So many shows, so little time. Luckily, Netflix offers a lineup of diverse miniseries that are short and succinct, yet still manage to entertain and leave a lasting impression. Whether they run for four episodes or eight, these series are challenged by limited time, pushing them to deliver as much depth, tension, and payoff as possible within a compact format.
From a competitive chess coming-of-age story to chilling horror tales, these miniseries span a wide range of genres. Don’t worry about not having the luxury of time. Audiences can easily go through each in one day, making them perfect for a casual TV binge. Without further ado, here are seven Netflix miniseries that get better with every episode.
1
‘Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities’ (2022)
F. Murray Abraham in Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.Image via Netflix
If one horror story isn’t enough, then eight should do the trick. Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities feels especially personal for Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, largely because he curated the collection himself. Inspired by the idea of opening a “cabinet of curiosities,” each episode explores a different kind of mystery or fascination, drawing from various short stories. Whether it’s Henry Kuttner’s The Graveyard Rats or H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreams in the Witch House, every episode delivers a fresh, self-contained plot.
In true del Toro fashion, the miniseries finds sympathy within monstrosity, shaping each episode around a distinct tone and emotional core. One story might plunge into grotesque body horror, while another leans into dystopian or psychological fears, keeping the experience unpredictable. Beneath the dark fantasy, many episodes reflect real-world phenomena with an ironic twist — from a xenophobic veteran caught up with occult forces from an Austrian seance table to a woman so consumed by beauty standards that a seemingly harmless skincare product destroys morality.
2
‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)
Hamish Linklater in priest vestments inside a church looking to the distance in ‘Midnight Mass’ (2021).Image via Netflix
Midnight Mass questions what happens when the religion — or belief system — you place your faith in ultimately fails you. Set in an isolated fishing community on Crockett Island, the story follows a charismatic young priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater), who appears to perform miracles for the town’s struggling residents. At the same time, a guilt-stricken man named Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) returns to the island after a DUI incident, hoping to start over in his hometown.
However, life on Crockett Island takes a dark turn when the truth behind Father Paul’s miracles is revealed, unleashing bloodthirsty carnage across the claustrophobic community. Although Midnight Mass heavily draws on Catholic symbolism and horror, its message resonates more broadly, exploring the dangers of human fanaticism — whether in religion, politics, or public figures. While it is undeniably a horror series, it also serves as a critique of blindly following others’ words without questioning them.
3
‘Beef’ (2023)
Steven Yeun in BeefImage via Netflix
Like any good, tender brisket, Beef takes its time to cook slowly before it ultimately burns the entire grill away. Barbeque analogies aside, the miniseries follows two strangers who get into a road rage incident — really just a parking lot misunderstanding that could have been ignored. However, struggling contractor Danny (Steven Yeun) isn’t having any of a stranger’s honking, so he chases after Amy (Ali Wong), a successful businesswoman, and things spiral from there.
The incident quickly snowballs into a raging mess, with Danny and Amy invading each other’s personal lives and attacking one another over petty things. However, it escalates into something far more serious, involving catfishing, kidnapping, and violence. Still, the show makes it clear that neither of them is inherently horrible. Their actions stem from a lack of control in their already insufferable lives and an inability to confront their internal issues. Instead of coping healthily, they find a warped sense of control by taking their anger out on each other.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?
Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from?
In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that’s been feared and respected for generations.
BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first.
CReputation. I’ve earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it.
DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what?
Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me.
BThe company — or whoever’s signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract.
CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don’t abandon them for anything.
DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I’m the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond?
Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching.
BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I’ve moved.
CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences.
DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element?
Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away.
BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them.
CA mid-size city where the rules haven’t quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve.
DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone’s life is shaped by what’s inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey?
Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what’s mine. I’ll answer for it eventually — but not today.
BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what’s at stake, and I move with it.
CI have a code — it’s not the law’s code, but it’s mine, and I don’t break it.
DI’ve made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don’t have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto?
Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase.
BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal.
CRelevance. I’ve been away, I’ve been written off — and I’m proving that was a mistake.
DWhatever fragile order I’ve managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead?
Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I’m protecting — and because they know what happens if they don’t.
BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don’t need people to like me — I need them to need me.
CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it.
DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction?
Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey’ll learn. Or they won’t. Either way, the land was here before them and it’ll be here after.
BI figure out what they want, what they’re worth, and whether they’re an asset or a problem — fast.
CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect.
DNew players destabilise everything I’ve built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you?
Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family’s peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I’ve let it take too much.
BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn’t nailed down.
CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can’t get back — but I’m not done yet.
DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say?
Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it.
BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table.
CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms.
DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has Spoken
You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠
Yellowstone
🛢️
Landman
👑
Tulsa King
⚖️
Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
4
‘Adolescence’ (2025)
Owen Cooper stares ahead with no expression in Adolescence.Image via Netflix
In a generation where toxic Internet culture, hypermasculinity, and incel ideologies increasingly target young boys, a miniseries like Adolescence feels more urgent than ever. The four-part series takes place in the aftermath of a police raid and the arrest of 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is suspected of murdering his classmate, Katie Leonard (Emilia Holliday). It becomes even more chilling when investigators realize that the murder stems from a cyberbullying issue, following Jamie’s romantic rejection by Leonard.
Apart from the one-take camerawork in Adolescence, which vividly captures the tension of police presence and interrogation rooms, the miniseries delivers more substance than most shows manage in just four episodes. Adolescence doesn’t mean to incite fear, but it is a warning to be more careful about what audiences consume from today’s content creators. Like the tip of the iceberg, online radicalization is only the beginning of deeper problems, eventually snowballing into harmful behaviors like those depicted in the series.
5
‘Baby Reindeer’ (2024)
A still from Netflix’s Baby Reindeer.Image via Netflix
It’s as if Baby Reindeer came out of nowhere, with word spreading quickly through online discourse, which only makes the miniseries more intriguing. The show follows Donny Dunn (Richard Gadd), an aspiring comedian who crosses paths with a stranger named Martha (Jessica Gunning). After he shows her a small act of kindness at the bar, genuinely tending to her loneliness, Martha becomes obsessively attached to him, showing up every day until her behavior escalates into full-blown stalking.
However, Baby Reindeer avoids presenting a black-and-white view of how people process trauma. There’s no such thing as a perfect victim or a one-dimensional villain here. Donny clearly needs help, but to report to Martha, he must first confront his unresolved trauma from a past sexual assault. At the same time, while Martha is easy to hate because of her intrusive behavior, she is also a product of deep struggles and mental illness. Baby Reindeer then bases its momentum on this toxic cycle, where one becomes attached, and the other allows it to continue, and each episode waits to see if Donny will be able to break it.
6
‘One Day’ (2024)
Emma and Dexter lying on the floor together and laughing in One Day.Image via Netflix
“What ifs” are tested in One Day, a coming-of-age drama miniseries that follows two friends-to-lovers from different sides of the social class divide. On 15 July 1988, Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) met at a graduation ball after finishing their studies at the University of Edinburgh. Emma is a working-class girl from Leeds, while Dexter is part of London’s privileged class.
Nonetheless, they are drawn to each other and spend a platonic night together, spilling their hearts about what’s to come in life after graduation. It wouldn’t be the last time they see each other. Over the next decade, each episode revisits the two on the same day each year, recounting the changes in their lives, whether in their romance, careers, or personal growth. For all of One Day’s drama, the miniseries realistically shows that love doesn’t always have the most ideal outcome. Instead, it becomes a series of lessons learned along the way.
7
‘The Queen’s Gambit’ (2020)
Image by Nimesh Niyomal Perera
It might just be two people sitting across from each other, moving pieces on a board, but The Queen’s Gambit shows that a game of chess can be just as sweat-inducing as football or basketball. The Netflix pandemic hit follows Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), an orphaned chess prodigy in the 1950s and ’60s who, driven to become the best player there is, begins entering competitions. Like any traditional sport, chess is a male-dominated field. No adult man initially takes the teenage Beth seriously, until she starts checkmating them one by one.
The chess in The Queen’s Gambit is urgent and fire-rapid. That said, there’s the constant risk that a single move could cost the entire match. Beth may be a genius, but when her addiction to tranquilizers derails her career, she learns that the game is best played not with frenzy, but with clarity. Each episode sees Beth not only fighting against those who underestimate her, but also for herself. Everything culminates in the final showdown, where, in true Cold War nature, Beth must take down the Russian world champion.
Release Date
2020 – 2020-00-00
Showrunner
Scott Frank
Directors
Scott Frank
Writers
Scott Frank
