After you binge the Netflix hit, get your Ozark fix with these similar TV shows.
If you’re anything like us, you’ve been anxiously awaiting the return of the Byrde family and their dysfunctional crew. If you’ve missed Ozark, too, don’t worry: Season 4 just dropped on Netflix. But if you’re really like us and binged the entire season in one sitting, we’ve got a few shows that remind us of Ozark to hold you over until part two of its final season drops.
What do our TV show picks all have in common? Unexpected alliances, covered-up crimes, rickety relationship dynamics, questionable moral dilemmas, and high-stakes drama. You know — all the juicy stuff. And while you might not exactly relate to some of these characters, these TV shows will certainly provide a lot of entertainment value.
Below, find our favorite TV shows like Ozark. The good thing is, most of these shows are available to watch on the most popular streaming platforms, like Hulu, Netflix, and Showtime. So, sit back and watch someone else’s drama unfold with these seven shows.
Shows Like Ozark
The Outsider (HBO)
If you love being on the edge of your seat guessing about who did the crime, The Outsider will keep you guessing until the last episode. It’s filled with both true crime and supernatural elements, although it never feels otherworldly or unbelievable. You’ll quickly meet Detective Ralph Anderson, played by Ben Mendelsohn, a dry and analytical character who is set on finding the facts through hard evidence only. Plus, it features our favorite Ozark actor, Jason Bateman, playing a soccer coach and father who is suspected of murdering a young boy. The case features twists and turns, and even a supernatural force of some kind, which prompts Anderson to bring in an unorthodox investigator, Holly Gibney, played by Cynthia Erivo. There’s only one season at the moment, but there are talks of adding another.
The Sinner (Netflix)
With four seasons out already, The Sinner was clearly well-received. The show is an anthology, with each season telling a different story with some recurring characters, but each explores the same idea: How and why do ordinary people commit such brutal crimes? The first season features Jessica Biel, who’s also the show’s executive producer, as a distraught mother who commits a violent crime in an inexplicable fit of rage. She doesn’t seem to remember why or how she did what she did, and she’s horrified by her ability to do it. Detective Harry Ambrose, played by Bill Pullman, is the main investigator on the case, as he is in each season. The audience gets to watch his mind connect the dots, figure out the “whys” of crimes, all while trying to understand the minds of the criminals themselves.
Dead to Me (Netflix)
After tragically losing her husband, Jen Harding (played by Christina Applegate), is at a loss for how to deal with her grief. In a desperate attempt to feel something, she joins a grief support group, where she meets Judy (Linda Cardellini), who has also just lost her partner. The two form an unexpected bond, after some hilarious road bumps along the way, and end up becoming fast friends despite their opposite dispositions (Judy, the eternal optimist, and Jen, the pessimist). However, Judy isn’t exactly who Jen thinks she is. After digging into her past, Jen learns more about her, becoming more and more unhinged as she learns the truth about who Judy is and how her husband really died.
Narcos (Netflix)
Combine the unexpectedness of working with a drug cartel and the excitement of a true-crime show and you get Narcos, which for the first two seasons is based on the story of the drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. The show follows both Escobar (played by Wagner Moura) and the DEA agents attempting to bring down his cocaine operation, with thrilling chases, close calls, and shootouts ensuing. The show also dives into the war on drugs that occurred in the 1980s, showing that the many parties involved — including legal, political, police, military, and civilians — often find themselves in conflict.
Sharp Objects (HBO)
When two young girls go missing in a journalist’s hometown in Missouri, her editor sends her out to investigate, despite a strained relationship with her family there. Camille Preaker, played by Amy Adams, goes back to the small town, despite not wanting to return. There, she reunites with her estranged family, including her half sister and overbearing mother, searching for clues into how and why the two young girls disappeared. Despite focusing on the case, being home rekindles the trauma from Camille’s childhood, including the death of her younger sister.
Station 11 (HBO)
Based on the novel by Emily St. John Mandel, Station 11 is a post-apocalyptic look at the world after a deadly flu wipes out most of the human population. Taking place in Chicago at first, it follows the life of a young girl named Kirsten, played by Mackenzie Davis, and her journey to connecting with others in an attempt to imagine a new world while also remembering the best of what had been. Later, Kirsten joins a traveling acting troupe in order to make a living and be a part of a family. The troupe soon encounters a violent cult, whose leader is unknowingly connected to a member of the troupe.
Bloodline (Netflix)
When the black sheep of the Rayburn family, Danny (Ben Mendelsohn), returns home to his family in Florida, trouble starts for everyone. The show follows the Rayburn family and their relationships, exhibiting how the love and guilt between them all have broken down over the years. The show begins on an ominous note, with Danny’s brother, John (played by Kyle Chandler), saying, “Sometimes you know something’s coming…The voice in your head is telling you that something is going to go terribly wrong and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. That’s how I felt when my brother came home.” Danny is aware his siblings don’t want him there, just as they didn’t want him around when they were kids, and he decides it’s time for them to pay for their wrongdoings.
