Shows that feel likeElementary (2012–2019)
If you loved Elementary, the closest series we have are Defending Jacob (2020), The Outsider (2020) and The Chestnut Man (2021). All three share Elementary's contemplative and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.
Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Alienist (2018).
If Elementary hit the spot, these will too
Patient, quiet investigation where the damage sits inside a household
The difference: A short, closed limited series — one case, no ongoing partnership
Detectives forced to keep looking when the evidence stops making sense
The difference: Slow supernatural horror creeping in where the logic should be
Two detectives reading a killer's method for what it reveals
The difference: Nordic, grim, and one long case
A wrecked detective whose recovery matters as much as the case
The difference: A single small-town story in one season, with no case-a-week rhythm
Manhattan cases cracked by close attention to physical evidence
The difference: Lab-driven and impersonal, with far less time on the pair at its centre
Grief-soaked police work carried by two mismatched partners
The difference: One murder stretched across a whole season, and far heavier going
A brilliant, unreadable outsider feeding the law what it cannot find alone
The difference: A conspiracy engine driving it, where the pleasure here is deduction
New York as a crime scene, read by outsiders inventing their method
The difference: 1896 period gloom, and a much uglier serial-killer register
One New York murder followed step by step through the machinery
The difference: A limited series about the system grinding on, not a detective winning
Both rooted in New York City
Character study of a damaged mind, with crime circling the household
The difference: You watch from the killer's side — dread rather than deduction
A magnetic mentor and the protégés who orbit and enable them
The difference: Serialised legal soap — the leads are covering, not solving
In the mood for more contemplative?
all contemplative shows →The best-reviewed series that share Elementary’s defining feeling.
