Entertainment
7 Near-Perfect HBO Thriller Shows That Keep You Guessing What’s Next
In the past, weekend nights were often seen as the “death kneel” for television shows. Because most people had plans for the weekend, there really wasn’t much incentive to stay home and cut on the TV. That is, until HBO came onto the scene, and made Sunday nights practically must-see TV, especially for fans of the thriller genre. The network’s first big thriller hit was Oz, and HBO has only perfected the art of the prestige thriller ever since we were treated to a prison social experiment that is still tough to watch.
Thrillers on HBO weren’t made for cheap jump scares, as these shows truly kept you on the edge of your seat, keeping you guessing constantly about what was going to happen next. Whether it’s following along in a mind-bending gothic tale, or solving a whodunit with a detective who’s going through mental anguish, these prestige thrillers are the reasons why HBO can be considered the king of the genre. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the HBO thrillers that will keep you guessing for months on end.
‘Perry Mason’ (2020–2023)
You normally wouldn’t look at a series like Perry Mason and think of it as a thriller. Normally, legal dramas operate on the “case of the week” formula, which produces predictable outcomes that normally tilt in the favor of prosecutors. Perry Mason took a different path. Instead of relying on what was familiar, the show acts as a high-stakes, noir thriller that often times keeps its viewers guessing.
Created by Rolin Jones and Ron Fitzgerald, Perry Mason follows the titular character (portrayed by Matthew Rhys) on his rise to being the famed defense lawyer that we all know and love. So, the HBO version acts as an origin series, and a thrilling one at that. You see, Perry Mason was a down-and-out private investigator, and this is the version that we get with its noir mystery structure, and not letting us in on “who” is committing the crime, perfectly keeps viewers on their toes, and putting on their detective hats in order to help Perry solve the crime. If you haven’t checked out Perry Mason, we highly recommend you do, as you won’t be disappointed.
‘Big Little Lies’ (2017–Present)
Much like the aforementioned Perry Mason, when you look on the surface of Big Little Lies, you would be hard-pressed to think that this is a show that could come within 50 feet of being considered a “thriller.” You don’t get dark alleys here. You get granite countertops. There are no “shadowy figures,” just a group of moms that look as though they make the PTA tremble in fear. But, looks can be deceiving, and if television has taught us anything, it’s that the suburbs provide the perfect setting for a thriller.
Based on the novel written by Liane Moriarty, and adapted for HBO by David E. Kelley, Big Little Lies follows a group of women who become entangled in a homicide investigation at an elementary school fundraiser. The level of suspense that was built is a masterclass of how you combine a “whodunnit” with a “who was it.” We all know there was a murder, but we don’t know who died, and who was the one that did the murder; nor do we know if any of the women we follow are responsible for this person’s death. Originally created as a miniseries, the mystery in Season 1 was so good that HBO greenlit Season 2, which was just as compelling as the first season.
‘The Night Of’ (2016)
When we think of a great thriller, we normally discount ambiguity; but, in a nutshell, that is the central ingredient in baking a tension-filled cake. Ambiguity can be a dangerous weapon, which was perfectly illustrated in the 2016 miniseries The Night Of. Based on Peter Moffat’s 2008 BBC series Criminal Justice, this thrilling miniseries stars John Turturro as John Stone, a lawyer who is hired to represent Nasir Kahn (Riz Ahmed), a Pakistani-American college kid who winds up being accused of murder.
While we know the set-up, we don’t know what happened before, nor during the murder. Kahn has a massive gap in memory, and viewers are left to piece together what exactly happened the night a woman was murdered on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. We are as much in the dark about that night as Kahn is, and the writers did a phenomenal job of using the “blackout” narrative to thrill us and keep us on the edge of our seats. What can we really trust here? Can we trust Kahn? Can we trust the “facts” of the case? We don’t know, and this presents a claustrophobic atmosphere that feels heavy and intense, which is what makes The Night Of such an enthralling thriller.
‘Mare of Easttown’ (2021)
A great mystery thriller keeps its audience guessing until the very end. Then, when they think they have all the answers and have solved the mystery, the show throws a huge curveball that the viewer didn’t see coming. That’s what makes Mare of Easttown such a gripping mystery thriller. Created by Brad Ingelsby, the miniseries stars Kate Winslet in an absolute brilliant performance as Marianne “Mare” Sheehan, a police detective who is tasked with solving the case of a young girl who’s been missing from her suburban Philadelphia town for a year.
While she’s trying to solve the case, Mare is going through a truly harrowing time in her personal life. She’s going through a divorce, she lost her son to suicide, and is embroiled in a custody battle with her son’s girlfriend over custody of her grandson. She’s just having a time in life, which is also what makes Mare of Easttown so tantalizing. It’s a series that perfectly blends the classic “whodunit” trope with character-driven emotion. Her personal life is a mess, and it’s begun to affect her skills as a detective, given the town has begun to doubt her skills. Mare of Easttown lures its viewers in with comfort, but it’s all a ruse that slowly brings the audience into a case with high-stakes that’s also filled with raw emotional intensity. So for anyone who questions whether Mare of Easttown should be considered a crime thriller, watch it, and you won’t question it anymore.
‘The Leftovers’ (2014–2017)
So, here’s a scenario. You’re at work one day, and then, all of a sudden, you notice that a few of your co-workers suddenly disappear. You don’t know where they went, as all you know is they’re gone. You get off work, and turn on the news, only to discover that many more people have just suddenly “departed” the world. So now, you have a lot of questions, as does the rest of the world. This is the central premise of the underrated series The Leftovers, adapted from Tom Perrotta‘s 2011 novel of the same name.
Here, we follow the survivors of the “Sudden Departure,” in which, three years before the events of the series, 2% of the world’s population suddenly vanished. Now, some may think that 2% isn’t a lot, but the population of the world is (currently) over 8 billion, and two percent of that is 160 million people. That is a lot of humans gone in a flash; and while The Leftovers is technically a supernatural drama, the series carries a lot of suspenseful energy, and you’re left wondering what happened to 160 million people who just went “poof” into thin air. The Leftovers act as a mystery box that, try as you might, you can never seem to open, which is why it should definitely be included here.
‘Tokyo Vice’ (2022–2024)
The Yakuza are gangs that no one wants to mess with. These are members of organized crime syndicates based out of Japan who are known for their super strict codes of conduct, and they take this code very, very seriously. Now, imagine an American journalist (Ansel Elgort) going to Tokyo to investigate the Yakuza, and you have the makings of one of HBO’s most underrated crime thrillers.
Tokyo Vice follows Jakes Adelstein (Elgort), a journalist from Missouri who moves to Tokyo and investigates the corruption of the city’s underworld. To guide him through this treacherous world, he teams up with Hiroto Katagiri (Ken Watanabe), a detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who acts as a father-figure to him. Tokyo Vice takes the standard “fish out of water” trope and completely turns it on its head. Adelstein is an outsider and sticks out like a sore thumb in modern Tokyo. This makes the audience worry about Jake as he goes deeper into Tokyo’s dangerous underworld run by the Yakuza, and the series keeps the viewers on their toes as the situation gets more and more dangerous. One slip up could cost him his life, and that gives Tokyo Vice a thriller aspect that is very much underappreciated.
‘Sharp Objects’ (2018)
The unreliable narrator is such an interesting trope in the thriller genre, and nowhere was this put to greater effect than in the 2018 Southern gothic miniseries, Sharp Objects. Based on the 2006 novel written by Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects is a powerful psychological thriller that basically weaponizes the mental state of its characters. This is where the central character of the series, Camille Preaker (Amy Adams), comes into focus. Preaker, who is an investigative reporter, has an alcohol problem, and in the first episode, we learn that she was recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital. Dealing with inner demons, she returns to her hometown in Missouri to investigate the murder of two young girls; but once she returns home, she finds herself under the watchful eye of her mother, Adora Crellin (Patricia Clarkson), which ultimately forces her to confront her demons.
Because Preaker is dealing with alcoholism, the viewers can’t really rely on her narration of the events of the series. Granted, the events she’s describing to us could be real, but her life is so filled with trauma and emotional pain, that we, sadly, have to question the validity of what she’s witnessing, because we’re seeing the events of Sharp Objects unfold through her eyes. This is a series in which you have to pay attention to everything you’re watching, from the multiple manipulators to the town itself, you are on the edge of your seat the entire time you’re watching, and it doesn’t let up for a second.
Sharp Objects
- Release Date
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2018 – 2018-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Marti Noxon
- Directors
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Jean-Marc Vallée