Netflix just picked up an underrated HBO Max series everyone should be watching

The past few years have certainly proven how fickle the streaming era can be. Original series are canceled left and right, and some are even completely pulled from their streaming service and left in limbo before finging a place to land. Thankfully, an underrated HBO Max gem that's been without a streaming home for quite some time was just picked up by Netflix.

Keeping in line with Netflix's current theme of acquiring HBO Max original series for streaming, the dark comedy series Search Party will become available to stream on Netflix in the United States on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. The cult favorite dark comedy has been without a streaming home since summer 2025, when HBO Max removed all five seasons from the platform.

Unfortunately, it's become more common for streaming services, especially HBO Max, to remove original content. But Netflix has stepped in to offer new homes to shows like Love Life and Minx. Now that Search Party officially has a new streaming home lined up in February 2026, it's time for those who missed it the first time around to get into one of TV's best kept secrets.

Search Party begins streaming on Netflix in February 2026

For the uninitiated, Search Party comes from co-creators Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, and Michael Showalter and first made its premiere as a TBS original series in 2016. The dark comedy aired for two seasons on the cable channel before making the move to HBO Max for its third season and remaining on the streamer through its fifth and final season.

Arrested Development star Alia Shawkat leads the Search Party cast as Dory Sief, who kicks off the series unexpectedly pulled to investigate the disappearances of her old college friend Chantal Witherbottom. She calls on her boyfriend Drew (John Reynolds) and friends Elliott (John Early) and Portia (Meredith Hagner) to join in on the investigation that takes plenty of wild turns.

While the events of the first season continue to play a role in future seasons, Search Party shifted its central focus of each season as the characters got into new shenanigans. In season 2, the group finds themselves covering up a murder. In season 3, they face a trial and media uproar about said murder, which leads to Dory being abducted in season 4 and leading a cult in season 5.

Search Party somehow flew under the radar while also lasting much longer than anyone likely would have expected. The series gained critical acclaim for each of its seasons, with the show holding an overall 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. From the minute I watched the show when it premiered in 2016, I was obsessed, and each season just kept getting better and better.

These days, it's rather rare that we are able to stumble upon a show we have never seen before that has a full five seasons ready to be binged. I imagine that most people either haven't watched or even heard of Search Party, and now that it's coming to Netflix, it's time to change that. Beginning on Feb. 5, you have 50 episodes of a hilarious, twisty, and seriously crazy series to dive right into!