Entertainment
Netflix’s 6-Part Crime Thriller Is the Perfect ‘Ozark’ Replacement Fans Have Been Waiting For
One of Netflix’s earlier TV hits, the Jason Bateman-led Ozark has remained one of the streamer’s more memorable titles as well. The crime drama saw a regular banker and his family take on a money laundering scheme for a cartel, meshing the terrors of organized crime with a group of in-over-their-heads characters who felt instantly relatable. Ozark ran for four seasons and concluded its run back in 2022, so most fans of crime shows have already watched through the show at least once by now. Fortunately, this month brought a new series to Netflix’s lineup that feels like a strong successor to Ozark, giving those fans an easy weekend binge to scratch that same itch.
Last week, Netflix released the first season of new crime series Legends, which instantly feels like it has the potential to follow in the footsteps of beloved shows like Ozark and Narcos. The season is only six episodes in length, making it easy to binge through the story in a single weekend (or less), setting up what fans of the crime genre are already hoping will be a long-running series.
What Is Netflix’s ‘Legends’?
From creator Neil Forsyth, Netflix’s new Legends series tells the true story of a group of British Customs employees who are tasked with going undercover and infiltrating a dangerous drug ring. The saga of these agents was covered in the book The Betrayer: How an Undercover Unit Infiltrated the Global Drug Trade, which was the true, written account of one of those agents, Guy Stanton.
In Legends, Guy is played by actor Tom Burke, who starred in Mank and The Lazarus Project before his scene-stealing breakout turn as Praetorian Jack in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Guy, along with a handful of other regular Customs employees, are given brand-new identities at the start of their new jobs, and tasked with taking on the international drug trade. Like the family in Ozark, these agents haven’t been training their whole lives for this type of assignment, and they realize quickly that they are in way over their heads.
Similar to Peacock’s Ponies series — which is also about inexperienced agents going undercover but has a much bigger comedic streak to it — Legends isn’t set in the modern day. The entire show takes place in the 1990s, allowing for some great production style and costuming you don’t get in a lot of shows.
In addition to Burke, the series stars Steve Coogan, Hayley Squires, Aml Ameen, Jasmine Blackborow, Douglas Hodge, Gerald Kid, Charlotte Ritchie, and Kem Hassan.
Will ‘Legends’ Get a Season 2?
We’re less than a week removed from the debut of Legends on Netflix, so it isn’t surprising that Netflix hasn’t made any announcement about its second season fate just yet. The streamer will likely take some time to study the show’s performance data before revealing news about Season 2.
So far, the show has performed well, at least where the Netflix Top 10 TV Shows list is concerned. Legends has been a steady presence on the list in the United States since arriving on the platform, though it has been slightly overshadowed by titles like Man on Fire and Lord of the Flies. The performance in the UK will probably be a major factor, given that Legends is a British production and focuses on a group of real-life heroes from England.
The saga of Guy Stanton and his fellow Customs agents would be impossible to fully fit in just six episodes, so there is hope from a lot of fans that there will be more Legends on the way in the future. The warm reception from critics (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) may bode well for its word-of-mouth performance.
- Release Date
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May 7, 2026
- Network
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Netflix
- Directors
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Brady Hood, Julian Holmes
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