Juan Rosas/Netflix
Published May 16, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT
Blaise Santi is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts majoring in Dramatic Writing and minoring in Comedy. He's a frequent performer at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective in the sketch comedy group Golfers as well as in the improv show Cast Party. Aside from writing, Blaise's hobbies include listening to music, playing and reading. Blaise currently lives in Brooklyn.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
It's tough these days on streaming services like Netflix and Prime Video to find exactly the type of show you're looking for. Algorithmic recommendations and popularity amongst other viewers can flood a streamer's home page, keeping you out of touch with the series you actually want to see. For fans of action thriller movies like Inception or John Wick, it's even harder to sort through the good and the bad to find a series that's actually worth binge-watching.
Thankfully, both Netflix and Prime Video have some of the best original action thriller series on their platforms, some dating back to the streaming services' early days, while others have only released in the past few months. Look no further than these eight TV shows if you want to watch something that's not only action-packed with spectacle and fight scenes, but will also keep your heart pumping with suspense from episode to episode.
Narcos (Netflix)
Narcos was one of Netflix's earliest hit series, but nearly a decade after its final season aired, the crime thriller series still has one of its best casts. The show centers on two DEA agents, Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) and Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal), investigating the notorious drug kingpin Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) and other Colombian drug cartels.
Now Streaming · Press Play How Well Do You Know Netflix Originals? “Red light, green light.”
🌀Stranger
ThingsThe Upside Down
🎭Squid
GamePlayer 456
👑The
CrownLong live the Queen
🕸WednesdayNevermore Academy
🌹BridgertonDearest readers
PRESS PLAY →
01
Squid Game shattered records on launch in 2021, becoming Netflix’s biggest-ever series debut. Hwang Dong-hyuk’s South Korean thriller centres on a desperate gambler named Seong Gi-hun. What is his player number?
A067 B218 C001 D456
✓ Correct! Gi-hun is Player 456 — the last number drawn. Kang Sae-byeok (the North Korean defector) is 067, Cho Sang-woo (the Stanford-educated finance crook) is 218, and the mysterious elderly Oh Il-nam is 001. Squid Game became Netflix’s first show to hit #1 in every country it launched in, amassing over 1.6 billion hours watched in its first month alone.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is 456. Gi-hun’s number is the very last of the 456 players. 067 is Sae-byeok the defector, 218 is Sang-woo the Stanford grad, and 001 is the mysterious old man Oh Il-nam whose identity becomes the series’ biggest reveal. Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched launch ever, hitting #1 in 94 countries.
NEXT →
02
The Tim Burton-directed Addams Family spin-off set at Nevermore Academy became Netflix’s second-biggest English-language debut in 2022 and launched a TikTok dance craze. Which young actress plays the deadpan title character?
AJenna Ortega BMillie Bobby Brown CSadie Sink DMaya Hawke
✓ Correct! Jenna Ortega — a Disney Channel graduate and indie-horror favourite (X, Scream VI) — took the role Christina Ricci made iconic in the 1990s films and made it entirely her own. Her now-famous cello-accompanied dance scene became an overnight TikTok phenomenon, and her performance earned Wednesday two Emmy nominations despite airing mid-season.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Jenna Ortega. Millie Bobby Brown is Eleven on Stranger Things, Sadie Sink plays Max Mayfield (also Stranger Things), and Maya Hawke plays Robin. Ortega’s deadpan Wednesday Addams — and her viral cello-dance scene — turned the show into a global phenomenon in late 2022.
NEXT →
03
In 2013, Netflix released a dark political thriller starring Kevin Spacey as a ruthless congressman breaking the fourth wall. It became the first major streaming original to land a Primetime Emmy nomination and effectively invented prestige streaming TV. Which show was it?
AOrange Is the New Black BHouse of Cards CArrested Development (revival) DHemlock Grove
✓ Correct! House of Cards — adapted by Beau Willimon from the 1990 BBC series — became Netflix’s first prestige original and proved a streaming service could go toe-to-toe with HBO. Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood and his asides to camera defined early streaming TV. Orange Is the New Black followed months later in July 2013 and became Netflix’s longest-running original at the time.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is House of Cards (February 2013). Orange Is the New Black launched five months later (July 2013), Arrested Development’s Netflix revival came in May 2013, and Hemlock Grove was a horror effort the same spring. House of Cards was the flagship — the first streaming original to earn a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series.
NEXT →
04
Peter Morgan’s The Crown famously recast its entire ensemble every two seasons to age the royal family. After Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II in seasons 1-2, which Oscar-winning actress took the crown for seasons 3-4?
AImelda Staunton BOlivia Colman CHelena Bonham Carter DGillian Anderson
✓ Correct! Olivia Colman — fresh off her Best Actress Oscar for The Favourite — played the Queen across seasons 3 and 4, covering the late 1960s through the early Thatcher years. Imelda Staunton took over for seasons 5-6, Helena Bonham Carter played Princess Margaret in seasons 3-4, and Gillian Anderson stole the show as Margaret Thatcher in season 4.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Olivia Colman. Imelda Staunton took over for the final two seasons (5-6). Helena Bonham Carter played the chain-smoking Princess Margaret during seasons 3-4 alongside Colman. Gillian Anderson delivered an Emmy-winning Margaret Thatcher in season 4. Colman anchored the show’s middle era fresh off her 2019 Oscar win.
NEXT →
05
The Duffer Brothers’ 1980s nostalgia juggernaut sees Eleven and the gang battle inter-dimensional horrors from a portal beneath the town’s Hawkins National Laboratory. In which fictional US town and state is the series set?
ADerry, Maine BHawkins, Indiana CHill Valley, California DTwin Peaks, Washington
✓ Correct! Hawkins, Indiana — a fictional Midwestern small town that became one of TV’s most iconic settings. The Duffer Brothers chose Indiana for its unassuming, ordinary-America vibe, making the supernatural chaos feel more jarring. Derry is Stephen King’s It setting, Hill Valley is from Back to the Future, and Twin Peaks is David Lynch’s famous town.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Hawkins, Indiana. Derry, Maine is the fictional town from Stephen King’s It. Hill Valley is Marty McFly’s home in Back to the Future. Twin Peaks, Washington is David Lynch’s famous fictional town. Hawkins is The Duffer Brothers’ deliberately ordinary Midwestern setting — the flat, unassuming backdrop that makes Vecna’s horrors hit harder.
NEXT →
06
Netflix’s Regency romance juggernaut — based on Julia Quinn’s novels and famous for its colour-blind casting, string-quartet pop covers, and narrated gossip column — is produced by which prolific showrunner’s production banner?
AShonda Rhimes (Shondaland) BRyan Murphy CJulian Fellowes DJenji Kohan
✓ Correct! Shonda Rhimes — the creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal — produces Bridgerton through her Shondaland banner as the first major fruit of her massive 2017 Netflix deal. Chris Van Dusen created the show, but Shondaland’s signature ensemble-romance DNA is all over it. Julian Fellowes did Downton Abbey, Ryan Murphy did Monster/Dahmer, and Jenji Kohan did Orange Is the New Black.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Shonda Rhimes (Shondaland). Ryan Murphy produces true-crime anthologies like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Julian Fellowes is the Downton Abbey/Gilded Age creator — a different period drama entirely. Jenji Kohan is behind Orange Is the New Black and Weeds. Bridgerton was the first big payoff of Rhimes’ nine-figure Netflix deal.
NEXT →
07
La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) became a global phenomenon on Netflix after a modest Spanish TV debut — partly thanks to its gang’s instantly recognisable red jumpsuits paired with a mask of which famous figure?
AGuy Fawkes BSalvador Dalí CChe Guevara DPablo Picasso
✓ Correct! The Salvador Dalí mask — with its upturned moustache — became the show’s defining visual alongside the red jumpsuits, a nod to Spanish artistic rebellion and surrealist individuality. It inspired protest iconography worldwide, from Lebanon to France. The original Antena 3 version underperformed; Netflix acquired it in 2017, re-edited it, and turned it into a global sensation.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Salvador Dalí. Guy Fawkes is the V for Vendetta mask that Anonymous adopted. Che Guevara is a common revolutionary image but not the heist crew’s mask. Picasso is a frequent wrong answer given he’s the more globally-known Spanish artist — but the Dalí mask, with its iconic moustache, is the one fused forever with Money Heist’s red jumpsuits.
NEXT →
08
Netflix’s 2020 limited series about a Cold War-era chess prodigy named Beth Harmon caused a global surge in chess-set sales and was one of the streamer’s most-watched shows that year. Who played Beth?
AFlorence Pugh BAnya Taylor-Joy CSaoirse Ronan DDaisy Edgar-Jones
✓ Correct! Anya Taylor-Joy — already a cult favourite from The Witch and Emma — broke out globally as Beth Harmon, winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress. The Queen’s Gambit pulled 62 million households in its first 28 days and caused such a chess-boom that Chess.com and retailers ran out of sets. It also made Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel a surprise bestseller almost 40 years later.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Anya Taylor-Joy. Florence Pugh (Midsommar, Oppenheimer), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird), and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People, Where the Crawdads Sing) are all frequent competitors in similar roles. Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon earned her a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and turned Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel into a sudden bestseller.
REVEAL MY SCORE →
Credits Rolling · Autoplay On Your Binge-Watcher Rank
🎬
/ 8
Platinum subscriber — or still on the free trial?
⤴ PLAY NEXT EPISODE
For a true-crime series, Narcos is a lot more action-packed than other Netflix series like Mindhunter or Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, given that it's dealing with the infamously violent Medellín cartel. By the second season, the war against Escobar escalates into some truly heart-stopping action sequences, culminating in Escobar's bloody last stand. Though the original Narcos series ended in 2017, a spin-off series, Narcos: Mexico, premiered a year later, taking a similar action-thriller approach to portraying the Mexican drug war.
Jack Ryan (Prime Video)
Based on the character from the iconic series of novels, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan premiered on Prime Video in 2018 and ran until 2023 for four seasons, with an R-rated movie, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War, coming to Prime Video later this month. John Krasinski stars as the titular character, a CIA analyst who, after uncovering a series of financial crimes from an Islamic terrorist, moves from the desk to the field, becoming, over the course of the series, a hardened soldier and eventually deputy director of the entire CIA himself.
Though it's a lot more political than your average action thriller, Krasinski proves himself a strong action hero in Prime Video's most consistent drama series to date. If anything, Jack Ryan sets itself apart from other action series by virtue of being pretty accurate in depicting real-world relations between countries, for better or worse.
Reacher (Prime Video)
It might be easy to confuse Reacher and Jack Ryan for the same show, given they're both crime thrillers based on novels about heroic men named Jack. However, where Reacher vastly differs from its Prime Video brethren is in depicting its protagonist, United States military major Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson), as a near-superhero given his above-average strength, intelligence, and bravery.
Reacher, like a modern-day Western movie, travels from city to city in America, seeing its titular character aiding in different conflicts each season. Those conflicts include investigating corrupt law enforcement in a small town in Georgia, rescuing a DEA informant from the midst of an undercover mission, and, for Reacher's genre-switching fourth season, dealing with a suicide bomber operation gone wrong.
The Night Agent (Netflix)
If Prime Video has some of the most well-known action thriller series, Netflix has certainly started giving them a run for their money with shows like The Night Agent. This thriller series, based on a novel by Matthew Quirk, began in 2023 and only recently premiered its third season earlier in 2026, with its final episodes in season 4 on the way.
Related
Netflix's Returning Action Show Is Officially The End Of An Era
Netflix's hit action thriller has been confirmed for one more season, ending an era and leaving the streaming platform open for a successor TV show.
Gabriel Basso stars in the series as Peter Sutherland, an FBI agent with the unglamorous job of manning a telephone for the Night Agent program, until it thrusts him into the middle of a government conspiracy involving a mole and a former tech businesswoman. It's a show that, knowing how many action thrillers play out, could be incredibly pastiche and boring, but somehow defies expectations to become one of Netflix's most addictive watches in recent memory.
Black Doves (Netflix)
Despite having only six episodes released thus far for its first season on Netflix, Black Doves is a show we can picture watching for many more episodes to come. Black Doves stars Keira Knightley as a spy secretly feeding the black market government intel about her husband, the United Kingdom's Secretary of Defense, only to discover that her status has been compromised when her lover is killed, unraveling a massive political conspiracy.
Not only is this spy thriller worth an easy one-night binge thanks to Knightley's best TV performance yet, but her co-star Ben Whishaw also delivers some of the best character work of his career, and that says a lot given he's the voice of Paddington Bear. It's definitely a Netflix series that deserves to be watched now, before its second series premieres and everyone starts talking about it.
The Bondsman (Prime Video)
Image via Prime Video
The Bondsman does what many action thriller series don't: it treads into full-on horror territory right from the get-go. Kevin Bacon stars as Hub Halloran, a bounty hunter who is killed on the job, only to mysteriously come back to life and discover he's been recruited as a bounty hunter on behalf of Satan himself. The series is like if Ghost Rider merged with No Country for Old Men, providing an entire season's worth of TV reminding you why Bacon is the A-list star that he is.
Sadly, Prime Video canceled The Bondsman only one month after release, despite garnering strong reviews and great viewership when it premiered. It's a shame, because the show was providing some of the most thrilling action seen on TV in a long time, and deserved a very long run on Prime Video.
Steal (Prime Video)
There are plenty of action thriller series where the villain steals the show, but Steal is the rare example where an action thriller series makes you question who the real heroes and villains are. Sophie Turner stars as Zara, a modest employee at an investment management firm who is present for an armed robbery at her office, but unbeknownst to law enforcement, she was in on it the whole time!
Not only is the series maybe the best usage of Turner since playing Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones, but it keeps escalating in ways that surprise viewers. What begins as a show seemingly about a woman grappling with a traumatic experience slowly begins to reveal what a hidden criminal mastermind she is, with enough thrilling suspense and action-packed crime to keep you hooked from episode to episode. Hopefully, if there's not a second season of Steal on the horizon, we'll get enough action thriller out of Turner's upcoming Tomb Raider series on Prime Video.
Man On Fire (Netflix)
Netflix's Man on Fire has some big footsteps to follow, given the novel by A.J. Quinnell had already been adapted into a blockbuster film starring Denzel Washington. However, it only took one change to make Man on Fire on Netflix better than the movie, having a much more sensitive handling of the story's dealing with PTSD and alcoholism.
The action thriller series stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as John Creasy, a former U.S. Army Special Forces captain whose entire platoon was killed, forcing him into a deep depression. Years later, he's recruited on a covert mission in Brazil, which sends him on a revenge spree that leads him to discover new truths about his own military past. It's an incredibly gripping series, mainly thanks to Mateen's performance as a Rambo-esque figure going rogue, which is the kind of action thriller content we want to see from a new TV show.
English (US) ·