As the year reaches the halfway point and the end of 2025 somehow inches nearer and nearer every day, there's one thing that's surely at the top of everyone's minds: When are our favorite Netflix original series returning with new seasons?! So many have already dropped excellent seasons this year and plenty more will be back in either summer or fall, but Netflix seems to have just confirmed what fans have been fearing... and that's more delays into 2026.
Netflix has revealed and solidified the vast majority of its summer programming slate as far as new and returning scripted original series. This summer finds the returns of Ginny & Georgia, Squid Game, The Sandman, Wednesday, and My Life with the Walter Boys as well as the premieres of new titles like Too Much, Untamed, Leanne, and The Waterfront. The streamer will also surely make additional announcements with more release dates for the summer months.
On top of getting its summer slate into shape, Netflix has also now teased which shows will definitely be coming this fall, and that list includes The Beast in Me, Black Rabbit, Death by Lightning, The Diplomat season 3, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and more. Even more shows have been confirmed for this year, such as Stranger Things, Nobody Wants This, Boots, A Man on the Inside, The Abandons, Emily in Paris, Wayward, and more. But that "more" excludes some titles.
While confirming its summer, fall, and rest of 2025 programming slate, Netflix noticeably excluded at least a dozen fan-favorite returning series:
- 3 Body Problem season 2
- Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2
- Beef season 2
- Black Doves season 2
- Bridgerton season 4
- The Gentlemen season 2
- The Lincoln Lawyer season 4
- One Piece season 2
- Outer Banks season 5
- Supacell season 2
- Virgin River season 7
- The Watcher season 2
A number of these series, like Bridgerton season 4 and Outer Banks season 5, have been all but confirmed to be released on Netflix in 2026. Bridgerton has been on pace to release a season every two years as it as, and Outer Banks season 5 starts filming soon, leaving no room for a release by the end of the year. Some shows are still filming, others haven't started filming, and a few just haven't received updates lately that have suggested they could be released ahead of 2026.
However, it's a bummer that two particular shows weren't included in Netflix's slate for the rest of the year, and those shows are The Lincoln Lawyer and Virgin River. Both shows have been known for quick turnarounds, squeezing in releases by the end of 2024 in spite of delays from the dual labor strikes that could have postponed them to 2025. We were hoping that the same thing would be able to happen for their most recent seasons this year, but they're apparently still aiming for 2026.
Still, of the dozen shows featured on the above list of Netflix shows, The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 and Virgin River season 7 are the best bets to possibly manage a release before the end of 2025. But even if they don't, it's still going to be a jam-packed rest of the year on Netflix. The final season of Stranger Things, perhaps the most highly anticipated Netflix original series release of all time, will likely be released in parts sometime this fall and pull a lot of focus.
We might have to wait a little bit longer for some of our favorite shows to return to Netflix, but at least we know 2026 will have a lot to look forward to!