Allie Gemmillīased on the popular and award-winning Dark Horse Comics graphic novels created and written by Gerard Way (the frontman of the band My Chemical Romance) and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, the Netflix series The Umbrella Academy follows the “children” of Sir Reginald Hargreeves ( Colm Feore), a billionaire industrialist who adopts seven of the 43 infants inexplicably born on the same day in 1989 to random women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. All of it was damn good fun and sets up what will no doubt be an exciting Season 4. It was also a devilish delight to see events from more recent history play out onscreen, as Charles' early romance with Camilla Shand (later Parker-Bowles) unfurled across the screen while Elizabeth II enjoyed her settled, somewhat easier alliance with Prince Phillip (Menzies) - somehow 50% more crotchety and yet still a boss?! - and Margaret explored a new romance as she drifted from Snowdon. Every single one of the new cast members - but especially Colman and O'Connor - came to play this season and turned in riveting performances as fictionalized versions of the royal family. The sumptuousness of The Crown remained firmly intact, with all 10 episodes of the season allowing for some much-needed escapism as the year wound down.
As Elizabeth's eldest, Prince Charles ( Josh O'Connor), found his footing as a royal figure while learning how to deal with the responsibilities of the crown, it was Princess Margaret (Bonham Carter) who remained a magnet for romantic drama as her marriage to Lord Snowdon (Daniels) fell apart.
Even though an older, wiser Queen Elizabeth II (Colman) was seemingly more settled in her role as the calm, cool, collected symbolic head of state, there was no shortage of familial strife or drama. Featuring a new cast of characters led by recent Oscar-winner Olivia Colman, Helena Bonham Carter, Tobias Menzies, and Ben Daniels, The Crown Season 3 took us from the 1960s to the late '70s as the role between the British monarchy and its subjects rapidly evolved. It feels like The Crowncompletely came into its own with the arrival of Season 3 in November. ( Editor's Note: Unfortunately the article was written before the mad delights of The Witcher were launched.) With that in mind, we polled the staff for the 15 best Netflix series of the year, submitted our votes, and here's what came back.
The best series of the year ranged from returning awards favorites like GLOW, The Crown, and Stranger Things a second season of David Fincher's serial killer drama Mindhunter, which somehow managed to be more Fincher-esque than ever a feat of technical wizardry with the puppetry epic The Dark Crystal: Rise of the Resistance inventive new genre-hybrid half-hour comedies like Russian Doll and Living with Yourself the sketch comedy glory of I Think You Should Leave and gone-too-soon oddballs like Santa Clarita Diet and Brit Marling's baffling but soulful The OA.
going toe-to-toe with HBO at the Emmys in wins and nominations (though HBO ultimately won both this year), and dominating the Golden Globe nominations in both TV and film - the first year Netflix outpaced the studios at the starry awards show, a sign that the streamer's ever-growing film presence is finally catching up with its prestige TV.Īnd what a lineup they had in 2019. The streaming giant that changed the entire distribution model of the entertainment landscape also helped usher in the so-called new Golden Age of TV by giving a new platform to some of the biggest and most inventive creative talents in the industry, taking away the rules and restrictions, and throwing their inexplicably vast arsenal of money at them.Īnd in 2019, Netflix had one of their biggest years yet on the TV side. At the end of the decade, Netflix is an undeniable powerhouse in television series production.