''Bad Thoughts'' is an American

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

television series created by

Tom Segura Thomas Weston Segura (born April 16, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, author, actor, and podcaster. Segura co-hosts the '' Your Mom's House'' podcast with his wife, fellow comedian Christina Pazsitzky. Segura also co-hosts the p ...

for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. It stars Segura, Daniella Pineda, and

Robert Iler Robert Michael Iler (; born March 2, 1985) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of A.J. Soprano on ''The Sopranos''. His film roles include '' Tadpole'' (2002) and '' Daredevil'' (2003). Career He made his debut in 1995 as ...

. The series premiered on

on May 13, 2025. Structured as a series of vignettes, the show explores darkly comedic and provocative themes. It was produced by YMH Studios in association with Netflix. One

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

centers on Rex Henley (Segura), a global

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

star who, after losing his creative drive, resorts to kidnapping his fans and forcing them to live in an impoverished town. There, he compels them to reveal their most personal and traumatic experiences in hopes of finding inspiration for a new

hit song A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

. In June 2025, the series was renewed for a second season.

Premise

Cast

as himself, Agent Six, Massimo, Cyrus,

Steven Seagal Steven Frederic Seagal ( ; born April 10, 1952) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and musician. A 7th-Dan (rank), dan Black belt (martial arts), black belt in aikido, he began his adult life as a martial arts instru ...

, Rex Henley, Joe, Brigitte, Barry the Sandwich Guy, and Mr. Hale * Daniella Pineda as Mrs. King *

as Evan * Arturo Castro as James Gonzalez and Jose * Arnold Chun as Byung Sung * Alexis Abrams as Emily *

Shea Whigham Shea Whigham (born January 5, 1969) is an American actor best known for portraying Elias "Eli" Thompson in the drama series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He also appeared in the first season of ''True Detective'' and the third season of '' Fargo'' a ...

as PQ * Hannah Bittick as TikTok influencer * John Gholson as Oliver * Christina Pazsitzky as Christina *

Kirk Fox Kirk Fox is an American actor, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian. He played Mr. March in '' How to Rock'' and Kenny Boy in '' Reservation Dogs''. Career Television Fox played Sewage Joe on '' Parks and Recreation'' and was a regular on Nickel ...

as Roger * Ryan Sickler as Brad * Alexandra Chando as Kerri Sorenson * Kirsten Kendall as Seagal Sidekick * Alexandra Broussard as French Market Girl * Billie D. Merritt as Erica * Jenn Covington as Daisy *

Bobby Lee Robert Young Lee Jr. (born September 17, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. Lee co-hosts the podcasts Bad Friends (podcast), ''Bad Friends'' with Andrew Santino and ''TigerBelly'' with Khalyla Kuhn. From 2001 to 2009, ...

as Carl * Malin Barr as Kati * Sarah Burns as Lilly *

Dan Stevens Daniel Jonathan Stevens (born 10 October 1982) is an English actor. He first drew international attention for his role as Matthew Crawley in the ITV period drama series ''Downton Abbey'' (2010–2012). He also starred as David in the thriller ...

as Allain Fletcher and Gary Crawford

Episodes

Production

In April 2024, it was reported that

had self-financed a pilot episode for a series which had been subsequently sold to

. In addition to leading the cast, Segura is the show's creator, director, and executive producer. Rami Hachache and Jeremy Konner also direct episodes. The producing team includes Segura, Konner, Hachache, Ryan Hall, Molly Mandel, Craig Gerard, and Matthew Zinman. The series is produced by Your Mom’s House. The cast includes Christina Pazsitzky. In June 2025, Netflix renewed the series for a second season.

Release

The series premiered on

from May 13, 2025.

Reception

A review from ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' critic Ali Lerman describes ''Bad Thoughts'' as a "fever dream" of

, highlighting its unhinged and twisted narratives. The series has been noted for pushing comedic boundaries and delivering a unique viewing experience. The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported a 54% approval rating based on 13 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "You'll laugh, but you might not be proud afterwards."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, gave a score of 55 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original current series 2025 American television series debuts 2020s American black comedy television series American English-language television shows Netflix original programming Television series about fictional musicians