The thriller genre is best served up on the small screen in limited doses, which is why it’s coming to the fore during the golden age of TV miniseries. Long-running drama shows struggle to sustain the adrenaline hit we get from thrillers past one or two seasons. By contrast, thriller miniseries are tailor-made for consistent levels of suspense and intensity.
It’s these limited thriller shows that typically have us hooked from start to finish, with self-contained plots that surprise and misdirect us with myriad twists throughout each individual episode. For the sake of clarity, we’re not including thriller-adjacent miniseries such as Adolescence and Chernobyl – which are human stories primarily focused on tragedy and character development – in this list.
Nevertheless, thriller miniseries still span plenty of subgenres, from twisting tales of crime and espionage to high-octane mystery and superhero shows, as well as certain mindbending psychological and procedural dramas. Every shade in the full spectrum of thrillers gets its due here.
Many of the best miniseries of all time fall within this spectrum, especially as we get closer to the top of the list. The greatest among them take their rightful place at the summit of the thriller genre, over and above most of the genre’s premier feature-length movie releases of recent years.
The Patient
2022
The Patient is an eminently bingeable hidden gem in the glittering career of Steve Carell, as the actor plays a therapist kidnapped by his homicidal patient. For the most part, the show’s 10 episodes play out as a minimalist yet supremely suspenseful two-hander, with both Carell and his fellow lead Domhnall Gleeson at the top of their game.
The Stranger
2020
Unsettling British mystery thriller The Stranger is a must-watch for Netflix subscribers, particularly those who enjoy the work of The Hobbit and Hannibal actor Richard Armitage. Meanwhile, Hannah John-Kamen plays the titular stranger, whose connections to Armitage’s protagonist are gradually revealed during the course of the series to devastating effect.
Watchmen
2019
This acclaimed nine-episode miniseries begins long after the morally questionable ending of the Watchmen comic book series, although the world is still reeling from the actions taken by supernatural vigilante Ozymandias to avert a nuclear holocaust. It’s the brainchild of Lost and The Leftovers co-creator Damon Lindelof, and bears his signature philosophical approach to prestige television.
The Undoing
2020
The Undoing has found renewed streaming success on HBO Max in September 2025, almost five years after its original release. Its popular appeal surely hinges on the irresistible pairing of Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant as a married couple who become deeply embroiled in a terrifying murder mystery, which leaves us wondering who to believe.
Bodyguard
2018
A gritty yet stylish procedural that hurtles through its six episodes at breakneck speed, Bodyguard is arguably the best action thriller series on Netflix right now. It stars Richard Madden as a specialist protection officer for a hated British Home Secretary, who quickly finds himself wrapped up in a major conspiracy because of his job assignment.
A Murder at the End of the World
2023
A murder mystery that’s as thrilling as it is intriguing, this miniseries sees Emma Corrin play a young detective who finds herself investigating a suspicious death at a remote Icelandic retreat. A Murder at the End of the World’s ending hangs on a dizzying set of reveals, but the intense drama that precedes them makes this complex finale worth it.
The Little Drummer Girl
2018
Among the most underrated miniseries thrillers out there today, The Little Drummer Girl is based on genre specialist John le Carré’s 1983 novel about an actor recruited by Mossad to infiltrate a Palestinian terrorist organisation. Florence Pugh plays the morally conflicted central character superbly, striking the perfect balance between wide-eyed naivety, double-agent savvy, and irrepressible empathy.
The Penguin
2024
Since the fate of a potential season 2 of The Penguin remains uncertain, it’s worth including this unorthodox superhero thriller in the list of best miniseries in the genre. The show takes its lead from Todd Phillips’ similarly sanguine character study of the Penguin’s fellow Batman villain in 2019’s Joker. Colin Farrell gives a stunning performance in the title role.
Escape At Dannemora
2018
Based on a real-life New York jailbreak, Escape at Dannemora is fronted by lead cast members Benicio del Toro and Patricia Arquette, who are ably supported by Paul Dano. Ben Stiller’s debut as a TV drama director places its focus squarely on the people principally involved in the titular escape, engendering genuine sympathy for their hair-raising attempts to evade justice.
The Outsider
2020
The Outsider is probably the best Stephen King adaptation anywhere on television. It might not boast the shock value of 1990’s It, or the nostalgia factor that 11.22.63 can offer up. But it’s a consummate psychological thriller, tinged with King’s trademark supernatural horror, with an extraordinary, show-stealing performance from Cynthia Erivo tying it all together.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
