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Cruel Summer poster

Shows that feel likeCruel Summer (2021–2023)

Taking place over three summers - 1993, 1994, 1995 - in a small Texas town, a beautiful popular teen, Kate, is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette, goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America.

If you loved Cruel Summer, the closest series we have are Yellowjackets (2021), Servant (2019) and Behind Her Eyes (2021). All three share Cruel Summer's twisty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Revenge (2011).

★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗2 seasons · Freeformcreated by Bert V. Royaltwistycontemplativeunsettling
12 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video
Stream it:Hulu ↗

If Cruel Summer hit the spot, these will too

Yellowjackets poster
Yellowjackets
2021– · 4 seasons · Showtime
★ 7.7drama · mysteryNetflixParamount+

Common ground: psychological thriller

This equal parts survival epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama tells the saga of a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to savage clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later.

Servant poster
Servant
2019–2023 · 4 seasons · Apple TV
★ 7.4drama · mysteryApple TV+

Both keep coming back to the same thing: psychological thriller

A Philadelphia couple are in mourning after an unspeakable tragedy creates a rift in their marriage and opens the door for a mysterious force to enter their home.

Behind Her Eyes poster
Behind Her Eyes
2021 · 1 season · Netflix
★ 7.2mystery · sci-fi & fantasy · dramaNetflix

The same mix in both: twists, then stillness

The difference: Leans harder into sci-fi & fantasy than Cruel Summer does

A single mother enters a world of twisted mind games when she begins an affair with her psychiatrist boss while secretly befriending his mysterious wife.

Sharp Objects poster
Sharp Objects
2018 · 1 season · HBO
★ 8crime · drama · mysteryMax

Mystery built on unease, twice over

The difference: Sits closer to crime than Cruel Summer does

Reporter Camille Preaker confronts the psychological demons from her past when she returns to her hometown to investigate the murders of two young girls.

Revenge poster
Revenge
2011–2015 · 4 seasons · ABC
★ 7.8drama · mysteryHulu

Twisty drama in both cases

When Emily Thorne moves to the Hamptons, everyone wonders about the new girl, but she knows everything about them, including what they did to her family. Years ago, they took everything from her. Now, one by one, she's going to make them pay.

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Luther
2010–2019 · 5 seasons · BBC One
★ 8.4crime · drama · mysteryMaxHulu

Contemplative mystery, and it commits to that

A dark psychological crime drama starring Idris Elba as Luther, a man struggling with his own terrible demons, who might be as dangerous as the depraved murderers he hunts.

Dexter poster
Dexter
2006–2013 · 8 seasons · Showtime
★ 8.6crime · drama · mysteryParamount+

Drama with a pulse of unease, in both cases

Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police also leads a secret life as a serial killer, hunting down criminals who have slipped through the cracks of justice.

DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story poster
★ 8crime · dramaNetflix

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: Easier on the twists than Cruel Summer

This series examines the gruesome and horrific true crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer and the systemic failures that enabled one of America’s most notorious serial killers to continue his murderous spree in plain sight for over a decade.

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Legion
2017–2019 · 3 seasons · FX
★ 8.1action & adventure · sci-fi & fantasy · dramaHulu

A 2010s answer to the same itch

The difference: Takes it somewhere less twisty than Cruel Summer does

David Haller, AKA Legion, is a troubled young man who may be more than human. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. But after a strange encounter with a fellow patient, he’s confronted with the possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees might be real.

Hannibal poster
Hannibal
2013–2015 · 3 seasons · NBC
★ 8.5drama · crimeNetflixPrime Video

Drama of the same temperament

Both a gift and a curse, Graham has the extraordinary ability to think like his prey—he sees what they see, feels what they feel. But while Graham is pursuing an especially troubling, cannibalistic murderer, Special Agent Jack Crawford teams him with a highly respected psychiatrist – a man with a taste for the criminal minded – Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

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High-Rise Invasion
2021 · 1 season · Netflix
★ 6.4animation · mystery · action & adventureNetflix

A streak of twists through both

High-school girl Yuri suddenly finds herself on the rooftop of a high-rise building. She's trapped in a bizarre world surrounded by skyscrapers, where a masked man cracked open a man's head with an axe before her eyes. Finding a way to survive this bizarre world, find her beloved brother, and escape becomes her top priority, but she is beset by danger not just from the mysterious Masks, which possess both inhuman strength and cruelty, but other survivors turned cruel or desparate by the insanity of the high-rise world.

Alice in Borderland poster
Alice in Borderland
2020–2025 · 3 seasons · Netflix
★ 7.8mystery · drama · action & adventureNetflix

Both play mystery straight

With his two friends, a video-game-obsessed young man finds himself in a strange version of Tokyo where they must compete in dangerous games to win.

In the mood for more twisty?

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The best-reviewed series that share Cruel Summer’s defining feeling.