As of this Friday, the United States is 249 years old (but doesn’t look a day over 200!). And just like every other year, the country is devoting its birthday weekend to a red-white-and-blue national bash replete with fireworks, parades, and enough hot dogs to last us all until the next Fourth of July.  

For those of you who like to exercise your freedom by choosing to spend Independence Day at home in the air conditioning, you’re in luck! There are plenty of movies and TV shows on Netflix to get you into the spirit of this patriotic weekend. You can mark the holiday with a movie that celebrates American artists, a series that satirizes US politics, or a whole lineup of titles dedicated to our national pastime. Now go ahead and live out your American stream! 

But first, what’s new on Netflix?

A new battle. Victoria Mahoney’s The Old Guard 2, a sequel to Gina Prince-Bythewood’s 2020 superhero adventure The Old Guard and adaptation of Greg Rucka’s comic series, brings back Charlize Theron’s Andromache, KiKi Layne’s Nile, and the rest of their crew of immortals as they face a mighty new adversary. Can’t handle the action? Say bonjour to Tour de France: Unchained; Season 3 of the sports docuseries goes behind the scenes of the intense cycling race’s 2024 edition with some of its top teams. Don’t have the stamina? Take a bite out of All the Sharks (swimming onto the service on Friday, July 4), a reality competition in which four teams of shark experts compete to find and photograph as many shark species as possible, all around the world.  

If you have just a night … 

Go back to sweet home Chicago. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi’s Elwood and Jake Blues — a duo they debuted on Saturday Night Live, a quintessentially American institution in itself — had their first big-screen outing in John Landis’s cult classic 1980 comedy The Blues Brothers, in which the brothers get their band back together to fulfill a mission from God. As they go, they check in with various old friends, played by legends of soul including Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ray Charles, all of whom send Jake and Elwood on their way with a song. The result is both a hilarious madcap adventure and a love letter to an American musical tradition. 

If you have a whole day … 

Hit the campaign trail with The Politician. Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the satirical dramedy stars Ben Platt as Payton Hobart, an ambitious young man who plans to win the White House one day — but first, he’s determined to come out on top in every election he possibly can. Season 1, which aired in 2019, sees him compete for student body president of his Santa Barbara high school; 2020’s Season 2 follows him to New York, where he runs for state senate while in college. 

If you have the entire weekend … 

Knock it out of the park. You can devote your whole Fourth of July weekend to America’s pastime with a selection of movies and shows all about baseball. Top your lineup with a pair of docuseries about the history of a beloved MLB team: Greg Whiteley’s eight-part series The Clubhouse: A Year with the Red Sox, released earlier this year, takes you right into the dugout with the team throughout the 2024 season; follow it up with Colin Barnicle’s three-part 2024 series The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, which chronicles a stunning season with the ball club over two decades ago.  

Next comes a doubleheader of beloved dramas starring a sports movie icon. First, in Phil Alden Robinson’s Field of Dreams (1989), Kevin Costner plays a man who builds a baseball field where the ghosts of the greats gather to play; then Sam Raimi’s For Love of the Game (1999) sees Costner take the mound as an aging pitcher trying to throw a perfect game. Finally, call in some feel-good minor league docs as your closer: Chapman and Maclain Way’s The Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014) tells the zany history of a scrappy team of underdogs, while Morgan Neville and Jeff Malmberg’s The Saint of Second Chances (2023) celebrates quirky minor league spectacle — and the heart that keeps bringing people back to the game.

Don’t forget, you have one last chance … 

To feel it all. Dan Fogelman’s tenderhearted drama This Is Us stars Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, and Chrissy Metz as a family whose bittersweet story spans multiple decades (and even more twists) over six seasons. Next week, the series will say goodbye.