if you turn on English dubbing. If you start watching and it's in English, select the audio/subtitles icon and look for (Original) next to the audio language options.

Call My Agent (France)

There is camaraderie at this Paris film agency until the death of its fatherly head. The partners then struggle for control and to stay afloat, but their sibling-like squabbles are nothing compared to the tantrums of their famous clients. Juliet Binoche, Monica Bellucci, Isabelle Huppert, and many more famous European film stars play outrageous versions of themselves in each episode. When they're not chewing the scenery, there is plenty of tumult in the lives of the agents to fill the screen. Three delightful seasons of six episodes each are available for streaming and a fourth is being filmed. (Note: Please do not decide whether you watch or not based on this truly awful trailer. Netflix has far better, but not embeddable ones, on its site.)

Dark (Germany)

Picture a much darker Stranger Things and you have the appropriately named Dark. Missing children, strange occurrences, time hopping, and foreboding woods are all familiar and yet so much more creepy in this German show. There are two strange seasons for streaming and one more in the future.

Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (Japan)

Like delicious, carefully prepared meals you’ve enjoyed throughout your life, Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories fills you with warm memories after you’ve consumed it. In a moody little eating establishment that’s open odd hours in Shinjuku, the Master presides over a stove where he cooks anything to order as long as he has the ingredients. He takes a similarly attentive approach to his customers, who he patiently listens to over the course of each episode. If you think you’re going to get hungry while you watch, you can prepare the featured dish from each of the 10 episodes before you press play.

Money Heist (Spain)

Who doesn’t love a heist? This series is all about one planned by a man known only as The Professor, who is aided by eight criminals with various useful talents. The group takes over the Royal Mint of Spain and a surreal number of plot twists occur. Speaking of surreal, the team all wear Salvador Dalí masks, which is possibly a crime in its own right. There are two seasons to watch now and a new one coming on July 19.

The Hookup Plan (France)

French is supposed to be the language of love, but Parisienne Elsa gets tongue-tied when she's around men. After a failed love affair, Elsa's friend sets her up with an escort, though she believes he's just a nice guy who returned her lost phone for a (much too perfect) meet-cute. The lives of her friends aren't any more free from rom-com complications. The Hookup Plan plays out like a four-hour movie done over eight episodes. The show's been renewed so a new season will jet in eventually.

The House of Flowers (Mexico)

The House of Flowers is a heady bouquet of telenovela-level drama and artful humor. The titular House of Flowers is both the family flower-shop business and the drag cabaret that the patriarch has been secretly running with his mistress. There’s one soapy season of 13 episodes available to watch and another two are on their way.

The Returned (France)

Zombies but French is the fastest way to sum up The Returned, but that's an oversimplification. The Returned has the stillness and charged atmosphere of Twin Peaks mixed with the existential mystery of The Leftovers. One by one, the dead resume their lives in an isolated alpine town and they’re just as confused as everyone else as to why. The drama is packed into two tightly written and tense seasons.

When Heroes Fly (Israel)

Four friends from the military have a falling out that’s been unresolved for over a decade. When a woman who is dear to them all, a sister to one, and a lover to another seemingly returns from the dead in Colombia, they reunite to find her. Each character faces their own form of trauma during the rescue mission. Whether they survive is for you to find out over 10 episodes but know that a second season is on the way.

The 10 Best Original Films on Netflix

There are plenty of TV shows to binge watch on the streaming service, but if you want the best movies on Netflix, these are the Originals you should add to your queue.

About Our Expert

Chandra Steele

Senior Features Writer

My Experience

My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme.

I strive to explain topics that you might come across in the news but not fully understand, such as NFTs and meme stocks. I’ve had the pleasure of talking tech with Jeff Goldblum, Ang Lee, and other celebrities who have brought a different perspective to it. I put great care into writing gift guides and am always touched by the notes I get from people who’ve used them to choose presents that have been well-received. Though I love that I get to write about the tech industry every day, it’s touched by gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequality and I try to bring these topics to light.

Outside of PCMag, I write fiction, poetry, humor, and essays on culture.

My Areas of Expertise

Making incomprehensible tech news easy to understand
Expanding the boundaries of topics covered in the industry
Figuring out tips and tricks in apps and on devices and letting you know about them
Putting together gift guides for everyone in your life

The Technology I Use

All that gadgets is gold for me: my iPhone 11 Pro, my fifth-generation iPad that I use only for streaming videos and music, my iPad mini 4 that I like to take with me whenever I carry a bag that can fit it, and my MacBook Pro. Why are they all different shades of gold, though? What’s going on, Apple?

None of them quite live up to my two past loves: my LG Lotus LX600 phone and my Sony Walkman NW-E005 MP3 player.

I've never given up wired earbuds so I was ahead of all those trend pieces. I use a Mangotek Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone jack adapter to connect them to my phone.

I have had so many ebook readers, but I prefer paper to them all. Still, my Kindle Paperwhite is perfect for traveling or when I’m too impatient to wait for a book to be released in paperback.

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