27 foreign-language shows you should be watching on Netflix

Without giving away too much, "Squid Game" is about a group of individuals who all have one thing in common: They're each in massive amounts of debt. When a mysterious organization offers them the chance to play playground games to win money, they jump at the chance — without realizing there may be deadly consequences.

According to the streamer, "Squid Game" is its most popular show ever, with 142 million households tuning in in the first four weeks. It also has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

It's also spawned a reality show inspired by the game, and season two is set for 2024.

"Money Heist" finished an impressive run in December 2021, after five parts (or seasons) and 41 episodes, and a win for best international series at the International Emmys in 2018.

The series, at first, follows a crew of bank robbers hitting the Royal Mint of Spain, led by a mysterious figure known as the Professor. Episodes are narrated by Tokyo, one of the robbers and an unreliable narrator to boot. It has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

For those looking for more teen dramas in their life (who isn't?) but with more LGBTQ+ representation than some of the classics, look no further than "Young Royals," which feels like fan-fiction come to life, in the best way.

Sweden's young prince, Wilhelm, is sent to the boarding school Hillerska after getting in a fight at a club. His classmates are also — wait for it — young royals! The six-part first season revolves around Wilhelm and his burgeoning feelings for classmate Simon.

It was renewed for two more seasons, with a final two-part drop of season three set for March 2024.

While it doesn't have a critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, it does have a 97% audience score.

Sy's character Assane Diop is a thief who is inspired by the crimes of Arsène Lupin, a fictional "gentleman thief" and master of disguise. Assane's father died in prison after being arrested for a crime he didn't commit, and now Assane is determined to get revenge on those who framed his father.

The first two parts, consisting of five episodes, dropped in January and June 2021 respectively. As it was the most-watched series before "Squid Game" with 70 million households watching, according to Variety, it was renewed for a third part, which dropped in October 2023.

The series has a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The BBC ranked "Dark" No. 58 on its list of the 100 greatest shows of the 21st century.

At first, "Dark" focuses on the residents of the fictional town of Winden — children are going missing and no one has any answers. Eventually, four families are brought to the forefront, and they discover a conspiracy dating back hundreds of years in the past ... and decades into the future.

While "Dark" might not have wrapped up every question with a bow when the third and final season was released in June 2020, it still has an impressive 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

A group of students at a prestigious high school in Spain are each interrogated by the police after one of their friends is murdered. The show periodically switches between flashbacks and police interviews in the present.

"Elite" ostensibly could have gone on forever as some characters graduate and others begin attending Las Encinas — and with a critics score of 93%, it might have.

Instead, it was announced that the upcoming eighth season will be the last year we spend at Las Encinas.

"The Naked Director" is a semi-biographical comedy series revolving around Toru Muranishi, a famed adult film director, and his attempts to change the industry in Japan.

It consists of two seasons, with season two dropping in June 2021. The show doesn't have a critics score, but there is a 81% audience score.

"Unorthodox," which was nominated for eight Emmys in 2020, including outstanding limited series and outstanding lead actress in a limited series, was released in March 2020.

It's based on the book "Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots."

It follows Esty, a young woman living in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, who decides to run away to Berlin and escape from her arranged marriage. In total, it has four parts. The miniseries has a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Delhi Crime's" seven-episode first season was released in March 2019. It is based on a real 2012 gang rape case that took place in the Delhi neighborhood of Munirka.

The main character, Vartika Chaturvedi, is the deputy commissioner of police who is tasked with finding the culprits.

Season two, following a different case, was released in August 2022. According to the show's star, a third season is confirmed but hasn't begun filming yet, India Today reported.

Any true crime buff, or fans of series like "When They See Us" and "Unbelievable," should check out the series. It has an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The series is a modern-day retelling of Norse mythology, taking place in the fictional Norwegian town of Edda.

A teenager, Magne, discovers that he's a reincarnated version of Thor, the god of thunder, while his brother Laurit is none other than Loki. It's their job to defend their town from the evil Jutul family, who are polluting the planet.

Season two was released in May 2021, and the third and final season dropped in August 2023.

The series has 70% on Rotten Tomatoes.

"How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)" is about nerdy teenager Moritz Zimmermann and his friend Lenny learning to sell ecstasy online in order to get Moritz's ex-girlfriend Lisa back — but, predictably, things get out of hand fast.

It's remarkably based on a true story from 2015. Moritz's character is based on Maximilian Schmidt. You can learn more about his real story by conveniently watching the Netflix documentary "Shiny_Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord."

The series, which had its third season debut in July 2021, doesn't have a critics score, but it does have a high 89% audience score.

"The Chestnut Man" was released on Netflix in September 2021.

For fans of murder mysteries like "The Killing" or "Sharp Objects," "The Chestnut Man" centers on two Danish detectives who are investigating a murder — their only clue is a figurine made of chestnuts at the crime scene.

The series, which consists of six episodes, has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Into the Night" is based on a Polish novel called "The Old Axolotl," and follows a group of passengers aboard a hijacked plane, who then become survivors of a planet-wide natural disaster in which exposure to sunlight is an instant death sentence. The group works together to try to outrun the sun as they fly around the world.

The second season was released in September 2021. It currently has a 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

A Turkish spin-off ("Yakamoz S-245" or "Into the Deep") that takes place on a submarine, was released on Netflix in April 2022.

"Biohackers" has two seasons with six episodes apiece, and the first season has earned the rare 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. The most recent season was released in July 2021.

The show follows medical student Mia Akerlund, her friend Jasper, a biology student, and his roommate Niklas. While investigating her brother's death, Mia gets involved in a conspiracy concerning "biohacking," or illegal genetic experimentation.

"Girl from Nowhere" originally aired in 2018 on the Thai channel CMM 25. The streaming giant brought it back in May 2021 to huge success in Asia.

The titular girl from nowhere is Nanno, a mysterious teenager who travels around Thailand enrolling at various high schools and exposing the students', teachers', and anyone else's hypocrisy and lies. Each episode follows Nanno at a new school, wreaking havoc.

It currently has a 75% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Summertime" is essentially just your classic love story between two beautiful people living on the Adriatic coast. Summer, who begins working at a hotel to provide for her family, and Ale, a motorcycle racer from Rome, learn to work through their differences and be happy.

The series is based on Italian author Federico Moccia's series of novels called "Three Meters Above the Sky."

All three seasons are available to stream, as the third and final season was released in May 2022.

"Alice in Borderland," which was released in December 2020, is based on the manga of the same name. A second season was announced just two weeks after it premiered, and it was released in December 2022. It was renewed for season three in September 2023.

The premise is similar to "Squid Game," in that it follows a group of people competing against each other in service of a shadowy organization. But in this show, the group is transported to an abandoned Tokyo, and each time they win a game, they get their "visa" extended. If they lose ... you can probably guess what happens.

The series has 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Cable Girls" takes place in '20s Madrid and tells the story of four women who begin working at a telecommunications company to secure some financial independence for themselves — but as political tensions grow within Spain, things get more complicated.

All five seasons are available to stream on Netflix, and it currently has a 68% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In "Invisible City," a detective for the environmental police who is dealing with the death of his wife discovers that all of the folklore he grew up learning about is true and that he himself is a "half-entity," which is why he can suddenly perceive this new world.

With a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and an early season two renewal in March 2021, it should've been a solid bet for those who grew up with "Percy Jackson" — instead, it was canceled after season two's release in March 2023.

"Marianne" stars Victoire Du Bois as a young novelist named Emma who comes to realize that the horrifying creatures from her books are real. She is lured back to her hometown to eradicate the evil once and for all.

The series was canceled after one season in 2020, but its eight episodes are more than enough to keep anyone awake at night.

It has an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

"Who Killed Sara?" is about a man, Alex, who spends 18 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing his sister Sara. He then decides to get revenge on the Lazcano family, who were involved in setting him up — though, of course, things are much more complicated than Alex anticipates.

At the time of its release in March 2021, it became Netflix's most-watched foreign-language show, with 55 million households tuning in, according to Deadline.

It was quickly renewed for season two which premiered in May 2021, and a third and final season followed in May 2022.

It also has 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.

''Home for Christmas" is the story of Johanne, a nurse, who lies to her family and says she has a boyfriend she'll be bringing home for Christmas dinner.

Over the course of the first season, you see Johanne try all sorts of ways to meet a man, even though, of course, love might be right in front of her the whole time.

Season two was released in December 2020 and saw Johanne find (and then lose and then find) love.

The show has a 91% audience score, although a third season seems unlikely. However, the show has been remade in Italy ("I Hate Christmas") and South Africa ("Yoh! Christmas"), so you can get your fix that way.

This teen series is a must for anyone who is missing "Gossip Girl." The show's two seasons, which premiered in August 2021 and February 2024, focus on Mariam, a teenager who is bullied at her school.

Instead of getting mad, she decides to get even with the help of her friends — but she soon finds out that her consequences have actions more severe than she could have predicted.

The show has a 72% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

After Kleo, an East German spy, is falsely imprisoned by her agency for being a traitor, she is released once the Berlin Wall falls with a simple task in mind: to get revenge on those who betrayed her.

The Guardian called this show a "German 'Killing Eve,'" so anyone who is still mourning the loss of that spy show can check out this one before season two drops — it was renewed in September 2022, according to Deadline. Not surprising, as it has a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The first season of "1670" was released in December 2023, so it's still too soon to know the future of this satire — but even if we get just the one hilarious season, it's worth the binge.

"1670," which has a 95% audience score, is about Jan Paweł Adamczewski, a nobleman who is single-minded in his pursuit to become the most famous person in Poland, no matter what he has to do. On his journey, he butts heads with almost everyone in his village, including his enemy, Andrzej.

It's a classic romantic-comedy premise: Elsa can't get over her ex-boyfriend, so her best friend, Charlotte, hires an escort, Jules, to get her out of her rut. But wouldn't you know? Elsa and Jules genuinely hit it off.

There are three lovely seasons of "The Hook Up Plan." The last season premiered in January 2022.

"All of Us Are Dead" begins with a science teacher accidentally creating a zombie virus. It then follows a group of students as they band together to try to survive the end of the world — and also deal with typical high school drama.

The series has an 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The first season premiered in January 2022, so fans have been waiting a while to see what's happening with the students of Hyosan High. Season two is expected in 2024.