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The Outsider poster

Shows that feel likeThe Outsider (2020)

When an insidious supernatural force edges its way into a seemingly straightforward investigation into the gruesome murder of a young boy, it leads a seasoned cop and an unorthodox investigator to question everything they believe in.

If you loved The Outsider, the closest series we have are The Night Of (2016), Defending Jacob (2020) and Mare of Easttown (2021). All three share The Outsider'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).

★ 7.6 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗1 season · HBOcreated by Richard Pricecontemplativetwistygritty
11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video
Stream it:HBO Max ↗

If The Outsider hit the spot, these will too

The Night Of poster
The Night Of
2016 · 1 season · HBO
★ 8.4crime · drama · mysteryMax

Richard Price directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

After a night of partying with a female stranger, a man wakes up to find her stabbed to death and is charged with her murder.

Defending Jacob poster
Defending Jacob
2020 · 1 season · Apple TV
★ 7.7drama · mystery · crimeApple TV+

Two things both keep coming back to: detective and the investigation

A family's lives are irreparably disrupted when the 14-year-old son is accused of murdering a fellow classmate.

Mare of Easttown poster
Mare of Easttown
2021 · 1 season · HBO
★ 8.4drama · crime · mysteryMax

Both are working the same pair: small town life, alcoholism

A detective in a small Pennsylvania town investigates a local murder while trying to keep her life from falling apart.

The Chestnut Man poster
The Chestnut Man
2021–2026 · 2 seasons · Netflix
★ 7.6drama · crime · mysteryNetflix

Common ground: murder

At a grisly murder scene sits a figurine made of chestnuts. From this creepy clue, two detectives hunt a killer linked to a politician's missing child.

Elementary poster
Elementary
2012–2019 · 7 seasons · CBS
★ 7.9drama · mystery · crimePrime VideoHulu

Both are built on the same subject: detective

A modern-day drama about a crime-solving duo that cracks the NYPD's most impossible cases. Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes to Manhattan where his wealthy father forces him to live with his worst nightmare - a sober companion, Dr. Watson.

The Killing poster
The Killing
2011–2014 · 4 seasons · AMC
★ 8.3drama · crime · mysteryHulu

One thread runs through both: child murder

The Killing is an American crime drama television series based upon the Danish television series Forbrydelsen. Set in Seattle, Washington, the series follows the various murder investigations by homicide detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder.

How to Get Away with Murder poster
How to Get Away with Murder
2014–2020 · 6 seasons · ABC
★ 8.1crime · drama · mysteryHulu

The same preoccupation in both: lawyer

A sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller about a group of ambitious law students and their brilliant, mysterious criminal defense professor. They become entangled in a murder plot and will shake the entire university and change the course of their lives.

Scream: The TV Series poster
Scream: The TV Series
2015–2019 · 3 seasons · MTV
★ 7drama · crime · mystery

Both keep coming back to the same thing: murder

What starts as a YouTube video going viral, soon leads to problems for the teenagers of Lakewood and serves as the catalyst for a murder that opens up a window to the town's troubled past. Everyone has secrets. Everyone tells lies. Everyone is fair game.

The Undoing poster
The Undoing
2020 · 1 season · HBO
★ 7.4drama · crime · mysteryMax

Contemplative where it counts, twisty underneath

Grace and Jonathan Fraser are living the only lives they ever wanted. Overnight a chasm opens in their lives: a violent death and a chain of terrible revelations. Left behind in the wake of a spreading and very public disaster, Grace must dismantle one life and create another for her child and her family.

The Alienist poster
The Alienist
2018–2020 · 2 seasons · TNT
★ 7.7drama · crime · mystery

Gritty drama, and it commits to that

New York, 1896. Police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt brings together criminal psychologist Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, newspaper illustrator John Moore and secretary Sara Howard to investigate several murders of male prostitutes.

Bates Motel poster
Bates Motel
2013–2017 · 5 seasons · A&E
★ 8.1drama · crime · mysteryPrime Video

Common ground: small town life

A "contemporary prequel" to the 1960 film Psycho, depicting the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma prior to the events portrayed in Hitchcock's film, albeit in a different fictional town and in a modern setting. The series begins after the death of Norma's husband, when she purchases a motel located in a coastal Oregon town so she and Norman can start a new life.

Slow Horses poster
Slow Horses
2022– · 6 seasons · Apple TV
★ 8.4crime · drama · mysteryApple TV+

Mystery with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Follow a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents—and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb—as they navigate the espionage world's smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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