For years now, Harlan Coben and his novels have been behind major streaming hits. From the Netflix original series Fool Me Once, which is one of the platform’s most-watched titles of all-time, to Prime Video’s latest series Lazarus, Coben’s stories are all about twists, turns, and expecting the unexpected. So while it hasn’t been long since Coben’s stories last made it to the small screen (Lazarus was released on October 22, 2025), Netflix’s latest thriller addition, Playing Gracie Darling, might give viewers the same spine-chilling drama. First released on August 14, 2025, the series recently became available on Netflix in select territories, including the US, on December 1, 2025. And, now a few days later, the series is at the #8 spot globally.

What Is ‘Playing Gracie Darling’ About?

Playing Gracie Darling, created by Miranda Nation, follows the supernatural occurrences in two timeframes: 1997 and present day. In Episode 1, the series starts off with the incident that ignited it all back in ’97. It all started when four teenage friends — Gracie Darling (Kristina Bogic), Joni Grey (Eloise Rothfield), Anita Evans (Scarlett Simmons) and Jay Rajeswaran (Kavan Meegamuge) – go to a dark cabin and perform a seance with a Ouija board. While trying to communicate with a spirit they call Levi, Gracie becomes possessed and starts convulsing, and her friends escape in fear. After that, Gracie disappears without a trace.

27 years later, a grown-up Joni (Morgana O’Reilly), now working as a child psychologist who works in a psychiatric hospital, gets a call that takes her back to her hometown. According to longtime friend Jay (Rudi Dharmalingam), now a police officer, Gracie’s niece Frankie Darling (Ariel Donoghue) has gone missing in the same exact way Gracie once did. Joni, who’s still riddled with guilt from leaving Gracie alone all those years ago, begins an unofficial investigation of her own. As it turns out, Frankie and her friends were doing a seance of their own, which they call “Playing Gracie Darling.”

‘Playing Gracie Darling’ Is a Small-Town Mystery With a Twist

Image via Netflix

As the premise suggests, Playing Gracie Darling is about much more than understanding what really happened to Gracie. After all, while her disappearance continues to be a mystery plaguing (or, for the teenagers, entertaining) the small town, Frankie facing the same fate proves that whatever happened to Gracie is a pattern, and not a one-time thing. Now, 27 years after the first occurrence, Jay and Joni are set on finding out the truth, even if it means having flashbacks and unexplained visions of the past.

In fact, much like the beloved Showtime horror series Yellowjackets, Playing Gracie Darling focuses on the lives, both past and present, of everyone around the incident too. Riddled with guilt, Joni’s internal struggle drives her investigation, while she also copes with returning to her childhood home with her mom, Patty (Harriet Walter) and her daughters Mina (Chloe Brink) and Lulu (Stella Miller). The same goes for Jay, who’s a part of the police’s more by-the-book approach, and has to come to terms with the fact that his daughter Raffy (Saiesha Sundaralingam) was one of the teens present when Frankie was possessed in the cabin.

All that said, while Playing Gracie Darling isn’t another one of Harlan Coben’s titles, the series has all the ingredients to be a gripping, twisty thriller series. Already in Netflix’s global Top 10 with just a couple of days after its arrival, the six-episode series has been seemingly successful in leaving fans gripped and at the edge of their seats waiting to find out more. With O’Reilly’s strong performance at the center, and a storyline that spans decades and multiple supernatural, unexplained occurrences, Playing Gracie Darling could soon be coming for Coben’s crown.

Release Date

December 1, 2025

Network

Paramount+

Cast

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  Morgana O’Reilly

  Joni Grey

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  Kristina Bogic

  Gracie Darling

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  Rudi Dharmalingam

  Jay Rajeswaran

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