Next on Netflix France 2025: Preview of Upcoming French Original Movies and Shows

As with a dozen locations around the world, Netflix hosted its own French version of Next on Netflix on Wednesday in Paris. French media were gathered in a state-of-the-art theater near the Opéra de Paris to screen the Los Angeles presentation of the global slate, followed by 35 minutes of previews of a selection of French content coming this year on the platform. 

To open the presentation, VP of Content at Netflix France Pauline Dauvin (hired early last year after a long stint at Disney+) said she was proud of the recent global French movies on Netflix after the success of Under Paris (also known as Sous La Seine). The recent launch of Ad Vitam, the Guillaume Canet-starring thriller, which she mentioned, crossed 50 million views globally. 

Pauline Dauvin praised the “quality and diversity” of the French output, which includes movies, series, and unscripted shows, all of which were represented during the event. With 100 French-speaking Netflix productions, she mentioned that about 10 programs were currently in production for the first quarter, “from Marseilles to the West Indies.”

Before going into the lineup, she talked about three personal European highlights, including the new show from Álex Pina (La Casa de Papel), The Fallout Shelter. But most notably, she took the opportunity to mention an innovative partnership, which will see Netflix France broadcast a daily soap opera set in a performing arts school in the French Riviera, Tout Pour La Lumière (international title unknown). The episodes will be available on Netflix a day before airing on the major French channel TF1, which has achieved widespread success with its daily series. Unfortunately, no additional details or footage were provided, as the show has not started shooting on location in La Ciotat.

Pauline Dauvin led the lineup with local movie acquisitions, which play a significant part in Netflix’s commitment to French productions. The slate included acclaimed auteur fare, like The Second Act (Le Deuxième Acte) by Quentin Dupieux and the horror creature movie Infested (Vermines) by Sébastien Vaniček. 

---

First Impressions of the French 2025 Lineup

The crowd-pleaser of the presentation was first and met with palpable excitement in the audience: Astérix And Obélix (also known as Astérix et Obélix: Le Combat Des Dieux), created, co-written, and co-directed by French comedy legend Alain Chabat. The miniseries adapts a full book of the cult series Astérix, which has been running since the 1960s in France, and part of the appeal is that Chabat already directed a successful adaptation in live-action in 2002, entitled Mission Cleopatra. The trailer boasted trademark humor around pre-trailer “The trailer starts now” announcements, which hint at this footage being available publically online. Pauline Dauvin boasted the talent of French animation studio TAT, who fully produced the series; the mix of dynamic action, fan-favorite characters, and uncanny pop culture references justified why this Astérix animated show is the most anticipated. As for the global appeal of the event, I am a little more dubious, but many live-action recent Astérix movies have been made for an international audience. So, it’s safe to say that awareness may be already there when it launches globally.

• Lost Bullet 3: that will be sold as the final chapter in the trilogy starring Alban Lenoir as a thief and ex-con Lino. The teaser was (really) short on dialogue and saw Lino crashing into a police roadblock with ease, highlighting what makes the franchise special: brutal, edge-of-your-seat vehicle stunts that pack a punch. As is, the footage left me with the impression that the franchise, helmed by director and co-writer Guillaume Pierret, intends to go out with a “bang.” The scene then went into a behind-the-scenes reel that let us know the physical mayhem and ambitious stunt work going into the movie, including but not limited to helicopters crashing and cars being split in two. A callback to old-school action moviemaking, which is near and dear to the heart of Alban Lenoir, who started his career as a stuntman himself.
• Nero: an ambitious adventure show drawing elements from history, which Pauline Dauvin has described as “mixing dark humor with spectacular action.” Starring Pio Marmaï as dangerous assassin Nero in XVIth century’s France, the action is triggered by a betrayal from Nero’s master, who must retrieve his daughter Perla from rivals. It is set in a dangerous drought that leads to popular unrest. The show posits Nero’s dilemma as either protecting his family or saving the entire world ; a short behind-the-scenes reel was played, which relied on the natural charm of its lead. As for my impressions, I think the show might play well with Netflix subscribers who enjoyed similar adventure shows such as Brigands : The Quest For Gold from Italy, and I enjoy attempts to resurrect old-fashioned pulpy adventure in France on a big scale. The show echoed recent Paramount+/public broadcaster coproduction Zorro starring Jean Dujardin, even if I can’t say if the tone will be less or more serious. The show was created and directed by Allan Mauduit and Ludovic Colbeau-Justin; Mauduit wrote on multiple seasons of the Canal+ show Kaboul Kitchen. 
• Le Bus : Les Bleus En Grève (international title unknown): alongside Astérix, this is the title that had the strongest reaction from the room. This docuseries is a first foray of Netflix France into sports scandals, building on the popularity of English-speaking titles like Untold or Bad Sport. It reconstitutes the events leading to a shocking strike from the French team of soccer during the World Cup of 2010, who led into a national public scandal and political and media outrage. The trailer highlights exclusive accounts of all the players involved and coach Raymond Domenech, all of which still seem bothered and emotional about the crisis. I can say that the topic itself is guaranteed to garner interest for French subscribers, and the outrage at the time was juicy enough to make the perspective of all the players, 15 years later, all the more compelling. Pauline Dauvin said the project plays more like a true crime investigation than a sports documentary. The show is set to launch later this year.

• French Lover: this rom-com boasts a French star with global appeal, Lupin’s own Omar Sy, and a first-time French female director, Nina Rives. Alongside Sy, the team boasts known quantities behind the camera, with producer Hugo Gélin, who made his name on rom-coms like Love At Second Sight, and actors Sara Giraudeau and Alban Ivanov. The concept is basically a reverse Notting Hill, where a bonafide clumsy “girl next door” falls for the biggest French star in the world, Abel Camara (played by Omar Sy in a bit of method acting). A short scene was played that showcased Omar Sy’s natural charisma and engaging in the awkwardness of Marion’s friends (played by Giraudeau), who discovered a superstar in her living room. Unlike most of the titles unveiled, it gave away some of the tone and appeal of the movie, and I see it as entertaining even though it doesn’t seem like it will offer fresh new insights on the genre. 

Finally, the star couple of judo champion Teddy Riner and his wife Luthna Plocus were introduced on stage, as they will host the French version of Love Is Blind, launching later this year. The short interview was preceded by a snippet of them on the Love Is Blind set, quizzing each other about their romantic beliefs. Even though the cast will be revealed at a later date, the short interview provided insights into the upcoming season. Luthna Plocus said she was “surprised” at how committed the candidates were, but mostly “how strong their character and self-affirmation was”, and both have found the shoot to run high on emotions. Riner concluded that Love Is Blind, in its French iteration, is less “a game” for the participants than it is “a bet, an experience” that may be life-changing. 

So, where does that preview leave us? I liked that even though the event was short on actual footage from the programs (most of which are either shooting or in post-production), it provided us with a sense of the mix Pauline Dauvin and her team want to implement. They both want to tout French-speaking movie acquisitions for exclusive SVOD rights, which are a way to guarantee local engagement and new subscribers in the face of increased competition with huge catalogs and exclusivity deals (Canal+ and Disney+ being the most upfront). But they also want to play in arenas not necessarily occupied by their competitors, such as a premium animation miniseries based on a comicbook who was mostly reserved for cinema (Astérix and Obélix), or big adventure sagas in costumes like Nero. But even if some titles are sure to find an audience outside of France, such as French Lover, I think Netflix France has a potential hit in docuseries Le Bus, which has an “event” quality and has the potential to trigger local debate and renewed media attention.

Finally, the most significant swing of the year, I daily soap opera (Tout Pour la Lumière), seems like the most intriguing proposition for attracting an audience usually glued to linear TV and potentially developing more innovative local partnerships that capitalize on established TV strengths.