11 Years Ago, Netflix’s Most Underrated Psychological Thriller Predicted A Massive Trend

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Netflix offers many excellent thriller series, but one stands out for anticipating a major trend that would define the genre for more than a decade after its release. For over ten years, streaming services have been fiercely competing to offer the best thriller content.

Prime Video’s show Reacher is a classic action thriller that appeals to a broad audience, but it’s not quite enough to make Prime Video the clear leader in the genre. Netflix still has a strong hold with popular and critically-acclaimed psychological thrillers like His & Hers, which was a big hit when it came out.

Netflix has consistently delivered excellent thrillers, and some, like the 2015 series Bloodline, even seemed to anticipate popular trends. Bloodline, which premiered in March 2015, was one of the first thrillers to explore the ‘Eat the Rich’ theme, focusing on the increasingly troubled Rayburn family—a wealthy and dysfunctional dynasty concealing a dark past.

Bloodline Predicted A Massive Genre Trend

The Netflix series Bloodline featured a fantastic cast, including Kyle Chandler, Linda Cardellini, and Sissy Spacek, but its true strength wasn’t just the famous faces. The show excelled as a compelling mystery, brilliantly exploring the theme of seeing wealthy, flawed characters get their comeuppance – a classic ‘eat the rich’ narrative that kept viewers engaged.

The series Bloodline combined family drama with suspenseful psychological twists, exposing the hidden darkness within a very wealthy family. Inspired by Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, the show constantly challenged its flawed, rich characters, offering them opportunities for redemption and escape—but only if they were willing to give up their money and possessions.

This storytelling technique quickly became incredibly popular. Shows like HBO’s The White Lotus and Succession, films like Parasite, Knives Out, Glass Onion, The Menu, Death of a Unicorn, Triangle of Sadness, Ripley, the Ready Or Not series, season 4 of You, Saltburn, and The Fall of the House of Usher all clearly draw inspiration from this clever and emotionally satisfying thriller.

The trend continues – as the gap between rich and poor widens, audiences clearly enjoy seeing wealthy characters face consequences. These stories range from lighthearted comedies to serious dramas with difficult themes, but they all share a common thread.

Similar to Bloodline, these shows and films delve into how money can ruin people and how fiercely protecting wealth can cause them to lose their compassion. Bloodline was one of the first to tell this kind of story, with a complicated plot showing the Rayburn family committing crimes – including murder, cover-ups, and blackmail – all in an attempt to protect their own fortunes.

Bloodline Is Still One of Netflix’s Most Underrated Thrillers

Although critics generally liked Bloodline when it first came out, the show unfortunately premiered before Netflix became famous for its thrilling series. Bloodline debuted in 2015, before hits like Stranger Things, Squid Game, and Wednesday helped establish Netflix as a major entertainment powerhouse.

Despite receiving strong reviews, Bloodline didn’t become a huge hit with general audiences. It’s similar to shows like Orange Is The New Black, House of Cards, and BoJack Horseman in that it helped establish Netflix as a source of quality TV, but came before Netflix became widely popular with everyone.

Even now, Bloodline is a surprisingly overlooked thriller on Netflix. While seasons two and three aren’t as strong as the fantastic first season, the show still deserves praise for something many similar thrillers failed to do later on: it avoided a common pitfall.

Bloodline Avoids This Thriller Trend’s Worst Mistake

Before shows focusing on the downfall of the wealthy became popular, the first season of Bloodline had to make viewers invested in the lives of its privileged characters. It succeeded by portraying the Rayburn family as complicated people—flawed, but with moments of humanity that made them relatable and even sympathetic, despite their wealth.

However, many later works in the ‘Eat the Rich’ genre, such as Death of a Unicorn, Slasher season 4, and Saltburn, fell short by portraying wealthy characters as over-the-top villains. While it’s entertaining to see terrible, exaggerated rich people meet gruesome ends, these shows didn’t require viewers to feel much emotional connection or investment in the story.

As a thriller fan, I really appreciated how Bloodline, much like Netflix’s You later on, took its time developing all the main characters. Even though they did some pretty awful things, I found myself genuinely invested in them. This created a really unique viewing experience – I’d often be torn between hoping some of the Rayburns would get away with everything, and wanting others to face the music for how they built their fortune. It made for a seriously compelling watch.

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2026-04-08 16:21