The Boys are great. But there’s so much more to Amazon Prime than gleefully violent supervillains. Keep reading for an amazing collection of the best original series, some new, some not, that will be the heroes to save you from show limbo.
In a world where choosing what to watch on Amazon Prime feels like scrolling through an endless buffet of dramas, comedies, sci-fi, and franchises that will never die, finding the next great binge is more difficult than not finishing that bottle of red. Lucky for you, we’ve already done the scrolling to find some hidden gem original series on Amazon Prime.
Beyond buzzy series like The Wheel of Time and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, there are underrated treasures just radiating in the streamer’s digital shelves. Below, we list 10 of our favorites. They include melodramatic adaptations, satisfying genre-blenders, and even brilliant comedies you’ll wish you’d checked out sooner. So grab your stretchy pants and start bingeing some of the best original series on Amazon Prime, whether you’re passing the time during a 4 a.m. feed or sinking into the couch after bedtime.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
When a fire forces a young Alice to take up residence with her bristly grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) on her flower farm, she learns to express herself through the native florals. But she also learns of secrets, abuse, and betrayal from her past. Fans of V.C. Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic and Lianne Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, this small-screen adaptation is your next bed of roses.
The Horror of Dolores Roach
Meet Dolores Roach. Fresh off a 16-year prison sentence for possession with intent, she’s ready to walk the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her plans to stay squeaky clean fall into a greasy fryer… along with the remains of the sleazy landlord she just murdered. In similar Santa Clarita Diet style, this original series on Amazon Prime stars a fantastic Justina Machado, and it’s just the right blend of humor and horror.
The Devil’s Hour
If you love a good puzzle and don’t mind playing during the devil’s hour, give this exceptional crime series a go. It stars Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine as Lucy, a social worker who wakes up every wee morning at 3:33 and has a mysterious connection to a homicide detective investigating a murder. Fair warning: This isn’t lazy-watching fare. So, be ready to hit play and put down the phone, because this is easily one of the best original series on Amazon Prime right now.
Paper Girls
If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self? This foursome gets that chance. And their answers are all pretty much the same: This is how we save the world. When a group of paper-delivery girls in 1988 accidentally make a quantum leap to 2019, they meet their adult selves and team up for some good old-fashioned fun hopping through time and space.
The English
Emily Blunt is a revelation. After bulking up for Sicario and Edge of Tomorrow, then going silent for A Quiet Place 1 and 2, the actress has proven herself beyond versatile. So, her brilliance in this revenge Western about an Englishwoman and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout seeking vengeance on the man who killed her son should come as no surprise. Except there are surprises. So many surprises.
Upload
This series from The Office‘s Greg Daniels has been quietly garnering a following for three years now. If you’ve seen HBO’s Made for Love or Prime’s Forever, then have a head-start on the binary twists of Upload. A mishmash of science fiction, comedy, and romance, the show sees a guy choose his own virtual reality afterlife and fall in love with his assigned angel. Just go with it!
Fleabag
She was tapped to inject her slick wit into the last Bond film. She was enlisted to paint humor and violence with a feminist brush for Killing Eve. And, apparently, Lucasfilms is clamoring for the multi-hyphenate to write them a film. All the hubbub surrounding Phoebe Waller-Bridge can be traced back to her legendary Fleabag, a comedy series about a London woman “using sex to deflect from the screaming void inside her empty heart.” It’s so good.
Harlem
Tracy Oliver, the writer of Girls Trip, is following up her box-office smash with a small-screen comedy of the same variety. Harlem, an easy binge about four women maneuvering hotties, careers, and the drama of life after college, is a flirty romp up for the challenge of filling that Sex and the City hole in your watch list. And Just Like That could never.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan
When Jim Halpert was pushing paper as the sultan of sarcasm on The Office, he was secretly harboring analytic and strategic skills we had no idea about. Kidding. But John Krasinski did go from Dunder Mifflin rep to brilliant CIA analyst in no time. And we’re so glad he did. Based on the Tom Clancy franchise, this series stars our Jim all rugged yet dapper and wielding the nation’s darkest secrets.
Class of ‘O7
Kacey Anning’s neon-drenched Aussie comedy has been pegged as a funnier Yellowjackets. And honestly, that comparison isn’t too far off. Here, you have a bunch of former female classmates, converging for their 10-year reunion, who then become stranded after the apocalypse covers the earth in water. Cue the old resentments, jealousies, and grudges, while also contemplating cannibalism to survive, and there you have it.
