Netflix New Releases: What are the must-watch Netflix releases for the week of October 9-15?

Netflix has a busy week ahead, with new dramas, documentaries, reality shows and family entertainment arriving between October 9 and 15. Fans of The Diplomat can look forward to the show's fourth season, while Love Is Blind returns with another group of singles hoping to find love. There is also a new Ben Affleck film, a documentary series about Mike Tyson and the return of Haunted Hotel, as per Netflix.

From political tension to strange true stories and Halloween baking, these are the Netflix new releases to look out for this week.

Netflix New Releases

One of the week's major arrivals is The Diplomat Season 4, landing on October 15. The new season follows the fallout from the previous finale, when President Grace Penn, played by Allison Janney, and Vice President Hal Wyler, played by Rufus Sewell, made a decision involving a Russian nuclear weapon.

Their actions put the already fragile relationship between the UK and the US under pressure. Ambassador Kate Wyler, played by Keri Russell, also begins questioning the system she is part of.

“Maybe these aren’t small steps over the line,” wonders Kate. “What if this is a culture of consistent lawlessness, and I’m part of it?”

Another major release is Animals, arriving October 9. Ben Affleck plays a Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped. He and his wife, played by Kerry Washington, must find the ransom money while dealing with secrets that threaten to pull their lives apart. Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Luis Gerardo Méndez and Adriana Paz also star in the film, which Affleck co-wrote and directed.

Reality TV fans have a new season of Love Is Blind to watch from October 14. Hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey, the show follows single men and women who form connections and get engaged before meeting face to face.

Netflix adds documentaries, comedies and new shows

The October 9 lineup also includes Season 2 of Haunted Hotel, where Katherine and her family face more supernatural trouble, and Is It Cake? Halloween, which brings six cake artists together for a Halloween-themed baking contest. The romantic series Take Charge of My Heart also debuts that day, following a corporate heir with an artificial heart and a woman described as literally electric.

On October 10, 100 Days of Deception follows a pickpocket who takes on a dangerous undercover job involving the Japanese colonial government. A documentary about the 2015 China-themed Met Gala also arrives, taking viewers behind the scenes of the major fashion event.

October 12 brings the children's series Spike, the documentary Free Leonard Peltier and all five seasons of Señora Acero. The crime drama follows a woman who enters the drug business after her husband's death to care for her seriously ill son. The series Wayne, about a teenager travelling to recover his late father's stolen car, is also listed for the date.

On October 13, viewers can stream Season 6 of The series about an alien family trying to fit into American suburban life, alongside The Trap, a thriller about an author who believes she has spotted her sister's killer on television. The four-part documentary TYSON explores the life of boxer Mike Tyson.

The comedy Cocaine Bear arrives October 14, telling the story of a black bear that finds a discarded shipment of illegal drugs in a national forest. On October 15, Hollywood Arts follows Trina Vega as she returns to guide talented teenagers, while The Storm centres on old university friends whose gathering at a luxury lodge turns chaotic after a storm traps them together.

Other titles listed for Netflix include Beauty and the Beat, Dead-End Job, Doctor X: Mafia in White, Lucky, Reporting Live and Rumours.