What’s new on Netflix NZ and every other streaming service in February

What are you going to be watching in February? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Lightbox, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand.

Click here to read our listings from January.

The Biggies

Outlander (Season 5 on Lightbox weekly from February 17)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t745AinnAno

Outlander is back for a fifth mighty season, and our favourite time travellers want us to stand for love, stand for hope, stand for history. While we’re up, let’s stand for some bloody great wigs, because this new season is all about Jamie Fraser’s fringe, which took nearly 200 years to grow out. There’s more drama in store for the Frasers, including medical calamities and wars aplenty, and hopefully more hijinks from that hat-eating pig. Best of all, the enduring love between Claire and Jamie still burns like a 18th century contagious rash, even though they’re grandparents now. Is it a weird to be lusting after someone’s Poppa? Asking for a friend. / Tara Ward

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Disney+ weekly from February 21)

Real talk: The Clone Wars is the best piece of non-video game Star Wars media to ever exist, and its quick, cruel cancellation about ten years ago is more tragic than anything that happened in the prequel trilogy or the sequel trilogy. It took the blueprint of the prequel trilogy – the fall of both the Jedi and Anakin – and made it deeper, realer and altogether more engrossing than it had any right to be. The news that Disney is reviving the show for one final season focusing on the Siege of Mandalore is very good news, and allows this underrated part of the canon to conclude properly, rather than be left hanging. But then again, I’m a Star Wars fan and nobody should take anything I say seriously. / Sam Brooks

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (TVNZ OnDemand weekly from February 17)

If you dream about people spontaneously bursting into song and dance routines in random places, then Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is all your dreams come true. Jane Levy (Suburgatory) stars in this musical dramedy about a woman who, after being trapped in an MRI machine during an earthquake, discovers she can read people’s innermost feelings through musical numbers that appear only in her own head. It’ll bring a smile to your face and some snazz to your jazz hands, and really, what more can you want from a TV show?/ TW

All of Studio Ghibli!!! (Netflix from February 1)

Yes, (nearly) all of Studio Ghibli’s movies are coming to Netflix. But amid the flurry of excitement around this announcement, most people have missed that they’re actually coming in three batches of seven. The ones coming February 1 are:

Castle in the Sky (1986)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Porco Rosso (1992)
Ocean Waves (1993)
Tales from Earthsea (2006)

But by April, we’ll have every damn Studio Ghibli film (except Grave of the Fireflies, thanks to rights issues) to watch whenever we like. Yes, Spirited Away. Yes, Princess Mononoke. Yes, My Neighbour Totoro. Yes, every single Studio Ghibli film, except the bleakest animated film ever made. So if you’re sick of your kid watching Paw Patrol, and want to risk them becoming an anime weeabo for the rest of their lives, get ready to let them loose on this collection of the best animated films ever made. / SB

The Notables

Better Call Saul (Season 5 on Lightbox weekly from February 24)

As Better Call Saul starts to enter the final stretch, let’s take a moment to appreciate just what an achievement the show has been. Over five years, this slow marvel has grown into something so much more interesting than just ‘the Breaking Bad prequel’, finding surprising depth and real tragedy in the moral journey of Saul Goodman, nee Jimmy McGill. In the fifth season, with Jimmy seemingly set to ‘break bad’ for good, we’re at last set to begin getting answers to the questions – like what the hell happens to Kim? – that have been nagging fans since day one. If you’re still catching up on Better Call Saul, do it soon – creator Vince Gilligan is promising a series ending at the close of season six that’s even more explosive than Breaking Bad’s memorable finale. / Catherine McGregor

Katy Keene (TVNZ OnDemand weekly from February 7)

Thank heavens for the Archie comics, the gift that keeps on giving us teen-drama hits like Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and now Katy Keene. This new musical-dramedy is the Riverdale spinoff you’ve been waiting for, following the lives and loves of four Archie comic characters as they try to catch their big break in New York City. It’s lighter and sweeter than Riverdale or Sabrina, with the drama centering around aspiring fashion designer Katy Keene as she tries to make her dreams come true in a world determined to bring her down. / TW

Hunters (Amazon Prime Video binge from February 21)

Al Pacino and Logan Lerman – two iconic pillars of cinema together at last! I kid, but I’m pretty excited about this Jordan Peele-produced action show about a bunch of Nazi hunters living in 1977 New York. They learn that hundreds of high-ranking Nazi officials are living among the non-Nazi public and planning the rise of the Fourth Reich. And so these Nazi hunters do what they do best. Along with Pacino and Lerman, Hunters has a huge cast including Josh Radnor, Carol Kane, Dylan Baker, Saul Rubinek and Lena Olin. Expect some Nazi skulls getting crushed, which should feel disturbingly gratifying the year of our Lord 2020. / SB

I Am Not Okay With This (Netflix binge from Feburary 26)

Were you disappointed by the second season of End of the F*cking World? Don’t worry, because the people who brought you that show are back with another teen drama. I Am Not Okay With This is based on the Charles Forsman graphic novel of the same name, and focuses on Sydney, a teenage girl who describes herself as ‘not hot skinny’ and suddenly finds she’s developing some mysterious superpowers. Stressful! Expect this to be the sleeper hit of the month, filling the half-hour, teen drama gap that the likes of …World and Derry Girls have left in your schedule. / SB

The Movies

Horse Girl (Netflix from February 7)

Despite the title, Horse Girl is neither a relative of Tall Girl nor is it a sequel to early 2000s beloved teen show The Saddle Club. It follows the story of a crafty horse-loving woman named Sarah (Alison Brie) as she gradually loses the plot. Her fever dreams become real, she thinks she can hear the future and at one point her nose bleeds (which has honestly never happened to me and is the scariest part of the whole thing imo). The trailer gives away a lot of detail but not much plot, and it’s just a taste of the freaky shit that’s about to go down for our main girl./ Alice Webb-Liddall

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu (NEON from February 12)

Detective Pikachu was one of the best films I saw last year, really. What seemed from the trailer like a kitschy, uncanny valley abomination turned out to actually be a surprisingly mature, yet extremely lively film noir that just happens to feature an electric rat voiced by Ryan Reynolds. I cried, I laughed, I felt things. If you want to introduce your kids to Pokemon, there’s worse places you can start than this. / SB

To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (Netflix from February 12)

Look! It’s the sequel to the most-talked about Netflix film of 2018; the sweet romantic comedy that was gently, quietly progressive, and everybody raved about for a week and then promptly forgot. Did it need a sequel? Don’t know, but it’s got two, with the second coming this month and the third coming later this year. Now Lara Jean (still Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) are a proper couple, not a fake one, and they’ve got a lot of first things to get through. Expect heartfelt laughter, heartfelt tears, and a bizarre cameo from Holland Taylor. / SB

The Rest

Netflix

February 1

All of Studio Ghibli’s filmography!

Charlotte’s Web

Serial Killer with Piers Morgan: Season One

Love Jacked

Sergio

Ghost

I Feel Pretty

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie

Hey Arnold! The Movie

The Devil’s Own

The People vs. Larry Flynt

February 3

Team Kaylie: Part Three

February 4

Tom Papa: You’re Doing Great!

She Did That

Faith, Hope & Love

February 5

La boda de la abuela

The Pharmacist

Black Hollywood: They’ve Gotta Have Us

Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story

#cats_the_mewvie

February 6

Cagaster of an Insect Cage

February 7

My Holo Love

Locke & Key

Horse Girl

Who Killed Malcolm X?

Dragons: Rescue Riders: Season Two

February 8

Van Helsing: Season Four

The Coldest Game

February 11

CAMINO A ROMA

Captain Underpants Epic Choice-o-Rama

Q Ball

Instant Hotel: Season Two

February 12

To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love you

February 13

Love is Blind

Narcos: Mexico: Season Two

Dragon Quest Your Story

February 14

Cable Girls: Final Season

Isi & Ossi

Happy Gilmore

Evan Almighty

Step Up: Revolution

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Notting Hill

American Pie Presents: The Book of Love

The Chronicles of Riddick

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

This is 40

Tower Heist

Charlie St. Cloud

The Eagle

February 17

The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia

Skyscraper

The First Purge

February 19

The Chef Show: Volume 3

Action Point

February 20

Spectros

February 21

Gentefied

Puerta 7

Babies

Glitch Techs

Pup Academy

February 22

South Park: Season 22

Girl On The Third Floor

February 24

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Bleed for This

February 25

Every Time I Die

Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season Three

February 26

I Am Not Okay With This

February 27

Altered Carbon: Season Two

Followers

Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution

February 28

Formula 1: Drive to Survive: Season Two

Unstoppable

Queen Sono

Restaurants on the Edge

Babylon Berlin: Season Three

La trinchera infinita

All The Bright Places

NEON

February 3

Shazam!

February 4

McMillions: Season One

Backtrace

February 5

Endless Summer

February 6

Anthems: New Zealand’s Iconic Hits

The Brokenwood Mysteries: Season Six

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Long Shot

February 7

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

February 9

House of Lies: All Seasons

The Bold Type: Season Four

The Chaperone

February 10

Kidding: Season Two

Hook

Top End Wedding

February 11

Tell Me You Love Me

The Vanishing

February 12

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu

February 13

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

February 16

Strike Back

Generation Kill

The Founders

February 17

Last Week Tonight

The Baby-Sitters Club

February 19

Poms

The Tale of Despereaux

Theory of Everything

February 20

The Time Traveler’s Wife

February 21

Domino

February 22

Cats and Dogs

February 24

Hello Ladies

Madeline

February 26

Carnivale: All Seasons

February 27

The Wolf of Wall Street

Yesterday

February 28

Motherland

Lost in London

February 29

Happyish