Netflix Quietly Created the Most Bingeable True Crime Franchise on Streaming

Jason Blum‘s name is synonymous with modern horror. So when Blumhouse Television set its sights on unscripted, real-life horror with Netflix docuseries Worst Roommate Ever, the bar was high for thrills. Four years later, a five-episode anthology has evolved into a full-on Worst Ever franchise with two spin-off series, Worst Ex Ever and Worst Neighbor Ever, and Blum is consistently delivering the most bingeworthy and easy-to-watch true crime on a platform where the genre is in no short supply.

The Worst Ever franchise borrows some of the best dramatic elements from classic true crime anthologies of the late ’80s and ’90s, like first-person interviews and highly stylized reenactments, to tell the harrowing stories of people whose closest relationships have gone horribly awry. Blum taps into our deepest fears about what our roommates, exes, and neighbors are capable of, then uses hard evidence like body camera footage and 911 audio to reinforce that each worst-case scenario recounted isn’t dramatized fiction but cold, hard fact. The shocking yet highly relatable subject matter is an easy hook for new viewers, and the easily digestible short-order format makes it easy for loyal audiences to binge each season in full the very first night it’s released.

‘Worst Roommate Ever’ Evolves From Roommates to Romance in ‘Worst Ex Ever’

Image via Netflix

Born out of a viral 2018 New York Magazine article detailing the exploits of serial squatter and Craigslist sadist Jamison Bachman, Worst Roommate Ever shines a spotlight on a set of con artists, squatters, and generally bad people who don’t live among us, but with us. Premiering with a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, the show devotes two episodes to the Bachman story and how he terrorized at least a dozen roommates before his past finally caught up to him. In the seven other episodes spanning its two seasons, Worst Roommate Ever covered everything from a boarding house owner who murdered her elderly tenants for their Social Security checks to a woman who, after moving in, became so obsessed with her best friend’s child she routinely poisoned her in an attempt to gain custody of her son.

The depravity depicted in the animated reenactments and first-hand accounts from witnesses and law enforcement was so stunning, it took our collective breath away. The show became a smash hit, and a spin-off was commissioned to build on the format that the original series had brought to life so well. What could be worse than finding out your roommate isn’t the person you thought they were? Discovering your significant other is actually something straight out of your nightmares, according to Worst Ex Ever.

‘Worst Ex Ever’ Leads to Company We Don’t Choose in ‘Worst Neighbor Ever’

Image via Netflix

Partners you wouldn’t wish on your sworn enemy are at the heart of Worst Ex Ever, which presented a new look for the franchise by including two high-profile cases as subject matter for its second season. The first detailed the crimes of the so-called “Deadpool Killer,” Wade Wilson, who’s currently on death row awaiting execution for the brutal murders of two women, but has recently garnered a massive cult-like following. The second dove deep into the machinations of Geoffrey Paschal, a master manipulator and serial abuser who managed to con his way into a starring role on TLC’s reality juggernaut 90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days before details of his violent past forced his ousting from the franchise permanently.

After raising the stakes with an epic first spin-off, the second needed a differentiating hook to deliver the same level of drama. In Worst Neighbor Ever, the malevolent individuals aren’t people invited to share our homes, but those who become pivotal to our existence solely based on their proximity to us. Much like in HBO’s cult hit docuseries Neighbors, none of the individuals start out being at war – in fact, they’re often friends or at least acquaintances – but in each of the four cases through its debut season, tensions begin to form on one side of a shared fence and, whether real or imagined, those tensions inevitably build to devastating consequences. What makes the show the most powerful entry in the Worst Ever franchise yet is how the background stories are so ordinary they could be happening to you or anyone you know at any moment, and how things escalate with only the slightest provocation serves as a brilliant, terrible reminder of the seed of truth every one of our deepest fears is predicated on.

While Netflix hasn’t given a concrete rundown of when and how the Worst Ever franchise will continue to expand, if the previous seasons are anything to go by, they’ll crop up unexpectedly and be devoured immediately. Jason Blum is the undisputed king of horror for good reason – he reinvented the genre’s formula, changing the system and enabling him to churn out hits. Based on the 21 episodes of Worst Roommate Ever, Worst Ex Ever, and Worst Neighbor Ever, it’s safe to say he’s quietly been building a new formula for true crime, too.

Release Date

2026 – 2026-00-00

Network

Netflix

Directors

Cynthia Childs

•