Netflix's first major release of 2026 has already dethroned Stranger Things 5. The Duffer Brothers' sci-fi epic has been one of the most hotly anticipated releases in Netflix history. Stranger Things' fifth and final season has now come and gone, split into three parts over the last month and a half. This all culminated in an epic two-hour finale, which debuted on the service on New Year's Eve.
Stranger Things 5 has been a massive success for the streamer so far, debuting in the top spot of its global top 10 with all three of its batch releases; however, mere days after the finale, Netflix already has a new king, and it comes in the form of a new mystery series from a renowned creator.
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things has been leapfrogged by Harlan Coben's Run Away on the Netflix Top 10, with the new 2026 mystery series now sitting in the streamer's top spot.
The full U.S. Netflix top 10 shows are as follows:
- Run Away
- Stranger Things 5
- Found
- Emily in Paris
- Land of Sin
- Mark Rober’s Crunchlabs
- Dave Chappelle’s The Unstoppable
- Members Only Palm Beach
- The Beast In Me
- Ricky Gervais Mortality
Run Away was released on the streamer on January 1, 2026, one day after the Stranger Things finale. While Stranger Things 5 initially managed to hold on to the number one spot, Run Away has snuck in under the beloved streaming series' nose (in the U.S., at least). As of this writing, Stranger Things 5 still holds the top spot globally, but Run Away has surpassed it in key territories, including the U.S., Australia, and Canada.
Run Away is a new British miniseries based on author Harlan Coben's novel of the same name. Originally released as a book in 2019, Run Away tells the tale of a father searching for his runaway daughter, who, in his search, uncovers a bit more than he bargained for (read more about the Run Away plot here).
The new series comes from Fool Me Once creator Danny Brocklehurst and stars James Nesbitt in the central role, along with A-list stars Minnie Driver and Alfred Enoch.
What Does Stranger Things 5's Early Fall Mean?
It has been only a matter of days since the Stranger Things 5 finale premiered on Netflix, yet it has already been displaced from the platform's top spot. This may come as a surprise to longtime fans of the Duffer Brothers' streaming series.
For years, Stranger Things has been Netflix's golden goose, being one of the streamer's few consistent original hits season after season. So, one would think that its finale would sit atop the Netflix charts for days if not weeks to come. That, however, has not been the case.
After something like 96 hours on the platform, Stranger Things is already playing second fiddle to Run Away in the U.S., Canada, and other significant territories. There are a few reasons why this could happen, and many of them have nothing to do with the quality of Stranger Things 5 itself (something that has been a hot topic throughout this fifth season).
The most likley reason for this quick dethroning has to do with the inventory of new Stranger Things content versus that of something like Run Away. Yes, the entire fifth season of the beloved sci-fi franchise is being watched by audiences, but the only actual 'new' content from the series that dropped in the last couple of days was its finale. That is a single new episode as opposed to Run Away's eight.
For comparison, Stranger Things offers only two hours of new content for subscribers, whereas Runaway provides eight. This means fans who were caught up on both series heading into this latest release can spend more time with Runaway than they can with Stranger Things.
