Astronaut in white suit sits in a space station module, leaning against the wall and using a tablet among control panels and cables.

Netflix Turns Unlikely Obsessions Into Epic Stories

The campaign, by Mother, celebrates the joy of unexpected discoveries

By Creative Salon

10 November 2026

Netflix is the destination for discovering your next great story: the character you never knew you needed to meet, or the world you never knew you needed to visit.

That’s why our new brand campaign brings that surprise to life, with an axolotl, an astronaut and a vampire.

Discovery is exactly what fans come to Netflix for, and we know that younger viewers are 3x more likely to pick Netflix when looking for something new to watch. Whether it’s a prestige drama like The Diplomat, an unscripted obsession like Love is Blind, a can’t-believe-they-did-that Instadoc or a cultural phenomenon like KPop Demon Hunters, your next favorite is on Netflix.

We started 2026 by asking the world “What Next?” - the same question you ask every time you sit down to watch something. Now we’re getting specific.

What happens in that split second when a show you may not have expected becomes the thing you can’t stop talking about? That jolt that’s equal parts surprise, obsession, and “wait, why am I like this now?”

That’s the feeling behind Netflix’s new campaign, Find the Thing You Never Knew You Needed, launching today initially in the US, Canada, Brazil and Spain, created by Mother in partnership with Netflix’s Brand Creative Studio, and directed by Vania & Muggia through Iconoclast. Together with ETC, they built three distinct worlds with an obsessive attention to detail.

The campaign’s three films turn familiar fan moments into epic stories, all rooted in one truth every fan knows: once you find the thing you never knew you needed, you can’t imagine life without it. Each celebrates its characters and world in every aspect of production. All three stories were shot on 35mm film, each with a different aspect ratio.

“Axolotl” embraced widescreen

“Dawn” is inspired by old horror and shot in 4:3

“Hypersleep” is shot in anamorphic format to bring a sense of vast space to life

Each set is built from the ground up, across multiple weeks. The music brings fans deep into our characters' world, driving emotion while also creating a moment of surprise and contrast when each show is revealed.

Hypersleep: A discovery you can’t wait to share.

A lonely astronaut can’t hold it in any longer. He wakes a crewmate from hypersleep early, but not for an emergency, and rather to talk about KPop Demon Hunters. Shot in anamorphic to bring the vastness of space to life, with an eerie score that drops you into the feeling of loneliness.

Axolotl: A discovery that connects you with new people.

A new amphibian in the tank becomes the unlikely hero to his fellow fish by keeping their Bridgerton marathon alive, using the one asset no one else has: feet. Shot in widescreen and set to a gentle song about gathering the family and heading home, played over an upbeat disco beat.

Dawn: A discovery so good that nothing else matters.

Staying up too late to finish one more episode is a universal experience. It’s a bigger problem when you’re a vampire, the sun is coming up, and you still haven’t finished the new season of Love is Blind. Inspired by old horror and shot in 4:3, with a driving heartbeat of a soundtrack that captures the urgency of risking it all to finish the show you love.

“People come to Netflix trusting they’ll discover something new to love, often something they didn’t see coming. We wanted to celebrate that moment when you get hooked. So we started with the things real fans do, like staying up for one more episode or blowing up the group chat about a new obsession, and turned them into a campaign as entertaining as the shows and films that inspire them. Because once you find the thing you never knew you needed, it’s hard to imagine life without it.” Aarti Thiagarajan, Senior Director, Brand Creative Studio, Netflix

“A brand platform for Netflix had to represent the quality and craft that goes into every piece of entertainment featured on the service. ‘Find The Thing You Never Knew You Needed’ gave us permission to make three films that feel completely different - different worlds, different genres, different kinds of obsession - but all deliver that same feeling of finding something you weren't looking for and suddenly not being able to let it go. Quintessentially Netflix, crafted in a quintessentially Netflix fashion.” Nick Hallbery, Executive Creative Director, Mother

Fandom is a journey that often brings us to new and unexpected places. What will you discover next?