13 thriller series on Amazon Prime Video that will make you squirm in your seat
13 thriller series on Amazon Prime Video that will make you squirm in your seat
Matt CabralFri, April 10, 2026 at 11:00 PM UTC
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Aldis Hodge on 'Cross'; Julia Roberts on 'Homecoming'; Mads Mikkelsen on 'Hannibal'Credit: Prime(3)
All art aims to elicit some kind of emotion, whether it's joy, sorrow, fear, or nerve-bristling excitement. The latter is especially coveted, and nothing delivers that tingle quite like a good thriller.
We've already compiled our favorite thriller movies on Amazon Prime, but subscribers may be itching for an extended thrill ride. Well, we have good news — there's no shortage of series on the streamer to make you nibble your nails and white-knuckle that armrest.
Read on for Entertainment Weekly’s selection of the best thriller series streaming on Amazon Prime.
The Better Sister (2025)
Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks in 'The Better Sister'Credit: Jojo Whilden/Prime
Based on Alafair Burke's 2019 novel, The Better Sister serves up a very bingeable mix of murder mystery and family melodrama. Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks star as estranged siblings, Chloe and Nicky, forced to reckon with their contentious past when the former's husband, Adam (Corey Stoll) — who also happens to be the latter's ex-husband — is murdered.
That spoiler-free setup barely scratches the surface. You will not be surprised to learn that, as it turns out, Adam had more than a few enemies. Each of the eight episodes packs on the intrigue; suspects and red herrings pile up while Biel and Banks trade barbs.
Where to watch The Better Sister: Amazon Prime
Cast: Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Banks, Corey Stoll, Maxwell Acee Donovan, Kim Dickens, Lorraine Toussaint
Cross (2024–present)
Aldis Hodge, following in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry, in 'Cross'Credit: Quantrell Colbert/Prime
Aldis Hodge takes on one of modern detective fiction’s longest-running characters, following in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry to play James Patterson’s star forensic psychologist, Alex Cross. Here, our protagonist has to track down a deranged serial killer — to say nothing of his own tangle of personal and professional issues he has to deal with.
Cross delivers corpses and cliffhangers in equal measure, but EW's critic considers the chemistry between the detective and his friend/professional partner John Sampson (Isaiah Mustafa) its biggest strength: “Hodge and Mustafa are ideal TV partners, masterfully encompassing their decades-long friendship in all its varied forms: Married-couple bicker-banter, stubborn defiance, effortless shorthand.”
Where to watch Cross: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Cast: Aldis Hodge, Isaiah Mustafa, Juanita Jennings, Alona Tal
Dead Ringers (2023)
Just a normal day at work for one of the Rachel Wieszes in 'Dead Ringers'Credit: Niko Tavernise/Prime Video
This unapologetically fleshy, carnal, feminine update on David Cronenberg's 1988 psychosexual classic sees Rachel Weisz brilliantly pulling double-duty as identical twin gynecologists Beverly and Elliot Mantle. As in the film – which saw Jeremy Irons playing both siblings – the series finds the sisters testing the flexibility of their profession's ethics, as well as their own moral boundaries.
The series is true to its body-horror ambitions, including plenty of unfiltered childbirth scenes that could have the faint of heart hitting the fast-forward button. But it’s also a diabolically twisted study of codependency. The sisters may look like mirror images but they’re more of a carnival funhouse.
Where to watch Dead Ringers: Amazon Prime
Cast: Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Ehle, Britne Oldford, Poppy Liu, Michael Chernus
The Devil's Hour (2022–present)
Peter Capaldi masters the hard stare in 'The Devil's Hour'Credit: Amazon Studios/Hartwood Films
Every night at 3:33 a.m., Lucy (Jessica Raine) is jolted awake by haunting, terrifying visions. That’s on top of her other worries, not the least of which is her seemingly disturbed, aloof young son. Her nightly 3:33 wake-up scare is just one riddle among many in The Devil's Hour, a tense British series that stacks one surreal conundrum on top of another.
Toss in plenty of brutal murders, bizarre prophecies, time-bending enigmas, and haunting hallucinations — all seemingly tied to Lucy’s mysterious meetings with the Hannibal Lecter-like Gideon Shepherd (Peter Capaldi) — and this one's well worth losing six hours of sleep over.
Where to watch The Devil's Hour: Amazon Prime
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jessica Raine, Nikesh Patel
The Girlfriend (2025)
Olivia Cooke lookin' very suspicious in 'The Girlfriend'Credit: Christopher Raphael/Prime
Bringing a significant other home to meet Mom can be a bit stressful. This mischievous psychothriller takes that premise to new, nerve-fraying levels. Robin Wright is Laura, a loving, doting mother who harbors suspicions when her smitten son Daniel (Laurie Davidson) introduces his “perfect” new girlfriend, Cherry (Olivia Cooke).
The series shifts back and forth between the perspectives of the two women, as we see their own intentions (and suspicions) the way they see them. Between the jealousy, paranoia, and a shocking cake-cutting scene that'd give any wedding planner a lifetime of nightmares, The Girlfriend puts a soapy, sexy, scary spin on well-trodden monster-in-law territory.
Where to watch The Girlfriend: Amazon Prime
Cast: Robin Wright, Olivia Cooke, Laurie Davidson, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Waleed Zuaiter
Hannibal (2013–2015)
Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) doing some fun sketches in his fancy cell in 'Hannibal'Credit: Brooke Palmer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Following Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter is a daunting task, but Mads Mikkelsen pulls off a decidedly different, albeit equally compelling, interpretation.
In Hannibal. which EW previously called “the most engrossing (and gross) serial-killer drama on television," Lecter is a man of many talents. Respected psychiatrist, FBI consultant – even low-key socialite, where he indulges his appetite for fine cuisine. His pivotal moment is crossing paths with the bureau’s most tormented profiler, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), who can see Lecter like no one else can.
Bryan Fuller’s expressionistic procedural is ostentatiously gruesome, yes, but the increasingly disturbing interplay between Will and Hannibal — cat and mouse, will-they/won’t they — is a full course meal on its own.
Where to watch Hannibal: Amazon Prime
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy, Caroline Dhavernas, Laurence Fishburne, Gillian Anderson
Homecoming (2018–2020)
Julia Roberts has no idea what she's gotten herself into in 'Homecoming'Credit: Prime
Despite starring Julia Roberts in its first season, this unconventional, slow-burn psychological thriller flew under the radar. The beloved actress plays Heidi Bergman, a social worker at the eponymous, top-secret facility; she’s ostensibly there to help veterans transition to civilian life.
But the place is, of course, not entirely what it seems. Our biggest hint of something more ominous comes in the narrative's other segment. Four years later, when a government investigator (Shea Whigham) starts sniffing around and comes across Heidi, she claims she remembers nothing about her old job. Roberts does some of the best work of her career in a show that feels increasingly sinister in ways neither we, nor Heidi, can begin to understand.
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Where to watch Homecoming: Amazon Prime
Cast: Julia Roberts, Shea Whigham, Bobby Cannavale, Stephan James, Sissy Spacek
Jack Ryan (2018–2023)
John Krasinski as Jack Ryan in 'Jack Ryan.' (Harrison Ford didn't need a bulletproof vest, just sayin')Credit: Jan thijs/Amazon Studios
Following Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford's stellar turns as Tom Clancy's most famous creation, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, the character – and franchise – struggled to regain its footing in later films starring Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. But in the capable hands of everyman John Krasinski, the former Marine finds himself on solid ground again.
A taut political thriller, Jack Ryan tracks his path from brainy desk jockey to reluctant field agent to world-saving hero. In long form, the writers can pack enough globe-spanning spy games, adrenaline-spiking set pieces, and terrorist-thwarting action to keep even James Bond – or Jack Bauer, or Jason Bourne – busy.
Where to watch Jack Ryan: Amazon Prime
Cast: John Krasinski, Wendell Pierce, Abbie Cornish, Michael Kelly, Betty Gabriel
The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019)
Rufus Sewell has evil, German-accented thoughts in 'The Man in the High Castle'Credit: Liane Hentscher/Amazon Studios
What if the Axis powers won World War II, and Germany and Japan occupied the U.S. as its new, oppressive leaders?
That's the question posed by The Man in the High Castle, a dystopian 1960s-set thriller loosely based on Philip K. Dick's classic alternate-history novel. But the series has another card up its sleeve. In a unique diversion from the source material, our heroine Juliana (Alexa Davalos) comes across video footage suggesting a parallel reality in which, yes, the Allies won the war.
Eventually, she (along with her boyfriend and her sister, both committed rebels) finds herself on the wrong side of the regime — and of the sinister embodiment of its evil, High Command officer John Smith (Rufus Sewell).
Where to watch The Man in the High Castle: Amazon Prime
Cast: Alexa Davalos, Rufus Sewell, Joel de la Fuente, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Chelah Horsdal
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024–present)
Donald Glover, Maya Erskine, and an unknown third party in 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith'Credit: Prime Video
Mr. & Mrs. Smith uses Doug Liman's hit 2005 action-comedy, with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as married assassins working for rival agencies, as a springboard for a fresh new interpretation.
This take, which EW's critic described as "the rare reboot that gets it right," doesn’t cast “John” (Donald Glover) and “Jane” (Maya Erskine) as a couple. Instead, they’re complete strangers who get recruited by an unknown agency to partner up in a sham marriage while carrying out very real missions.
There’s still plenty of terrific action and a nice, dark sense of humor, but the show's biggest draw is this counterfeit couple's crackling chemistry.
Where to watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Amazon Prime
EW grade: A- (read the review)
Cast: Donald Glover, Maya Erskine
The Night Manager (2016–present)
Tom Hiddleston in season 2 of 'The Night Manager'Credit: Des Willie/Prime
This spy thriller's title isn't a cheeky play on words or clever pun tied to its cloak-and-dagger action. Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) is an actual night manager, working the evening shift at a luxury hotel. Of course, given that this is based on a novel by espionage maestro John le Carre, Pine quickly gets up to more than ensuring guests have clean towels.
More specifically — and without spoiling a story that piles the twists as high as the corpses — Pine's an ex-British soldier pulled from his porter duties and recruited to surveil a ruthless arms dealer, Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie) staying at the hotel. The award-winning show had a decade-long break between seasons, but production is moving faster now. A third season is already on the way.
Where to watch The Night Manager: Amazon Prime
Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Debicki, Alistair Petrie
Outer Range (2022–2024)
Tom Pelphrey, Lewis Pullman, and Josh Brolin in 'Outer Range'Credit: Richard Foreman Jr. SMPSP/Amazon Prime
If thrillers are your binge of choice, you've been acquainted with plenty of spies, serial killers, and detectives. But you've probably never been pushed to the edge of your seat by a cattle-wrangling cowboy (no offense, Yellowstone). Outer Range would like to remedy that.
Starring Josh Brolin as weathered Wyoming rancher Royal Abbott, this unconventional genre experiment tackles the usual land disputes and feuding families. But the everyday cowboy problems get intertwined with something more menacing — possibly supernatural — when Abbott discovers an ominous black void on his property.
Toss in a missing daughter-in-law, mysterious land-squatter (Imogen Poots), and the scary thing that happens when someone jumps in the hole, and Abbott quickly has more on his hands than stray cows.
Where to watch Outer Range: Amazon Prime
Cast: Josh Brolin, Lili Taylor, Imogen Poots, Tom Pelphrey, Lewis Pullman
River (2015)
Stellan Skarsgard sees dead people in 'River'Credit: Prime
At a glance, River could pass for another British murder-of-the-week procedural. On the rain-slicked streets of London, Detective John River (Stellan Skarsgard) and his partner Stevie (Nicola Walker) chase perps and crack cases in between playful banter. Only she’s actually a ghost – murdered in the field – that our hero still sees and converses with.
Stevie isn't the only "manifest" — as the grief-stricken River insists they be called — in his life. Everyone, from recent victims of his cases to real-life serial killer Thomas Neill Cream, pop into his mind palace to help or haunt him. The I-see-dead-people premise injects a bit of black humor, but mostly fuels a twisty drama that doubles as a nuanced study of grief.
Where to watch River: Amazon Prime
Cast: Stellan Skarsgard, Nicola Walker, Lesley Manville, Adeel Akhtar, Eddie Marsan
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