The Best Movies and TV Shows Leaving Netflix This Month (February 2022)

A pair of big franchises that have been very important to Netflix over the years are leaving the streaming service at the end of the month. One is the Marvel Defenders franchise — Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Punisher, and the team-up limited series The Defenders — which Disney/Marvel collaborated with Netflix on before Disney had a streaming service of its own. Disney decided it would like those characters back, and they're already starting to show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as you may have noticed when Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) made a brief appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home. The other is the Ryan Murphyverse of FX shows, most notably American Horror Story, which FX parent company Disney is reclaiming as a Hulu exclusive. There's a reason why Netflix wants to own everything on the platform now.

The shows are the most attention-grabbing things leaving Netflix in February 2022, but there are some great movies expiring as well. The best movies leaving Netflix this month include underrated indie dramedy Our Idiot Brother, the '80s fantasy classic Labyrinth, and the legendary sc-fi action movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 

We've rounded up a handful of picks for the best shows and movies to watch before they leave Netflix imminently below. Keep scrolling for the full list of everything leaving Netflix in February, which also includes some good stuff we didn't highlight. We also have a list of everything that's coming to Netflix this month.   

Looking for more recommendations of what to watch next? We have a ton of them! We also have hand-picked selections based on shows you already love, as well as recommendations for Netflix (movies/shows), Amazon Prime Video (movies/shows), Hulu (movies/shows), Disney+ (movies/shows), HBO Max (movies/shows), Apple TV+, and Peacock.

Our Idiot Brother (Feb. 25)

For fans of: Paul Rudd, star-studded indie comedies 

Year: 2011
Director: Jesse Peretz
Stars: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: R
Metacritic score: 60

Paul Rudd stars in this charming, low-key indie dramedy as the titular idiot brother, an affable but aimless organic farmer/weed dealer. After he gets out of jail for selling to a uniformed police officer, he bounces around the homes of his sisters, who are played by Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, and Emily Mortimer. None of them want him around, as his presence interferes with their busy lives, but he teaches them all something about not taking things so seriously and choosing to see the best in people. It's a sweet and heartfelt movie with some very funny moments, like Steve Coogan walking into a dresser (watch it before it expires so you understand why it's so funny!).

Netflix's Marvel Shows and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Feb. 28)

For fans of: Marvel superheroes with less polish than the MCU, hallway fights

All six of the Netflix Marvel shows are leaving at the end of the month, which will be a sad day for superhero TV fans. The gritty, TV-MA, street-level shows existed sort of adjacent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Defenders never met the Avengers, even though they were both in New York City, because the Avengers' concerns were global and the Defenders' were local. Daredevil was mostly concerned with protecting Hell's Kitchen, not saving the whole world, you know? The human-scaled problems and bone-crunching fights made these shows feel more intimate than the MCU movies. They didn't always work — Iron Fist was straight-up terrible, and even the good seasons of each show had too many episodes — but they had their moments. The original MCU TV show, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which premiered back in 2013, is also expiring.

American Horror Story/American Crime Story/Pose
(Feb. 28)

For fans of: Sex & death, the '90s, and drag balls, respectively

Superproducer Ryan Murphy has a deal with Netflix that's produced shows like Ratched, but his American Story anthology shows belong to FX, which is aligned with Hulu. All 10 seasons of American Horror Story, along with episodic anthology spin-off American Horror Stories, are available on Hulu, so the nine seasons expiring from Netflix (from Murder House to 1984) are not gone from streaming entirely. That's not the case for the acclaimed American Crime Story franchise, which are not scheduled to move to Hulu in March 2022. So we'll see where The People v. O.J. Simpson and The Assassination of Gianni Versace end up. And Pose, which ended after three seasons in 2021, isn't streaming in its entirety anywhere, and is only available for purchase, which basically means it exists in limbo. That's sad, because Pose is a great show that deserves to be seen. Hopefully all three seasons move to Hulu soon. On a related note, Season 3 of American Crime Story,Impeachment, is slated to come to Netflix sometime in 2022. Streaming rights are complicated. 

Labyrinth (Feb. 28)

For fans of: Muppets, David Bowie, '80s nostalgia

Year: 1986
Director: Jim Henson
Stars: David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, a bunch of puppets
Genre: Fantasy, Musical
Rating: PG
Metacritic score: 50

This 1980s fantasy cult classic is the kind of movie the kids from Stranger Things would obsess over. An ordinary teenage girl named Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) has to reach the center of an enchanted maze in order to rescue her baby brother from the cunning clutches of Jareth the Goblin King (David Bowie, glammy and menacing). She's helped on her quest by a number of magical creatures, who are all puppets built by Jim Henson's Creature Workshop. It's an immersive fantasy world with really remarkable puppetry, and a great family movie for kids 8 and up. Kids raised on computer animation will flip when they see elaborate, tactile puppets like Ludo and the Wiseman. 

Observe and Report (Feb. 28) 

For fans of: Extremely dark comedy

Year: 2009
Director: Jody Hill
Stars: Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Michael Peña, Anna Faris
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: R
Metacritic score: 54

One of the darkest comedies you'll ever see, and an unforgettable one, with penetrating insight into the troubled mind of the sort of person who wants the power that comes with being a cop but isn't psychologically stable enough to make it. Seth Rogen stars as Ronnie Barnhardt, a mall security guard with mental health issues who goes too far in his pursuit of a serial flasher. Written and directed by Danny McBride associate Jody Hill, it's basically Taxi Driver as a comedy, with one of Rogen's best performances. It's not for everybody, but if you like your depressing movies to have some jokes in them, watch this before it's gone.  

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Feb. 28)

For fans of: Awesome action, the L.A. River 

Year: 1991
Director: James Cameron
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick
Genre: Sci-fi, Action
Rating: R
Metacritic score: 75

Sci-fi action classic Terminator 2: Judgment Day is leaving Netflix, and we don't know when it will be back. (Get it? lol.) So this might be your last chance for who knows how long to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger fight liquid metal Robert Patrick on a streaming service. If you haven't watched T2 in awhile, it still rules. The special effects hold up shockingly well, the action is thrilling, Ah-nuld is magnetic (Get it? He's made of metal, lol). James Cameron has made two perfect sci-fi movies, and this is one of them (the other, of course, is Aliens, which is streaming on Showtime at the moment). It's also one of the greatest sequels you don't have to have watched the first one to understand. 

Everything Leaving Netflix in February

Feb. 1
Await Further Instructions
Grown Ups

Feb. 8
Polaroid

Feb. 10
Good Time

Feb. 15
Studio 54

Feb. 16
Drunk Parents

Feb. 20
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

Feb. 25
No Escape
Our Idiot Brother 

Feb. 26
Edge of Seventeen (not THE Edge of Seventeen, a different movie that is NOT leaving)

Feb. 28
Shows
American Crime Story: Seasons 1-2
American Horror Story: Seasons 1-9 
Border Security: America's Front Line: Season 2
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Seasons 1-7
Marvel's Daredevil: Seasons 1-3
Marvel's Defenders: Season 1
Marvel's Iron Fist: Seasons 1-2
Marvel's Jessica Jones: Seasons 1-3
Marvel's Luke Cage: Seasons 1-2
Marvel's The Punisher: Seasons 1-2
Pose: Seasons 1-2
Soundtrack: Season 1

Movies
21 Jump Street
The BFG
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Chocolat
Dances With Wolves
The Darkest Hour
Fool's Gold
Here Comes the Boom
I Am Legend
The Interview
Labyrinth
Law Abiding Citizen
Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
Mars Attacks!
Observe and Report
Rain Man
Sabrina
Sex Drive
Something Borrowed
Soul Surfer
Step Brothers
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Total Recall
We Were Soldiers
Wyatt Earp