The Sopranos

Series Similar to The Sopranos

If you enjoyed The Sopranos, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. The Wire

   2002 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.9), also on HBO.

   The first season of The Wire (2002) concentrated on the often-futile efforts of police to infiltrate a West Baltimore drug ring headed by Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Stringer Bell. In Seasons Two and Three, as the Barksdale investigation escalated, new storylines involving pressures on the working class and the city's political leadership were introduced. Season Four focused on the stories of several young boys in the public school system, struggling with problems at home and the lure of the corner - set against the rise of a new drug empire in West Baltimore and a new Mayor in City Hall. The fifth and final season of The Wire centers on the media's role in addressing - or failing to address - the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.

2. Breaking Bad

   2008 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (9.2).

   Breaking Bad follows protagonist Walter White, a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife and teenage son who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years left to live. With a new sense of fearlessness based on his medical prognosis, and a desire to secure his family's financial security, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world. The series explores how a fatal diagnosis such as White's releases a typical man from the daily concerns and constraints of normal society and follows his transformation from mild family man to a kingpin of the drug trade.

3. Oz

   1997 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.7), also on HBO.

   HBO's violent men-behind-bars drama is an addictive, testosterone-driven soap opera for guys. The eight episodes of the first season set the style for the show: a massive cast of a vivid characters on both sides of the bars, four or five stories unleashed at a breakneck pace and framed by angry, oddball introductions, and a soaring casualty rate. Created by Homicide producer Tom Fontana, this drama quickly earned its rightful reputation as the most brutal show on TV. It's simple chemistry: combine volatile ingredients in a confined space, shut tight, and shake.

4. Boardwalk Empire

   2010 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.4), also on HBO.

   As the country struggles to cope with the Great Depression and the end of Prohibition looms, Nucky Thompson looks to legitimize himself through alliances with liquor producers, while rivals Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky seek to consolidate their power in the wake of Arnold Rothstein's death and eliminate all competition - by any means necessary on Boardwalk Empire.

5. The Shield

   2002 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.6).

   Detective Vic Mackey is the leader of an elite Strike Team unit, a group of cops effective at eliminating crime but also operating under Vic's own set of rules. But his rules sometimes cross the fine line between legal and illegal. Now the precinct has a new captain who doesn't like Vic's tactics and wants to bust him off the force - even as the captain finds himself going to Vic for help whenever the going gets rough.

6. Ozark

   2017 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.1).

   In this dark, dangerous series, a family struggles after moving to an Ozarks resort community when they're thrust into a world of dirty money.

7. The Penguin

   2024 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8), also on HBO.

   Starring Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb (aka The Penguin), the DC Studios series continues filmmaker Matt Reeves' The Batman epic crime saga that began with Warner Bros. Pictures' global blockbuster The Batman. Developed by showrunner Lauren LeFranc, the series centers on the character played by Farrell in the film.

8. Deadwood

   2004 · Drama, Crime, Western · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.7), also on HBO.

   The outlaw camp of Deadwood marches slowly towards civilization, facing its first elections. But the power struggles continue over everything in Deadwood—influence, money, and whores—as the founding camp members form strategic alliances to face down the threat of a powerful newcomer, seeking to remake Deadwood in his image.

9. Fargo

   2014 · Drama, Comedy, Crime · returning

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.6).

   Fargo is a seasonal anthology crime drama with some dark comical elements, inspired by the film Fargo written by the Coen brothers. Each season follows a new case and new characters, all entrenched in the trademark humor, murder and "Minnesota nice" that has made the film an enduring classic.

10. Narcos

    2015 · Drama, Action, Crime · ended

    Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.4).

    Narcos chronicle the life and death of drug lord Pablo Escobar the ruthless boss of the Medellin Cartel and a known terrorist who was also a congressman, a family man and revered by the poor as a new Robin Hood.