16 New Foreign TV Shows on Netflix in 2020 That Are So Worth the Subtitles
Parasite director Bong Joon-ho said it best during his acceptance speech at the 2020 Oscars after he won for best picture: "Once you overcome the one-inch barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." Of course, as well as foreign movies, this sentiment also applies to foreign TV shows. Netflix is packed with incredible series from all over the world, and even though it feels like 2020 has just begun, the streaming service has already debuted several new international series worth your attention. If you're looking for your next show to binge, you might want to consider one of these new foreign TV shows on Netflix.
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Ares
This psychological horror series (and Netflix's first Dutch original series) revolves around a secret student society in Amsterdam and two friends who join it, only to find out the club is far more menacing than it initially seemed. We guarantee you've never seen a college hazing experience like this one.
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Black Moon
Set in 17th-century Celleno — a ghost village in the province of Viterbo, Italy — this drama centers on a teenage midwife who's accused of using witchcraft after she has a dark premonition while helping her grandmother deliver a baby. Ade is then forced to flee from her village with her younger brother in tow, where she meets a group of ancient witches — as well as a really cute boy named Pietro.
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The Ghost Bride
Set in Colonial-era Malacca, this Malaysian drama tells the story of a woman who receives an unusual offer: to become the ghost bride of a wealthy family's recently deceased son. While the opportunity would save Pan Li Lan's family from crippling debt, it would also require her to spend the rest of her days married to a ghost, which is . . . not ideal.
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Omniscient
This eerie Brazilian series is set in the near future, revolving around a society under constant Big-Brother-like surveillance. Despite the Omniscient system's drones, a murder is somehow committed without the killer being monitored, and the deceased's father — a tech trainee named Nina — decides to risk everything in order to figure out how the murderer got away.
Ragnarok
Inspired by Norse mythology, this Norwegian coming-of-age series takes place in a fictitious town of Edda following the bizarre weather patterns caused by global warming, which seems to be headed for another Ragnarok. As the town faces the threat of pollution and melting glaciers, it becomes clear that only a teenager gifted with the embodiment of Thor can save the people of Edda.
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Thieves of the Wood
Set in 18th-century Belgium, this historical drama series follows the real-life story of charismatic Flemish highwayman Jan de Lichte, who led a revolt against the aristocracy during the Austrian occupation. This Robin Hood-esque tale is too charming not to like (and it certainly helps that all the actors are easy on the eyes).
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Followers
Followers is Netflix's first Japanese live-action original series, telling the stories of various women in Tokyo who are influenced directly or indirectly by social media networks as they pursue their dreams of becoming famous. In the series, women across Tokyo struggle to separate their online presences from their actual selves, and for anyone with an Instagram account, this one will likely hit close to home.
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My Holo Love
This K-drama revolves around Han So-yeon, a reclusive woman with face blindness disorder whose life is changed by a prototype of Holo, a state-of-the-art AI hologram device that's modeled after its genius creator's assistant, Go Nan-do. However, she never expects that the result will be a complicated love triangle between herself, the hologram, and the man who inspired it.
Puerta 7
Created by Martin Zimmerman, who also created Ozark and Narcos, this Argentinian thriller revolves around the attempts of a woman to expose and dissolve the organized crime that exists within an Argentine soccer club. You don't have to be a soccer fan to appreciate this gritty drama.
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Queen Sono
Netflix's first original South African crime drama tells the story of a hard-partying female secret agent who is capable of fighting crime with lethal skills — but who also struggles with PTSD and sex addition. The series follows her attempts to ignore her deep-seated issues with the help of drugs and alcohol, and as you can imagine, it doesn't always work out so well.
Spectros
This Brazilian supernatural thriller takes place in Liberdade, a neighborhood in São Paulo known for its sizable Japanese community. In the series, a group of five residents inadvertently bring Japanese Shinto spirits into the world, and it sets off a dark chain of events that they'd never anticipated. Pro tip: don't watch this one in the dark.
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Unstoppable
Set in Mexico City, this teen drama series follows three spoiled 20-somethings as they embark on a road trip to escape from their predictable lives. However, they encounter a mysterious, desperate woman along the way, and she ends up changing the path of their lives forever.
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The Valhalla Murders
Netflix's first Icelandic series tells the story of an Oslo detective with a dark past, who must return to his native Iceland to help an ambitious Icelandic detective investigate a series of murders. The longer these two investigate the case, the more likely it seems that these crimes were committed by the same person.
When it's available: March 13
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The Process
In this Italian crime series, a group of characters find themselves implicated in the death of a 17-year-old, including a prosecutor with personal ties to the victim, a lawyer who considers the trial the chance of a lifetime, and the sole defendant who asserts her innocence. This one will likely keep you guessing until the very end.
When it's available: March 27