Zoe Saldaña has played everything from a Na’vi warrior in Avatar to Gamora in the MCU, but Lioness might be my favorite role of hers. As Joe McNamara, she brings the perfect mix of grit, vulnerability, and authority, making every mission feel personal. Her performance is a big reason why Taylor Sheridan‘s spy thriller stands out in such a crowded genre.
The good news is that Lioness isn’t the only great modern action thriller out there. Over the last decade or so, streaming platforms have graced us with some fantastic TV shows packed with military operations, espionage, political conspiracies, and pulse-pounding action. Lioness obviously didn’t invent the formula, and it’s far from the best. For this list, I’ve included recent TV shows that match or beat Lioness, and I would recommend these eight before any others.
Why You Should Trust Me: I’ve been writing about movies and TV shows for MovieWeb for nearly four years now, and action thrillers are one of my favorite genres. Between crime dramas and conspiracy-filled adventures, I’ve watched more of these shows than I can count. I also keep track of premiere dates, renewal news, and cast changes every week. This list reflects where each series stands right now.
Honorable Mentions
The Agency (2024 – Present): The Agency is George Clooney and Michael Fassbender’s Paramount+ remake of the French classic, Le Bureau des Légendes. It’s close enough to the source material that if you’ve watched the original series, you will recognize it scene by scene. The Agency Season 2 premiered in June 2026, and Fassbender’s performance as an undercover CIA officer is spectacular. I chose the French original for the main list, though.
The Day of the Jackal (2024 – Present): With The Day of the Jackal, Eddie Redmayne turned a 1971 novel into a gripping modern cat-and-mouse thriller. Peacock’s version, which aired on Sky in the U.K., was the biggest launch in Sky’s history. However, Season 2 has been pushed to 2027, which is the only reason it isn’t ranked higher.
‘The Terminal List’ (2022 – Present)
The Military Thriller That Hits Harder Than Lioness
Watch This If: Few shows commit to the warrior mindset the way The Terminal List does. Chris Pratt plays James Reece, a Navy SEAL who comes home and finds his entire platoon ambushed. Throughout Season 1, he works through a revenge list. What sets it apart is Reece’s personal motivations. Instead of chasing an abstract enemy, he hunts down the people who destroyed his family, and the show never lets you forget that. The Terminal List Season 2 finally arrives in October, four years after the first, and is an adaptation of Jack Carr’s novel True Believer. The story will push further into a global conspiracy.
Skip This If: You want your action heroes to wrestle with what they’ve done. Reece never hesitates and rarely second-guesses a kill. If you prefer a protagonist who feels guilt or debates the ethics of vengeance, this won’t scratch that itch. The show also asks you to accept a bleak view of institutions from the beginning of the story by painting most of the government and military brass as either compromised or complicit.
‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’ (2018 – 2023)
When Intelligence Is More Exciting Than the Action
Watch This If: For those who love the intelligence side of Lioness as much as the action, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is an easy recommendation. It’s one of the few modern thrillers that juggles field operations, surveillance, political intrigue, and globe-trotting missions flawlessly. I also like that John Krasinski’s version of Jack Ryan never feels like an unstoppable superhero. No matter what the situation, he’s an analyst first. He would rather solve a problem with intelligence than a rifle, which makes the moments he’s forced into danger actually feel heavy. The show ran for four seasons before wrapping in 2021, and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War, the feature film continuation, premiered on Prime Video in May 2026.
Skip This If: You’re looking for wall-to-wall action with no time for geopolitical setup. Jack Ryan spends a lot of time laying out the politics behind every threat before the action ramps up. Each season also picks a different global hotspot and rebuilds a cast of new characters around it, which makes the story feel a bit disconnected.
‘Banshee’ (2013 – 2016)
The Most Entertaining Action Series I’ve Ever Binged
Watch This If: An action thriller needs action, and nothing on this list does it better than Banshee. The plot revolves around a career criminal who steps into the identity of a murdered small-town sheriff. It’s four seasons of the most inventive fight choreography on TV. Every punch feels painful, every brawl is wild and creative, and the show somehow manages to top itself season after season. Of course, the action wouldn’t land nearly as well without Antony Starr. Long before he became Homelander, he anchored Banshee with his magnetic performance. Overall, the series is louder, bloodier, and pulpier than Lioness.
Skip This If: Graphic violence and nudity make you uncomfortable. Banshee pushes both further than the other shows on this list. The plot can also get pulpy to the point of implausibility, with a small Pennsylvania town housing enough criminal conspiracies for a major city. If you’re looking for the grounded realism of a military drama, the tonal whiplash is jarring.
‘Andor’ (2022 – 2025)
The Spy Thriller That Happens to Be Set in ‘Star Wars’ Universe
Watch This If: Forget lightsabers and space battles for a second. Andor is one of the smartest spy thrillers on television, and I’d recommend it even to people who have never watched a single Star Wars movie. The writing is exceptional, the tension keeps building, and every mission feels important. Like Lioness, Andor understands that the planning process can be just as exciting as the action itself, and it features genuinely great character development. The series proves that espionage stories can work in any setting.
Skip This If: You came to Star Wars for lightsabers, space battles, and familiar faces from the movies. Andor spends most of its runtime in briefing rooms, prison blocks, and Senate hallways, as it tries to build a slow-burn case for why ordinary people choose to become revolutionaries. Also, while it tells a self-contained story, it assumes you have some investment in the wider Star Wars universe and the franchise’s politics or history.
‘Reacher’ (2022 – Present)
The Undisputed Genre King on Streaming
Watch This If: Alan Ritchson’s take on Lee Child’s drifter understands exactly what its audience wants: a six-foot-five ex-military investigator who walks into a town, uncovers a conspiracy, and dismantles it with his bare hands. Ritchson is ridiculously charming, and the trope shouldn’t work as consistently as it does. However, the Jack Reacher books nailed the formula decades ago, and the show hasn’t messed with it. Season 4 premieres on Aug. 12, 2026. It will adapt the novel Gone Tomorrow and move the setting to Philadelphia. I’m sure it will be every bit as satisfying and entertaining as the first three seasons.
Skip This If: Reacher’s constant internal monologue explaining his own genius can wear thin fast, especially across a full season. Also, because he’s hyper-competent, he’s rarely in real danger for more than a minute or two in any given scene. If you want to watch a hero who can actually lose or a plot that zigs where you expect it to zag, Reacher might be too predictable for you. Call it comfort food if you want, but comfort food isn’t for everyone’s palate.
‘The Bureau’ (2015 – 2020)
The Smartest and Most Underrated Spy Series
Watch This If: The Bureau is a French series that treats spy work like an office job, which makes it a little bit disturbing. Mathieu Kassovitz plays a DGSE officer recalled to Paris after six years undercover in Syria, and for five seasons, the show portrays how impossible it is to separate a fake identity from a real one. The spy work here is more accurate than any American show you’ve seen, down to the paperwork and the surveillance drudgery between missions. It’s also a complete story now, which makes it the perfect binge.
Skip This If: You’re used to watching American spy thrillers. This one lingers in meetings, debriefs, and long silences between operatives who are constantly measuring what they can and can’t say to each other. Reading subtitles for 50 episodes is also a commitment, and the plot rewards those who pay close attention to names, aliases, and shifting loyalties. Those can blur together if you’re not paying attention.
‘Slow Horses’ (2022 – Present)
Gary Oldman Steals Every Scene
Watch This If: Who would have thought that a show about MI5’s least successful agents would become one of TV’s sharpest modern thrillers? I didn’t. Based on Mick Herron’s novels, the perfect Apple TV series Slow Horses follows disgraced intelligence officers banished to Slough House, where their careers are supposed to end. However, they keep stumbling into conspiracies the “real” spies cannot handle. The writing is razor-sharp, the espionage is gripping, and Gary Oldman delivers one of the best performances of his career. It’s smaller in scale than Lioness, but I’d argue it’s even smarter.
Skip This If: You want your spies humorless and your action without any jokes. The dry British comedy that runs through every mission is half the appeal of Slow Horses, and it never lets us down, even during the show’s most intense moments. Since each season also has only six episodes and is based on a single book, it moves fast and rewards your attention.
‘The Night Agent’ (2023 – 2026)
Proof You Don’t Need To Reinvent the Genre
Watch This If: I know I said the same thing about Lioness, but I stand by it because it’s true. Sometimes you want a show that’s entertaining enough to make you watch three episodes in one sitting, and The Night Agent does that better than anything else on Netflix. It moves fast, keeps the twists coming, and knows exactly how to end an episode on a cliffhanger. What surprised me most is how consistent it is. A lot of streaming thrillers start strong and lose steam. The Night Agent has remained obsessively watchable across all three seasons. The most recent season sends Peter Sutherland to Istanbul to chase down a Treasury agent carrying stolen intelligence. It was clearly made for a single-sitting binge.
Skip This If: You need your conspiracies grounded in reality. This show leans hard into pulpy government intrigue where nearly every layer of the White House hides a traitor. The love-triangle subplots and workplace romance can also feel like filler wedged between the actual spy plot, which might frustrate some viewers. And because each season follows a new mystery, it can feel more like an anthology series than a cohesive show.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
