Words: Pui Kuan Cheah

With winter quickly approaching, Netflix has plenty of original movies and series lined up this November to keep you occupied as you stay indoors in the warmth of your home. Spanning several genres and featuring stacked casts, their releases are bound to satisfy audiences. Below are just some of the upcoming Netflix UK releases you can expect to see on your homepage very soon. 

The Harder They Fall – November 3

Westerns are a rare find nowadays, so The Harder They Fall is a surprising treat on the Netflix roster this month. It also had the honour of being the Opening Night Gala film at the BFI London Film Festival this past October, and will now be coming to our small screens. Idris Elba, Jonathan Majors, and Regina King are just some of the big names in the ensemble, telling the revenge story of Nat Love on his enemy Rufus Buck, who has just been released from prison. Both men have their respective crews tailing along for the adventure, which the streaming service promises to be an “action-packed thrill ride”. 

Love Hard – November 5

‘Tis the season for holiday romance movies again, with Love Hard starting us off this month. Nina Dobrev stars as Natalie, who has been struggling to find a date through her online dating profile – this is until she finds heartthrob Josh. However, she realises she has been catfished by Josh (Jimmy O. Yang), who had been using his childhood friend Tag’s (Darren Barnet) picture. From the trailer, it seems to be a more positive rom-com take on this rather unfortunate incident. Will two of our main characters get together? Or will they become just friends? The two outcomes seem equally plausible. 

Narcos: Mexico (Season 3) – November 5

If you’ve been keeping up with Netflix series for a while, you’ll know of Narcos – here is the third and final season of its spin-off series Narcos: Mexico. While Narcos focused on Colombia’s drug trade, this one – as its name suggests – highlights Mexico’s drug trade instead. With Félix, the leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, out of the picture with the finale of season 2, expect a new antagonist in this third season.

The series has ranked strong so far on Rotten Tomatoes, with 89% and 87% for the first two seasons respectively, so fingers crossed this final season lives up to expectations to end things off on a high note.

Passing – November 10

Based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name, Passing features two Black women who were once childhood friends, and now lead completely different lives. As is in its title, the story brings to light the practice of “racial passing”, particularly through the character of Clare (Ruth Negga) who is married to a prejudiced white man – since she manages to “pass” as white herself. This is much to the surprise of Irene (Tessa Thompson) who has instead chosen to place herself on the other side of the colour line. Passing is purposefully shot with a black-and-white filter, fitting with its theme, and marks the directorial debut of actress Rebecca Hall, who has family history with racial passing.

Red Notice – November 12

This action flick brings together three household blockbuster names that many will be familiar with: Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds. And perhaps this trio alone will be a good enough reason to watch this film. Johnson and Reynolds form an unlikely alliance to aid in Interpol’s mission to capture an infamous art thief, played by Gadot. Johnson brings his usual stern expressions to the table, while Reynolds’ specialty humour takes the spotlight once again. It seems to deliver a lighthearted action story promising plenty of exciting stunt elements, so it’s time to grab your popcorn and gather your friends for this one.  

Tiger King (Season 2) – November 17

Tiger King was a massive streaming success for Netflix, coming out during lockdown when most people stayed at home, so it is little surprise that they announced that a season 2 was coming in November. Not much is known about the upcoming season, besides what was shown in the date announcement released during Netflix’s TUDUM fan event in September. However, it seems like clips of Joe Exotic in prison are on the cards. 

With its release, it seems that Netflix is hoping to replicate the first season’s success – which according to the company’s press release, was watched by 64 million households in its first four weeks.

The Princess Switch 3: Romancing The Star – November 18

The Vanessa Hudgens Netflix Cinematic Universe returns with a third instalment to The Princess Switch franchise. The Star of Peace, a relic from the Vatican, is stolen while in place in Montenaro, which leads familiar faces Stacy and Margaret to once again bring back Fiona (from the second movie) to help. 

In this movie though, Stacy and Margaret both disguise themselves as Fiona during the recovery mission to get the Star back. Among all the Netflix Original holiday movies, The Princess Switch movies are arguably one of the most popular, and understandably so. They’re harmless fun, great when you’re looking to wind down at the end of the day. 

tick, tick…BOOM! – November 19

Musical theatre fans might already be familiar with this one, as it is a film adaptation of an autobiographical musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson – who famously wrote Rent. To heighten the connection to the theatre community, this upcoming Netflix film is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s (Hamilton) feature directorial debut. It follows Jon (Andrew Garfield), a young theatre composer in 1990s New York City hoping for his big break in the industry, while facing external pressures from the environment around him to achieve this. As the movie’s tagline asks, “How much time do we have to do something great?”, something that may be significant with the year ending.