Netflix has a new reason to stay up past midnight. Below, a six-episode limited thriller set on the rugged coast of Newfoundland, arrives globally today, October 8, 2026, with every episode available at once. In the U.S. the release lands at 12 a.m. PT / 3 a.m. ET, which means viewers in Germany, France and the rest of Central Europe can start the binge at 9 a.m. CEST.
A fisherman, a scientist and something in the deep
Josh Hartnett plays Calvin Penney, a Newfoundland fisherman whose quiet community is shaken when an unidentified sea creature begins terrorizing the waters around it. To protect his family, Calvin teams up with marine researcher Fonda Howander, played by Mackenzie Davis, while Charlie Heaton appears as Calvin’s son Wade. The deeper they dig, the more it becomes clear that the water is hiding more than an animal: the town has secrets of its own.
The series is created by Jesse McKeown and carries a TV-MA rating on Netflix’s U.S. service. Netflix has positioned it as a mix of thriller, family drama and local mythology rather than a straightforward monster show, and that framing matters. The appeal here is not just a creature in the dark, but what a small, close-knit place does when fear and old stories start rising to the surface together.
Built for one sitting
With six episodes running roughly 45 minutes each, Below is the kind of series you can finish in a single evening, or a single lazy Saturday. That compact format has become one of Netflix’s favorite tools: a recognizable lead, a strong hook and a runtime that rewards an all-at-once binge instead of a months-long commitment.
The timing is smart, too. Below follows East of Eden as the next big limited series in Netflix’s October lineup, and it lands just as audiences start hunting for something eerie ahead of Halloween. A coastal mystery with a creature at its center fits that mood without needing to be a full-blown horror title.
Why it’s worth a look
Hartnett has spent recent years leaning into grounded, slightly off-center thrillers, and a role as a working fisherman pulled into a mystery plays to that strength. Davis, long a favorite with genre fans, brings scientific curiosity into a story that could easily have relied on panic alone. And Heaton, familiar to millions of streamers, adds the generational tension that makes a family-under-pressure story land.
Add the Newfoundland setting, with its weather, isolation and seafaring traditions, and Below has the ingredients for a word-of-mouth hit. Whether it becomes this week’s most-watched series will depend on how well it balances the creature with the human drama, but the setup alone makes it one of the most intriguing Netflix releases of the month.
Below is streaming now on Netflix worldwide. All six episodes are available.