7 Netflix series and films we can’t wait for this autumn

Autumn means a slew of cultural highlights will come our way and in terms of must-sees, Netflix has saved its biggest and brightest for the coming months. Here we round up seven of their upcoming offerings we’re most looking forward to 

The Crown

Olivia Colman succeeds Claire Foy in the much anticipated third season, which will premiere in November. The third and fourth series (they were shot back-to-back) span the years 1964-76, with series one and two covering the early years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, from 1947-63. This season will see the introduction of Camilla Parker-Bowles. It should also cover the birth of Prince Edward (March 1964), and Prince Charles’ coronation as the Prince of Wales in 1969.

Tobias Menzies joined the ranks in March 2018 as Prince Phillip and it has been confirmed that Helena Bonham Carter will play the role of Princess Margaret. She will be taking over from actor Vanessa Kirby, who was nominated for a Bafta for her portrayal of Margaret. We can’t wait to see Coleman in all her glory.

The Crown will premiere on November 17

The Politician

This anticipated series centres on the story of a wealthy student from California, Payton Hobart, who wants to become President of the United States of America. It’s very much-touted as a satire; a tongue-in-cheek take on a political climate in the United States.

Payton Hobart (Ben Platt), a wealthy student from Santa Barbara, California, has known since age seven that he’s going to be the President of the United States. But first, he’ll have to navigate the most treacherous political landscape of all: Saint Sebastian High School. To get elected Student Body President, secure a spot at Harvard, and stay on his singular path to success, Payton will have to outsmart his ruthless classmates without sacrificing his own morality and carefully crafted image. Full of dark comedy and sly satire, Ryan Murphy’s The Politician offers a rare glimpse into just what it takes to make a politician.

They are expecting big things from the first season, as according to reports, they have plans for multiple with every season planned to centre around another political race to win to get to the White House.

The Politician will premiere on September 27

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie

Netflix isn’t revealing too much about this one, save for their official synopsis: “The Netflix Television Event EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE reunites fans with Jesse Pinkman (Emmy-winner Aaron Paul). In the wake of his dramatic escape from captivity, Jesse must come to terms with his past in order to forge some kind of future. This gripping thriller is written and directed by Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad.”

While Jessie was arguably the conscience of the show, it was Bryan Cranston’s chilling and inspired turn as Walter White – a mild-mannered chemistry teacher changed into a truly cold-blooded killer – that elevated the already brilliant source material into something else entirely. He has said previously he was unclear if Walter White would appear in the sequel but said he would absolutely appear in the movie if Gilligan were to ask him. Let’s hope Cranston was asked – and he said yes.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie will premiere on October 11

The King 

The adaptation of several of Shakespeare’s plays sees the ever-versatile Timothée Chalamet star as the newly crowned King Henry V, who must navigate palace politics, the war his father (Ben Mendelsohn) left behind, and the emotional strings of his wayward past – including his relationship with his closest friend and mentor, the aging alcoholic knight John Falstaff (Joel Edgerton). The ensemble cast is also stellar and includes Robert Pattinson, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, and Thomasin McKenzie. There is big hype surrounding this one so we expect great things.

The King will premiere on Netflix this autumn (release date TBC)

 The Laundromat 

There are echoes of Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning 2000 film Erin Brockovich in his newest film just for Netflix, that of an unlikely and underestimated woman (in this case, the great Meryl Streep) who attempts to take on and bring down an insurance fraud scheme.

Based on Jake Bernstein’s book Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite, The Laundromat stars Meryl Streep as a widow who investigates a massive insurance-fraud scheme that’s benefiting a network of super-rich people around the world.  The trailer is fun and comedic and with a supporting cast that includes Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas and Sharon Stone, you just know you’re in for a treat.

The Laundromat will premiere on October 18

The Two Popes

From Fernando Meirelles, the Academy Award-nominated director of “City of God,” and three-time Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Anthony McCarten, comes an intimate story of one of the most dramatic transitions of power in the last 2,000 years. Frustrated with the direction of the church, Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) requests permission to retire in 2012 from Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins). Instead, facing scandal and self-doubt, the introspective Pope Benedict summons his harshest critic and future successor to Rome to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church.

With the trailer just released today, Oscar whispers are already surrounding the two leads – and any religious depiction based on true events is bound to get people talking.  

The Two Popes will premiere on December 20 

Top Boy

Drake is serving as executive producer for the third season of British gang drama Top Boy – a series which Netflix has revived with 10 new episodes following its first two seasons airing on Channel 4.

W. Ashley Walters will return as dealer Dushane, as will Kane “Kano” Robinson as ex-con Sully, with Little Simz, Dave, and rising star Michael Ward rounding out the cast. The new episodes pick up as Walters’ Dushane returns from exile to his home in London to reclaim his throne in the highly lucrative drug market. He teams up with Robinson’s Sully, his spiritual brother, partner and sometime rival who is also returning to the same streets after his own form of exile – prison – comes to an end.

Top Boy will premiere on September 13