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The 23 Best Shows on Amazon Prime Right Now (March 2025)
While Netflix is busy pumping out more series than any one person could watch (probably), some of the best shows are on Amazon Prime Video. Trouble is, navigating the service’s labyrinthine menus can make finding the right series a pain. We’re here to help. Below are our favorite Amazon series—all included with your Prime subscription.
For more viewing picks, read WIRED’s guide to the best movies on Amazon Prime, the best movies on HBO’s Max, and the best movies on Netflix.
Invincible
Mark Grayson inherited the incredible powers and abilities of his father, Omni-Man—only to learn dear old dad wasn’t a paragon of justice but the vanguard for an alien invasion. The newly dropped third season of Invincible finds Mark not only still struggling to escape his father’s shadow, guiding his younger brother to use his own burgeoning powers responsibly, but also drowning in a world of murky politics, pushed toward darker, tougher choices to keep Earth safe. A brilliantly animated adaptation of the hit Image comic book by writer Robert Kirkman and artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, Invincible’s more mature take on superheroes allows it to do something Marvel and DC characters rarely do: grow up.
The Man in the High Castle
This adaptation of sci-fi master Philip K. Dick’s novel about a world in which the Nazis won the Second World War was one of Amazon’s first forays into original content. The world-building is stunningly done—a divided, alternate-reality 1960s America never seemed so plausible—but be warned: There might be just a touch too much present-day resonance for some viewers.
The Rig
Back for its second season, sci-fi thriller The Rig finds the surviving crew of isolated North Sea oil rig Kinloch Bravo forcibly relocated to The Stac, an even more remote facility in the Arctic. While most are desperate for answers and a way home, the team’s loyalties are tested as the sinister Pictor corporation seeks to use them to unearth something ancient and powerful from the sea floor. While The Rig doesn’t even aspire to subtlety when it comes to its ecological metaphors (one character even says, “If you keep punching holes in the Earth, eventually the Earth’s going to punch back”), it’s all brilliantly shot to make use of both the claustrophobic settings and the terrifying expanses and underwater pressures of the ocean. With the material elevated by a phenomenal cast of Game of Thrones and Line of Duty veterans, including Iain Glen and Rochenda Sandall—and bolstered further by the addition of the always-watchable Alice Krige in season 2—The Rig is far more than the guilty pleasure it might otherwise be.
Cross
Aldis Hodge steps into the shoes of Washington, DC homicide detective Alex Cross in Prime’s new series based on James Patterson’s long-running series of crime novels. However, unlike the streamer’s other thrillers Bosch and Reacher, Cross doesn’t directly adapt any of Patterson’s books—a risky move, but one that largely pays off, allowing this eight-episode first season to chart an unpredictable journey as Cross faces off against a twisted murderer who models each of his kills on another serial killer. Already renewed for a second season, Cross is a strong addition to Prime’s roster of crime dramas.
Citadel: Diana
Amazon tried to make a splash with its $300 million spy thriller Citadel in 2023, but only half-succeeded. The Richard Madden- and Priyanka Chopra-starring action series was entertaining enough—and rode high on Prime Video’s most-watched lists—but didn’t exactly set the world alight. However, it did establish a sprawling shared universe, with rival organizations Citadel and Manticore engaged in a globe-spanning cold war setting the stage for international spin-offs. Citadel: Diana is the first, an Italian outing focusing on Diana (Matilda De Angelis), a woman out for revenge after her parents are killed, and drawn into the spy-fi underworld with violent results. Gorgeous location shoots, bone-crunching fight choreography, and, most importantly, a tighter focus help Diana improve on its parent series.
The Legend of Vox Machina
Bawdy, gory, and absolutely not for kids, The Legend of Vox Machina follows the eponymous adventurers’ guild—consisting of gunslingers, druids, and the requisite horny bard—as they grow from a motley crew of usually-drunk mercenaries into unexpected heroes for the realm of Exandria. The newly arrived third season continues the team’s battle against the Chroma Conclave, a horrifyingly powerful collective of dragons. It’s a quest that sends them on a small diversion to Hell itself. Adapting the hit Critical Role—the livestreamed Dungeons & Dragons sessions of some of the biggest voice actors in animation and gaming—this exquisitely animated fantasy takes things in unexpected directions that keep things fresh for new or returning viewers alike. A love letter to D&D that’s also unafraid to poke fun at the classic RPG, it’s one of the most original adult animated shows on Prime.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Tapping into The Lord of the Rings creator J. R. R. Tolkien’s sprawling history of Middle-earth, The Rings of Power is set millennia before the events of the core books (or films, which is really where the visual language of this adaptation comes from), detailing the major events of Tolkien’s Second Age. While the first season was a slow burn, dwelling on the fractious politics of the era, the second ratchets up the pace considerably. From Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) trying to prevent the ascension of Dark Lord Sauron (Charlie Vickers) to the long-awaited introduction of fan-favorite character Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear), the new season feels far richer and deeper than before. It remains a feast for the eyes too, with the stratospheric budget apparent in every frame, from quiet moments in luxuriant shires to cinematic battles between armies of Orcs and Elves. For sheer high fantasy spectacle, there’s little else to rival this streaming right now.
Batman: Caped Crusader
The first new solo Batman animated series in a decade, Caped Crusader harkens back to Batman: The Animated Series from the 1990s, with showrunner Bruce Timm returning to the Dark Knight and Hamish Linklater voicing Bruce Wayne/Batman in an ode to the late, great Kevin Conroy. Unlike rival ‘90s revival X-Men ’97, though, this isn’t a continuation but rather a wholly distinct take allowing for fresh interpretations of the iconic hero’s rogues’ gallery and allies—look out for drastically different takes on the Penguin and Harley Quinn in particular. Leaning heavily into a 1930s aesthetic that evokes Batman’s earliest comic book origins, this manages to be nostalgic and provocative at once—a fantastic outing that takes DC’s original urban vigilante back to his gritty pulp noir roots.
The Boys
Superheroes are meant to represent hope and optimism—the best of us, given outsize form. In The Boys, adapted from the darkly satirical comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, they’re a reflection of humanity’s worst—greed and unrestrained power, marketed to a gullible public by vested corporate interests, operating without restraint and leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Enter Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and his associates The Boys, gleefully dispatching “Supes” who’ve gone too far, often in extraordinarily violent ways. Unfortunately, the newly dropped fourth season finds the team in disarray, fractured by Butcher’s own lies, right as the world needs them most. Arch-manipulator Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) is close to the Oval Office, while the sadistic, psychotic Homelander (Antony Starr) is planning a superhuman uprising. Probably Amazon’s goriest show, The Boys stands as a pertinent examination of the abuses of power, all wrapped in superhero drag.
Fallout
Maybe the end of the world is the secret sauce to making a great video game adaptation—between The Last of Us and now this spectacular interpretation of Bethesda’s postapocalyptic RPG series, we’re living in an unexpected golden era for the form. Yet unlike HBO’s bleak but beautiful world, Fallout taps into the source material to craft an apocalypse with a very different feel, one dripping in cracked Americana, black comedy, razor-sharp social satire, and just a little bit of camp. Its greatest strength, though, lies in how it doesn’t directly adapt any one of the core Fallout games. Instead, it perfectly channels their tone and feel, focusing on a core trio—naive Lucy (Ella Purnell), born and raised in a subterranean vault; driven Maximus (Aaron Moten), a recruit in an army seeking technology from the old world; and the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a centuries-old bounty hunter mutated into a nigh-immortal zombie when the bombs fell—to showcase just how brilliantly twisted this nuclear wasteland really is.
Three-Body
No, you’re not on the Netflix list—Prime Video has its own distinct adaptation of Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem. This take, originally released for Chinese audiences back in 2023, faithfully adapts Liu’s award-winning novel of humanity’s first contact with an almost unknowable alien species and the impact that their impending arrival on Earth has on humanity. Hopping between time periods, a galactic mystery unfurls after nanotech specialist Wang Miao (Luyi Zhang) is called in by detective Shi Qiang (Hewei Yu) to investigate a global spate of suicides among scientists, with the ominous phrase “Physics doesn’t exist” being the only link between the deaths. Although Three-Body is a bit softer than Netflix’s 3 Body Problem when dealing with some aspects of the story—notably anything related to China’s Cultural Revolution—a hearty 30-episode run allows for far more space to explore Liu’s complex themes and vast roster of characters. The pacing may take some getting used to for viewers more accustomed to western TV, and it’s subtitled-only, but this C-drama is out of this world.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
You likely know the concept from the name alone—a married couple operate as undercover agents, blurring the lines between their personal and professional relationship. Unlike the 2005 Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie, though, 2024’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith does far more with the concept. Donald Glover (who cocreated this reboot) and Maya Erskine offer much more developed takes on the mysterious characters of “John” and “Jane” Smith over the course of this eight-episode series, exploring their true identities, why they signed up for their dangerous careers, and whether their growing feelings for each other are just part of the roles they’re playing. It’s all backed up with plenty of Mission: Impossible–style action, of course, but it’s the sparkling chemistry between the show’s leads that will leave you thinking, “Brangelina who?”
Reacher
Amazon has a way with action thrillers focused on military tough guys who answer to “Jack R”—see Jack Ryan, also making this guide—and this sharp adaptation of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels continues the trend. Alan Ritchson (Titans, Fast X) stars as Reacher, a former military policeman now drifting from town to town, trying to live a quiet life but unable to avoid conflict. Season one finds him accused of a murder he didn’t commit, while the newly arrived second sees Reacher drawn into a vast conspiracy when someone starts picking off the members of his old army unit of special investigators. It’s pulpy at times, but bombastic action and surprisingly sharp dialog help it punch above its weight.
The Wheel of Time
Based on Robert Jordan’s sprawling novel series—one so vast it makes Game of Thrones look concise—this is one of Amazon’s most ambitious, and expensive, series to date. The eight-episode first season follows Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a powerful weaver of an ancient form of magic, as she gathers five unassuming young people, one of whom is destined to either save the world—or destroy it. The second season ups the stakes, with ancient evils returning and new terrors rising—right as the only ones who can stop them are scattered around the world. A visually stunning series that blends sumptuous location shoots with cinematic effects work, this is an epic fantasy that’s improving with every episode.
Gen V
Spinning out of Amazon’s hit The Boys, Gen V follows the next generation of supes, training their abilities at the Godolkin University School of Crimefighting. In keeping with its twisted parent show, this educational establishment is less Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and more The Hunger Games with superpowers, as students battle for glory and a chance to join premier super-team The Seven. Lead Jaz Sinclair (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) impresses as freshman Marie Moreau, a haemokinetic with lofty ambitions who uncovers dark secrets at the college that challenge her entire world view. Factor in all the poor life choices college students are famed for and some extremely creative (if often disgusting) superpowers, then allow for The Boys’ trademark ultraviolence, and one thing’s for sure—the kids of Gen V are most definitely not alright.
Jack Ryan
There’s no shortage of screen adaptations of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan books, but John Krasinski’s turn as the CIA desk jockey turned field agent gets far more room to breathe than its predecessors. The prestige political thriller charts Ryan’s rise from analyst to operative—and beyond—over four perfectly crafted seasons. The final season caps Ryan’s career with his biggest challenge yet, investigating the convergence of a drug cartel and a terrorist organization set to create an unstoppable criminal enterprise, all while juggling the CIA’s possible involvement in a political assassination in Nigeria. While the show hasn’t been without controversies—season two attracted condemnation from Venezuela’s government for supposedly condoning a US invasion of the country; big yikes there—its sharp writing, incredible performances, and cinematic action make it compelling viewing.
I’m a Virgo
A surrealist comedy with the sharp political and social edge viewers have come to expect from creator and director Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You), I’m a Virgo follows Cootie (Jharrel Jerome), a regular 19-year-old who just happens to be 13 feet tall. Raised in secrecy by Aunt Lafrancine (Carmen Ejogo) and Uncle Martisse (Mike Epps), Cootie is thrust into the limelight when his larger-than-life existence is inevitably discovered. Experiencing friendships and the outside world for the first time, gentle giant Cootie has to navigate everything from romance to the public’s reaction to a giant Black man wandering around Oakland. Oh, and did we mention Cootie’s idol, The Hero, a real-life superhero with an authoritarian streak that would put some of the worst offenders on The Boys to shame? Told you this was surreal. Do yourself a favor and watch the behind-the-scenes episodes too, tucked under Prime Video’s “Explore” tab, for Riley’s insight into each episode.
Tales From the Loop
Despite being a couple of years old, Tales From the Loop remains one of the most mesmerizing shows on Prime Video. Loosely based on the work of Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag, the series blurs the line between ongoing narrative and anthology as it follows the residents of Mercer, Ohio, exploring how their intersecting lives are impacted by “the Loop,” an underground facility exploring experimental physics and making the impossible possible. Expect tales of frozen time, traded lives, and parallel worlds, all brought to life by a fantastic cast and directors—including Andrew Stanton and Jodie Foster. But it’s the visuals that really elevate this show, which captures the sublime aesthetic of Stålenhag’s work and juxtaposes neofuturism and rural communities for a world that looks and feels like almost nothing else. At only eight episodes, a visit to Mercer is brief but unforgettable.
The Devil’s Hour
When Peter Capaldi, here playing mysterious criminal Gideon Shepherd, says “my perception of time is better than anyone’s,” it’s clear that The Devil’s Hour creator Tom Moran is having a little fourth-wall-breaking fun with his former Time Lord leading man. That’s about as close as this gritty six-part drama gets to Doctor Who, though. Instead, this is a mix of murder mystery and thriller, topped off with a dash of the supernatural. The focus is on Lucy (Jessica Raine), an over-burdened social worker with an increasingly distant and troubled young son. Lucy wakes at exactly 3:33 am every morning, plagued by horrific visions, and her nightmares draw her into the orbit of police detective Ravi Dhillon’s (Nikesh Patel) investigations of a bloody murder and a child’s abduction. As she tries to figure out how the two are entangled, Lucy comes face to face with Shepherd. Raine is a phenomenally commanding lead throughout, while Capaldi’s sinister performance is one of the most chilling you’ll see on screen.
Them
This horror anthology series, created by Little Marvin and executive-produced by Queen & Slim’s Lena Waithe, sets its first season in 1950s Los Angeles and follows the Emory family as they move into an all-white neighborhood. It all goes about as well as you might expect, with Livia (Deborah Ayorinde) soon penned into their new home by the Stepford-like housewives of the area who make her life a living hell, led by ringleader Betty (Alison Pill). Outside the home, husband Henry (Ashley Thomas) faces physical assaults and harassment at work. Ayorinde and Thomas are phenomenal throughout, brilliantly portraying the mental, physical, and emotional turmoil of living under relentless threat. While the show’s portrayal of the period is tense and horrifying in its own right, the layering of some truly unsettling supernatural threats make this a frequently terrifying watch.
The Underground Railroad
Based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel by Colson Whitehead, this limited series from Moonlight director Barry Jenkins sticks pretty closely to the premise of the book. It’s a work of historical fiction that takes the idea of the Underground Railroad—the network of smugglers who helped escaped slaves flee the South—and reimagines it as an actual subway system with trains and secretive station agents.
Fleabag
You’re not supposed to like Fleabag. She’s selfish, self-destructive, and morally bankrupt. Her family is loathsome, her lifestyle is ridiculous, and her job is a joke. Yet after watching this 12-episode series, we defy you not to love her a little. This magnificent sitcom about a Londoner (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) grappling with the death of her best friend has no filter: You’ll hear her thoughts on feminism, familial tension, love, and sodomy. The first time Waller-Bridge interrupts her own dialog to shoot a disarming, conspiratorial glance to the screen, you’re hooked. Season one is a smutty yet wonderful crescendo of self-destruction driven by a cast of characters that includes Fleabag’s intensely awkward sister Claire (Sian Clifford), her selfish and pretentious stepmother (Olivia Colman), and her clueless father (Bill Paterson). The second season cheerfully bounds into blasphemy as she grapples with inappropriate (and reciprocated) feelings for a Catholic priest (Andrew Scott). It’s shocking and immensely watchable—and one of the rare cases when a series truly is as good as people say.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
What is a New York lady to do when she finds out her husband is having an affair with his dim-witted secretary? If Mrs. Maisel is anything to go by, the answer is to head to a dingy watering hole in your nightgown, do a little standup comedy, and get hauled away by the police after flashing the entire audience. Set in the 1950s, this fast-talking fashionista hides her new life as a comedian from her family and ex while battling sexism, bad crowds, and big competition. Rachel Brosnahan stars as Midge Maisel in this subtle nod to Joan Rivers’ career. With four seasons and a host of awards and nominations to its name, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is one of Amazon’s sharpest comedies.
The 33 Best Shows on Apple TV+ Right Now (February 2025)
Slowly but surely, Apple TV+ has found its feet. The streaming service, which at launch we called “odd, angsty, and horny as hell,” has evolved into a diverse library of dramas, documentaries, and comedies. Now, its library is so packed, we’ve declared it “the new HBO.”
Curious but don’t know where to get started? Below are our picks for the best shows on the service. (Also, here are our picks for the best movies on Apple TV+.) When you’re done, head over to our guides to the best shows on Netflix, best movies on Hulu, and best movies on Amazon Prime, because you can never have too much television.
Mythic Quest
Considering it’s a TV show set in the world of video games, you’d be forgiven for thinking this series—now four seasons deep—would be a clunker. It’s not. Instead, Mythic Quest is one of the best workplace comedies of the past few years. Presented in perfectly bingeable half-hour episodes, the show follows a fictional game studio known for its World of Warcraft–like MMO, Mythic Quest, as the people who make it slalom through their many quirky relationships. The writing is excellent, consistently funny and emotionally impactful when you least expect it, and the show manages to confront real issues in the industry without sacrificing laughs. If you really love it, there’s more in store: Apple TV+ plans to roll out a spinoff anthology series, called Side Quest, March 26.
Severance
Has there ever been a second season more highly anticipated than that of Severance? OK, there probably has—Game of Thrones comes to mind—but considering Severance is the show that firmly established Apple TV+ as a streaming player with its own distinct kind of edgy prestige content, the hype around the show’s second coming was intense. For those who don’t already know, a primer: Adam Scott plays Mark, a man distraught by the death of his wife who opts to undergo Severance, a procedure that divides his memories of work from those of his life at home. He’s quite happy with the setup until a former Lumon Industries coworker tracks him down when he’s out-of-office, setting off a series of events that makes him question not only Severance but the work his company does. From there, it only gets more weird and bleak with each passing minute. Tense and heartbreaking, Severance will keep you guessing and questioning the whole way through.
Silo
As WIRED noted in the wake of Silo’s release, this show is prestige sci-fi gold. Nearly two years later, that’s still true—and it is poised to get even better. Based on a dystopian book trilogy by Hugh Howey, the series focuses on a subterranean bunker—the silo of the title—where humanity has sequestered itself after the apocalypse. Some are hoping to win the chance to reproduce, some are trying to solve mysterious murders. Everyone watching is enjoying figuring out what’s going on in this underground city and what’s happening outside of it. Silo has already been renewed through season four. If you haven’t been watching, start.
The Secret Lives of Animals
Seventy-seven species. Twenty-four countries. This 10-part docuseries is all about the million-and-one ways animals are incredible problem solvers. A production of BBC Studios Natural History Unit, it does all the things good nature docs do: going underground and getting (perhaps creepily) close to some of the world’s most compelling creatures. Spiders, wood mice, frogs, and octopi—its got it all.
Disclaimer
When filmmaking legend Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) decides to do a limited series starring Cate Blanchett, you kind of owe it to yourself to watch. Especially when, as Cuarón told WIRED, the Renée Knight novel the series is based on was so intriguing it made him want to bring his cinematic skills to TV. In the seven-part series, Blanchett plays an esteemed journalist named Catherine who is sent a mysterious novel that threatens to expose parts of her past she’d hidden for years. As she tries to investigate who wrote the book, she also must keep her own life from collapsing around her. Cuarón adapted the novel himself and directed each episode of the series, bringing his big-screen style to the small-screen world.
Shrinking
Do you enjoy In Treatment but wish it was, you know, fun? Then Shrinking may be right for you. Created by Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein—of Ted Lasso fame—and Jason Segel, the show follows Jimmy (Segel), a therapist struggling to get over the death of his wife and reconnect with his daughter and patients. That may sound like a downer, but it’s buoyed by the fact that it’s also a workplace comedy focusing on the therapy practice where Jimmy works alongside Harrison Ford’s Paul and Jessica Williams’ Gaby. Shrinking, ultimately, is about the things people do to cope, but it also features a dream team of a cast and one very memorable party scene featuring a vomit-soaked piano and a super-stoned Ford.
Slow Horses
As we wrote not too long ago, Slow Horses is the ideal show for people who want a Pizza Hut-Taco Bell-esque combination of John Le Carré–style espionage thrillers and The Office. Based around the misfits of Slough House, where MI5 agents are sent when they biff it as spies, the show effortlessly jumps from shoot-outs and car chases to quirky conversations and camaraderie. The show’s fourth season, which launched last year, is a little more subdued than the ones before, but if you’ve been sleeping on Slow Horses, now is the time to wake up.
Bad Monkey
Created by Bill Lawrence, one of the creative forces behind two other Apple TV+ zingers, Ted Lasso and Shrinking, Bad Monkey is about a one-time detective (played by Vince Vaughn) who’s hit a bit of a rough patch and is trying to get to the bottom of why someone found a severed arm. Yes, there’s a monkey, but there’s also a lot of dark humor and heart—and a look at the complex lives of more than a few Florida Men.
Sunny
Sunny is the story of a woman named Suzie (Rashida Jones) whose husband and son are lost in a mysterious plane crash. To work through her grief, Suzie is given Sunny, a domestic robot with whom she forms a unique bond as she begins to uncover what happened to her family. As artificial intelligence gets more and more ingrained in everyone’s lives, Sunny promises to hit differently now than it would at any other time.
Presumed Innocent
Just to be clear, this whodunit has been done before. Thirty-four years ago, Harrison Ford starred in the film adaptation of Scott Turow’s novel. This time around, the lead is played by Jake Gyllenhaal, and the adaptation is an eight-part limited series, not a film. Gyllenhaal stars as Rusty Sabich, a Chicago prosecutor accused of killing a colleague. A colleague with whom he was having an affair. Presumed Innocent is produced by David E. Kelley, so it has the intrigue and glossiness of his recent offerings like Big Little Lies and The Undoing, as well as the darkness and drama.
STEVE! (martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces
Putting this on the “best shows on Apple TV+” list is a bit of a cheat. Rather than a series, this two-part documentary is more like a pair of movies looking at the life and career of Steve Martin. The first part chronicles his rise in, and reimagining of, the standup comedy world. The second looks at how he went from that to the neurotic and lovable neighbor he currently plays on Only Murders in the Building, which would be his career’s triumphant second act if he hadn’t had something like 30 acts in between. Directed by Morgan Neville, who made the backup singer documentary 20 Feet From Stardom and the Fred Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, it’s funny, intimate, and a little surprising—just like Martin himself.
Loot
OK, so Loot isn’t exactly about MacKenzie Scott’s divorce from Jeff Bezos, but it is about a woman named Molly (Maya Rudolph) who separates from her tech billionaire husband and devotes herself to philanthropic work. Also, creators Alan Yang (Master of None) and Matt Hubbard (Superstore) were kind of inspired by Bezos and Scott’s split. With an incredible supporting cast that includes Joel Kim Booster, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, and Adam Scott, it’s a quirky comedy with a lot of heart—and the kind of thing you (probably) won’t see on Amazon Prime Video.
The Big Door Prize
With The Big Door Prize Chris O’Dowd finally got the “guy leading a show” role he was always meant for. In the series, he plays a 40-year-old high school teacher named Dusty who’s pretty content with his life until a magic machine shows up in his small town. The machine, you see, tells people their life’s potential, and as soon as folks around him start using it, everything changes. Marriages end, paths divert, and eventually Dusty must confront whether he’s happy in his own life.
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin was a real highwayman in 18th-century England who was ultimately executed for horse theft. But the myths surrounding him are far more interesting than the facts. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, true to its name, opts to stick with the fun stuff. Starring Noel Fielding (The Great British Bake Off) in the title role, this six-episode series presents Turpin as someone who stumbled into leading a group of outlaws and made the best of it. Enjoy the ride.
Constellation
Around here we have a theory that Apple TV+ is the new HBO. At the same time, we also wonder among ourselves whether it’s the new Syfy. After opening with a bang in 2019 with For All Mankind, it has released a steady drumbeat of trippy, spacey, timey-wimey prestige shows, from Foundation to Severance. In early 2024, it released Constellation, an eight-part thriller about an astronaut (Noomi Rapace) who returns to Earth after a disaster in space to find things are very off. Brain-bending and tense, it’s the kind of sci-fi that sucks you in.
Masters of the Air
Generally speaking, “World War II drama” and Steven Spielberg are probably enough to get anyone to click Play on this series, but it’s got a lot more than just a good elevator pitch. Based on Donald L. Miller’s Masters of the Air, this series dives deep into the lives of the 100th Bomb Group—aka the “Bloody Hundredth”—a squad of pilots tasked with risking their lives to fight Nazi Germany from the air. Spielberg and Tom Hanks serve as executive producers, and the cast features Elvis himself, Austin Butler, as well as Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan and Doctor Who’s latest Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa.
The New Look
Keeping with the World War II theme, The New Look follows Christian Dior, Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain, and Cristóbal Balenciaga as they lay the path for modern fashion in Nazi-occupied Paris. The cast features Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior, Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel, and Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, and also has a soundtrack courtesy of Jack Antonoff that’s chock full of early 20th-century music covered by the likes of Perfume Genius and Florence Welch.
Criminal Record
Starring former Doctor Who Doctor Peter Capaldi, Criminal Record follows two cops—Capaldi’s Daniel Hegarty and Cush Jumbo’s June Lenker—as they try to get to the bottom of a long-settled case. Daniel worked the case originally and got a confession; June got a fresh tip and wants him to reopen it and find out whether the man who went away for murder is actually innocent. Might sound a bit overdone, but the series also works in elements of law enforcement shortcomings and race in a rapidly-changing Britain for a series that’s about more than just one case.
Hijack
There’s this face Idris Elba does. He’s been perfecting it since he was Stringer Bell on The Wire. It’s the look of total calm even when he’s talking about the most harrowing thing you can imagine. That face gets a full workout in Hijack, in which Elba plays a corporate negotiator who finds himself trying to settle things with a group of, yes, hijackers who have taken over the flight he’s boarded to get home to his family. This series is seven episodes, roughly seven hours—the same length of the flight, and it follows the drama in the air and the political maneuvering below before attempting to stick the landing. Do stay around until the end.
For All Mankind
Long before Foundation, there was For All Mankind. A solid slice of alternate history, the show starts with a very smart premise: What if the US had been edged out in putting a man on the moon? How would the space-race rivalry between the Americans and the Soviets have played out? It’s mostly a slick, stylish, NASA-heavy period drama, but as this is from the brain of Ronald D. Moore, there are a few standout moments and episodes with attention shared around the large ensemble cast. It might be the best sci-fi show you’re not watching, and if that’s true you now have multiple seasons to catch up on.
Messi Meets America
If your home screen hasn’t made it obvious, Apple TV+ is super stoked about soccer. Messi Meets America is a six-part docuseries about all-star player Lionel Messi’s move to Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami club. Messi Mania, indeed.
Lessons in Chemistry
Based on the debut novel from science writer Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry is the story of Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson), who gets hired to host a cooking show after she’s fired from her lab for doing science while female. Obviously, the show Elizabeth puts on ends up being about a lot more than just having dinner on the table at 6 pm, but we suggest you watch to find out just how revolutionary it is.
The Morning Show
Every streaming service needs a flashy mainstream drama with Hollywood heavyweights to pull in viewers. Apple TV+ has The Morning Show. When Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) loses her morning news program cohost Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) following sexual misconduct accusations, she gets paired up with Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon). What unfolds is a #MeToo-era drama full of TV network intrigue and Sorkin-lite dialog. In its second season, it went deep on Covid-19, and in the third season the series’ fictional network, UBA, finds itself dealing with the aftermath of a cyberattack. There’s likely a new season coming in 2025, so now’s a good time to catch up, or go back and refresh your memory.
Shining Girls
This Elisabeth Moss psychological thriller/murder mystery came out in 2022 and never really got the buzz it likely deserved. Moss plays Kirby, a woman who believes a recent Chicago murder may be linked to an attack on her many years prior. She teams with a Sun-Times reporter to investigate, but the deeper she digs the more her own reality starts to shift. Based on the book The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, this series may seem like just another murder mystery, but its sci-fi twists put it one step ahead.
Foundation
WIRED called Foundation a “flawed masterpiece” in our review of the first season. Considering the complexities of adapting a sprawling Isaac Asimov book series, it was high praise. Starring Jared Harris as Hari Seldon, a math professor who, along with his loyal followers, is exiled for predicting the oncoming end of the galactic empire that rules over them, the show often suffers under the weight of its own massive scope. But it also features wonderful performances from Lee Pace and beautiful images inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope. If you have a soft spot for big sci-fi dramas, this Game-of-Thrones-in-space wannabe is a must-watch.
The Crowded Room
Set in the late 1970s, The Crowded Room stars Tom Holland as Danny Sullivan, a young man arrested after a grisly shooting in New York City. Following his arrest, this 10-episode limited series unfolds into a twisty whodunit as interrogator Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried) tries to suss out what happened with the shooting and the peculiar events in Sullivan’s past that may have shaped how he ended up involved. Holland told Extra that the shoot for The Crowded Room, which he also produced, “broke” him, leading to him taking a yearlong hiatus from acting. Want to see why? Watch now.
Ted Lasso
On paper, Ted Lasso sounds terrible. It’s the inconceivable story of an American football coach who has never watched a game of soccer somehow landing himself a job as coach of a (fictional) Premier League club and trying to make up for his total lack of qualifications by being a nice guy. Sounds unwatchable, doesn’t it? And yet Ted Lasso has captured the hearts and minds of viewers on both sides of the pond with its large-as-life cast and irresistibly wholesome messaging, hoovering up awards in the process.
High Desert
The Patricia Arquette–aissance doesn’t get as much ink as Matthew McConaughey or Keanu Reeves did during their second comings, but it’s here—in part thanks to the rise of streaming. Between The Act and Severance, Arquette has received some of the highest accolades of her long career recently, and High Desert is no exception. While coming to terms with the death of her mother, Peggy (Arquette)—an addict—decides she wants to pick up the pieces of her life and become a private investigator. She finds an unwitting employer/sometime mentor in Bruce Harvey (Brad Garrett), but not everyone is onboard with Peggy’s career decisions—namely, her straitlaced sister (Christine Taylor). It’s an odd duck of a show, which is perfectly suited to Arquette’s ethereal acting style, allowing her to seamlessly flit between moments of tragedy and laugh-out-loud comedy, with the audiences doing their best to keep up. The all-star cast is made even more impressive by recurring appearances from Bernadette Peters as Peggy’s late mom.
Big Beasts
Look, Discovery doesn’t get to corner the market on animal documentaries—and this 10-part docuseries proves it. Featuring elephant seals, brown bears, orangutans, giant otters, and all kinds of massive mammals in between, it’s the perfect thing if you just want to escape and learn a few tidbits about nature. But the best part? It’s narrated by Tom Hiddleston, and there’s just something charming about hearing the voice of Loki talk about a bunch of different animals he could turn himself into in the blink of an eye.
Servant
Cinematically, M. Night Shyamalan can be a little hit-or-miss, but Servant, which the filmmaker executive produces and occasionally directs, is stellar. It’s about a Philadelphia couple—a chef and a news anchor—who lose a child only to have it mysteriously come back to life (maybe) with the arrival of their new nanny. (You really just need to watch the show for any of this to make sense.) Moody, freaky, and occasionally even funny, it’ll suck you in. With four seasons on the streamer, there’s plenty to enjoy.
The Essex Serpent
Claire Danes doing her best trembling-chin acting in period garb, Tom Hiddleston as a town vicar, rumors about a mysterious mythological serpent—is there anything not to love about this show? No, there’s not. The Essex Serpent, based on the novel by Sarah Perry, follows a recent widow (Danes) as she heads to the countryside in Essex to investigate a “sea dragon.” There, she meets a vicar, Will (Hiddleston), who is far more skeptical of the serpent’s existence. Lush and inviting, it’s the ideal period mystery.
Dickinson
Hailee Steinfeld is a riotous young Emily Dickinson in this half-hour show from creator Alena Smith. It was part of the original Apple TV+ lineup and quickly distinguished itself thanks to its off-kilter vision of 19th-century Amherst, Massachusetts. The first season is a set of sharp, surreal vignettes, inspired by Dickinson’s work and tracing the imagined life of the young poet, who is rebelling against her father, the town’s societal rules, and just about everything else. The second and third seasons go deeper, examining not only the poet’s life, but also the roles that race, gender, sexuality, and class played in the early days of America. If you’re a Dickinson stan, love a bit of smart queer dramedy, or just have a penchant for a modern soundtrack in a Civil War–era show, you’ll dig this.
The 43 Best Shows on Netflix Right Now (February 2025)
Streaming services are known for having award-worthy series but also plenty of duds. Our guide to the best TV shows on Netflix is updated weekly to help you know which series you should move to the top of your queue. They aren’t all surefire winners—we love a good less-than-obvious gem—but they’re all worth your time, trust us.
Feel like you’ve already watched everything on this list that you want to see? Try our guide to the best movies on Netflix for more options. And if you’ve already completed Netflix and are in need of a new challenge, check out our picks for the best shows on Hulu and the best shows on Disney+. Don’t like our picks or want to offer suggestions of your own? Head to the comments below.
The Night Agent
Special agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) is back, and the stakes have never been higher. While the first season of The Night Agent wove a compelling spy drama out of the idea of a mole at the heart of America’s intelligence services, the newly arrived second season takes a more global approach—Sutherland hunts down a stolen chemical weapon project, drawing him back into the orbit of tech savant and sometime love interest Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan), while Iranian diplomatic aide Noor Taheri (Arienne Mandi) offers secrets to the CIA in return for asylum, and a deposed Eastern European dictator aims to manipulate everything from behind bars. Sure, the show’s mix of politics and spook work won’t surprise genre diehards, but it weaves together its many influences—and many more plot threads—into a supremely entertaining thriller.
Asura
The four Takezawa sisters are close but have little in common. Eldest Tsunako (Rie Miyazawa) is already a widow; repressed Takiko (Yû Aoi) and rebellious Sakiko (Suzu Hirose) are always at each other’s throats; and second-born Makiko (Machiko Ono) tries to balance keeping the peace with being a housewife and mother to her own two children. Yet when Takiko learns that their father Kotaro (Jun Kunimura) may have a second, secret, family, the sisters’ bonds are put to the test as they struggle to uncover the truth. Asura is far more than a turgid family drama—it’s equal parts heartwarming and hilarious, capturing the complexities of the relationships between its quartet of protagonists. Keeping the 1970s setting of Kuniko Mukōda’s original novel allows Palme d’Or– winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters) to craft a gorgeously shot period piece that still feels incredibly timely and modern.
Castlevania: Nocturne
In the midst of the French Revolution, citizens rise up against a parasitic ruling class—but vampire hunter Richter Belmont and his magic-wielding allies Maria and Annette are more concerned with what’s literally bleeding the people dry. The first season of this grisly adult animated series saw the team coming together to face the rise of a “Vampire Messiah” prophesied to devour the sun, but the new second season ratchets up the action as the heroes team with Alucard, son of Dracula, to try to restore light to the world. Let’s just say the stakes (sorry) have never been higher. While Nocturne’s second season has some closer links to the previous Castlevania animated series, it still works perfectly well on its own, delivering high quality animation, brilliant action, and a fantastic cast of characters to sink your teeth into (sorry, again).
Sakamoto Days
Taro Sakamoto used to be the worst of the worst, a hit man par excellence, his lethal skills making him a legendary figure in the criminal underworld. Then he fell in love, got married, and retired to run a convenience store with his wife Aoi and their daughter Hana. Unfortunately, he didn’t exactly leave his old job on the best of terms, and now a cadre of killers are out for the billion yen bounty on his head. Luckily, Sakamoto’s lost none of his skills—even though he has let himself go in other areas—but can he protect his family without breaking Aoi’s strict “no killing” rule? Based on the manga by Yuto Suzuki, this comedy-action anime is a blast, and with a new episode each Saturday rather than Netflix’s usual drop-it-all-at-once model, it’s appointment viewing you won’t want to miss.
Jentry Chau vs the Underworld
You know the drill—everyday teenager learns she has superpowers and is destined to fight the forces of darkness. Except Jentry Chau (voiced by Ali Wong) is not like any other teenage girl—she’s known about the supernatural her whole life (her uncontrollable fire powers were a giveaway) and spent a lifetime avoiding it. Sent to study in Korea for her own safety, Jentry is drawn back into the mystic world after being attacked in Seoul by a jiangshi named Ed (Bowen Yang). Brought back to her home in Texas by her great-aunt, Jentry has to survive not only the formidable mogui Mr. Cheng, who intends to drain her soul and powers, but the horrors of high school, culture shock, and the pain of her own past. Taking the “high school is hell” metaphor of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, adding a dash of Gravity Falls’ mystery, and rooting it all in Asian mythology, Jentry Chau vs the Underworld is one of Netflix’s freshest animated shows in years.
Missing You
Netflix’s latest adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel sees British police detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) drawn into a web of betrayal and conspiracy when she finds her former fiancé, Josh (Ashley Walters), on a dating app—11 years after his disappearance. It’s far more than a brutal ghosting though, as a missing woman was last seen with him, and Josh’s vanishing may have connections to the murder of Kat’s own father. Missing You may feel slightly padded at times—annoying when it’s only five episodes to begin with—but this twisty crime thriller is perfect viewing for the cold winter months.
Squid Game
Produced in Korea, Squid Game blends Hunger Games and Parasite with a battle-royal-style contest. Hundreds of desperate, broke people are recruited to a contest where they can win enough money to never need to worry about their debts again. All they have to do to win the ₩45.6 billion ($35.8 million) jackpot is complete six children’s games. But it’s not that simple: All the games have a twist, and very few people make it out alive. Squid Game is intense, brutal, and often very graphic, but it is also completely gripping. After the show became a cultural phenomenon in 2021, fans waited what felt like an eternity for another season. That second season finally dropped on December 26.
Queer Eye
A reformatted Fab Five return, ready to change the lives of 10 new heroes. Relocating to Las Vegas, the ninth season of Queer Eye sees Karamo, Tan, Antoni, Jonathan, and new host Jeremiah Brent—taking Bobby Berk’s seat as the design whiz—helping a retired showgirl regain her sparkle, organizing a dream wedding for new parents, and, in possibly their strangest case yet, teaching a magic dragon to shed his scaly exterior. No, really. Netflix’s most feel-good show.
No Good Deed
Take Selling Sunset and add a grisly tragicomic twist and you just about have No Good Deed. A dark comedy from Liz Feldman, creator of Dead to Me, this eight-part series starts with Lydia and Paul Morgan (Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano) putting their gorgeous home on the market, and descends into darker territory as prospective buyers go to ever more desperate attempts to get their hands on the house, nosy neighbors interfere, and the grisly history of the house itself threatens to come to light. Buoyed by a stellar cast including Teyonah Parris, Abbi Jacobson, Luke Wilson, and Denis Leary, this is a glossy, witty, and possibly only slightly exaggerated take on the brutality of the Los Angeles property market.
A Man on the Inside
The latest show from comedy mastermind Michael Schur (The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), A Man on the Inside features Ted Danson as Charles Nieuwendyk, a retired engineering professor who’s lost all direction since his wife passed. But when private investigator Julie Kovalenko (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) needs a man of his demographic to go undercover in a retirement community to investigate allegations of resident abuse, Charles may find an unlikely new lease on life—if he can figure out how to use his smartphone, that is. Reflecting on end-of-life realities as much as it plays up Charles’ fish-out-of-water situation, it’s a show that’s equal parts poignant, melancholic, and achingly funny—and it’s based on a true story, to boot.
Black Doves
Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is wife to the UK defense secretary, mother to two children, and bored with her picture-perfect life. Spectacular cover then, since she’s actually a spy for the mercenary organization Black Doves, selling state secrets to the highest bidder. But when her real love Jason (Andrew Koji) is killed, Helen is determined to find out who killed him and why—and her pursuit of the truth threatens both her public and private lives. Paired with assassin and old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw, in a very different spy role to his turn in the James Bond films) at the behest of stern operator Mrs. Reed (Sarah Lancashire), Helen’s obsession could have led to a dour, gritty thriller, but Black Doves bucks the grim-dark trend to serve up a pulpy, colorful outing with enough heart to balance its violence. At only six episodes (with a second season already confirmed), it’s a brisk watch too.
Arcane
Animated series based on video games can run the gamut from cheap cash-ins to half-decent if forgettable tie-ins, inaccessible to anyone but hardcore devotees. Yet Arcane stood out by making its connections to Riot Games’ League of Legends almost optional. While its central figures, orphaned sisters Vi and Jinx, are playable characters in the game, this steampunk saga of class war, civil uprising, and the people caught in between is entirely accessible. The second and final season, released in a trio of movie-length blocks of three episodes apiece, escalates the conflict between the warring factions but never loses its central focus on the fractured relationship between sisters. With a gorgeous painterly art style, strong characters, and frequently shocking story beats, Arcane is one of the best animated series in years—and it has racked up plenty of awards, including a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, to prove it.
Cobra Kai
Picking up decades after Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence’s iconic fight at the end of the first Karate Kid movie, Cobra Kai initially follows a washed-up Johnny as he reopens the Cobra Kai karate dojo, finding new purpose after defending his young neighbor Miguel (Xolo Maridueña, Blue Beetle) in a fight. Over the course of six seasons, the stakes get higher—and frankly, increasingly, gloriously, ludicrous—as rival martial arts schools start cropping up all over California. Alliances are forged and broken with alarming regularity, and everything gears toward a global battle for karate supremacy. It’s all a little bit tongue-in-cheek, and with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprising their 1980s roles, the show is an unabashed love letter to the classic action flicks, but thanks to some seriously impressive fights and stunt work, it’s a retro-styled delight.
Hellbound
Imagine a supernatural figure appeared and told you precisely when you were going to die—what would you do? Now, imagine if this wasn’t a one-off personal experience, and society as a whole was aware of such warnings from beyond. Forget the giant smoke demons dragging foretold victims to hell, the societal shifts are the real hook of this striking South Korean horror series from Train to Busan director Yeon Sang-ho. The first season delved into complex theological issues such as the nature of sin and justice, while the newly arrived second season takes things further with a series of very public resurrections, further shaking a world already on the brink of existential chaos. Hellbound remains one of the most innovative horror shows in years.
The Diplomat
If there’s a West Wing-shaped hole in your life, look no further than The Diplomat—a tense geopolitical thriller elevated by a superb central performance by The Americans’ Keri Russell as Kate Wyler, newly appointed US ambassador to the UK. Far from being an easy assignment in a friendly country, Kate’s role coincides with an attack on a British aircraft carrier, leaving her to defuse an international crisis while also navigating her fraying “special relationship” with husband Hal (Rufus Sewell). The second season picks up from a literally explosive cliffhanger and propels Kate into a political conspiracy—and a potential promotion to vice president. Some of the twists along the way are faintly ridiculous, but The Diplomat has become one of Netflix’s biggest hits in recent years, and a third season is already in the works.
Nobody Wants This
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: An agnostic sex podcaster and a Rabbi walk into a party … OK, it’s not quite a setup for a joke, but rather for a sharp romcom—one based, in exaggerated form, on creator Erin Foster’s own experiences. Joanne (Kristen Bell, The Good Place) is cynical and burned out on modern dating, even as it provides her material for the increasingly successful podcast she hosts with her sister Morgan (Justine Lupe). When she meets young, handsome Noah (Adam Brody, The OC), the attraction is instant and mutual—except he’s just broken up with the stereotypical Nice Jewish Girl™ his family expected him to settle down with. Yet as the pair swirl through each other’s lives, the show proves it’s less about culture clash than it is exploring what the seemingly mismatched pair are willing to change and sacrifice to make their burgeoning relationship work. With sizzling chemistry between its leads, Nobody Wants This is a romcom with an emphasis on the romance.
Heartstopper
One of the most joyful shows on Netflix returns for another school year of teen drama and heartfelt queer romance. In the long-awaited third season, things heat up between the central couple, with Charlie (Joe Locke) preparing to say three little words to Nick (Kit Connor) for the first time, while Elle (Yasmin Finney) and Tao (William Gao) try to have the perfect romantic summer before Elle starts art college. Heartstopper‘s return also sheds some of its earlier cloying tendencies, growing up alongside its talented young cast and giving them more serious material to work with, tackling more mature themes of sex, eating disorders, and gender dysphoria—all without losing the warmth and charm that made audiences fall in love with the show in the first place. The show younger LGBTQ+ viewers need now, older ones needed years ago, and one that everyone needs to watch, whatever their sexuality.
Terminator Zero
Watch the above trailer for Terminator Zero and you might think it’s merely an animated repeat of the highlights from James Cameron’s first two Terminator films—and to an extent, you’d be right. But look beyond the familiar imagery of cyborg cops hunting down innocent humans and plucky resistance fighters pushing back against AI-driven extinction, and you’ll find one of the sharpest entries in the Terminator franchise in years. The first half of this eight-episode series treads that familiar ground, with computer engineer Malcolm Lee (voiced by André Holland, English language; Yuuya Uchida, Japanese) and his children in 1997 Tokyo targeted by Skynet’s murder-bots from the future for his work developing Kokoro (Rosario Dawson/Atsumi Tanezaki), an intelligence system to rival Skynet, which he somehow knows is set to bring about Judgment Day. With only human resistance soldier Eiko (Sonoya Mizuno/Toa Yukinari) able to protect them, there’s plenty of the kinetic, visceral action that Terminator is known for. The back half, though, brings considerably more depth, tapping into the often overlooked hard sci-fi elements of the universe, exploring time travel and paradoxes alongside existentialist discussions on the nature of consciousness. The best balance of brains and brawn since Terminator II.
Baby Reindeer
Stalking is no laughing matter, which makes this dramatized—and highly controversial—retelling of Scottish comedian Richard Gadd’s own real-life experiences more than a little uncomfortable. Adapted from Gadd’s one-man stage show of the same name, Baby Reindeer follows Donny (Gadd, playing a fictionalized version of himself) after he meets Martha (Jessica Gunning) at the pub he works at. Despite claiming to be a lawyer, Martha can’t afford a drink—and a sympathetic gesture on Donny’s part opens the door to increasingly obsessive and dangerous behavior as she proceeds to infiltrate his life. It’s shockingly honest and self-aware in places—does Donny, and by extension Gadd, on some level relish the attention of his stalker? Are his occasional moments of kindness and warmth toward Martha inviting her further in? Is he using her, finding her a strange source of material for his stand-up career? A fiercely paced seven episodes, shot more like a horror movie, this Emmy-winning miniseries explores trauma and intimacy, shame and masculinity, and how society often silences the victims of abuse.
The Boyfriend
“Anyone can fall in love with anyone” is the opening narration to The Boyfriend, Japan’s first same-sex dating show—a bold and progressive statement that reflects the shifting tide of opinion in the country. Throwing nine single men together in an idyllic beach house for a summer and charging them with running a coffee truck, the over-arching concept is to see who’ll pair up, but the series is as interested in exploring the friendships that emerge between the cast as it is the romantic relationships. Unlike Western dating shows, there are no scandals, no dramatic twists, no betrayals, and the “challenges” are adorably focused on confessing feelings. The gentleness of it all adds an almost relaxing quality, with the men discussing their emotions—and the nature of being queer in Japan—earnestly. An absolutely joyful example of reality TV.
Kleo
If you’re pining for more Killing Eve, then this German thriller may be the next best thing. Set in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the series follows the eponymous Kleo (Jella Haase), a Stasi assassin imprisoned by her agency on false treason charges. Released after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she seeks revenge on her former handlers—but West German detective Sven (Dimitrij Schaad), the only witness to her last kill, may have something to say about that. As dark and violent as you’d expect given the period and the themes of betrayal and vengeance, Kleo is lightened by its oft-deranged sense of humor and a charismatic lead duo who brilliantly bounce off one another—chemistry that’s only heightened in the second season as Kleo’s pursuit of her old allies intensifies, attracting attention from international spy agencies in the aftermath of the Cold War.
Sweet Home
Based on the Korean webcomic by Kim Carnby and Hwang Young-chan, Sweet Home offers a very different vision of apocalyptic end times—rather than pandemics, disasters, or even zombies, this posits an end of the world brought about by people’s transformation into grotesque monsters, each unique and seemingly based on their deepest desires when they were human. The first season is a masterclass in claustrophobic horror, as the residents of an isolated, run-down apartment building—chiefly suicidal teen Cha Hyun-su (Song Kang), former firefighter Seo Yi-kyung (Lee Si-young), and Pyeon Sang-wook (Lee Jin-wook), who may be a brutal gangster—battle for survival. The second and third seasons explore what remains of the wider world, delving into the true nature of both monster and man—and if there’s any hope for what remains of humanity. With phenomenal effects work blending prosthetics, CGI, and even stop-motion animation for some disturbingly juddering creatures, this stands apart from the horror crowd.
Star Trek Prodigy
Paramount+’s loss remains Netflix’s gain, as the streamer’s license rescue of this great Star Trek spin-off warps into its second season. After escaping a distant prison planet and becoming Starfleet cadets under the watchful eye of Star Trek Voyager’s Admiral Janeway (voiced by the venerable Kate Mulgrew), the ragtag crew—led by aspiring captain Dal R’El and bolstered by astrolinguist Gwyndala, engineer Jankom Pog, energy being Zero, scientist Rok-Tahk, and indestructible, gelatinous Murf—find themselves cast through time on the most dangerous mission of their young lives. While aimed at younger audiences and intended as an intro to the wider Trek universe and its ethics, Prodigy packs in plenty for older Trekkers to appreciate, particularly with a slate of returning Star Trek legends voiced by their original actors. Prodigy is something of a sleeper hit, but one of the best Trek shows in years.
Supacell
One by one, five Black Londoners awaken to strange superpowers. Struggling father Andre (Eric Kofi-Abrefa) develops superstrength, nurse Sabrina (Nadine Mills) unleashes phenomenal telekinetic might, drug dealer Rodney (Calvin Demba) races at superspeed, and wannabe gang leader Tazer (Josh Tedeku) turns invisible. But it’s Michael (Tosin Cole, Doctor Who) who may be the most pivotal, realizing he can leap through time and space and learning he only has three months to save his fiancée’s life. Created by Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu, Supacell is a show about superpowers, but not necessarily superheroes, with its fantastic cast offering up a far more realistic and human exploration of now-familiar ideas than anything you’ll find in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And the mystery of why—and how—only Black people seem to be gaining powers builds up to a more powerful punch than an Asgardian god of thunder. A smart, modern, and refreshing take on the genre.
The Good Place
After suffering an improbable and humiliating death, Eleanor (Kristen Bell) finds herself in “The Good Place,” a perfect neighborhood inhabited by the world’s worthiest people. The only problem? She’s not meant to be there. Desperate to not be sent to “The Bad Place,” she tries to correct her behavior in the afterlife, with the help of her assigned soulmate, philosophy professor Chidi (William Jackson Harper). A twist at the end of the first season remains one of the best ever, while the show’s ability to sprinkle ethical and philosophical precepts into a sitcom format is frankly astounding. With a sensational cast rounded out by Manny Jacinto, Jameela Jamil, D’Arcy Carden, and Ted Danson, The Good Place more than earns its place in the good place of TV history.
Bridgerton
Still ranking as one of Netflix’s most-watched series ever, Bridgerton is set during the Regency period in England and follows the powerful Bridgerton family as they navigate love, marriage, and scandal—with most of the latter stirred up by the gossip columns penned by the anonymous Lady Whistledown. Created for screen by Chris Van Dusen and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes, this incredibly bingeable and shockingly entertaining show is based on a series of novels by Julia Quinn, with each season focusing on a different branch of the Bridgerton tree. The third and latest season sees the spotlight fall on the long-simmering relationship between wallflower Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton), a pairing that threatens to reveal powerful secrets that have been bubbling away since the very first episode.
Bodkin
When American podcaster Gilbert Power (Will Forte) and his enthusiastic assistant Emmy Sizergh (Robyn Cara) descend on the sleepy Irish town of Bodkin—reluctantly aided by investigative journalist Dove Maloney (a brilliantly acerbic Siobhán Cullen, cussing out everyone who glances her way)—he thinks he’s going to crack a decades-old missing-persons cold case. What he finds is a community with absolutely zero interest in his investigation, and even less in his attempts to “connect” with his Irish roots. But before long, the villagers’ quirky behavior starts to feel stereotypical, performative even—and Power realizes the cold case may not be quite so chilly. Bodkin suffers from a slow start—give it at least two episodes before writing it off as not for you—but once this darkly comedic mystery gets going, you’ll likely be just as invested as in your favorite true crime podcast. (Just don’t take inspiration and try sleuthing any cold cases yourself.)
3 Body Problem
In 1960s China, at the height of the Cultural Revolution, gifted scholar Wenjie Ye witnesses her physicist father being beaten to death for his research, only for her to be recruited to a secret project relying on that same knowledge. Fast-forward to the present day, and physics is broken: Particle accelerators around the world are delivering impossible data, while scientists are being plagued by countdowns only they can see. Meanwhile, strange VR headsets appear to be transporting players to an entirely different world—and humanity’s continued existence may rely on there being no “game over.” Game of Thrones’ creators D. B. Weiss and David Benioff and True Blood executive producer Alexander Woo reimagine Chinese author Cixin Liu’s acclaimed hard sci-fi trilogy of first contact and looming interplanetary conflict as a more global affair. Wildly ambitious, and boasting an international cast featuring the likes of Benedict Wong, Rosalind Chao, Eiza González, and GOT alum John Bradley, Netflix’s 3 Body Problem serves up the opening salvo in a richly detailed and staggeringly complex saga.
Ripley
Perhaps best known nowadays from 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley starring Matt Damon, novelist Patricia Highsmith’s inveterate criminal Tom Ripley has a longer, darker legacy in print and on the screen. For this limited series, creator Steven Zaillian goes back to Highsmith’s original text, presenting Ridley (a never-more-sinister Andrew Scott of All of Us Strangers) as a down-on-his-luck con man in 1950s New York who is recruited by a wealthy shipbuilder to travel to Italy and persuade the businessman’s spoiled son Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn) to return home. But once in Italy, Ripley finds himself enamored with Dickie’s lavish lifestyle—and will do anything to take it for himself. Shot in black and white to really sell its noir credentials, this is an instant contender for the finest interpretation of Highsmith’s works to date.
Girls5eva
Saving it from Peacock after two seasons, Netflix has gotten the band back together for this sharp comedy from creator Meredith Scardino. Twenty years after they split up, girl group Girls5Eva—Dawn (Sara Bareilles), Gloria (Paula Pell), Summer (Busy Philipps), and Wickie (Renée Elise Goldsberry)—find themselves back in demand after their one big hit is sampled by popular rapper Li’l Stinker (Jeremiah Craft). Turning their renewed popularity into an opportunity to reunite, the women try to gain the stardom, respect, and musical integrity they never had in their youth, even as life has taken them in very different directions. Poking fun at the absurdity of the late ’90s/early ’00s pop scene—and how little has changed since—and heightened by an almost surrealist edge in places, Girls5eva is a comedy that deserves its time in the spotlight.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
A talented young cast bring to life the tale of Aang (Gordon Cormier), the latest in a long line of avatars who can control all four cardinal elements, but is frozen in time for a century when his world needed him most. Awakened by new friends Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley), he sets about continuing his training as the Avatar in an attempt to restore balance, all the while pursued by the relentless Prince Zuko (Dallas Liu), heir to the imperialist Fire Nation that has conquered the world. Consider this a cautious recommendation—the original animated version, also on Netflix, remains superior—but Netflix’s live action Avatar remake serves up scale and spectacle, without betraying the heart of the classic show. It’s also already confirmed for two more seasons, so viewers can look forward to the complete saga without the now-familiar Netflix cancellation worries.
The Legend of Korra
If you’re still not sold on the live-action Avatar, this sequel to the original series is well worth your time. Set 70 years after the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra explores how Aang’s world has progressed after decades of relative peace. When Korra, the new Avatar, moves to Republic City to complete her training under the tutelage of Tenzin—Aang’s son, now with a family of his own—she finds herself and new friends Mako and Bolin caught in the growing tensions between element benders and the Equalist movement, who claim the unpowered are an oppressed class. As the series progresses over its four seasons, The Legend of Korra proves itself a very different beast than its predecessor, exploring political themes and social prejudices in deeper—and often darker—detail, while also expanding the more fantastic elements of the universe and revealing the origins of the first Avatar. Even more brilliantly animated, and with a unique 1920s inspired aesthetic, Korra is a show that grew up alongside its audience, and is all the stronger for it.
Beef
Ever been cut off in traffic? Ever had it happen when you’re having a really bad day? Ever just wanted to take the low road, chase the person down and make them pay?! Then—after a few deep breaths—Beef is the show for you. It’s a pressure valve for every petty grievance you’ve ever suffered, following rich Amy (Ali Wong) and struggling Danny (Steven Yeun) as they escalate a road rage encounter into a vengeance-fueled quest to destroy the other. Yet Beef is more than a city-wide revenge thriller—it’s a biting look at how crushing modern life can be, particularly in its LA setting, where extravagant wealth brushes up against inescapable poverty and seemingly no one is truly happy. Part dramedy, part therapy, Beef is a bad example of conflict resolution but a cathartic binge watch that clearly resonates—as evidenced by its growing clutch of awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Limited Series.
Loudermilk
Something of a sleeper hit for years—its first two seasons debuted on AT&T’s now-defunct pay TV channel Audience in 2017, before its third season appeared over on Amazon—all three seasons of this bleak comedy are now available on Netflix. Ron Livingston stars as Sam Loudermilk, a vitriolic former music critic and recovering alcoholic who proves almost pathologically incapable of holding his tongue when faced with life’s small frustrations—a personality type possibly ill-suited to leading others through addiction support groups. It’s dark in places, and its central character is deliberately unlikeable, but smart writing and smarter performances shape this into something of an acerbic anti-Frasier.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Adapted from the beloved graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, animated by one of the most exciting and dynamic studios in Japan, and voiced by the entire returning cast of director Edgar Wright’s 2010 live-action adaption, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off would have been cult gold even if it was a straight retelling of its eponymous slacker’s battles against lover Ramona Flowers’ seven evil exes. Yet somehow, in a world devoid of surprises, this packs in killer twists from the very first episode, making for a show that’s as fresh and exciting as ever. Saying anything else would ruin it—just watch.
Pluto
Think you know Astro Boy? Think again. In 2003, Naoki Urasawa (Monster, 20th Century Boys) updated original creator Osamu Tezuka’s hugely influential “The Greatest Robot on Earth” story arc for his manga Pluto, opting for a more adult approach. The focus shifts from the heroic boy robot to grizzled cybernetic detective Gesicht as he investigates a series of murders of both humans and robots, each victim left with makeshift horns crammed into their heads. Meanwhile, Atom (Astro’s Japanese name) is recast as a former peace ambassador, effectively a propaganda tool rolled out at the end of the 39th Central Asian War, still dealing with trauma from the experience. This adaptation is not only a faithful recreation of Urasawa’s retelling, but is stunningly animated to a standard rarely seen in Netflix’s original anime productions. With eight episodes, each around an hour long, this is as prestigious as any live-action thriller the streamer has produced, and a testament to both Tezuka and Urasawa’s respective geniuses.
Blue Eye Samurai
In the 17th Century, Japan enforced its “sakoku” isolationist foreign policy, effectively closing itself off from the world. Foreigners were few and far between—so when Mizu (voiced by Maya Erskine) is born with blue eyes, nine months after her mother was assaulted by one of the four white men in the country, it marks her as an outsider, regarded as less than human. Years later, after being trained by a blind sword master and now masquerading as a man, Mizu hunts down those four men, knowing that killing them all is the only way to guarantee her vengeance. Exquisitely animated—which makes its unabashed violence all the more graphic—and with a phenomenal voice cast bolstered by the likes of George Takei, Brenda Song, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Kenneth Branagh, Blue Eye Samurai is one of the best adults-only animated series on Netflix.
Pending Train
Netflix: License one of Japan’s best SF dramas in years. Also Netflix: Do nothing, literally nothing, to promote it, not even create an English subbed trailer. Which is where WIRED comes in—Pending Train is a show you (and Netflix) shouldn’t sleep on. When a train carriage is mysteriously transported into a post-apocalyptic future, the disparate passengers’ first concern is simply survival. Between exploring their new surroundings and clashing with people from another stranded train car over scarce resources, one group—including hairdresser Naoya, firefighter Yuto, and teacher Sae—begins to realize that there may be a reason they’ve been catapulted through time: a chance to go back and avert the disaster that ruined the world. A tense, 10-episode journey, Pending Train offers a Japanese twist on Lost, but one with tighter pacing and showrunners who actually have a clue where they want the story to go.
One Piece
Mark one up for persistence: After numerous anime adaptations ranging from “awful” to “not too bad,” Netflix finally strikes gold with its live-action take on the global phenomenon One Piece. Despite fans’ fears, this spectacularly captures the charm, optimism, and glorious weirdness of Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga, manifesting a fantasy world where people brandish outlandish powers and hunt for a legendary treasure in an Age of Piracy almost verbatim from the page. The perfectly cast Iñaki Godoy stars as Monkey D. Luffy, would-be King of the Pirates, bringing an almost elastic innate physicality to the role that brilliantly matches the characters rubber-based stretching powers, while the crew Luffy gathers over this first season—including swordsmaster Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu), navigator and skilled thief Nami (Emily Rudd), sharpshooter Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson), and martial artist chef Sanji (Taz Skylar)—all brilliantly embody their characters. A lot could have gone wrong bringing One Piece to life, but this is a voyage well worth taking.
The Chosen One
Based on the comic American Jesus by writer Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Kingsman) and artist Peter Gross (Lucifer), The Chosen One follows 12-year-old Jodie (Bobby Luhnow), raised in Mexico by his mother Sarah (Dianna Agron). While the young boy would rather hang out with his friends, his life—and potentially the world—changes forever when he starts exhibiting miraculous powers, attracting dangerous attention from sinister forces. While this could have been yet another formulaic entry in Netflix’s expansive library of supernatural teen dramas (the Stranger Things vibe is particularly strong), the decision to shoot on film and in a 4:3 aspect ratio make this a visual delight, unlike almost anything else on the streamer at present. There’s an English dub, but stick to the original Spanish with English subs for a better viewing experience. (Confusingly, there’s another show with the exact same title on Netflix, a 2019 Brazilian series following a trio of relief doctors in a village dominated by a cult leader—also worth a watch, but don’t get them confused!)
Alice in Borderland
When slacker Ryohei Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) is mysteriously transported to a deserted Tokyo, his keen gaming skills give him an edge navigating a series of lethal games that test intellect as much as physical prowess. Yet after barely scraping through several rounds, Arisu is no closer to uncovering the secrets of this strange borderland, or to finding a way home—and the stakes are about to get even higher. Not only are Arisu and his allies Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya), Kuina (Aya Asahina), and Chishiya (Nijiro Murakami) faced with another gauntlet of sadistic games, but they find themselves caught between rival card suit “courts” vying for power—and not everyone can be trusted.
With its willingness to kill off main characters at a moment’s notice, the first season of this gripping adaptation of Haro Aso’s manga kept viewers on tenterhooks throughout. As the long-awaited second season leans further into its twisted Alice in Wonderland imagery, expect more shocking developments in this taut thriller.
Russian Doll
In Russian Doll, Nadia has one very big problem: Time keeps breaking around her. Season one finds Nadia—played by Natasha Lyonne, who is also a cocreator on the show—dying at her own birthday party, only to wake up there over and over again, trapped in a Groundhog Day-style loop until she can unravel her personalized knot in the space-time continuum. Things only get stranger in season two, where Nadia finds herself traveling back in time to 1982 and inhabiting the body of her own mother—currently heavily pregnant with Nadia herself. Both seasons are funny and thought-provoking, reflecting on personal and generational trauma, all without overegging the potential for philosophical musing.
Lupin
Arsène Lupin, the belle epoque burglar created by French novelist Maurice Leblanc in the early 1900s, is reinvented as Assane Diop, a first-generation Frenchman with a mania for Lupin books and a grudge against the powerful forces who decades ago framed his father for a theft he didn’t commit—and led him to die in prison. Pairing drones, social media bots, and hacking skills with traditional tools of the trade like fake beards, picklocks, and quick wits, Diop hunts down his adversaries as he searches for the truth about his father’s fate. In his spare time, Diop also tries to patch together a crumbling marriage and build a better rapport with his son. Worth watching in the French original, this five-episode series’ strength lies in the dialog, the character development, and the charismatic performance of Omar Sy as Assane. The actual escapades and daring heists are beautifully choreographed, but a lot of the mechanics—how a certain piece of legerdemain worked, when an impenetrable building was infiltrated—are left to the viewer’s imagination.
The 44 Best Shows on Hulu Right Now (February 2025)
While Netflix seemingly led the way for other streaming networks to create compelling original programming, Hulu actually beat them all to the punch. In 2011, a year before Netflix’s Lilyhammer and two years before the arrival of House of Cards, the burgeoning streamer premiered The Morning After, a pop-culture-focused news show that ran for 800 episodes over three years, plus A Day in the Life, a docuseries from the late Oscar-winner Morgan Spurlock.
Hulu has continued to make TV history in the years since, most notably in 2017, when it became the first streamer to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series with The Handmaid’s Tale. In the years since, the streamer has continued to match—and often exceed—that high bar for quality entertainment with shows like The Bear, which took home 11 Emmys in 2024, and Shōgun, which recently set an Emmy record with 18 wins in a single season.
While more competition has popped up since Hulu started gaining critical credibility, the network has continued to stand out for its carefully curated selection of original series and network partnerships that make it the home of FX series and more. Below are some of our favorite shows streaming on Hulu right now.
Not finding what you’re looking for? Head to WIRED’s guide to the best TV shows on Amazon Prime, the best TV shows on Disney+, and the best shows on Netflix. Have other suggestions for this list? Let us know in the comments.
Paradise
This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman reteams with that award-winning series’ star, Sterling K. Brown, for an intricate political thriller which plays with time to slowly reveal the details of a secret service agent (Brown) tasked with protecting the president (James Marsden) who ultimately becomes a suspect in the POTUS’ death. Expect many twists—including a massive one to kick off the series in episode 1.
Scamanda
“Why would somebody fake cancer?” That’s the question asked—and that ABC News attempts to answer—in this true crime docuseries based on the podcast of the same name. The four-part special recounts the life and lies of Amanda C. Riley, a wife, mother, churchgoer, and popular mommy blogger who was celebrated for sharing her fight against Hodgkin’s lymphoma with the world … only to have it all blow up in her face.
Accused
Like a reverse engineered version of Law & Order, Accused—adapted from the acclaimed British series of the same name by Homeland cocreator Howard Gordon—follows the justice system from the perspective of the accused. Each episode begins with the defendant in the courtroom and recounts (via flashbacks) the circumstances that led them there. Like Dick Wolf’s iconic crime series, each episode is full of familiar faces, from Whitney Cummings and Wendell Pierce to Molly Parker and Margo Martindale. The series premiered in early 2023, with season 2 just finishing up in December.
Say Nothing
Fact and fiction combine in this historical drama based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s novel that follows the lives of a group of people growing up in Belfast during the Troubles and their dealings with the Provisional IRA. Much of the story focuses on the Disappeared—a group of 16 people who went missing during the Troubles and were believed to have been kidnapped and murdered. Jean McConville was one of these individuals, both the only woman among them and the only Irish Catholic convert. Nearly 50 years later, many questions remain about these individuals. While Say Nothing doesn’t attempt to answer all of these questions, it does add fascinating context to the events.
Interior Chinatown
Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang) is a waiter who attempts to escape his humdrum life by imagining that he is a background actor in a Law & Order-esque TV show called Black & White. After Wu witnesses a kidnapping, police detective Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet) enlists him to help investigate and take down the local gangs in Chinatown—and discovers something about his own family in the process. Nothing is what it seems in this meta comedy-crime series, which Charles Yu adapted from his own National Book Award–winning novel. The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng ups the comedy as Wu’s coworker/BFF Fatty Choi, and Taika Waititi (one of the show’s executive producers) directs the pilot.
What We Do in the Shadows
If you are in need of a laugh-out-loud comedy (and don’t mind if it’s of the sometimes R-rated kind), you should be watching What We Do in the Shadows. In 2014, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi cowrote, codirected, and costarred in a feature of the same name—a funny mockumentary featuring a group of vampires who share a home. This series, which premiered in 2019, moved the vampire action from New Zealand to Staten Island and brought in a whole new group of vampires—who struggle to even get up off the couch, let alone take over all of New York City (as they’ve been instructed to). After several years, they finally seem ready to get around to the task. If you haven’t been watching, now is the perfect time to start—especially as its sixth season, which aired its final episode on December 16, will sadly be its last.
La Máquina
Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna have been close friends since childhood, and it shows in the onscreen work they’ve done together—most famously in Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-nominated Y Tu Mamá También (2001). More than two decades later, their onscreen chemistry is still potent, as evidenced by this Spanish-language boxing drama. Esteban (García Bernal) is an aging boxer whose manager/BFF Andy (Luna) persuades him to step into the ring one last time before he officially retires. But as the match looms closer, the criminal underbelly of the sport rears its head—forcing Esteban to determine what parts of his life he’s willing to sacrifice. With just six episodes in all, La Máquina moves fast. Don’t flinch.
Rivals
Though David Tennant rose to fame playing Doctor Who’s lovably quirky Tenth Doctor, he’s often at his best when he gets to play a bit of a conniving asshole. In Rivals, Tennant clearly relishes the opportunity. Based on Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel, and set two years before then, it tells the story of two very powerful men and neighbors—Lord Tony Baddingham (Tennant) and Tory MP Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell)—whose ongoing rivalry brings to mind the over-the-top nighttime soaps of that decade, including Dallas and Dynasty. Like those iconic American series, Rivals is more shock-driven than plot-driven, with its campiness (and lots and lots of sex between people who are married to other people) being part of the point. At its heart, it’s a class warfare story in which the tensions between bona fide aristocrat/rogue Campbell-Black and new-money-who-married-into-old-money media mogul Baddingham boil over for all to see. Especially after Baddingham, who owns a television network, poaches popular TV presenter Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) from the BBC and enlists fish-out-of-water American TV producer Cameron Cook (Nafessa Williams) to help keep him on top.
How to Die Alone
Former Saturday Night Live and Insecure writer Natasha Rothwell—whom you might know from her Emmy-nominated turn as spa manager Belinda in season 1 of The White Lotus (she’ll be back for season 3)—created and stars in this eight-episode series. Mel (Rothwell) is an employee at New York City’s JFK Airport who is content with the uneventful life she has built for herself. But when she has a sudden brush with death, she decides to take her life into her own hands. While it’s not the first series to explore matters of life and death, it does so in a way that is both beautifully nuanced and laugh-out-loud funny—all of it anchored by Rothwell’s performance. On February 4, Hulu announced that it had canceled the series after one season—a move that has Rothwell “baffled” and looking for a new network to produce season 2.
English Teacher
Television audiences are hardly lacking in high school–set comedies, or in really great high school–set comedies, and/or really great high school–set comedies that focus on the teacher perspective (see: Abbott Elementary). English Teacher is already proving that it is well on its way to fitting into that elite niche. Brian Jordan Alvarez—who was behind the award-winning 2016 web series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo—both created and stars in the show, in which he portrays an English teacher in Austin, Texas, who is dedicated to making an impact on his students, even if he sometimes needs to depend on their teenage wisdom to figure out the right way to do that. While it doesn’t shy away from the politics that exist in the teaching profession, it also presents the “adults” as often just as lost as the kids they teach.
Only Murders in the Building
Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez make for a delightful trio of true-crime-obsessed podcast fans who, in season 1 of this original Hulu series, decide to join forces and create their own podcast while attempting to solve the mysterious death of a fellow resident of their Manhattan apartment building. From the very beginning of their odd alliance, it’s been clear that all is not what it seems, and everyone is keeping secrets. Now they’ve upped the ante on guest stars, too; the third season saw Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep join in the fun. Streep returned for the show’s fourth season, and was joined by Eugene Levy, Kumail Nanjiani, Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy, Zach Galifianakis, and Eva Longoria. Season 5 is already in the works.
At Witt’s End
On December 1, 1994, 19-year-old Melissa Witt drove to surprise her mother at a bowling alley in Fort Smith, Arkansas, but disappeared without a trace. Six weeks later, her naked body was found by hunters in Ozark National Forest. Now, this four-part docuseries delves into the 30-year quest to identify Melissa’s killer(s) and bring an end to her case, which local police, the FBI, family, and friends are still desperate to solve. At Witt’s End elevates the typical true-crime docudrama by drawing an intimate portrait of Witt, a beloved teen whose life was cut far too short.
Solar Opposites
This animated sci-fi comedy, which premiered in 2020, is about a family of aliens from the planet Shlorp who crash-land on Earth—for better or worse. The show is rooted in the idea that humans are, well, weird. Which seems appropriate given this current moment in time. Yet, in between the laughs and occasional threat to humanity, it maintains a positive outlook on the world and the people who inhabit it. Which is something we could probably all use right about now.
Marvel’s Hit-Monkey
Hit-Monkey may not be Marvel’s best known character, but this action-packed animated series is helping change that. As the title indicates, the story centers around Hit-Monkey (Fred Tatasciore), a snow monkey intent on taking out the Tokyo underworld with the help of his mentor, Bryce Fowler (Jason Sudeikis). Oh, and Bryce is a ghost—and a former assassin.
Futurama
Following a decade-long hiatus, Futurama—Matt Groening and David X. Cohen’s animated sci-fi comedy—made a triumphant return in 2023, complete with gags about Twilight Zone and “Momazon” drone deliveries. Now is the perfect time to dive back in—or watch it all for the first time. All 12 seasons of the series are currently available for streaming and and Hulu has confirmed that at least two more seasons are on the way (with the next one tentatively scheduled to premiere in July).
We Were the Lucky Ones
In Radom, Poland, the Kurcs are a loving family who seem to have it all—until the horrors of the Holocaust invade the serenity of their everyday lives. As World War II arrives on their doorstep, the family is separated—escaping to France, Brazil, West Africa, and Russia. Some are in hiding, others in concentration camps. But they’re all focused on one goal: surviving the war and reuniting with each other.
The Bear
Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) is a superstar of the fine dining world who has returned to his hometown of Chicago to save his family’s struggling sandwich shop after his brother’s death by suicide. While Carmy initially struggles to acclimate himself to being home and to his inherited kitchen’s back-to-basics style, he eventually realizes that it’s not too late to change both himself and the restaurant. Anyone who has ever worked in a busy kitchen knows the stress that comes with it, and The Bear does an excellent job of making that tension palpable—as evidenced by its slew of aforementioned Emmy Awards. While the plot sounds simple enough, much of Carmy’s previous life is a bit of a mystery, and it’s doled out in amuse-bouche-sized bits throughout the series with top-tier guest stars you may not have seen coming (fact: Jamie Lee Curtis has never been better, as evidenced by her recent—and very first—Emmy win). Prepare to feast.
Queenie
Queenie Jenkins (Dionne Brown) is a Jamaican-British twentysomething whose world is thrown into an upheaval following an ugly breakup with her boyfriend. That messiness follows Queenie into the next chapter in her life, when she attempts to pick up the pieces of her failed relationship while frequently butting heads with her family and trying to reconcile her dual cultures. Candice Carty-Williams adapts her own bestselling novel to create a poignant dramedy that’s ultimately about trauma and healing.
Black Twitter: A People’s History
In the late 2000s—back when Elon Musk was just that car-and-spaceship billionaire—Twitter was more than a social media network. It was a genuine gathering place for people to find their people, whether that was Film Twitter or Cat Twitter. For Black Twitter, it was a lot more. This three-part docuseries, based on WIRED senior writer Jason Parham’s 2021 cover story, recounts the most important moments and movements that helped solidify the Black Twitter community’s place as a cultural force in the world, from politics and beyond.
Under the Bridge
Welcome to your new true crime obsession. Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone (who earned an Emmy nomination for her work in the show) make a formidable duo as an author and a police officer, respectively, investigating the brutal murder of a 14-year-old girl in a small town in Canada. The limited series is based on Rebecca Godfrey’s award-winning 2005 book of the same name (with Keough portraying Godfrey), and is a haunting reminder of what human beings are capable of.
Shōgun
Game of Thrones fans still lamenting the loss of one of television’s great epics have found their new favorite binge-watch in Shōgun, which just took home a record 18 Emmys (with 25 nods altogether). This 10-episode series, based on James Clavell’s beloved novel (which was first adapted into a miniseries in 1980), is a brilliant and sweeping tale of political rivalry in feudal Japan where Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada), a powerful warrior, has a target put on his back by his political rivals in the Council of Regents. Fortunately for Toranaga, he’s got Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), a talented translator and fiercely loyal samurai, by his side. Though it was originally positioned as a one-and-done limited series, FX and Hulu have already confirmed that both seasons two and three are in the works.
Such Brave Girls
Comedian/actress Kat Sadler created and stars in this deeply messy, darkly funny story of a totally dysfunctional family—mom Deb (Sherlock’s Louise Brealey) and daughters Josie (Sadler) and Billie (Lizzie Davidson, Sadler’s real-life sister)—attempting to pick up the pieces after their husband/father leaves them. It’s cringe-comedy at its finest, and the kind that will appeal to fans of Fleabag. A second season is in the works, and expected to premiere later this year.
Abbott Elementary
Quinta Brunson created and stars in this hit series, which follows the daily lives—in and out of the classroom—of a group of teachers at what is widely considered one of the worst public schools in America. Despite a lack of funding for even basic educational necessities, and school district leaders who only care about the barest minimum standards, these educators are united by their drive to surpass expectations and encourage their students to do the same. The series is currently in its fourth season, with season 5 already confirmed.
Fargo
Noah Hawley’s anthology series isn’t the first attempt to adapt the Coen brothers’ Oscar-winning crime-comedy to the small screen (Edie Falco starred in a previous version, which was a more straightforward adaptation of the movie), but his approach was clearly the smarter move. Fans of the Coens in general will find lots to love about the many nods to the filmmakers’ entire filmography, with each season covering a different crime and time period. Though the seasons do share connections, each one is a total one-off, and the show might boast the most talented group of actors ever assembled: Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Bob Odenkirk, Oliver Platt, Ted Danson, Patrick Wilson, Nick Offerman, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Ewan McGregor, Michael Stuhlbarg, Carrie Coon, Scoot McNairy, Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman, Timothy Olyphant, and Ben Whishaw are just a few of the names who’ve found a home in Fargo. The fantastic fifth season—featuring Juno Temple, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Joe Keery, and Lamorne Morris (who won an Emmy for his role)—continued this tradition of exceptional acting, with all episodes streaming now.
A Murder at the End of the World
Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) is a talented hacker and armchair detective who is one of eight guests invited to spend a few days at the stunning yet remote home of a mysterious billionaire (Clive Owen). When one of the guests ends up dead, Darby must work quickly to prove that it was murder—and who did it—before the bodies start piling up. Fans of twisty true crime will appreciate this limited series, which comes from the minds of Brit Marling (who costars) and Zal Batmanglij—cocreators of the equally mind-bending The OA.
Moonlighting
While Die Hard turned Bruce Willis into one of Hollywood’s biggest action stars, he was far from producers’ first choice for the role of John McClane. That’s largely because he was seen as the funny guy from Moonlighting, the Emmy-winning ’80s dramedy that centers around the Blue Moon Detective Agency and its two often-bickering owners, David Addison (Willis) and Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd). Over the course of its five seasons, the series racked up some serious critical acclaim and wasn’t afraid to experiment with the sitcom format.
The Other Black Girl
Sinclair Daniel shines as Nella Rogers, an up-and-coming book editor—and the only Black employee at the publishing house where she works. While Nella is initially thrilled when another young woman of color, Hazel-May McCall (Ashleigh Murray), is hired as an assistant, she can’t help but notice that a series of bizarre events seems to follow. As Nella tries to suss out exactly what is going on, she uncovers some pretty damn disturbing skeletons in her employer’s closet. While horror-comedies are an increasingly popular movie genre, we don’t see them on the small screen quite as often—which, if this clever series is any indication, is a real shame. Also unfortunate: One season is all we’ll get of The Other Black Girl.
The Full Monty
Twenty-six years after a low-budget British comedy blew up at the box office, scored an Oscar, and introduced “the Full Monty” into the popular lexicon, the Regular Joes turned strippers from Sheffield are back to face largely the same issues they were lamenting in the original feature film. Much of the main cast reassembled for this follow-up to Peter Cattaneo’s hit 1997 movie, including two-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson, who passed away in late December. Stripping is involved, as are other inevitables in life, including breakups, reconciliations, and death. For fans of the original movie—or the Broadway musical and stage play that followed—it’s a fun check-in with the characters who bared it all.
The Office (UK)
Years before there was Jim and Pam and Dwight and Michael, there were Tim and Dawn and Gareth and David. For lovers of cringe, it’s hard to do better than Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s workplace comedy. David Brent (Gervais) is the original boss from hell, whose office antics will have you covering your eyes and laughing out loud at the same time. Like many British series, there are just two seasons—each consisting of a mere six episodes—plus a two-part Christmas special. Don’t be surprised if you sit down to watch a single episode and binge it all in one go.
Cheers
In the 1980s, NBC was the channel to watch on Thursday nights—in large part thanks to Cheers. The bar where everybody knows your name is where the action happens in this award-winning sitcom about a former Red Sox player (Ted Danson) and the lovable employees and patrons who treat his bar like a second home. If you can look past (or, even better, embrace) the questionable ’80s fashion and sometimes-sexist storylines that wouldn’t necessarily fly on TV today, you’ll find what is arguably one of the smartest sitcoms ever written. More than 40 years after its original premiere, the jokes still stand up and the characters are some of television’s most memorable (and beloved) for a reason.
Dopesick
Back in 2021, Hulu went where Netflix’s Painkiller went in 2023: to the late ’90s and early 2000s, aka the beginning of America’s opioid crisis. Danny Strong created this retelling of the lengths to which Richard Sackler (played here by the always excellent Michael Stuhlbarg) and Purdue Pharma would go to sell doctors on the powers of OxyContin—all with the promise of no addiction. Michael Keaton won an Emmy for his portrayal of a widowed doctor in Appalachia who buys into the lies, and eventually becomes a victim of them.
Reservation Dogs
Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo cocreated this Peabody Award–winning series, which made history as the first mainstream TV show created by, starring, and crewed by an almost entirely Indigenous American team. It tells the story of four bored teens who are desperate to escape their lives on a reservation in Oklahoma. They decide that California is where they want to be and commit to a life of mostly petty crimes in order to save up enough money to leave. The full series is available to watch now, including the brilliant third season sendoff.
Taste the Nation With Padma Lakshmi
“The gateway to another culture often happens first through food,” says Padma Lakshmi in the first season of Taste the Nation. That pretty much sums up this food show, made in the style of Parts Unknown and Bizarre Foods (both of which are also streaming on Hulu). Lakshmi makes for a compelling tour guide, and she doesn’t even need to leave the US to explore the cultures, and culinary delights, of Ukraine, Cambodia, Italy, and beyond.
The Great
Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult shine in this witty, fast-paced, comedic retelling (but not really) of Catherine the Great’s rise to power. Created by Tony McNamara, who earned Oscar nominations for his writing work on both The Favourite and Poor Things, The Great offers the same combination of lush costumes and scenery mixed with a biting commentary on the world, and a woman’s place in it. A story that rings as true today as it did in the 18th century, when Catherine the Great became empress of Russia and brought about the Age of Enlightenment, this show chips away at notions of class, propriety, and monarchical rule in a way few others do. If it’s historical accuracy you’re after, look elsewhere; the series’ creators describe it as decidedly “anti-historical” (which is part of the fun). All three seasons are available to stream.
Tiny Beautiful Things
The reason to watch this eight-part limited series can be summed up in two words: Kathryn Hahn. A comedic juggernaut, Hahn can switch from funny to dramatic in the same scene, if not the same sentence. This talent is on display in Tiny Beautiful Things, where she plays Claire, a writer who takes up an advice column and pours all the traumas of her life into responding to her readers. Based on Wild author Cheryl Strayed’s collection of “Dear Sugar” columns, the vignettes here may be a bit out of sorts, but Hahn pulls them together.
Dave
Dave Burd is a comedian and rapper who goes by the stage name Lil Dicky. In Dave, Burd plays a rapper who goes by the stage name Lil Dicky and is attempting to raise his profile and make a much bigger name for himself. If only his many neuroses didn’t keep getting in the way. While Dave could have easily turned into some mediocre experiment in meta storytelling, Burd—who cocreated the series, stars in it, and has written several episodes—grapples with some surprisingly touchy topics, including mental illness. And he does it all with a level of sensitivity and honesty that you might not expect from a guy named Lil Dicky. Despite the show’s popularity and critical acclaim, the three seasons currently streaming may be all we get of Dave. In early 2024, Burd announced that he’d be pressing “pause” on the series in order to explore other creative ventures. (But never say never.)
Atlanta
Donald Glover proved himself to be a quadruple threat of an actor, writer, musician, and comedian with this highly acclaimed FX series about Earnest “Earn” Marks (Glover), an aspiring music manager who is trying to help his cousin Alfred Miles, aka Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), kick off his musical career. They’re surrounded by a supportive crew of friends, including Alfred’s BFF, Darius (LaKeith Stanfield), and Van (Zazie Beetz), Earn’s close friend and the mother of his child. This makes it all sound like a fairly straightforward buddy comedy, but Atlanta is so much more. Even better: It’s weird. Glover is not afraid to experiment with storytelling, which is part of what makes the show so compelling.
Baskets
Zach Galifianakis stars alongside Zach Galifianakis as twin brothers Chip and Dale Baskets in this unexpectedly moving family comedy about an aspiring clown (Chip) who fails to graduate from a fancy clowning school in Paris and is forced to return home to Bakersfield, California, where he lives with his mother (the late Louie Anderson) and is constantly belittled by his higher-achieving brother (Dale). Between the dual role for Galifianakis and Anderson as the mom, it may sound like a cheap bit of stunt casting that can’t sustain more than an episode, let alone multiple character arcs. But if you’re a fan of absurdist comedy, Baskets truly ranks among the best of them. And Anderson, who won his first and only Emmy for his role as Costco-loving Christine, is absolutely transcendent. While it received a fair amount of critical acclaim, Baskets could rightly be considered one of the most underseen and underappreciated series in recent memory.
The Dropout
Amanda Seyfried won a much deserved Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy for her portrayal of the notorious Stanford dropout turned health care technology maven Elizabeth Holmes, who tricked some of the world’s savviest business minds into investing in her company, Theranos. While Holmes’ goal was altruistic enough—making health care more accessible to the masses via a device that could detect any number of diseases with little more than a single finger prick of blood—the technology wasn’t able to catch up. Rather than admit defeat, she kept pushing, making business deals and promises she could never fulfill.
The Handmaid’s Tale
When Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale in 1985, little did she know that its television adaptation would revolutionize the still-nascent world of original streaming content. And she may not have anticipated just how many parallels her dystopian classic would share with the real world at the time it was adapted into an award-winning television series. It’s set in an unnamed time in what is presumably the very near future, when the United States has been taken over by a fundamentalist group known as Gilead, under whose regime women are considered property and stripped of any personal rights. The most valuable women are those who are fertile, as infertility has become an epidemic, and they are kept as handmaids who are forced to take part in sexual rituals with high-ranking couples in order to bear their children. Recognizing the power she wields, Offred, aka June Osborne (Elisabeth Moss), is not content to remain enslaved and sets about changing the rules as she seeks to reunite with her lost husband and daughter. It’s been a while since we’ve seen any new episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale; its most recent season aired in 2022. Production on the sixth, and final, season commenced in September and is scheduled to drop in the spring.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
If you thought the characters on Seinfeld were terrible people, wait until you meet the gang from Paddy’s Pub. For nearly 20 years, Dennis (Glenn Howerton), Mac (Robert McElhenney), Charlie (Charlie Day), Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olson), and Frank (Danny DeVito) have unapologetically plotted against each other and total strangers in a series of completely self-centered schemes with absolutely no regard for the rules of civility. The show follows the “no hugging and no learning” rule Larry David established for Seinfeld, but elevates it to a new level of sociopathy. “Dennis and Dee Go on Welfare,” “Sweet Dee Has a Heart Attack,” “How Mac Got Fat,” “Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender,” “The Gang Turns Black,” and “The Gang Goes to a Water Park” are just some of the offbeat adventures awaiting viewers. In 2021, Sunny became the longest-running live-action sitcom in the history of television, and it shows no signs of slowing down—or taking it easy on its characters. It also happens to be one of the easiest shows to binge: Pop an episode on and, without even realizing it, you’ll be on to another season. Its 16th (!!) wrapped up in 2023—but there are at least two more on the way.
Letterkenny
What began as a web series is now a Hulu original that wrapped up its eleventh season in December. The show is a portrait of small-town Canada (the fictional Letterkenny of the title) and focuses on siblings Wayne (cocreator Jared Keeso) and Katy (Michelle Mylett), who run a produce stand with help from friends Daryl (Nathan Dales) and Squirrely Dan (K. Trevor Wilson). As is often the case in small-town series, many of the residents fall into specific categories—in Letterkenny, you could be a gym rat, a hick, a skid (their word for a drug addict), or a “native” (a member of the nearby First Nation reservation). But in contrast to many small-town series, these groups—and the individuals who comprise them—aren’t reduced to meaningless stereotypes.
The Patient
Steve Carell plays against type—or is at least nothing like The Office’s Michael Scott—in this psychological thriller from Joel Fields and The Americans creator Joe Weisberg. Carell is Alan Strauss, a therapist being held captive by his patient (Domhnall Gleeson), who cops to being a serial killer and desperately wants Strauss to “cure” his desire to kill. The series plays out like one big-bottle episode; much of the action occurs in a single room, with Carell and Gleeson speaking only to each other—each trying to determine his best next move.
Pen15
Mining the awkwardness of one’s middle school years is hardly a new comedy concept. But being in your early thirties and playing yourself as a junior high school student and then surrounding yourself with age-appropriate actors who are actually going through that hellish rite of passage brings a whole new layer of cringe and humor. This is exactly what cocreators/stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle did for Pen15.
