As the streamer corners the market on murder content, here are the serious series worth your time.
But how do you weed out the notable installments from the bunk?
EW has compiled a must-watch list of Netflix serial killer shows, includinggripping documentariesand a handful of well-articulated narratives.
Jonathan Groff on ‘Mindhunter’; Penn Badgley on ‘You’; Richard Ramirez in ‘Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer’.Credit:Patrick Harbron/Netflix; Netflix (2)
Here are the 16 best streaming options right now, as of March 2025.
Cue ruminative looks from rain-dotted windows and some properly toe-curling violence.
(The series has been renewed for a second season.
Mikkel Boe Følsgaard and Danica Ćurčič on ‘The Chestnut Man’.Nikolaj Thaning Rentzmann/Netflix
“The Yorkshire Ripper,” who murdered 13 women between 1975 and 1980 in England.
It’s an exhaustive, well-told account of Sutcliffe’s terror reign, which isn’t particularly well-known Stateside.
This series also thoughtfully examines how the police response might’ve been different if his victims were men.D.G.
Joyce Lemons (mother of victim Debbie Sue Williamson, in photograph) in ‘The Confession Killer’.Netflix/Courtesy Everett
His performance, much like the show, is wonderfully calibrated.D.G.
Then there’s season 3, which feels like one of those particularly cruel straight-to-video cheapies.
Now, Laura has seven days to identify the killer and reverse the course of fate.
Richard Cottingham (left, with head down), a.k.a. the ‘Torso Killer’ in ‘Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer’.Netflix
As it is, these 10 episodes play pretty perfectly as a single story.D.G.
Youis wonderfully knowing and often surprising, never content to milk one narrative thread for too long.
As the later seasons segue into a sort of twisted serial killer version ofMr.
Michael C. Hall on ‘Dexter’.Randy Tepper/Showtime
& Mrs. Smith, the show finds its satirical feet.
The final season drops on April 24.D.G.
Eric Bana and Connie Britton in season 1 of ‘Dirty John’.Jordin Althaus/Bravo
Choi Woo-shik and Lee Hee-jun in ‘A Killer Paradox’.Song Kyoung Sub/Netflix
Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff on ‘Mindhunter’.Patrick Harbron/Netflix
Richard Ramirez (left) in ‘Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer’.Netflix
Peter Sutcliffe in ‘The Ripper’.Netflix
Jenna Coleman and Tahar Rahim in ‘The Serpent’.BBC/Mammoth Screen
Jessica Biel in season 2 of ‘The Sinner’.Brownie Harris/USA
Eric McCormack and Thom Allison in season 5 of ‘Slasher’.Cole Burston/Shudder
Kang Hye-rim (seated) on ‘Somebody’.Nathan K. H. Jang/Netflix
Paula Patton and Devon Sawa on ‘Somewhere Between’.Eike Schroter/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale on ‘The Watcher’.Courtesy of Netflix
Penn Badgley on ‘You’.Netflix
