We have just updated our 2022 list of best crime, drama and thriller shows on HBO Max which includes some of some of the most exciting new releases such as Station Eleven.
Note: For our 2021 best shows on HBO Max, please visit here. You can also check out our “Watching Lists” for the list of best new releases across all streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and more.
Update: We now have a 2024 guide, updated with more recent and noteworthy shows, that you can view here.
31. Mare of Easttown
This is an HBO Original show. In a small Pennsylvania town, a detective investigates a brutal murder while her own life is falling apart around her.
Kate Winslet stars in this seven-episode limited series as the cop who deals with the loss of her son and a hectic household while trying to solve a cold missing persons case and the slaying of a teen girl in a place where everyone is a potential suspect.
30. The Wire
In the city of Baltimore, there are good guys and there are bad guys. Sometimes you need more than a badge to tell them apart. This highly realistic and totally unvarnished drama series chronicles the vagaries of crime, law enforcement, politics, education and media in Baltimore as it follows a team of cops and the criminals they are after.
29. It’s a Sin
An HBO Max Original show. 1981, and a gang of friends move in together, in the heart of London. As the decade unfolds, we follow their hopes and dreams, highs and lows, all coming out and coming of age. But a terrible new virus is on the rise, and they’ll need each other more than ever as the fight begins.
28. Warrior
Set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century, this gritty, action-packed series follows Ah Sahm, a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful tongs (Chinese organized crime family).
27. Station Eleven
An HBO Max Original. Based on the bestselling novel, this post-apocalyptic saga follows the survivors of a devastating flu as they attempt to rebuild and reimagine the world anew – while holding on to the best of what’s been lost.
26. Snowpiercer
Set more than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, Snowpiercer centers on the remnants of humanity who inhabit a perpetually moving train, with 1001 cars, that circles the globe. Class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out in this riveting television adaptation based on the graphic novel series.
25. Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic
Watched any great books lately? Now you can watch the most celebrated graphic novel of all time, the graphic novel that broke the conventional mold and continues to break new ground.
24. The Sopranos
James Gandolfini stars in this acclaimed series as Tony Soprano, a husband and mob boss whose professional and private strains often land him in the office of his therapist. The ensemble cast includes Lorraine Bracco as his doctor, Edie Falco as his long-suffering wife, Michael Imperioli as his hot-headed nephew and Dominic Chianese as his uncle.
23. Boardwalk Empire
Atlantic City, 1920. When alcohol was outlawed, outlaws became kings. HBO presents this epic new drama series that follows the birth and rise of organized crime in ‘the world’s playground’ at the dawn of Prohibition. Steve Buscemi heads up the cast as Enoch ‘Nucky’ Thompson, the city’s undisputed czar who is equal parts politician and gangster.
22. South Side
South Side follows two friends who are ready to take over the world, but until they do, they’re stuck working at Rent-T-Own. Shot in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, the show offers a look into what life on the South Side is all about.
21. Game of Thrones
Trouble is brewing in Westeros. For the inhabitants of this world, control of the Iron Throne holds the lure of great power. But in a land where seasons can last a lifetime, winter is coming…and beyond the Great Wall that protects them, a forgotten evil has returned. HBO presents this epic series based on the book series ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ by George R.R. Martin.
20. Perry Mason
The world’s most renowned fictional lawyer is back on the case in this exciting HBO series that tells the origin story of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason. Set in 1932 Los Angeles, this edgy, noirish update puts a new spin on the iconic character with Mason (Matthew Rhys) as a low-rent private investigator who digs into a controversial and politically loaded case.
19. 30 Coins (30 Monedas)
An HBO Original series. From Álex de la Iglesia comes this bone-chilling horror series starring Eduard Fernández as a priest who is exiled to a small Spanish town.
18. The Alienist
Set in 1896 amidst a backdrop of vast wealth, extreme poverty and technological innovation, this psychological thriller stars Daniel Bruhl, Luke Evans, Dakota Fanning and Brian Geraghty. Viewers will be transported into the darkest corners of New York City during the Gilded Age.
17. Barry
Disillusioned at the thought of taking down another “mark,” depressed, low-level hit man Barry Berkman seeks a way out. When the Midwesterner reluctantly travels to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an actor who is bedding a mobster’s wife, little does Barry know that the City of Angels may be his sanctuary.
He follows his target into acting class and ends up instantly drawn to the community of eager hopefuls, especially dedicated student Sally, who becomes the object of his affection. While Barry wants to start a new life as an actor, his handler, Fuches, has other ideas, and the hit man’s criminal past won’t let him walk away so easily.
16. Euphoria
Multimedia superstar Zendaya stars in this drama series that follows a group of high-school students as they navigate a mine field of drugs, sex, identity, trauma, social media, love and friendship in today’s increasingly unstable world.
15. Blinded by the Lights
A Warsaw-based cocaine dealer’s perfectly organized life sinks into chaos in this series from Poland.
14. Carnivale
1934. The Dustbowl. In a time of sandstorms, plagues, drought and pestilence, the final conflict between good and evil is about to begin. This epic HBO series focuses on the battle as it plays out against a pair of unusual backdrops: a traveling carnival working the American Dustbowl circuit, and an evangelical ministry in California.
13. True Blood
In the near-future, vampires have come out of the coffin…no longer in need of a human fix. But can a young Louisiana waitress (Anna Paquin) forge a love match with a bloodsucker? HBO presents this drama series created by Alan Ball (‘Six Feet Under’) and based on the best-selling ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ novels by Charlaine Harris.
12. El Jardin de Bronce (The Bronze Garden)
An HBO Latin America Original. Based on the book of the same name by Gustavo Malajovich, The Bronze Garden follows the desperate struggle of architect Fabian Danubio to find his daughter, Moira, who has disappeared inexplicably and without a trace.
11. Luther
Luther is a deeply thrilling crime series, crackling with energy, distinctive characters and snappy, clever dialogue. On a moral crusade, too often with only his convictions for company, John Luther is a deeply troubled man, a philosophical cop possessed by the insoluble problem of evil and justice in a Godless world.
Confronting depravity in its many terrible forms, over a succession of psychological duels between hunter and hunted, perpetrator and prey, Luther reveals his capacity for violence as well as kindness; his sudden vulnerability and dizzying, visionary mind; why his wife left him for another man, and why his colleagues are frequently left open-mouthed in awe. As the stakes get ever higher and more personal, Luther’s lonely path pulls him towards the very edge of temptation. Will the relentless pursuit of light tip him into the ultimate darkness?
10. His Dark Materials
From Philip Pullman’s epic “His Dark Materials” fantasy trilogy (which consists of the books “The Golden Compass,” “The Subtle Knife,” and “The Amber Spyglass”) comes this compelling HBO series that follows young orphan Lyra (Dafne Keen) on an incredible adventure into a parallel world where a human’s soul exists outside one’s body–in the form of a talking animal.
9. Lovecraft Country
A search for a missing father turns into an otherworldly trip. Based on Matt Ruff’s novel, this series follows Korean war vet Atticus Freeman, his friend Letitia and his Uncle George on a journey across 1950s Jim Crow America. What follows is a struggle to survive against the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters ripped from an H.P. Lovecraft paperback.
8. The Deuce
Get into the gritty and decadent world of NYC’s Times Square in the 1970s, as the business of pleasure begins its climb to become a billion-dollar industry in this drama series from the creative team behind ‘The Wire(R)’ and ‘Treme(R)’. James Franco, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Carr, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Dominique Fishback, Emily Meade, Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. head up a stellar cast.
7. Westworld
In this series set in a futuristic Wild West fantasy park, a group of android ‘hosts’ deviate from their programmers’ carefully planned scripts in a disturbing pattern of aberrant behavior. With an exceptional cast headed by Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright, ‘Westworld’ was inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1973 film.
6. Killer Truth
The story of a single murder is told through the perspectives of five people most intimately connected to the case, creating a full picture of the crime and ultimately leading to justice.
5. Raised by Wolves
From Executive Producer Ridley Scott, Raised by Wolves centers on two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.
4. I’ll Be Gone in the Dark
Directed by Academy Award(R) nominee and Emmy(R)-winning director Liz Garbus (HBO’s Who Killed Garrett Phillips), this riveting six-part documentary series, based on the book of the same name, explores writer Michelle McNamara’s investigation into the dark world of a violent predator she dubbed the Golden State Killer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s.
3. The New Pope
A follow-up to “The Young Pope” from Oscar(R)-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, this series picks up with Jude Law’s Pope Pius XIII in a coma and the Holy See searching for his replacement. Out of the fray rises Sir John Brannox (John Malkovich), a religiously moderate, sophisticated and sensitive intellectual who has secrets and insecurities of his own.
2. 4 Blocks
An HBO Max Original. Toni Hamady is tired of living a life of crime and wants to change things so he can have a quiet existence with his wife and daughter. That plan doesn’t come to fruition, though, when a police sting that has devastating consequences crosses his path.
He is forced to again step up as the leader of his crime ring to avoid handing control over to his hot-headed brother, Abbas. When an old friend shows up, Toni’s dream of getting out of the crime game seems like it could be within reach. But before he can achieve the quiet life he seeks, Toni must escape the downward spiral that is his involvement in illicit activity.
1. Arthur’s Law (Arthurs Gesetz)
An HBO Max Original. Due to an unwritten law, unlucky Arthur Ahnepol seeks to solve one problem, only to cause another, and sets off an avalanche of disastrous events.
