What are the best shows and movies coming to Netflix in November? Well, apparently Netflix is holding back all our presents for Christmas and the winter holidays, because November’s release slate is on the skimpier side. Sure, there’s The Crown Season 4, which will see Queen Elizabeth attending the wedding of her son Charles and Lady Diana, but after that, you’ll have to get caught up in the romance of Virgin River Season 2 or Glenn Close in Ron Howard‘s Hillbilly Elegy. Perhaps December will see better rewards.
Our list of suggestions for the best shows and moves on Netflix in November is below, but here’s the full list of what’s new on Netflix in November. If you’d like even more hand-picked recommendations, click over to our Watch This Now! page.
If you’re looking for recommendations on other services, here are our November picks on Amazon. Happy streaming!
The Best Shows and Movies on Netflix This Month
Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun
Available Nov. 11
Australian comedy trio Aunty Donna are apparently pretty popular among people who know their international hipster comedy troupes, and they’re ready to hop out of the cozy confines of their marsupial pouches in their native land to try to make it in America with their first Netflix series. Big Ol’ House of Fun is absurdist sketch comedy — looks like they wear some funny outfits and scream a lot — with the help of some Yankees, like good friend and EP Ed Helms, Kristen Schaal, Weird Al, Paul F. Tompkins, and more. I can’t tell if it’s funny from the trailer — maybe some jokes got lost in the translation from Australian to English.
The Liberator
Available Nov. 11
Is this filmed? Is it animated? Is it both? This war drama uses a stunning new technique called Trioscope Enhanced Hybrid Animation that blends CGI, live-action performances, and animation to create visuals that look like moving graphic novels. It’s based on the book The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey, and tells the story of an infantry unit that fought for over 500 days during World War II, which sounds like a lot of work, if you ask me. The script and dialogue are nothing fancy, but do you really need that when you’re silently crying and saluting your TV as it honors our veterans?
The Crown
Available Nov. 15
Season 4 of the show your mom really loves continues the saga of Queen Elizabeth II, this time covering the time period from 1977 to 1990. That’s during the reign of Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson, and it introduces Liz to Princess Diana, played by Emma Corrin, who will marry Prince Charles (Josh O’Connor) this season. It’s also the last season for Olivia Colman to play the queen, as she’ll be replaced by Imelda Staunton in the fifth and sixth seasons to play the queen in her golden years.
Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square
Available Nov. 22
It’s already Christmas in most retail stores, so it may as well be Christmas on your TV, too. Dolly Parton stars in this holiday musical production in which Christine Baranski plays a mean old lady who wants to sell a small town to a shopping mall developer because the writers of this special went with the very first idea they had. Townspeople, kids, and dogs sing, dance, and bark nonstop to tell this story that’s sure to stir the Christmas bile in your tummy into an eruption of piquant holiday cheer.
Hillbilly Elegy
Available Nov. 24
Ron Howard adapts the best-selling and slightly controversial memoir of the same name, which tells the story of a young man who, despite an impoverished upbringing in rural Appalachia and trouble at home, grows up to attend Yale Law School. It’s got a great cast, with Amy Adams playing the young man’s mother and Glenn Close playing the grandmother, and both look like they go to town on intense scenes dealing with poverty and addiction. Critics of the book say the story is harsh rhetoric on the poor and working class, while conservatives have praised the book for “telling it like it is.” Everything is politicized nowadays.
Mosul
Available Nov. 26
The Russo Brothers produced this based-on-a-true-story drama following Iraqi armed forces as they move toward the city of Mosul to liberate it from the control of the Islamic State in 2016. In other words, it’s going to be very heavy. The action-thriller was written and directed by Matthew Michael Carnahan, and is another planned theatrical release that’s skipping theaters because of the pandemic.
Virgin River
Available Nov. 27
You’re going to be inundated with a lot of Hallmark movies at this time of the year, but save some room in your heart made of soft putty for Season 2 of Virgin River. A drama for hopeless romantics, it follows the formula of a big-city woman who gives it all up to start over in a small town after a series of heartbreaks smash her heart to itty bitty pieces that can’t possibly be put back together. Then she meets a new man who puts the itty bitty pieces of her heart back together and they get it on romantically. Also, I’m told there are bad guys who make drugs in the woods. [More shows like Virgin River]
Want to know what else is coming to Netflix? Here’s everything new on Netflix in November.