5 HBO Max Series Paramount+ Subscribers Will Love

The streaming world is shifting once again as Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have merged to create Skydance. As a result, the David Ellison-owned company plans to combine their two streaming platforms, Paramount+ and HBO Max, into one. However, there’s no clear timeline for how long this will take, and exactly what the end result will look like is still unknown. Whatever form the merger takes, subscribers to each will have the opportunity to explore a whole new world of television shows and film.

Paramount+ subscribers might be wondering what exactly HBO Max has to offer them. After all, the two platforms host very different kinds of content. However, even though HBO Max doesn’t have many shows similar to the Taylor Sheridan series available on Paramount+, viewers will be happy to learn that the former has several Western films and a TV show or two. For fans of procedurals like FBI and NCIS, HBO Max has a handful of intriguing crime dramas that are sure to satisfy. Essentially, when the two combine, there will be a little something for every subscriber.

Deadwood

2004–2006

For fans who enjoy all the Western offerings on Paramount+, Deadwood is the perfect HBO Max show. Set in Deadwood, South Dakota, the series focuses on the town’s formation, along with the lawmen and outlaws who lived there in real life, including Wyatt Earp and Calamity Jane. Though more explicit and violent than typical shows set in the Old West, Deadwood is one of the best Westerns of the 21st century and offers plenty of gunslinging action and drama.

Premiering in 2004, the series stood out as an incredibly well-written show that blended fiction and historical fact in a way that entertained but also maintained a gritty realism. Its true strength, though, lay in its incredible ensemble cast, featuring stars such as Timothy Olyphant, Keith Carradine, and Ian McShane. Plus, Deadwood came at a time when TV Westerns were all but dead. Audiences associated them with tropes that felt removed from modern storytelling, but Deadwood flipped the Western script on its head and revitalized the genre.

That revitalization introduced a level of complexity rarely seen in TV Westerns until then. Deadwood is a Western, but it’s also an intimate romance, a shoot-em-up action series, and a political thriller all in one. The show is also a prime example of what happens when varying Western genres are blended. Deadwood may be set in the Old West, making it a classic Western with depictions of real people, but it’s also a revisionist Western that shares a rawer and more realistic depiction of life during that time. Essentially, if you enjoy Westerns, Deadwood is an absolute must-watch.

The Sopranos

1999–2007

Mobland has become a hit on Paramount+, but it’s got nothing on HBO Max’s groundbreaking crime drama, The Sopranos. Even those who have never seen the iconic HBO show before are likely familiar with The Sopranos, as it was one of the most talked-about series in America for a long time. It follows Tony Soprano, a tough-as-nails mafioso who also suffers from panic attacks. The show focuses not only on Tony's dangerous life in the mafia, but also on how he balances family life with life as a mob boss who does horrific things.

The critically acclaimed show was phenomenal and a true standout for many reasons, particularly how it humanized the mafia members without sanitizing the violent, raw lifestyle they led. By developing the prototypical TV antihero in Tony Soprano, the series is regarded as one of the most influential TV shows ever. However, The Sopranos does have a controversial ending, so be prepared.

True Detective

2014–Present

Paramount+ has myriad popular procedurals, and while HBO Max doesn’t carry anything exactly like the NCIS franchise, it does have True Detective. As an anthology series, each season follows new characters and a new mystery, though every story has a noir-thriller vibe. True Detective also tends to be more morally gray than cut-and-dried procedurals, offering viewers a lot of food for thought. Plus, it keeps things fresh with its storytelling and features plenty of celebrated actors like Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey.

True Detective season 1 immediately became a cultural phenomenon, pitting a pair of mismatched cops, Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), against a serial killer. However, it set the story up in dual timelines, the first featuring the younger versions of the detectives hunting this killer, and the second featuring the older and more hardened versions returning to the case that has now been cold for years. True Detective rewrote the rules of detective shows by centering the men doing the hunting, rather than the mystery of the killer.

The other seasons varied, but each was compelling in its own way. Season 2 starred Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams as detectives who investigated the murder of a corrupt city official. Season 3 centered on Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff as detectives in the Ozarks investigating the disappearance of two children. The latest season starred Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as detectives investigating the disappearance of several men from a research station in Alaska during a polar night. True Detective season 5 has already been greenlit, with rumors of Nicolas Cage starring, but it likely won’t air until 2027.

The Wire

2002–2008

Another excellent crime drama on HBO Max is The Wire, hailed as one of the most authentic shows ever created. Set in Baltimore, the series explores law enforcement, the drug trade, local government, the media, and the education system through a wide lens. Its story is one every American knows — the one where people and governments try to fix issues without addressing the root causes, which leads to a never-ending cycle of problems. This story may play out in Baltimore, but it happens all over the United States.

The Wire also features one of the best ensemble casts of all time, with stars like Idris Elba, Dominic West, and Wendell Pierce appearing. The show's unflinching examination of American institutions, flaws and all, makes it one of the most compelling shows ever made. With its gritty storylines and fascinating insight, The Wire is widely considered one of the most intelligent and greatest crime series to air, so Paramount+ fans should love it.

Boardwalk Empire

2010–2014

Paramount+ subscribers who love crime or period dramas will adore HBO Max’s Boardwalk Empire, which blended the two to create a prestigious (yet highly underrated) show set in Atlantic City during Prohibition. Boardwalk Empire follows Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, loosely based on real-life gangster Enoch L. Johnson, a bootlegger and corrupt political treasurer, who aligns himself with politicians, government agents, and mobsters to play both sides of the law.

The series set itself apart partially by showing how the gangsters of that era helped shape Atlantic City, delivering a poignant, yet occasionally brutal, look at a vital piece of U.S. history. Martin Scorsese was attached to the Boardwalk Empire pilot episode and established the look for the series, making it more cinematic than your average TV shows, making it one of the best series on HBO Max that Paramount+ subscribers will immediately want to click play on.

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  HBO Max is a subscription-based streaming service offering content from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, and more. In 2025, the service re-branded itself as HBO Max after having previously cut "HBO" from its name.

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