Prime Video's 9 Greatest Action Shows That Are 10/10, No Notes

Image via Prime Video Published Aug 18, 2026, 8:11 PM EDT Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it's a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she's not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV. Sign in to your Collider account Prime Video has a pretty good track record when it comes to action shows. From long-running series like Reacher that are still going strong, to ones that have concluded, like The Boys and even its spin-off Gen V, the streamer has attracted plenty of viewers who love the genre. Thanks to fantastic actors, compelling stories, exciting backdrops, and of course, lots and lots of action, a few shows especially stand out as being among the streamer's best. In fact, I'd argue that they're as close to perfect as you could get, no revision notes needed. 'Fallout' (2024–Present) Image via Prime Video Fallout took the popular video game franchise and replicated it on screen in such an authentic, compelling way that you almost feel like you have entered into a real-life version of the game itself. The post-apocalyptic drama, one of the best sci-fi series of 2026 so far, is set in a future world where survivors of a nuclear event live in underground bunkers. There are others who continue to exist above, including members of the Brotherhood of Steel, ghouls, and mutated animals. Lucy (Ella Purnell) is a naïve young woman who sets foot outside her bunker for the first time in search of her father. To say she has a fish-out-of-water experience would be an understatement. The series, now with two seasons under its belt and a third on the way, is visually stunning, wonderfully acted, and beautifully blends violent action with witty humor. It's a refreshing take on the genre with an unexpected buddy dynamic between Lucy and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) that you can't resist. There isn't a single weak episode in the show, each season exploring new challenges, reveals, and characters, and taking the story further to keep you invested. 'The Boys' (2019–2026) Gruesome, vulgar, and violent don't even begin to describe The Boys. While the satirical superhero series isn't everyone's cup of tea, if you appreciate the humor, understand the social and political commentary undertones (and agree with them or at least can appreciate the message), and aren't easily grossed out or offended, it's downright perfect. Imagine loads of blood in every episode, plenty of graphic nudity (but not in the way you think), and extremely profane language. Yet somehow, some way, it's also one of the most smartly written shows on television. Set in a world where people who possess superhuman powers exist among the regular folk, these "Supes" are far from heroes. Rather, they're egotistical, arrogant cogs in the wheel for the powerful company Vought International, which uses them to further its interests and power. Antony Starr is brilliant as the egomaniacal leader Homelander, a clear parody of Superman, and the rest of the cast make up an eclectic mix of personalities. The show, along with its spin-off Gen V, is the right mix of entertainment, action, and clever, thought-provoking commentary that satirizes the absurdities of the real world to a tee. 'The Terminal List' (2022–Present) Image via Prime Video Despite the mixed reviews, The Terminal List is an intriguing action thriller that is based on the Jack Carr novel of the same name. Chris Pratt stars as Lieutenant Commander James Reece, a U.S. Navy SEAL who is plagued with guilt over a prior covert mission that saw his platoon ambushed. While he tries to grapple with this trauma while reintegrating with his family, he discovers new evidence that shakes him to his core and puts his family at risk. The Terminal List is one of the greatest thriller shows on Prime Video. It's gripping and tense, and the negative reviews haven't been reflected in its future since the series is returning for a second season in October 2026. Collider reviewer Nate Richard nails the assessment, calling the show "your dad's new favorite show." It's worth mentioning that the prequel series The Terminal List: Dark Wolf provides great context and is just as good, if not better. 'Reacher' (2022–Present) Image via Prime Video One of Prime Video's darling shows, Reacher has become one of the most talked about shows of the last few years. With the fourth season premiering in August 2026 and the show already renewed for a fifth as well, there's no question that fans adore Alan Ritchson as the self-professed hobo with a long history of military work and getting the job done. His massive presence is menacing, but he's also fiercely smart, witty, and sarcastic. Each season follows Reacher as he travels the U.S. with nowhere in particular to go. But he seems to find a case to work each time. From searching for his brother's killer in Season 1 to reuniting with his old team to avenge the death of one of their own in Season 2, every season is a new and more exciting story. The action crime show is one of the rare gems that gets better with every 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 'Cross' (2024–Present) Image via Prime Video If you love the combination of high action and more complex psychological analysis, Cross is the perfect fit. Based on the character from the James Patterson novels, Aldis Hodge plays the title character, a homicide detective and forensic psychologist. He uses his strong stature, law enforcement training, and brilliant mind to find and take down killers. Unlike surface-level action shows, however, Cross dives deeper into more emotional topics. Cross is not only seeking out serial killers taking innocent lives — he's a single father trying to raise his kids and be the best example for them. The crime thriller is rising up the ranks on Amazon, and with a third season coming, Cross is poised to become one of the best shows for the streamer this decade. 'Ride or Die' (2026) Image via Prime Video One of Prime Video's newest action shows, the action adventure comedy Ride or Die has two women at the center, and it has modern-day Thelma & Louise vibes. Judith Burton (Hannah Waddingham) is a secret assassin and her best friend Deborah "Debbie" Claybourne (Octavia Spencer) is the wife of a member of Parliament. The pair go on the run from an enemy and must figure out how to stay hidden and make it out alive. The show, one of the best Prime Video shows of 2026 so far, is a refreshing gender switch, bringing two females front and center in a show that's filled with high action combined with fun hijinks. Earning rave reviews, Ride or Die is also a sweet show about friendship. With just eight episodes, it's a quick binge-watch, too. 'The Legend of Vox Machina' (2022–Present) Image via Prime Video If you're into animation, The Legend of Vox Machina is a long-running adult animated fantasy series that takes you into the fictional world of Dungeons & Dragons. Starting as a Kickstarter campaign, the series has proven its worth with four seasons and a fifth coming. It centers around a world called Exandria, on a continent called Tal'Dorei where the Vox Machina team go on a mission to avenge the murders of their friends and family. The show is essential viewing for D&D fans with fantastic animations that fully immerse you in the story. Just be warned, it's not entirely kid-friendly. 'Invincible' (2021–Present) Image via Prime Video Another animated series that has exploded in popularity, Invincible hails from Robert Kirtman, the man behind The Walking Dead comics and TV show. It centers around Mark (Steven Yeun), son of the most powerful superhero in the world, Nolan, a.k.a. Omni-Man (J. K. Simmons). It's an unconventional coming-of-age story as Mark deals with growing up and having to hone his own powers and skills in a dangerous world. Extremely violent and graphic, Invincible, one of the most perfect action shows of the last five years, isn't really for kids. But the adult animated superhero series has developed a loyal legion of followers who have become obsessed with the story and the fictional universe. Already renewed for a fifth and sixth season, Invincible is a must-watch action show that's easily as good as non-animated ones. 'Spider-Noir' (2026) Image via Prime Video If you're looking for something unique in the superhero space, Spider-Noir fits the bill. The superhero is set in 1930s New York City and stars Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly, a.k.a. The Spider, who was once the only superhero in town. Now working as a private investigator, he winds up taking on his old alter-ego once again to help solve a dangerous case. Offered in both black and white and color so you can choose your preference (or watch twice in both formats!), Spider-Noir marks Cage's first leading TV role, a testament to how crucial the small screen is to today's entertainment landscape. It's dark, gritty, and packed with action. Earning 11 Emmy nominations, Spider-Noir is an obvious watch for superhero fans, but anyone looking for a solid noir will appreciate it, too. Spider-Noir Release Date May 27, 2026 Network MGM+ Showrunner Oren Uziel, Steve Lightfoot Directors Harry Bradbeer Franchise(s) Spider-Man Main Genre Action Seasons 1 Producers Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, Amy Pascal, Steve Lightfoot Creator(s) Oren Uziel Streaming Service(s) Prime Video Release Window 2026 Executive Producer(s) Harry Bradbeer, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Aditya Sood, Amy Pascal, Dan Shear