The 20 Best Thriller Series Of All Time, Ranked
Everyone loves an excellent thriller series every once in a while. Considering there’s no shortage of amazing thriller shows available, figuring out which to watch can be challenging, though. But the best shows hook audiences from start to finish, delivering gripping narratives, agonizing suspense, and irresistible characters. More than that, they leave people talking for years to come about all the twists and turns that occurred.
Thriller TV shows cover nearly every subgenre one could desire, which makes narrowing down the options before going into a series vital. To do that, one can look up a series’ ratings on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes, delve into countless reviews, or consult numerous “Best of” lists. Whichever way the options are narrowed down, one will find that the best of the best thriller series have proven themselves by leaving critics and audiences raving, and they run the gamut from phenomenal crime thrillers to spy thrillers with a twist.
20
The Following (2013–2015)
Netflix, Amazon Prime, Tubi
This dark psychological thriller had a penchant for being grittier and more violent than other thrillers at the time it aired. In fact, The Following received some criticism for the amount of violence it showed. Starring Kevin Bacon as FBI agent Ryan Hardy, the series follows his attempts to capture serial killer Joe Carroll, who has escaped prison. Hardy had already captured him once, but now Carroll has acquired a cult of killers willing to do anything for him.
The Following mixed genres. While it was a thriller, it also dipped into horror and suspense (especially considering the show featured a fictional cult leader as the antagonist), making it a gripping narrative with an exciting chase at its core. It was also heavy on the twists (although some of those could be rather nonsensical). The show started with fantastic ratings, but by the end, it had lost the plot and ratings had dropped off, so it sits at 58% on the Tomatometer. Despite that, The Following is still one of the most fun and bingeable TV thrillers.
19
Dexter (2006–2013)
Paramount+, The Roku Channel
When it comes to thrilling crime dramas, few are better than Dexter. The first season of the show was adapted from Jeff Lindsay’s Darkly Dreaming Dexter and brought to the screen the anti-hero Dexter Morgan. When the original Dexter premiered, it featured an utterly unique premise: a serial killer who only killed those who escaped justice, who also worked in crime scene investigation by day.
The show was a standout for its compelling storylines that saw Dexter balancing the opposite sides of his life. It also offered audiences thought-provoking questions about morality and delectable drama. It was one of Showtime’s most popular series, but had plenty of ups and downs (as evidenced by its Rotten Tomatoes scores throughout the seasons; currently it’s at 71%) and managed to lose its audience over time. Despite the occasional misses, it still made enough of an impression that Dexter’s story continued in Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and Dexter: Resurrection (currently airing).
18
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan (2018–2023)
Amazon Prime
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is, of course, adapted from the bestselling books by Tom Clancy. The series followed Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst who is forced to leave his desk job to work in the field after discovering a terrorist conspiracy. While earlier movie versions created an action-heavy Jack Ryan universe, the Amazon Prime series starring John Krasinski toned it down a bit, focusing more on intelligence gathering and the moral dilemmas that arise in the spy world.
The series had Jack Ryan uncover a new conspiracy each year, so rather than a drawn-out plot that lasted for seasons, each season was its own geopolitical thriller. This way of doing things made the show more enthralling and resulted in a consistency not always seen in thrillers. Despite having less action, it still delivered plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments and excellent visuals that drew viewers in. However, critics seemed to like Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan a bit more than audiences, as the Popcornmeter is only 74% versus 80% on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer.
17
True Detective (2014–Present)
HBO Max, Amazon Prime
True Detective, though it rewrote the rules of detective series, has been a bit of a mixed bag (as anthologies tend to be), which is why it's lower in the ranks of best thrillers. While the show, which follows a pair of different detectives each season as they deal with personal drama and crime-solving, has proven to be masterful at creating a melancholy atmosphere and engaging audiences in philosophical storylines that linger, whether a season is good can be very hit-or-miss.
The first and fourth seasons are widely considered the best (a fifth season is supposedly premiering in 2027), while the second and third lost some of the magic that made season one so wonderful. Season two garnered only 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, while season four earned itself a 93%. Critics and fans are somewhat divided on the show overall, as well. While the Tomatometer sits at 78%, the Popcornmeter is only 59%. True Detective is a fantastic crime thriller when it's done right, though, so hopefully season five will be another masterpiece.
16
The Blacklist (2013–2023)
Netflix
The Blacklist helped reinvigorate the spy thriller genre, as police procedurals were all the rage when it premiered. While the first couple of seasons somewhat followed a procedural formula, it wasn’t long before the show became more serialized, especially with the slow-burning mystery of who Raymond “Red” Reddington really was. It followed Red, a notorious criminal on the FBI’s most-wanted list, as he turned himself in to the agency. His stipulations for doing so were full immunity and that he would work only with newbie criminal profiler Elizabeth Keen.
That led to the FBI and the criminal mastermind taking down a slew of villains over the series' 10-season run, while Elizabeth also tried to figure out why Red wanted to work with her. The series had no shortage of action or mysteries, and it spawned a small franchise. However, The Blacklist lost its stride in later seasons (particularly the 8th) and had to change up its game entirely for the last two seasons. While the Popcornmeter rating for the show as a whole sits at 80%, its 8th season fell to 43%.
15
Alias (2001–2006)
Amazon Prime, Disney Plus
Alias, created by J.J. Abrams and starring Jennifer Garner, follows Sydney Bristow, a grad student who believes she's worked for the CIA for years, but in reality has been working for a rogue agency called SD-6. That first twist is far from the only one in the series, which became known for involving conspiracies, clones, and even mythology with the introduction of Rambaldi. The true draw in this thriller, though, wasn’t spycraft or mysteries but Sydney and how her work affected her relationships.
While ratings wavered a bit throughout the series’ run — mostly because it moved to a new time slot more than once — it consistently drew strong numbers. The Rotten Tomatoes score for Alias stayed fairly consistent from season to season, as well, with season four earning the lowest rating of 73%. Today, the series that showed spy thrillers could be serialized sits at 86% on the Tomatometer.
14
Squid Game (2021–2025)
Netflix
Squid Game came along at the right time to capture the world’s attention with its bloody satire exploring economic struggles in a capitalist system. It’s even more relevant today, when many people struggle financially; while most wouldn’t sign up for the show's contest, the desperation is relatable. The dystopian South Korean thriller focuses on 456 people urgently in need of money who are recruited into a secret contest. For the chance to win ₩45.6 billion (US$39.86 million), they simply must play some kids’ games. Unfortunately, the cost of losing is higher than expected.
The series quickly became one of the most-watched series in the world because of its violence and thrills (though, believe it or not, there are Korean thrillers out there that make this one look tame) and made history as the first non-English-language show to garner a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Best Drama. However, the first season remains the best, with the second and third struggling to live up to it. Squid Game is still an incredibly watchable show that will keep audiences guessing, though, and still holds an 86% on the Tomatometer.
13
24 (2001–2010)
Amazon Prime, Hulu
It’s impossible to have a list of the best thrillers without the inclusion of this noughties megahit. 24 helped popularize binge-watching and was frequently lauded as one of the best shows on television. In it, an agent from the Los Angeles Counterterrorism Unit, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), and his team thwart terrorism of all kinds, with each season representing a 24-hour cycle counted down by a clock. The real-time aspect was extremely innovative and helped make the show popular, as it helped keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
However, as highly regarded as the show was, it also met with much criticism about halfway into its run for its portrayal of Muslims and torture. Even people like Bill Clinton and Rush Limbaugh brought up the show in this context, and eventually, the show scaled back on torture scenes. Despite the controversy, though, 24 is still considered one of the most influential shows of that era, and it still sits at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes today.
12
Paradise (2025–Present)
Hulu
For those who missed it, Paradise is a newer thriller that came out in 2025 and was just renewed for a second season this year. Part political thriller, part dystopian sci-fi thriller, this series by Dan Fogelman (This Is Us) is intriguing, action-packed, high-concept, and incredibly twisty. In fact, viewers start out thinking they’re watching one thing, only to discover later on that it’s something else entirely. (Stephen King called it "the closest thing on TV to Lost.")
U.S. Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) discovers the dead body of the President. He sets out to discover who committed the crime, while also being a suspect himself, but this narrative is really a way to examine the threat of climate change, as well as how tech billionaires have influenced the government. Audiences loved it, making it the top streaming show in the U.S. for several weeks after it premiered. Critics are big fans as well, with Paradise currently sitting at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
11
Orphan Black (2013–2017)
Amazon Prime
The sci-fi thriller Orphan Black took the world by storm, immediately setting itself apart in the very first episode. Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) sees someone identical to her commit suicide, which leads her to take over that person’s life. In doing so, she discovers she is just one of many identical clones created by a movement that wants to direct the evolution of humans. The already startling conspiracy only grows from there, becoming more tangled over the next few seasons.
Maslany’s stellar performance as not just Sarah but as all the different clones is what gives Orphan Black its true edge, as she manages to make each character entirely distinctive. That, plus the examination of the ethical and broader implications of human cloning and scientific experimentation, along with the series' ever-evolving mysteries, pulled viewers in and helped the series develop a cult following. Orphan Black earned tons of accolades and nominations while it was on (especially for Maslany’s performance), and currently has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.