Netflix to Add 43 New Releases This Week: The 3 to Watch

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Buy Me a Coffee!

Netflix this week (December 28, 2025-January 3, 2026) plans to add 43 new TV shows and movies to its streaming lineup. Here are the three to watch, in my humble opinion:

Stranger Things – Series Finale
When to Watch: Wednesday, December 31
Who’s In It: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown
The final episode of the fifth and final season of the upside down world of those crazy kids debuts on Wednesday. (The first four episodes of S5 premiered on November 26 and the next three dropped on December 25.) If you’re not familiar with Stranger Things by now, the show, which stars Winona Ryder (pictured above), David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown, follows a mysterious young girl (Brown) who opens a pathway between Earth and a hostile (very hostile) alternate dimension called the Upside Down. The series depicts a band of teenagers who assist the clueless adults in restoring order in our world. (Seasons one through four and the first seven first episodes of season five are now available on Netflix in case you are a ultra fast binger and want to catch up.)

Ricky Gervais: Mortality
When to Watch: Tuesday, December 30
Who’s In It: Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais may be the bluntest (and top five funniest) comedian alive today. (And anyone who watched his infamous 2020 Golden Globes speech might be surprised he is alive today.) In this stand-up comedy special, Gervais tackles life’s biggest questions including his own mortality.

Man on Fire (2004)
When to Watch: Thursday, January 1, 2026
Who’s In It: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Christopher Walken
Denzel Washington plays John Creasy, a former CIA intelligence agent turned alcoholic who’s hired to protect Pita, the young daughter (Dakota Fanning) of wealthy parents in Mexico City. The seemingly easy gig turns upside down when the daughter is kidnapped in a shootout that leaves Creasy fighting for his life. The subsequent events as Creasy seeks revenge, and the return of the young girl, makes Man on Fire one of the best action pictures of this century. Denzel is magnetism personified as the ruthless former government assassin who employs all his skills to set things right. Christopher Walken is also exceptional as Creasy’s former CIA colleague, as is Fanning as Pita, matching Denzel step for step in several pivotal scenes. The Denzel-Dakota chemistry was renewed in 2023 when the now 30-year-old Fanning had a supporting role in Denzel’s The Equalizer 3. (This time, she played a CIA officer!)

Shows & Movies Coming to Netflix This Week

Monday, December 29
Members Only: Palm Beach

Tuesday, December 30
Evil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story
Ricky Gervais: Mortality

Wednesday, December 31
Sleeping with Other People
Stranger Things 5: The Finale

Thursday, January 1
Dr. Seuss’s Red Fish, Blue Fish: Season 2
Love from 9 to 5
My Korean Boyfriend
Run Away
Time Flies
12 Years a Slave
30 Minutes or Less
Becky
Brüno
Colombiana
Conan the Destroyer
Dawn of the Dead
Despicable Me
Despicable Me 2
District 9
Dune
Erin Brockovich
Falling Skies: Seasons 1-5
Forever My Girl
Free Solo
Ghostbusters: Answer the Call
Green Room
Harry and the Hendersons
Hellboy
Johnny Mnemonic
Just Go With It
Lone Survivor
Man on Fire
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
My Girl
Only the Brave
Pitch Perfect
Priscilla
Twins
Wild Things

Friday, January 2
Found: Seasons 1-2
Land of Sin

Saturday, January 3
The Following: Seasons 1-3

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