Disney's 6-Part Psychological Thriller Is One Of Its Best
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Published Mar 16, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT
Sean is a senior writer for ScreenRant and has been writing about new TV releases since December 2023. He has received multiple advance screenings of popular shows and ideated his own coverage read by hundreds of thousands of readers.
Sean is a self-published author of a Western novel. Sean has also written award-winning opinion pieces related to local politics while getting his Bachelor's degree in journalism.
Disney and Marvel's Moon Knight may be a superhero show, but it's also one of the best psychological thrillers on Disney+. The list of the best Disney+ shows doesn't often include psychological thrillers. Disney is more interested in family-friendly stories told through big franchises like Marvel and Star Wars. While FX and Hulu have given Disney+ some great psychological thrillers, the genre isn't a big focus for the streaming service.
Moon Knight Had A Brilliant Psychological Thriller Premise
Though it's a superhero show, Moon Knight's premise is actually closer to a psychological thriller, and a tremendous one at that. Moon Knight follows Steven Grant, a museum gift shop employee who believes he sleepwalks. Over the course of the first episode, Steven learns that he actually has Dissociative Identity Disorder and that his alter ego, Marc Spector, has been taking control of his body and working as a superhero.
Because of that premise, Moon Knight gets to do a lot of very cool things that make it a psychological thriller. The entire premiere episode is presented as a mystery as Steven learns about the existence of Marc and is thrust headlong into dangerous situations he has no context for. The very concept of Moon Knight, of Steven being the alter ego who is completely unaware that he's ever a superhero, is prime psychological thriller fodder.
Then, Moon Knight focuses more on Marc and Steven struggling for control of their shared body. The show gets into Marc's deal with the Egyptian god Khonshu, continues establishing the main antagonist, Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), and has plenty more fight scenes that evoke spy thrillers like The Bourne Identity. Moon Knight also has another stellar psychological thriller aspect, which comes into play when Steven has control of the body in a situation that calls for Marc's combat experience.
Moon Knight Was One Of The MCU’s Best Shows
The pyschological thriller aspects of Moon Knight aren't the only notable aspects of the show, however, as it's also just a great miniseries on its own. There's so much to love about Moon Knight that make it one of the best MCU shows ever. Oscar Isaac is perfectly cast, and it's hard to imagine another actor being able to handle the complexity of Marc's DID, the physicality of the role, and even the accent changes as he plays Steven.
Ethan Hawke also plays one of the MCU's best and most complex villains to date, which only makes Moon Knight's psychological plot more interesting. Aside from the acting, Moon Knight has all the right ingredients: an inspired soundtrack that became iconic in its own right, fantastic special effects and visuals, and some truly inventive and thrilling action sequences that could have been in a James Bond movie.
While there's still hope for Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight season 2 to happen, the Disney+ TV show gets a major update from showrunner Jeremy Slater.
The best aspect of Moon Knight is the character himself. Moon Knight is a hugely underrated Marvel hero, and seeing him brought to the screen so faithfully and in such an entertaining show was delightful. The series told a story only Moon Knight, a superhero with multiple personalities and a Batman-like bag of abilities, could have pulled off. Moon Knight is a really special show, and it's a prime example of the storytelling heights the MCU is capable of.
Moon Knight Needs To Make A Comeback In The MCU
Moon Knight was so good, in fact, that it has to make a comeback. A second season of Moon Knight should have been a given, considering how good it was and how successful it proved to be, but it hasn't been a realistic possibility for a long time. Moon Knight was originally envisioned as a miniseries, and though the ending of Moon Knight opened the door to Marc Spector returning, there was never a guarantee that an actor like Oscar Isaac would be free to reprise the role.
That may not be the case any longer, however. The MCU is currently very invested in revisiting and reviving the hits of the past, particularly through Daredevil: Born Again. Daredevil and Jessica Jones already returned long after their shows ended, and the rest of the cast of The Defenders are likely going to appear as well. There's never been a better time for Moon Knight to come out of retirement and reappear in the MCU, possibly even for Avengers: Doomsday.
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