8 Best Thriller Shows of 2026 (So Far), Ranked

Image via Hulu Published Jul 22, 2026, 7:11 PM EDT Remus is a writer, editor, journalist, and author with an eye for detail and an extremely active imagination. He is an enthusiast of everything to do with the graphic medium, whether it's Western comics and their adaptations or manga and anime. Remus is also the author of the sci-fantasy novel Once Upon a Time in Hyperspace and several works of short fiction in the mystery, comedy, and horror genres. Sign in to your Collider account 2026 has been a year of fast expansion for thriller television, with high-profile adaptations and prestige shows setting the bar for the genre higher than we have seen in the last few years. With stranger, darker stories and much more complex characters, crime and psychological thrillers of this year so far have left audiences with shock, awe, and surprises aplenty. The first half of 2026 has seen the releases of several major titles, the returns of long-awaited projects, and some iconic literature being adapted to screen. Most of these 2026 thriller shows on television and streaming have swept fans off their feet with their A-list cast, sharp writing, clever dialogue, and interesting characterizations that are redefining the genre as we know it. From the all-new season of The Night Manager (Season 2) to the series revival of the '90s crime classic Cape Fear, the world of thriller television has been nothing short of excellent this year. With that in mind, here’s our ranked selection of some of the best thriller shows of 2026 so far. 8 ‘His & Hers’ (2026) Image via Netflix A miniseries created by William Oldroyd and adapted from Alice Feeney’s mystery novel, His & Hers centers on a former news anchor named Anna, who goes back to her hometown in Georgia after a series of grisly murders leave the community shaken. When Anna starts to look into the cases, her investigation keeps colliding with that of her estranged husband, local detective Jack, who becomes suspicious of Anna. Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal lead the cast, with Pablo Schreiber, Marin Ireland, Sunita Mani, and Poppy Liu in key roles. Part modern crime noir, part Southern Gothic, His & Hers is a tense and twisty thriller steeped in family secrets, toxic relationships, and moral ambiguity. The six-part Netflix original largely thrives on the gritty central performances of Thompson and Bernthal, even if the story often feels far-fetched. While it earned a mixed reception upon its release, His & Hers is definitely one of the best Netflix thriller miniseries of the year. 7 ‘Scarpetta’ (2026–Present) Image via Prime Video Developed by Liz Sarnoff, Scarpetta is the first screen adaptation of Patricia Cornwell's best-selling crime novels featuring the titular forensic pathologist. The first season follows Kay Scarpetta as she employs advanced forensic tech and brilliant methods to solve a crime that ties back to her past. Each new season is expected to adapt a new book from Cornwell’s series. Nicole Kidman stars as the titular protagonist, with Bobby Cannavale, Jamie Lee Curtis, Simon Baker, and Ariana DeBose in main roles. Scarpetta is a well-crafted crime procedural that serves as a prestige psychological thriller, blending complex criminal investigations with heavy family drama. The stacked cast, compelling mysteries, and atmospheric setting come together with solid performances by Kidman, Lee Curtis, and Cannavale. While the first season has had a mixed critical reception, Scarpetta has enough to satisfy both Cornwell fans and those unfamiliar with the books. 6 ‘The ‘Burbs’ (2026–Present) Image via Peacock Inspired by Joe Dante’s 1989 film of the same name, The ‘Burbs was created by Celeste Hughey and follows married couple and new parents, Samira and Rob Fisher, who leave their city life and move to Rob’s childhood home in the suburbs. But the seemingly quiet and peaceful neighborhood quickly descends into chaos and paranoia when a strange neighbor moves across the street from the Fishers. Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall lead the cast, with Kapil Talwalkar, Julia Duffy, Paula Pell, and Mark Proksch in notable roles. The ‘Burbs is not just a remake but an intelligent reimagination of the '80s Tom Hanks comedy that is both funny and spooky. The series features completely new storylines in a present-day setting with a much broader, deeper mystery than the film’s chaotic neighborhood drama, but is equally bizarre. Fun and engaging, with Palmer at her comedic best, The ‘Burbs has become quickly popular since its release and has been renewed for a second season. Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would BeYour Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back. 🎖️Rambo 🍸James Bond 🏺Indiana Jones 🔧John McClane 🎭Ethan Hunt FIND YOUR PARTNER → 01 You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you. ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them. BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we're walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged. NEXT QUESTION → 02 You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission. AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can't follow. BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won't explain until it's needed. EBy whatever means are available — I've driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method. NEXT QUESTION → 03 You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of. ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I've reloaded. BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works. CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision. DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive. ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead. NEXT QUESTION → 04 The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are. AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings. BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting. CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation. DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway. EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you've had all week. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability. APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost. BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven't thought of yet. EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership. AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we're there. BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past. CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them. DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows. EFind the one thing they haven't accounted for — there's always one thing — and make sure we're holding it. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters. ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there. BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running. CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I'd do the same for them. DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I'm out — they don't leave people behind. ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had. ATechnology that shouldn't exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it's been tested. CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up. NEXT QUESTION → 09 Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together. AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner. BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through. DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down. EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked. NEXT QUESTION → 10 It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one. AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn't ending. Then we move. BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen. CA plan I don't fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat. DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next. ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that's who they've always been. REVEAL MY PARTNER → Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse. RamboYour partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know. James BondYour partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing. Indiana JonesYour partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them. John McClaneYour partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay. Ethan HuntYour partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 5 ‘The Testaments’ (2026–Present) Image via Hulu Hot off the heels of The Handmaid’s Tale, which ended in 2025, Hulu launched the sequel, The Testaments, based on Margaret Atwood’s 2019 novel, a follow-up to 1985’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Set in the same dystopian universe of Gilead, four years after the final events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the latest series follows 16-year-old Agnes (Chase Infiniti), daughter of a commander, whose life, beliefs, and entire world are upended by the arrival of Daisy (Lucy Halliday), an outsider. Brad Alexander, Mabel Li, and Rowan Blanchard play other main characters, with Ann Dowd reprising her role from The Handmaid’s Tale. The Testaments is crafted more like a coming-of-age tale, following a group of teenagers as they navigate survival, girlhood, and friendships in the oppressive society of Gilead. Visually stunning, well-performed, and often disturbing, the series is a worthy follow-up to the legacy that The Handmaid’s Tale created. A slow-burning, dystopian drama thriller, The Testaments became an instant favorite of critics and fans, joining the ranks of Hulu’s most engaging thrillers. 4 ‘DTF St. Louis’ (2026) Image via HBO A dark comedy thriller series created by Steven Conrad, DTF St. Louis revolves around two men going through midlife crises, Clark and Floyd, who sign up on the titular discreet dating app for some excitement. When Floyd winds up mysteriously dead, his wife becomes the prime suspect, and the investigation reveals a complex love triangle and dark motives. Jason Bateman and David Harbour star as Clark and Floyd, with Linda Cardellini, Richard Jenkins, Joy Sunday, Arlan Ruf, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris Perfetti, and more in key roles. DTF ST. Louis has all the right ingredients of a suburban murder mystery thriller with strong psycho-social themes, ranking among the best of the subgenre. While it starts as a crime story, the series quickly turns into a sardonic, dark, but humanistic commentary on loneliness and male friendship. A dark mystery comedy driven by strong performances by the leading trio of Harbour, Bateman, and Cardellini, DTF St. Louis has earned critical acclaim, receiving 13 nominations for the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. 3 ‘Star City’ (2026–Present) Image via Apple TV Created by Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, and Matt Wolpert as a spin-off of their critically acclaimed For All Mankind, Star City reimagines the space race, redefining history as we know it. Named after the nickname of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia, the series is set in an alternate 1969, where the Soviet Union has become the first nation to land on the moon, plunging intelligence agents and space engineers into a deadly battle of paranoia, espionage, and political propaganda. Rhys Ifans portrays real-life rocket engineer Sergei Korolev, with Anna Maxwell Martin, Alice Englert, Agnes O'Casey, Josef Davies, and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis in other main roles. The much-awaited follow-up to Apple TV’s flagship sci-fi series, Star City packs the tension of Cold War-era espionage and sci-fi space drama in a very sophisticated narrative that is unlike any other thriller seen this year. Thought-provoking and tension-packed, Star City puts a whole new spin on the history of the space race with an excellent narrative and stunning visuals. Since its premiere in May 2026, Star City has earned near-universal acclaim, widely hailed as one of the finest sci-fi shows on Apple TV. 2 ‘Cape Fear’ (2026) Image via Apple TV Created by Nick Antosca, Cape Fear is a psychological thriller miniseries adapted from John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel, The Executioners, and its film adaptations in 1962 and 1991. The story follows Max Cady, an unreformed ex-convict released from prison after a 17-year sentence, who seeks revenge on his lawyer, Anna Bowden, who put him in prison for killing his pregnant wife. Javier Bardem stars as Max and Amy Adams as Anna, with Patrick Wilson, Joe Anders, Lily Collias, CCH Pounder, and Malia Pyles in key roles. Apple TV’s Cape Fear differs largely from the original novel’s straightforward revenge story, reinventing the plot with two targets and heightened moral ambiguity for all key players of the story. The seven-part thriller mostly reimagines Martin Scorsese’s 1991 film and is equally brutal and violent, but emphasizes the psychological torture more. Driven by Bardem’s phenomenal turn as the vicious, maniacal character that was made iconic by Robert De Niro, Cape Fear is easily one of the best shows of the year on Apple TV. 1 ‘The Night Manager’ Season 2 (2016–Present) Image via Prime Video Inspired by John le Carré’s novel and adapted by David Farr, The Night Manager Season 2 is the second chapter of the series that was first released in 2016 and has since remained one of the best secret agent shows of the 21st century. In the second season, the titular hotel-manager-turned-British spy Jonathan Pine, now operating as Alex Goodwin, embarks on a dangerous international mission involving Colombian arms dealers after his old nemesis, Richard Roper, resurfaces. Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman reprise their roles from the first season, with Diego Calva, Camila Morrone, Indira Varma, Paul Chahidi, and Hayley Squires as new characters. The Night Manager Season 2 marks a welcome return of the same sophistication and style from the first season, but with more thrills and grittier character arcs. Hiddleston’s MI6 spy is not only more evolved, but also brings more depth to his story in his second mission, against an equally powerful antihero from Calva. Since its January premiere, The Night Manager Season 2 has been critically acclaimed as a worthy, action-packed follow-up that thrives on Hiddleston and Calva’s performances.