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The Best Series of 2024

The ten best TV series I saw in 2024

Joonatan

Jan 6, 2025 — 9 min read

2024 was a great year for television. I saw nearly 40 new series this year, and most of them were fantastic. Making a single Top 10 list proved extremely difficult, which is why I'd like to call out some honorable mentions before we get into the best shows of the year.

The series that just missed the top spots include: Pachinko Season 2, House of the Dragon: Season 2, Like a Dragon: Yakuza, Citadel: Honey Bunny, Dune Prophecy, Expats, Ripley, Only Murders in the Building, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and Disclaimer*.

That's also not counting the shows I didn't have time to watch! So, naturally, this is a limited and incomplete listing, but one that hopefully gives an idea of the quality out there. I hope you find some new favorites from here, and you'll give some shoutouts to your favorites in the comments.

Now, without further ado, the ten best shows of 2024 in ascending order:

The Penguin

The Penguin feels like its own thing. It lives in a world separate from The Batman, despite sharing the universe with him. But there’s no homework for the audience or a lazy buildup for an advertisement for the next one. Instead, The Penguin is a story with a singular arc. That shouldn’t be a big thing, yet here we are. It’s a series that respects the audience’s time and dedication. We tune in because we know we’re getting a full story.

I didn’t think I’d be excited about another Batman series again. I’ve felt burnt out by them. The Penguin changed that. It’s a burst of energy into a franchise that needs it. A stellar expansion of Gotham’s myth that makes it a living, breathing entity. It does everything you’d want from a comic book series and ventures into high-quality television. It’s not The Sopranos, and it doesn’t need to be, but it’s a surprisingly similar meal. One that we should savor.

Dark Matter

Starring Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly, Dark Matter is a twisty, often devastating thriller about regret and paths not taken. It blends visions of The Matrix, The Cube, and the hyper-low-budget Primer into a surprising and ultimately rewarding whole. I wouldn’t say it’s hugely original — fans of the genre will spot certain twists coming miles away — but it’s always entertaining and never boring. Even when it doesn’t keep us guessing, the magic trick is so deftly performed that it doesn’t matter.

Silo Season 2

As the world of Silo expands, the stories become more, ahem, siloed themselves. In season 2, everyone finds themselves alone in one way or another. Whether it's Juliette in a literal sense, Sims with his confidence towards his work, or Knox with the weight of the growing rebellion on his shoulders.

At first, this change of pace feels jarring, especially if you're coming directly off the intense first season, where the cramped walkways and apartments of the silo highlighted Juliette's growing suspicion that something was amiss. Left alone, the entire first episode sees her solving one puzzle after another in complete silence. Yet once the season gets going, it picks up the pace to a breathless degree. By the end, I couldn't get enough, and the season was over before I knew it.

Slow Horses Season 4

Slow Horses is one of the consistently best streaming shows. If regular television was still a thing, it would be the best thing for that. For four compelling seasons, the misfits at Slough House have kept things brisk, fun, and always entertaining. While the latest isn’t the best season in the series, it’s another reminder that Apple’s streak of picking winners remains unbroken.

Fallout

Fallout is a rarity among game adaptations (even next to the terrific The Last of Us). It's a genuinely great series that understands precisely what it needs to be, instead of feeling tied down by the source material. It utilizes the visual aesthetics of the franchise’s retro-futurism gorgeously but never forgets to loop back into a pointed commentary. Like the best sci-fi, it speaks of present-day worries and insanities, while painting them in the absurdist light of tomorrow.

Led by a stellar cast and handled with care, Fallout deserves all the praise it has coming. It’s one of the most exciting new series out there, and hopefully one that we’ll enjoy for a long time to come.

Masters of the Air

Almost 20 years since Band of Brothers aired and over 10 after The Pacific concluded, Masters of the Air arrives with mammoth expectations heaped on its shoulders. After all, how do you measure up to an iconic TV classic? Well, you don't, and you don't even try comes the answer. Instead, Masters of the Air is a majestic story of its own that shares the DNA, yet little else with its two beloved siblings.

Thankfully, like Band of Brothers, Masters of the Air is not a glorification of war, nor is it built upon the spectacle of aerial combat. While there are incredible scenes of both, and this is by far the most visually dazzling TV series in recent memory, it’s the human cost of it all that comes to the forefront. Here, the stellar cast of already-famous faces mixed with soon-to-be-famous ones shines. Not a single moment feels wasted, and every celebration and quiet act of compassion is like an oasis in the middle of a desert.

If there’s something to gripe about, it’s that the series is only 10 episodes in length. That’s simply not enough time to cover everything fascinating about these people, and some, like Ncuti Gatwa and Bel Powley, show up late into the story, both with shorter screen times than I’d like.

But that’s asking for more of a good thing, which is always a good sign.

True Detective: Night Country

Back in January, I said I wouldn't be surprised if Night Country didn't appear in Top Ten lists worldwide. This is the kind of high-quality drama that HBO made its name with. 12 months later here we are: Night Country is rightfully celebrated as one of the best seasons of the True Detective franchise and one of the year's best shows.

Smart, compassionate, eloquent, and unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere. I hope Lòpez is given free rein to make ten more of these. I’ll watch every single one.

3 Body Problem

3 Body Problem arrived at the start of the year, and in a feature-packed one like 2024, it could have easily been forgotten.

The books are a dense mosaic of humanity facing an unimaginable threat that spans from our recent history to eons into the future. But, above all, they’re deeply humane and full of memorable characters who you come to care about.

They’re not easy adaptations, though. Cixin’s prose is tech-heavy and dense, and the further the story gets, the more abstract its depictions of time and space become. Any adaptation has to first build a solid foundation of realism and humanity before attempting the wild, mind-bending futurism that’s in store.

Luckily, that’s exactly what the new series by D.B. Weiss, David Benioff, and Alexander Woo nails perfectly. For every bit of eye-popping insanity, 3 Body Problem delivers genuinely compelling human drama that made me well up more than once. Propelled by a winning cast of soon-to-be stars and some returning faces from Game of Thrones, this is a big, brilliant, and beautiful sci-fi epic that was worth the wait.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2

While I enjoyed the first season of The Rings of Power, I'd be the first to admit that it had its issues. Character arcs fell flat, some directorial choices felt off, and the season was more of a prelude to the real thing than an actual season.

Not so with season 2, which comes roaring out of the gate in a way that should finally simmer down any naysayers. Full of magical moments that are pure Tolkien, Rings of the Power finds its stride as an assured fantasy epic that rivals the Peter Jackson films from 20 years ago.

The scope and scale remain vast, yet the pacing and structure both feel more refined. Even as we jump from one story to the next, The Rings of Power never becomes confusing. Instead, there’s now forward momentum that makes the action compelling, and the stakes even greater. Even the Harfoot story, which I found thoroughly lackluster before, feels now like the heart of the story.

As The Stranger and his newfound friends sang walking songs on their journey, I felt a lump in my throat. This is the emotional core that J.R.R. Tolkien’s great works stir within us, and for the first time, The Rings of Power captures that magic beautifully.

Visually, certain elements harken stylistically to Jackson’s works, yet far less than before. Even Bear McCreary’s score, which last time struggled to find a voice, soars to new heights.

Most importantly, The Rings of Power is fun. It is exciting and captivating for all eight hours of its runtime. Something that was sorely missing last season, even as I found much to love in it. Every episode of the season serves a purpose, and there is nary a dull moment to be found. By the time the great wars ahead began, I was gripping the edge of my seat at every turn.

Shōgun

The best TV series of the year is a great, classic story full of love, betrayal, heroism, and intrigue.

Where other similar series stumble in their telling, Shōgun effortlessly weaves fact and fiction in a way that's enriching. We know where history takes us, yet that doesn't stop the show from being wildly captivating. The uniformly excellent cast shows how far television has come in a few short years. Everyone speaks their own language, cultural traditions are respected, and there's very little white savior nonsense on display.

There's already talk of a second season for Shōgun, and I hope it doesn't come to pass. Not because I don't want more of it. I'm just as greedy as any other viewer. But because Shōgun is perfect just the way it is. The story is over. It is a richer experience to have a definitive end.

But that's the power of great television. We fall in love with these characters. Even the ones that don't survive until the end. Given the chance, we'd spend endless hours hearing about their adventures. Even if it's not necessary. I think that's the greatest triumph of Shōgun. In a time where streaming has made television series disposable, Shōgun feels timeless.