Celebrated Netflix Characters: From Rumi to Frank Underwood
By Published Apr 28, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
From Eleven to BoJack Horseman, ’s original content is filled with iconic characters. Netflix isn’t as unified a media brand as Disney or HBO, but they’ve released a ton of great movies and TV shows populated with endearing characters.
When it came to writing this list, I had a lot of internal debates about what constitutes a Netflix character. It didn’t feel right , because she’s been around for decades, but I did include Lara Jean Song-Covey, and she’s also from existing source material. So, it might get a bit dicey.
20 Rumi
When KPop Demon Hunters arrived on Netflix, it was a genuine cultural phenomenon. The movie itself has become one of the most iconic Netflix properties, and Rumi is the face of the movie.
The sword-wielding lead singer of Huntrix is essentially the Blade of KPop Demon Hunters: half-demon, half-demon hunter, all badass. Her conflicted feelings about her demonic background, and the fear of that information getting out, is the emotional driving force behind the whole story.
19 Frank Murphy
Frank Murphy is a classic angry, beer-swilling, dysfunctional father in the mold of Archie Bunker and Homer Simpson, but Bill Burr’s voice sets him apart. Burr’s unique brand of comic rage was perfect for this kind of character.
But F is for Family didn’t just coast by on the shock value of archaic 1970s parenting. It also interrogates why those methods went out of style, and shows Frank actually trying to be a better person.
18 Cho Sang-woo
Sang-woo got one of the most well-crafted and complete . At first, he was morally iffy, but that wasn’t the whole picture.
He had to cross many points of no return, and commit many heinous acts, to get to the final round in the game. But his final sacrifice turned it all around and reminded us that even this guy was once a sympathetic human being.
17 Nanette Cole
Black Mirror’s move from Channel 4 to Netflix allowed Charlie Brooker to make bigger, more ambitious episodes like “USS Callister.” This episode is both a loving homage to old-school Star Trek and a chilling look at the behavior of a tech-savvy incel.
At the heart of the story is his latest victim, Nanette Cole, played by Cristin Milioti. Throughout the episode, Milioti takes Nanette on a Sarah Connor-like transformative journey from everywoman to badass.
16 Maurice The Hormone Monster
The biggest innovation in Big Mouth was its use of metaphors and symbols to have frank discussions about puberty and sexuality. The pinnacle of that taboo-busting approach is, of course, .
He embodies all the shame and anxiety and awkwardness of puberty. He’s the face of all the destructive intrusive thoughts rattling around Nick’s psyche.
15 Special Agent Holden Ford
looking for behavioral patterns in mass murderers. Through these characters’ eyes, we see the mental toll of studying serial killers day in and day out.
All three of them deal with that mental toll in a different way, and they’re all fascinating to watch. But Jonathan Groff’s everyman Holden Ford, the criminal profiler who suffers from panic attacks, is the driving force of the entire series.
14 Eleanor "Nell" Crane
Nell is the most tragic character in The Haunting of Hill House by far. She’s got the saddest backstory, the heaviest emotional baggage, and the darkest fate.
Nell embodies Mike Flanagan’s uncanny ability to blend supernatural horror with human drama, and use the former to enhance the emotions of the latter.
13 Frank Sheeran
There’s almost no way that the story told in The Irishman is true. The murder of Jimmy Hoffa is unsolved, but there’s evidence that it wasn’t done by the hitman .
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But that doesn’t take anything away from The Irishman being a great story. It’s a more somber, mature gangster movie from Martin Scorsese, exploring the lifelong guilt of a contract killer.
12 Beth Harmon
Writer-director Scott Frank , and actually made chess riveting. Anya Taylor-Joy’s turn as chess prodigy Beth Harmon launched her to stardom, and it’s easy to see why.
Taylor-Joy captured the dichotomy that makes Beth so fascinating. She’s calm and collected in the heat of a chess match, but she’s an absolute trainwreck barely holding it together in her personal life.
11 Frank Underwood
It’s difficult to talk about House of Cards now, because Kevin Spacey’s allegations have cast a long shadow over the show. But it’s the show that put Netflix on the map, and political monster Frank Underwood is an undeniably captivating character.
There’s a reason House of Cards went off a cliff after Frank had to be written off. He was such a gripping antihero that we followed him through thick and thin, and the series was rudderless without him.
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