A still from Penguin Bloom, starring actor Naomi Watts. Photo: Supplied
The new year is right around the corner and Netflix is once again providing new original content to see us through the January blues. In usual fashion, an array of new films and television shows will be debuting on Netflix throughout the month.
So, whether you’re after a gripping documentary or a heartwarming premiere, here are some of the best new releases on Netflix, in January 2021.
Original Series
Headspace Guide to Meditation
It’s time to be kind to your mind. In partnership with Headspace, this 8-episode series shows how meditation can help in your daily life. From tackling stress to embracing gratitude, each episode first teaches the basics and techniques of the practice, and then concludes with a guided meditation.
Launching January 1.
Surviving Death
Author of Surviving Death, Leslie Kean in the Netflix Original Series. Photo: Supplied
Based on the best-selling book, Surviving Death is an in-depth investigative series exploring the possibility of an afterlife. Over six episodes, the series explores questions that have been contemplated throughout time. Weaving together innovative new research with firsthand accounts from those who’ve been close to death, the series takes viewers on an extraordinary journey into a world beyond human existence as we know it.
Launching January 6.
Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer
This Netflix limited docu-series Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer tells the spellbinding true story of how one of the most notorious serial killers in American history was hunted down and brought to justice. Told through harrowing first-person interviews, gripping archival footage, and spectacular original photography, this four-part series represents the definitive telling of this iconic LA real-life horror story.
Launching January 13.
We Are: The Brooklyn Saints
We Are: The Brooklyn Saints. Photo: Courtesy of Rudy Valdez
From Emmy-award winning filmmaker Rudy Valdez, this four-part documentary series following a youth football program in the heart of inner-city East NY, Brooklyn. Through intimate footage, the series immerses viewers in the world of Brooklyn Saints football and their community, chronicling the personal stories of the driven young athletes, as well as the support system of coaches and parents rallying behind them.
Launching January 29.
Original Films
The Minimalists: Less Is Now
They’ve built a movement out of minimalism. Longtime friends Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus share how our lives can be better with less in this documentary film.
Launching January 1.
Pieces of a Woman
Martha and Sean are a Boston couple on the verge of parenthood whose lives change irrevocably when a home birth ends in unimaginable tragedy. From award-winning director Kornél Mundruczó and executive producer Martin Scorsese, Pieces of a Woman is a personal, searing, and ultimately transcendent story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.
Launching January 7.
Outside the Wire
Set in the future, a drone pilot named Harp is sent into a deadly militarized zone where he finds himself working for Leo, an android officer, tasked to locate a doomsday device before the insurgents do.
Launching January 15.
The White Tiger
From acclaimed writer-director, Ramin Bahrani comes the epic journey of a poor Indian driver who uses his wit and cunning to break free from servitude to his rich masters and rise to the top of the heap. Starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, this film is based on the New York Times bestseller and 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel, written by Aravind Adiga.
Launching January 22.
Penguin Bloom
After suffering a tragic accident, a family takes in an injured Magpie that makes a profound difference in their lives. Based on the book of the same name, Penguin Bloom tells the amazing true story of renewal that occurred when a woman whose life seemed shattered, found hope and purpose in her family’s love. Launching January 27.
The Dig
As WWII looms, a wealthy widow hires an amateur archaeologist to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. When they make a historic discovery, the echoes of Britain’s past resonate in the face of its uncertain future. Based on the book of the same name. Launching January 29.
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