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2021 has been an interesting year for fans of international shows as a majority of them made their way to OTT. Indian audiences now have more choices than ever as they can access titles from different parts of the world. The year marked the beginning of a rise in interest for everything Korean. Notably, Squid Game went viral for its brutal treatment of the economically underprivileged class.
The year ended on a high note with a significantly enthralling season 3 finale of Succession. Between the start of the year and now, quite a few international titles garnered attention for great content and entertainment, and here is the top 15.
Created by Brad Ingelsby for HBO, Mare of Easttown stars Kate Winslet in the lead role. The show is a limited series, and the crime thriller consists of seven episodes. Mare Sheehan is a detective in a suburb in Philadelphia. She is currently investigating the case of a missing girl when she stumbles onto a murder case of a teenage mother.
How Mare solves this case while doing her best to keep the struggles of her personal life in control is the crux of this show.
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
For All Mankind season 2, is a follow-up to one of the best shows on Apple TV+. The second season picks up a decade after where audiences left the character at the end of season 1. The space drama portrays an alternate chain of events in the context of space history. For instance, not Neil Armstrong, but a Russian cosmonaut becomes the first person to step on the Moon.
The second season portrays how America reacts to the news of the discovery of water on the Moon. The military base that is built on the moon is just the beginning of America's great plan, and the rest of the series follows military officials in the US and officials in the USSR fight over a piece of land on the Moon.
The show stars Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour, Wrenn Schmidt, Sonya Walger, Krys Marshall, among others.
Streaming on: Apple TV+
Young Royals depicts the love story between Prince Wilhelm and Simon, his classmate at the boarding school. Initially, Wilhelm is unhappy about being sent away by his mother and his brother, the Crown Prince. After meeting Simon though, Wilhelm begins to see the boarding school in a different light. However, the two young men face obstacles in the form of social prejudice, and also a sudden death in Wilhelm's family turns his life upside down. How the young love fares, is revealed in due course of the show. The Swedish show stars Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg in lead roles.
Streaming on: Netflix
The French show is a mystery thriller starring Omar Sy in the lead role. The show was released in two parts. The first one premiered on January 8 and the second on June 11. It follows the life of a professional thief Assane Diop who is an immigrant from Senegal. Assane's father was framed by his employer for stealing a very expensive diamond necklace and is imprisoned.
25 years later, Assane plots revenge and his subterfuge along with interesting twists in the show make it one of the best international finds of 2021.
Streaming on: Netflix
This Norweigan fantasy, starring David Stakston, Jonas Strand Gravli, and Herman Tømmeraas among others, is a reimagination of the Norse mythology based on the god of thunder, Thor. The show is set in the present day in a small town named Hordaland, where a young boy, Magne, realizes that he is the reincarnation of Thor and decides to take action against those who destroy the planet. In the second season that premiered on Netflix, the show sees Magne joined by other God reincarnations to help him.
Streaming on: Netflix
Created by the late John Singleton, Snowfall features Damson Idris as Franklin Saint, a student-turned-drug lord in the '80s of Los Angeles, considered one of the worst crack epidemics to ever strike the neighborhoods, leading to addiction among many young people. Saint turns his drug distribution business into an empire in his town with no help. This man's intriguing journey will keep the audience hooked to the show.
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
The White Lotus is another HBO show written and directed by Mike White stars Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy, Natasha Rothwell, and Steve Zahn.
The show details one week in the life of travelers who stay at a White Lotus property. With each new episode, an interesting new conflict arises within the guests and the hospital staff. It is a dark comedy with death, chaos, and travel mayhem.
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
The final season of the most popular Spanish show on Netflix left fans with mixed reactions but the show itself is worth all the hype. Especially Professor and Berlin's relationship, the complexities that come with running a bank robbery group effectively keeps audiences hooked to the show until the very end.
It stars Álvaro Morte, Úrsula Corberó, Pedro Alonso, Itziar Ituño, Paco Tous among many others. The show created by Álex Pina premiered on 2017.
Streaming on: Netflix
The Serpent is a British crime drama that aired on BBC and is based on the life of the crimes of serial killer Charles Sobhraj. He murdered young tourists between 1975 to 1976. The show consists of 8 episodes and stars Tahar Rahim as Charles Sobhraj. The investigation of Dutch tourists' death by a Dutch investigator leads the police to Charles who used the passports that he stole from his victims to travel the world.
The slow-burn crime drama is definitely worth it.
Streaming on: Netflix
Wanda Vision is the first Marvel web series to premiere on Disney+ and it portrays the life of Wanda after the shocking death of Vision in Avengers: Infinity War. The 10-episode show touches upon how her grief took upon a shape that even she was unable to recognize. Wanda and Vision's love story deserved a show such as this and fans of these characters get a chance to see Wanda get a chance to truly say goodbye to the love of her life.
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, the question of if Loki was still alive remained. Fans theorised that Loki's disappearance with the Tesseract would put him on a separate timeline and at this time, Loki's standalone web series was announced.
Tom Hiddleston reprised his role as the titular character and in the show, he is captured by the Time Variance Authority, a body that governs the changes made to timelines due to interference by different entities. He is tied down to this body, and in exchange for his freedom, he is forced to work with Mobius M Mobius portrayed by Owen Wilson. After Wanda Vision, Marvel nailed it with Loki.
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
The third season of You was as creepy as its previous installments featuring Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley. Only in season 3, both the male and female lead go through a tumultuous time in their relationship when Joe begins to obsess over his neighbor Natalie. How Love ensures that Joe doesn't botch her plans of having just the perfect family is the crux of the family.
Streaming on: Netflix
The third season of Succession continues to make fans happy with its brilliant writing and tight screenplay. The show is about which of the Roy children get to take control of their family-owned businesses after their father Logan Roy. There is politics, manipulation, abuse -- emotional, chemical, and physical -- portrayed in nothing but shades of grey. There are no good characters, and yet, the actors who portray these characters hook you in with their intense performances.
The third season starring Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen, Alan Ruck, Sarah Snook, Jeremy Strong, and J. Smith-Cameron among others consists of nine episodes.
Streaming on: Disney+ Hotstar
Fans were led to believe that Sex Education Season 3 was the last iteration of the popular Netflix show for young adults. The hype and expectations surrounding the film are met by the latest season where Otis and Maeve's relationship takes a back seat yet again. The chemistry continues to sizzle between the two, but Otis seems to have moved on to dating others.
All the prejudice that Otis and Maeve managed to break down among the teenagers of Moordale Secondary School is at risk. Will the two of them let the new Principal at school take over the reins and let their friends return to their earlier repressed state? That is a question season 3 answers.
Streaming on: Netflix
Ted Lasso is a sports comedy-drama starring Jason Sudeikis who also developed the show. The show is about a college football coach who is hired to coach a professional English team. He is expected to fail, as he has no prior experience in coaching a pro-soccer team. The owner of the team, Rebecca, wants to exact revenge on the former owner of the club and so she hires Lasso to ensure that the club fails.
However, Lasso surprises everyone including Rebecca when he makes a positive addition to the team.
Streaming on: Apple TV+