Foreign language Netflix Originals to look forward to in 2018
When Sacred Games and Mr. Sunshine landed on Netflix the same weekend in 2018, the platform’s push into non-English originals was already underway. The Mumbai-set crime saga and the South Korean period drama showed that stories told in Hindi and Korean could travel far beyond their home markets. Since then the service has scaled those efforts dramatically, turning foreign-language productions into a core part of its global slate. Non-English titles now account for more than half of its scripted originals each year, and audiences keep showing up for them. The ten projects previewed in 2018 have long since moved from announcement to completed runs, cancellations, or spin-off universes, giving a clear picture of how the strategy played out.
La Casa de las Flores
La Casa de las Flores reached viewers in August 2018 as a dark comedy about a wealthy Mexico City family whose flower shop doubles as cover for long-buried secrets. The first season set up scandals and shifting alliances that carried through two more installments. Season 2 arrived in October 2019, and the third and final season dropped in April 2020, closing the story on its own terms after the family’s carefully maintained image collapsed under pressure.
Dark: Season 2
The German time-travel mystery picked up right where its first season left off, with the interconnected fates of two small-town families growing even more tangled. Season 2 premiered in 2019 and delivered the same meticulous plotting that made the show an early benchmark for non-English hits. A third and final season arrived in June 2020, wrapping the saga with the same precision that had drawn viewers in from the start.
Ghoul
Ghoul premiered on August 24, 2018, as a three-episode Indian miniseries rooted in Arabic folklore. The story followed interrogator Nida at a secret detention facility where supernatural forces soon tested her resolve. Radhika Apte anchored the cast, and the compact format let the tension build without stretching into additional seasons. It remains a one-and-done entry that proved horror could cross cultural lines quickly on the platform.
Girl
Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s coming-of-age drama centered on a teenager navigating gender transition while training as a ballerina. The film premiered at Cannes in 2018 and reached Netflix audiences later that year. Dhont has continued his focus on intimate, closely observed stories since then, following Girl with Close in 2022 and the more recent Coward, which premiered at Cannes in 2026.
Störst av allt (Quicksand)
The Swedish adaptation of Malin Persson Giolito’s novel premiered in 2019 and followed a privileged student charged in connection with a school shooting. The series examined class, family fractures, and media scrutiny through a tightly wound legal and emotional lens. No further seasons were ordered, leaving the single season as a self-contained portrait of a wealthy suburb under pressure.
Ingobernable: Season 2
The Mexican political thriller returned for a second season in 2018, picking up after the First Lady’s high-stakes bid to reshape the country. The show wrapped its run without renewal, ending after two seasons and leaving its central power struggle unresolved in the official record. The cancellation closed the chapter on a series that had drawn steady attention for its blend of palace intrigue and street-level activism.
Génération Q
Announced as an eight-episode French rom-com set in contemporary Paris, Génération Q followed a circle of friends who enlist a male escort to help their perpetually single companion regain confidence. The project never reached release, and no further updates have surfaced since the initial announcement. It stands as one of the rarer cases where an announced foreign-language original simply stayed on the shelf.
Money Heist: Season two
The Spanish heist series continued its run after the first season’s cliffhanger, expanding the Professor’s elaborate plan and the crew’s shifting loyalties. Seasons 3 through 5 completed the core story, and the show’s red-jumpsuit imagery became one of the platform’s most recognizable exports. While the original series concluded, Netflix confirmed in May 2026 that the broader Money Heist universe would continue through spin-offs, including a second season of the Berlin series.
Happy as Lazzaro
Alice Rohrwacher’s Italian film followed a kind-hearted peasant and a young nobleman whose bond leads to an unexpected transformation. After a Cannes premiere, the movie reached Netflix in November 2018 and stood out for its blend of neorealist detail and quiet magical realism. It remains a completed feature rather than the start of an ongoing series.
Elisa & Marcela
Isabel Coixet’s Spanish-language drama told the true story of the first same-sex marriage registered in Spain, with the couple navigating legal and social barriers in early twentieth-century Galicia. The film arrived on Netflix in 2019 as a finished biographical piece rather than an ongoing project. Its cast, including Natalia de Molina and Greta Fernández, brought quiet conviction to a chapter of history that had stayed largely untold on screen.
Squid Game and Global Phenomenon Impact
The 2021 debut of Squid Game underscored how far non-English originals could travel. The Korean-language survival thriller quickly became one of the platform’s most-watched series worldwide, racking up billions of viewing hours across multiple seasons. Its success accelerated commissions for Korean productions and showed that subtitles were no barrier when the storytelling and performances landed with precision.
Rise of Korean-Language Originals
Korean titles have grown from a modest slice of the non-English slate to a major driver of international viewing. Data from Ampere Analysis shows the Korean share of non-English TV releases rising from 12 percent in 2024 to 20 percent in 2025. Both scripted series and unscripted formats have contributed, and the trend continues to shape what audiences encounter when they browse the foreign-language rows.
Money Heist Universe Expansions
After the main Money Heist run ended, Netflix moved to keep the world alive through targeted spin-offs. The May 2026 announcement confirmed new projects would expand the franchise, and Berlin Season 2 arrived that same year. The approach treats the original series as a foundation rather than a closed book, allowing fresh casts and settings to operate inside the established visual language of the heist.
Lukas Dhont's Evolving Career
Since directing Girl, Lukas Dhont has maintained a steady output of intimate, festival-focused features. Close followed in 2022, and Coward premiered at Cannes in 2026. Each project continues his interest in characters navigating identity and physical limits, and the progression from the 2018 debut to later work shows how one early Netflix release helped launch a sustained international career.
