Netflix’s New 8-Episode Twist on a 90s Thriller Classic Is Officially the Biggest Series on Streaming

Anyone who grew up in the 90s knows that it was a great decade for thriller movies. From Basic Instinct and Mute Witness to Cape Fear and Copycat, the theaters were packed with top-notch films that had viewers on the edge of their seats. Now, nearly 35 years after one of the best of them all premiered, Netflix has put a fresh spin on the iconic classic, asking: “Can you really trust the people around you?”

Netflix’s Hit Thriller Put a New Spin on the “Perfect Nanny” Trope

Hitting Netflix on Sept. 17, Not a Stranger is an eight-episode psychological thriller out of Turkey that puts a new twist on The Hand that Rocks the Cradle – the classic 1992 thriller starring Rebecca De Mornay about an unhinged nanny who infiltrates a loving home to get revenge over the death of her husband. Elçin Sangu stars in the Netflix version as Funda, a new mother struggling to balance her marriage, career, and baby all at once. As such, she decides to hire a nanny to alleviate some of the pressure.

At first, everything seems perfect. Nazlı (Melis Sezen) is the ideal nanny who helps Funda at every turn, but it isn’t long before things take a turn for the worse. When Funda’s husband, İlker (Ozan Dolunay), reveals that he previously had an affair with Nazlı, the new mom can’t help but wonder if her “perfect” nanny entered their lives by chance, or if something more sinister is going on.

Created and written by Tuğba Doğan, Not a Stranger is a true Netflix Original in the sense that it isn’t based on any book, but rather presents itself as a genuinely fresh story. Of course, it’s hard not to compare it to The Hand That Rocks the Cradle given its familiar premise, but in the grand scheme of things, isn’t everything derived from something these days?

At this point, Not a Stranger doesn’t have enough reviews to give it a rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but if you head over to IMDb you’ll see that it does have a 5.3 out of 10, which isn’t bad, but it’s not great, either. The consensus seems to be that while the series does have a foreboding sense of dread throughout, the acting ruins an otherwise great story.

‘Not a Stranger’ Reaches No. 1 on Netflix

Despite the harsh criticism, Not a Stranger has still proven to be a success for Netflix right out of the gate. The thriller series was the second most popular show overall on the streaming giant for the week of Sept. 14–20, and last week it climbed even higher.

Per Tudum, Not a Stranger came in first on the list of Top 10 Non-English Shows for the week of Sept, 21–27, earning 9.7 million views for a total of 65.7 million hours watched. The previous #1 show, The Perfect Lie, was pushed all the way down to sixth place, making room for new hits such as The Final Problem and Shaque: Trust No One. Check out the full Top 10 list below, and be sure to catch all eight episodes of Not a Stranger streaming now on Netflix.