10 Greatest Neo-Noir TV Shows From The Past Decade

5 days ago 11

Spider Noir still featuring Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly.

Published Jun 9, 2026, 5:16 PM EDT

Cher Thompson is a Senior Staff Writer at Screen Rant, where she covers everything from explosive reality TV moments to cast interviews about the twists and turns of scripted dramas. With a background in creative writing, marketing, and teaching, Cher knows how to spot both the storytelling genius and the guilty pleasures in pop culture. Her work blends wit with insight, making readers feel like they’re chatting with a friend who just happens to know way too much about TV.

Noir has always been one of the most prominent genres of TV and film, and the last decade has seen some incredible neo-noir come to light. Neo-noir, which references the modern takes on the noir genre, is often tough to get completely right. While some shows are able to tackle neo-noir, they may not do the original genre justice, and others struggle with the moody tone and the dark cinematography, which makes it tough to break through into the genre as a whole. While neo-noir is niche, it's not impossible to create, and some series have found their way through.

10 Tokyo Vice

An HBO Max original, Tokyo Vice starred Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, and a large ensemble cast. The series aired from 2022 through 2024, and though it was canceled after just two seasons, the series quickly found an audience after its debut. The series, set in 1999, focuses on an aspiring investigative journalist, Jake Adelstein (Elgort), as he relocates to Tokyo as a foreign journalist. When Hiroto Katagiri (Watanabe), organized crime detective, takes Jake under his wing, the pair dive into the dark, mysterious world of the yakuza, uncovering a difficult, twisted conspiracy. The show's dark aesthetic makes it classic neo-noir.

Tokyo Vice Season 2 Poster Featuring the Cast Standing in Front of Neon Lights

Release Date 2022 - 2024-00-00

Directors Josef Kubota Wladyka, Michael Mann, Alan Poul, Hikari

Writers Destin Daniel Cretton

9 Perry Mason

A reimagining of the famous franchise, Perry Mason was another two-season hit for HBO that ultimately found itself canceled far too early. Starring Matthew Rhys as the titular Mason, the series explores Perry Mason's life before the popular series, looking at his time as a defense attorney during the early 1930s. Perry Mason's visual style, a dark and broody world of shadows flanked by colorful outdoor shots, as well as the show's tremendous performances made it an incredible feat. As a work of neo-noir, the series' specific identity was able to propel it into the stratosphere of the intense genre.

Release Date 2020 - 2023-00-00

Network HBO

Showrunner Jack Amiel

Directors Tim Van Patten, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Marialy Rivas, Fernando Coimbra, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Jessica Lowrey

Writers Mauricio Katz, Pedro Peirano, Steven Hanna, Sarah Kelly Kaplan, Erle Stanley Gardner, Jack Amiel, Michael Begler, Ron Fitzgerald, Rolin Jones

Audrey Marie Anderson

Agnes Holcomb

8 The Outsider

Jason Bateman as Terry Maitland speaking to an officer while riding in the back of a police car in The Outsider/

A lush miniseries based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, The Outsider follows an unlikely duo as they look into the deep corners of a child's murder to uncover supernatural interference. Starring Ben Mendelsohn, Jason Bateman, and Cynthia Erivo, the series follows as Mendelsohn's detective Ralph Anderson and Erivo's Holly Gibney investigate the murder of Frankie Peterson. Despite Bateman's Terry Maitland already under arrest for the murder, the sprawling investigation uncovers intense new twists and turns with each episode. The show's darkness and incredible performances gave the series a bleak feel, which helped position it as a neo-noir.

Release Date 2020 - 2020-00-00

Cynthia Erivo

Holly Gibney

7 The Penguin

Oz and Sofia looking off-screen in The Penguin

A crime drama spinoff of 2022's The Batman, The Penguin was released in 2024 and is set shortly after the events of the film. Watching as Oswald "Oz" Cobb (Colin Farrell) rises to power in Gotham City, his main contender becomes a bigger problem than he expected. As Sofia Gigante (Cristin Milioti), daugher of late crime boss Carmine Falcone and a presumed serial killer who's recently been released from a mental hospital, works against Oz, the power struggle between the two becomes the show's main focus. A gritty anti-hero story, The Penguin is the definition of a deep, dark neo-noir.

Release Date 2024 - 2024-00-00

Showrunner Lauren LeFranc

Directors Craig Zobel

Writers Lauren LeFranc

6 Too Old To Die Young

Martin Jones (Miles Teller) walking in a blue and red hallway in Too Old to Die Young.

A Prime Video original, Too Old To Die Young is a rich series that stars Miles Teller as a grieving police officer looking for answers about what's coming next for him after tragedy. Part of what makes Too Old To Die Young one of the most intriguing neo-noirs of the last decade is its cinematography and production design, pulling in elements of darkness and light throughout the series to create an intense understanding of Martin's (Teller) circumstances. As he explores an underworld of working-class hitmen, Martin finds himself in an unexpected world that he's eager, albeit hesitant, to learn about.

Release Date 2019 - 2019-00-00

Network Amazon Prime Video

Directors Nicolas Winding Refn

Writers Nicolas Winding Refn

5 The Night Of

Riz Ahmed as Nasir "Naz" Khan in The Night Of.

Another HBO miniseries, The Night Of is based on a British series called Criminal Justice, but is pulled into a far more American lens. Starring Riz Ahmed as Naz Kahn, a Pakistani-American student accused of murder, the series follows as his lawyer John Stone (John Turturro) tries to prove him innocent in more ways than one. While The Night Of doesn't stray much from the playbook of a traditional crime drama, its outstanding performances and pulpy, in-depth storytelling propels it forward. The series has a dark tension that underscores all of its story choices, and its performances are perfectly nuanced.

Release Date 2016 - 2016-00-00

Network HBO Max

Directors James Marsh

Writers James Marsh

4 Mindhunter

Mindhunter still featuring Jonathan Groff holding up a photo in a suit, looking stern.

Netflix's Mindhunter is a dark, intense period procedural, watching as a group of FBI agents delve into the world of criminal profiling for the first time. Set in the 70s, Mindhunter stars Jonathan Groff as Holden Ford and Holt McCallany as Bill Trench, accompanied by Anna Torv as Wendy Carr. As Ford and Trench delve into the psyches of incarcerated serial killers, the series watches as the pair find themselves discovering new ways to look at cases that may not have seemed as obvious to them before. A dark and moodily lit series, Mindhunter takes neo-noir to a new level.

Release Date 2017 - 2019

Network Netflix

Showrunner Joe Penhall

Directors David Fincher, Carl Franklin, Andrew Dominik, Andrew Douglas, Asif Kapadia, Tobias Lindholm

Writers Joe Penhall, Jennifer Haley, Joshua Donen, Courtenay Miles, Carly Wray, Pamela Cederquist

Holt McCallany

Bill Tench

3 Mare Of Easttown

Kate Winslet as Mare in Mare of Easttown

Starring Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, Mare Of Easttown is another HBO Max miniseries that uses its aesthetic as a part of its story. Watching as Mare unravels a murder that links to a string of other crimes, including one that hits close to home, the series follows a fascinating trajectory. With intense, incredible performances from the cast, specifically from Winslet in the title role, Mare Of Easttown uses its aesthetic to its advantage. The series is moody and bleak, and as Mare moves through her work, her own past consistently comes back to haunt her in a visceral way.

Release Date 2021 - 2021-00-00

Network HBO

Showrunner Brad Ingelsby

Directors Craig Zobel

Writers Brad Ingelsby

2 Sugar

A mystery drama starring Collin Farrell as John Sugar, a private investigator in Los Angeles, Sugar is a modern neo-noir that will be returning for a second season this month. Sugar's first season featured a mystery that saw the titular character searching for a wealthy movie producer's missing granddaughter, but sent him into a flurry of chaos to get his job done. The show's stylistic choices and ability to move through a mystery in an effortless, but methodically planned way make it a wonderfully modern take on noir. With more to come for Sugar, the series is still growing strong.

Release Date April 4, 2024

Network Apple TV

Showrunner Mark Protosevich, Sam Catlin

Directors Fernando Meirelles, Adam Arkin

Writers Mark Protosevich, Donald Joh, Sam Catlin, David Rosen

1 Spider-Noir

A new Prime Video original series, Spider-Noir is based on the Spider-Man Noir character, and has made a tremendous splash in its first season. Set in 1930s New York City, Spider-Noir stars Nicolas Cage as aging private investigator Ben Reilly as he tries to deal with his past life as superhero, the Spider. After a case that pushes him to re-open that chapter of his life comes to light, Reilly has to return to the Spider once again. The series, which is available in both black & white and color versions, is the epitome of neo-noir, creating a moody aesthetic.