The Best Things Coming to Netflix in August 2026

Robert De Niro hunts a serial killer, the Field of Dreams game streams live, plus sitcoms, thrillers and tearjerkers

Chris Nashawaty,

Updated July 29, 2026

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Updated July 29, 2026

kristen johnston and leanne morgan in a scene from an episode of leanne

Left to right: Kristen Johnston and Leanne Morgan talk it out in Season 2 of "Leanne," coming to Netflix in August.

Patrick Mcelhenney/Netflix

Welcome to the homestretch of summer, where Labor Day, raking leaves and holiday shopping seem to arrive all too soon. Seize these last lazy days and — while you’re at it — chill out with these 10 terrific new original films, quirky sitcoms, live sports and even a Hollywood action classic.

Coming August 1

Speed (1994, R)

Hollywood doesn’t make summer movies like this anymore. So take a nostalgic stroll down action-movie lane with this newly added Keanu Reeves gem about a score-settling maniac (Dennis Hopper) who rigs a bomb to a city bus packed with innocent Los Angelenos. Reeves is the tenacious, daredevil cop on board trying to stop things from going boom! Sandra Bullock, in an electrifying, star-making turn, tries to hold it together behind the steering wheel without hitting the brakes. If you’re on the lookout for a blockbuster with Swiss watch precision, look no further.

Coming August 7

Alley Cats, Season 1

Ricky Gervais has worn many hats in his stellar comedy career: creator of the hit British sitcoms The Office and Extras, nose-thumbing host of the Golden Globes and arena-filling stand-up comic. For his latest act, Gervais, 65, has come up with a deliriously cynical animated series about a mangy group of foul-mouthed felines looking for trouble. Don’t be fooled: This may look like a harmless cartoon, but this show definitely isn’t for the kids. It’s got claws.

The Last House (2026, PG-13)

Obviously, no one is looking to relive the panic and isolation of the COVID pandemic, but this eerie sci-fi thriller about a family trapped in their house after some sort of apocalyptic event is an obvious nod to the fear-drenched days of the recent quarantine. Brazilian Oscar nominee Wagner Moura, 50, and Past Lives star Greta Lee play a couple forced to figure out a way to survive with their kids for years without stepping beyond the front door.

Coming August 10

Midwinter Break (2026, PG-13)

A wonderfully poignant portrait of a longtime married couple who take a trip to Amsterdam, which sparks an unexpected look back at their lives together — the good, the bad and the ugly. Adapted from a 2017 novel from Bernard MacLaverty, 83, this bittersweet indie drama, which flashes back to the troubles in Northern Ireland, works like a charm thanks to its pair of spectacular leads: Irish stars Ciarán Hinds, 73, and Lesley Manville, 70.

Coming August 13

MLB at Field of Dreams – Live

A month after live streaming Major League Baseball’s annual Home Run Derby (in our opinion, one of the best editions in years), Netflix will be airing another, newer MLB tradition: the Field of Dreams game. Played in Dyersville, Iowa, the site of Kevin Costner’s 1989 baseball weepie, Field of Dreams (which, by the way, is also now available on the service), this year’s matchup pits the Minnesota Twins against the Philadelphia Phillies. Will Costner, 71, be in attendance? No word yet. But as the movie promises, “If you build it, he will come.”

Tires, Season 3

Provocative stand-up comedian Shane Gillis isn’t for everyone, but his legion of fans has turned his blue-collar Netflix sitcom set at an auto-repair chain into a homegrown hit. The show’s workplace setup operates on the premise that customer service is a four-letter word as Gillis peppers the proceedings with button-pushing jokes and a revolving door of familiar faces in supporting roles, including Thomas Haden Church, 66, Jon Lovitz, 69, and Vince Vaughn, 56.

Coming August 14

Don’t Say Good Luck (2026, PG-13)

Adam Sandler, 59, has been keeping Netflix busy over the past few years with a constant supply of mild, dependable comedies. Now the studio is doubling down on the Sandler name with this coming-of-age drama starring his 17-year-old daughter, Sunny Sandler, as a high school musical theater student whose big moment is overshadowed by an illness in her family (Dad is a coproducer on the film). Melanie Lynskey and Max Greenfield play her parents, but you’ll also want to keep an eye out for supporting turns from the irrepressible Bebe Neuwirth, 67, and the irreplaceable Steve Buscemi, 68.

Coming August 19

Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing (2026, NR)

It’s been a decade of turbulence for Boeing, the once high-flying aerospace giant plagued by allegations of safety failures, overzealous cost-cutting and coverups. Now, in this investigative follow-up to her 2022 documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing, director Rory Kennedy (Last Days in Vietnam) returns with a fresh batch of alarming intel based on the testimony of a Boeing whistleblower. Buckle up.

Coming August 27

Leanne, Season 2

While the old-school TV networks have all but given up on the traditional sitcom, Netflix seems determined to single-handedly keep it alive. Exhibit A: the return of this delightfully funny series starring Tennessee stand-up comic Leanne Morgan, 60. Morgan plays a woman whose husband of 33 years left her for another woman and who now learns to lean on her wacky, tight-knit family for strength and support — including her ride-or-die sister, wonderfully played by 3rd Rock from the Sun’s Kristen Johnston, 58.

Coming August 28

The Whisper Man (2026, R)

Robert De Niro is about to have a very busy second half of 2026. In November, he returns to multiplexes with the latest Meet the Parents installment, Focker-in-Law. Before that, you can catch the 82-year-old screen icon in this dark, harrowing thriller about a widowed crime writer (Adam Scott) who turns to his estranged father, a retired police detective (De Niro), after his young son is abducted by a serial killer known as “The Whisper Man.”

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Chris Nashawaty, former film critic for Entertainment Weekly, is the author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story and a contributor to Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.