The summer season is in full swing, and while you might be enjoying the sunny weather outdoors or traveling the globe on vacation, Netflix is giving you plenty of reasons to stay indoors with a strong lineup of new movies and shows to watch from the comfort of your home.
Here at Tom’s Guide, we recently polled our readers on their favorite Netflix movies/shows of the summer (so far), and after more than 4,300 responses, we’ve compiled the results into a top 10 ranking. These are the shows and movies that Netflix viewers have enjoyed the most so far this summer.
There’s particularly strong variety in this list, ranging from easy-watching romantic dramas to fantasy-action, mystery thrills to crude comedy, and lots more. Whatever you like to watch on Netflix, there’s sure to be at least one entry on this list that appeals to your personal tastes.
Top 10 Netflix shows/movies of summer 2026 (so far)
10. ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (season 2)
The second season of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the beloved cartoon “Avatar: The Last Airbender” props up this ranking. The reception was roughly in line with the show’s first season, with fans and critics noting it was a huge step up from the awful 2010 movie take on the original show, but still a far cry from the quality of its animated predecessor. The show also quickly fell out of Netflix's top 10, suggesting that it might not have attracted many newcomers. However, Season 3 was filmed simultaneously, so it’ll get to wrap up on its own terms, which is good news for fans.
Watch "Avatar: The Last Airbender" on Netflix now
9. ‘Sweet Magnolias’ (season 5)
Netflix takes a lot of flak for canceling shows early, much of it deserved, but to give the streaming service some credit, when a show finds a consistent viewership (and presumably isn’t too expensive to produce), it will give it the runway to thrive. Romantic drama “Sweet Magnolias” is one such example; it dropped its fifth season in June, bringing the show’s dedicated watchers back to the small town of Serenity, South Carolina, for another scoop of messy melodrama. As of writing, season 6 has not been confirmed, but the show's passionate fans are already speculating online about what will happen next. Hopefully, new episodes are confirmed soon.
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8. ‘Office Romance’
Netflix’s glossy rom-com “Office Romance” attracted plenty of attention, even if reviewers (myself included) weren’t exactly in love with this generic genre effort. It scores a weak 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, but as our poll shows, at least some viewers fell under its moderately charming spell. It stars Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein as co-workers at a high-flying airline who begin a secretive workplace affair. Naturally, this leads to many professional and personal complications. Playing out like pretty much every other romantic comedy, “Office Romance” is anything but memorable, which is perhaps why it ranks lower down on this top 10 list.
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7. ‘Sullivan’s Crossing’ (season 4)
“Sullivan’s Crossing” is another romantic drama, based on the Robyn Carr novel series about a neurosurgeon named Maggie (Morgan Kohan) who returns to her hometown amidst legal trouble to reconnect with her father, Sully (Scott Patterson). This one is actually a CW show that aired its fourth season weekly throughout the spring before dropping all at once on Netflix at the end of June. A fifth season is also in production, so expect that to arrive on Netflix sometime in the summer of 2027.
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6. ‘Little Brother’
Netflix’s comedy “Little Brother” leaned on a classic movie trope, the odd-couple dynamic. You have John Cena playing the straight man, with a successful real estate career and loving family. Meanwhile, Eric André has the wild-card role, a loose cannon who causes complete chaos everywhere he goes. It’s a reliable formula for comedy, and even with its low-brow gags, “Little Brother” is saved from total disaster thanks to the strength of its two stars. It’s not a Netflix comedy that is likely to live long in the memory, but it enjoyed a brief moment in the sun over the summer.
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5. ‘Little House on the Prairie’
Banking on nostalgia is usually a successful strategy for streaming platforms, and that seems to be the case with “Little House on the Prairie.” Whether you read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s original 1941 novel in your childhood or watched the original 1970s TV series, this story of a 19th-century settler family building a home on a farm in the American Midwest is beloved by millions. Netflix’s new adaptation was warmly received, and the streaming bigwigs were clearly impressed with what they saw, because it was renewed for a second season before it even premiered.
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4. ‘Enola Holmes 3’
Netflix put plenty of marketing muscle behind the third installment in its “Enola Holmes” franchise (I saw real-world posters everywhere), and it seemingly paid off. The detective mystery flick went straight to No. 1, and, as our poll results show, viewers were seemingly satisfied with this latest outing for Sherlock Holmes’ little sister, the eponymous Enola (played by Millie Bobby Brown). Also bringing back Louis Partridge as Tewkesbury, Henry Cavill as Sherlock, and Helen Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes, this mystery film offers plenty of fun and is all set in sun-soaked Malta.
Watch "Enola Holmes 3" on Netflix now
3. ‘Voicemails for Isabelle’
The competition hasn’t exactly been fierce, but “Voicemails for Isabelle” is perhaps the best Netflix original movie of the summer to date. Sure, this rom-com also has a generic quality, but the chemistry between leads Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson makes rooting for its central relationship very easy. The movie also tackles grief in a way that feels authentic. Deutch plays a San Francisco chef reeling from the death of her beloved sister. To cope with her loss, she leaves voicemails to her sister’s old phone, which are intercepted by Wes (Robinson). Wes engineers a meet-cute, and a connection forms, but will his lie be revealed and ruin the romance?
Watch "Voicemails for Isabelle" on Netflix now
2. ‘Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea’
No list of the most-popular Netflix shows and movies would be complete without a gripping documentary, and “Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea” storms into second place with nearly 20% of the votes in our poll. This feature-length doc chronicles the sinking of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia in 2012. This maritime disaster became a global news story, tragically claimed 32 lives, and resulted in a 16-year prison sentence for the captain who abandoned his ship prematurely. “Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea” includes new footage of the events and insightful interviews with survivors who recount their chilling experience.
Watch "Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea" on Netflix now
1. ‘I Will Find You’
It’s no surprise to see “I Will Find You” claim the top spot. As somebody who tracks what’s popular on Netflix for a living, I can attest first-hand that the streaming service’s subscriber base loves binge-worthy mystery thrillers. This one marks Netflix’s latest collaboration with crime author supremo Harlan Coben, and packs the usual assortment of gripping moments and shocking twists that viewers have come to expect from a Coben-adapted TV show. It stars Sam Worthington as a man wrongly imprisoned for the murder of his son. When he learns his son might still be alive, he must break out to uncover the truth and clear his name.
Watch "I Will Find You" on Netflix now
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