If you’re looking for your next Netflix binge, you may be struggling to decide between comedy or drama — how about a little bit of both?
In October 2025, Watch With Us is recommending a long-running hit dramedy series that just got added to Netflix: Nurse Jackie.
From its honest portrayal of addiction to its stellar cast, it’s a multifaceted show with a lot to offer.
If you love character-driven storytelling that doesn’t shy away from darkness or light, you’ll love this award-winning series.
With ‘Nurse Jackie,’ Edie Falco Creates Another Iconic TV Character
Before Nurse Jackie, Edie Falco was best known for her long-running role as Carmela Soprano, the wife of New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano. As Carmela, she embodied the contradiction of morality and comfort — her complicity in her husband’s mob activities contrasted with her yearning for decency, morality and respect.
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As Nurse Jackie Peyton, Falco inhabits another morally complex character — this time with the spotlight fully on her. She’s the true antihero instead of the wife of one. Jackie is a brilliant nurse who advocates for her patients, but she’s also severely addicted to pills and goes to dark lengths to feed her addiction.
It’s a Disturbingly Realistic Portrayal of the Cycle of Addiction
Falco, as well as series creators and showrunners Linda Wallem and Liz Brixius, all have dealt with addiction themselves — according to an L.A. Times interview, all three were recovering alcoholics when they started working on Nurse Jackie. Their real-world experience is perhaps what makes Jackie’s story so realistic — and so terrifying.
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Throughout the show’s seven seasons, Jackie goes through many stages in her battle with addiction — hiding it from her loved ones, genuinely getting sober, pretending to be sober and many shades of gray in between. Her path is not linear, which mirrors the dark realities of a disease that plagues millions. Viewers who have struggled with addiction themselves — or watched a loved one do so — will be stunned by the gritty realism of the series’ ups and downs.
It Manages to Find Humor Amid the Darkness
Despite its grim subject matter — in addition to fighting addiction, Jackie is also fighting the many inadequacies and inefficiencies of the medical system — Nurse Jackie doesn’t feel dour. Fully embracing the humor that so often comes with hard times, it evokes as many laughs as it does tears. Jackie herself is hilariously acerbic, always ready with a sharp remark to cut through bureaucracy or cut people down to size.
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The extended cast provides additional comic relief, from the naive optimism of Jackie’s eager, awkward nursing student Zoey Barkow (Merritt Wever) to the ridiculous flirtations of self-absorbed, immature Dr. Fitch “Coop” Cooper (Peter Facinelli) — and beyond. It’s this tonal balance between biting humor and heartbreaking realism that keeps Nurse Jackie feeling vital even a decade after its finale.
‘Nurse Jackie’ Could Be Returning Soon
After its seventh season ended on a major cliffhanger in 2015, rumors have swirled that the show could return in some form — and as of 2024, a sequel series was in development for Amazon Prime. The show’s addition to Netflix is the perfect excuse to get — pardon the pun — addicted to Nurse Jackie, so you can be ready for her return.
Watch all seven seasons of Nurse Jackie on Netflix now.
