The 5 greatest documentaries of September 2026—on Netflix, HBO Max, and extra

As normal, true-crime documentaries and collection just about dominated the September lineup throughout the foremost streaming companies, however the month did have a number of surprises that offered a pleasant break from all of the homicide and scandal. And whereas the month wasn’t maybe as solid as August, Netflix greater than pulled its personal weight, as did HBO Max, Prime Video, and Peacock—a pair would possibly even make the grade for best-of-the-year lists.

The better of September features a enjoyable and lightweight salute to The Office‘s most obsessive followers, a fireball of a doc in regards to the Aussie Olympic breakdancer who the web beloved to hate, an NFL star’s life story pulled from 35 years of house films, and an insane decades-long homicide case {that a} pair of citizen sleuths would not let go of. My high decide, nonetheless, is a devastating true-crime Netflix collection that arrange store on the streamer’s Top 10 listing for 4 weeks. Here are the 5 greatest docs and doc collection of September 2026.

5

Fan Level Midnight: Devoted to The Office (Peacock)

For those that’ve binged The Office one too many occasions

If you perceive the “Threat Level Midnight” reference on this documentary’s title, you then’re positively the best demographic for Fan Level Midnight: Devoted to The Office, a joyous six-part Peacock docuseries that celebrates the enduring NBC office comedy. Documentary filmmaker Shawn Cauthen (Netflix vs. the World) takes Office followers by way of the story of a struggling NBC experiment to Americanize a British establishment that got here into its personal and have become a world phenomenon followers nonetheless cannot cease rewatching.

The 20-minute episodes cowl every little thing from the present’s origins to the post-Steve Carell years, characteristic all types of behind-the-scenes footage, and embrace interviews with former NBC boss Kevin Reilly, director Paul Feig, and forged members Andy Buckley and Leslie David Baker. But it is actually all in regards to the followers on this collection, which delves into the lives of the present’s largest supporters and what the present has meant to them.

4

Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly (Netflix)

The story behind the Australian breakdancer who turned a meme

For a number of weeks final month, Australian Olympic breakdancer Rachael Gunn, a.okay.a. Raygun, was throughout my social feeds, sitting subsequent to Jimmy Fallon on my TV, and within the mouths of my associates at events. Her disastrous breakdance efficiency on the Paris Olympics was greater than two years in the past, so why was I listening to about her once more? Netflix, that is why. Gunn was given the Untold remedy—the favored docuseries that has profiled a few of sport’s brightest stars and largest scandals. Untold Raygun: Breaking Badly matches within the latter class, which is what makes it so scrumptious.

The 72-minute movie sits down with Gunn, who retells the story from her standpoint—from the viral kangaroo hop and zero-point rating to the worldwide pile-on of memes, ridicule, and conspiracy theories. Gunn talks candidly in regards to the impact it had on her psychologically and professionally, and the way she struggled to come back again from all of it and even dance once more. It’s a squirm-inducing, surprisingly sympathetic watch.

3

Go Deep: The DeSean Jackson Story (Prime Video)

A brother’s digicam captures the price of an NFL dream

Prime Video would not pump out a whole lot of documentaries, however when it does, it normally will get it proper. That may be mentioned for Go Deep: The DeSean Jackson Story, a 90-minute characteristic documentary about one of many NFL’s most electrical and enigmatic receivers. While Eagles followers would possibly nonetheless be boasting about DeSean Jackson’s epic walk-off punt return in opposition to the Giants in 2010, writer-director Mandon Lovett cares extra about what occurred off the sector.

Lovett mined practically 35 years of house video offered by DeSean’s massive brother Byron—an aspiring filmmaker who additionally frolicked in professional soccer on the observe squad for the Kansas City Chiefs. Byron obsessively filmed the household over many years, and it reveals within the movie, which tracks DeSean’s profession by way of his youth leagues, his time with the California Golden Bears, and his 15 skilled seasons. But like several good bio-doc, it additionally delves into DeSean’s struggles and household friction, with loads of interview time with the person himself.

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3

2

A Killer Story (HBO Max)

A decades-long case that places armchair sleuths on trial

HBO loves its true crime and is taken into account by many to be the gold normal—The Jinx, I’ll Be Gone within the Dark, and The Yogurt Shop Murders, to call a number of. But within the 100% contemporary A Killer Story, director Matthew Galkin (One Night In Idaho: The College Murders) factors the digicam on the style’s personal obsessive followers.

The three-parter revisits the case of Dana Chandler, a girl who was accused of killing her ex-husband, Mike Sisco, and his girlfriend, Karen Harkness, in Harkness’s house in Topeka, Kansas, in 2002. Five years after her conviction in 2012, seasoned newsman Joe Sexton is dragged into the case when Eileen Umbehr, an newbie sleuth obsessive about the case, reaches out to Sexton, satisfied that Chandler did not do it. A Killer Story digs deep into Chandler’s three trials between 2012 and 2025 and is a weirdly entertaining take a look at Umbehr and her husband, who made Chandler’s story their life’s work.

1

Death of the Pastor’s Wife (Netflix)

Obsessive, poisonous management from behind the pulpit

My high decide this month technically landed on Netflix on August. 26, nevertheless it had such a huge impact on me and lots of others—and it spent a lot of September within the Top 10—that I couldn’t consider a greater candidate for the highest spot on this month’s listing. Death of the Pastor’s Wife is a gripping, tragic watch that I couldn’t flip away from. The three-part collection follows Mica Miller, a Myrtle Beach worship chief, and her turbulent marriage to pastor John-Paul “JP” Miller.

In April of 2024, Mica was discovered lifeless in North Carolina’s Lumber River State Park from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Her loss of life was dominated a suicide, although she’d reported being stalked within the weeks earlier than and had simply filed for authorized separation from JP solely days earlier than. Told largely by way of Mica’s diaries and residential footage, Death of the Pastor’s Wife is a gut-wrenching account of the coercive management and psychological and emotional abuse her household says she endured. The Netflix docuseries has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and is a true-crime must-see.

September had some nice docs

This month’s greatest documentaries make it simple so that you can play armchair detective, sympathetic third celebration, and nosy fly-on-the-wall, and that is what good documentaries ought to do. As we head into October and the refresh of latest choices begins to roll in, we’ll maintain our weekly lists of what docs to watch going.

Operating System

Fire OS

Resolution

4K

Audio codecs

Dolby Atmos, 7.1 encompass sound, 2-channel stereo, and HDMI audio move by way of as much as 5.1

RAM/storage

8 GB

For just a bit more cash than the Fire Stick TV Lite, you may get the Fire Stick TV 4K, which affords a Dolby Vision improve and TV controls on the Alexa distant. With 4K streaming, it is way more futureproof.