Netflix’s 5-Part Crime Thriller Series Is One Of Its Best

While Netflix has a lot of iconic crime thrillers on its roster, one of the streaming service’s best entries into the genre still has not been outdone almost a decade after its debut. Netflix is one of the biggest names in crime thriller shows. From gripping true-crime documentaries to dark psychological thrillers like You, the streaming service has something for everyone.

Recently, 2026’s That Night proved that non-English language crime thrillers can often garner just as much critical and commercial success as English language offerings in the genre, but this was not a new development. Almost a decade ago, Netflix’s acclaimed five-season series Money Heist proved just how little the language barrier matters when it comes to thrilling audiences.

Money Heist Is One of Netflix’s Best Thrillers Ever

Debuting in 2017 and lasting five seasons, Money Heist was a Spanish crime thriller focused on two heists led by Álvaro Morte’s Professor. Originally planned as a one-off limited series, the show’s story took place largely in real-time. However, by playing with chronology via flashbacks, time jumps, and changing POVs, Money Heist’s twisty story constantly wrong-footed the show’s audience.

Although the Professor planned the two heists on Spain’s Royal Mint and national bank, Ursula Corbero’s narrator, Tokyo, was the one who told the twisty story of the series, at first. This meant that viewers initially weren’t privy to the bigger plan that secret underlay the show’s chaotic action, ensuring the crime thriller could constantly surprise its audience with fresh turns.

Money Heist’s first season was a Spanish production that aired on the TV channel Antena 3 from May to November 2017, and the show was intended to be a self-contained miniseries. However, when Netflix acquired the thriller thanks to its massive critical acclaim, the streaming service recut Money Heist season 1 from 15 episodes into 22 shorter outings, and soon commissioned a second season.

Money Heist Started One of Netflix’s Most Lucrative Trends

Money Heist then became Netflix’s most-watched non-English-language TV series and won the 2018 International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series in 2018. This proved that the streaming service could prioritize promoting non-English language offerings just as much as English language shows, leading to crossover hits like Squid Game, The Asset, and Lupin.

As these shows found massive audiences worldwide, it became clear that Money Heist’s acclaim was just the start of a larger movement. Without this influential hit, viewers might never have gotten Netflix’s iconic South Korean zombie series All of Us Are Dead or the recent spy thriller Unfamiliar, making Money Heist one of the streaming service’s most culturally resonant offerings.