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Where to watch the best shows like Breaking Bad for fans of the crime drama
Breaking Bad is one of the biggest hits of the prestige TV era, often talked about in the same breath as The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Mad Men, and The Americans. After moderate success in its early seasons on AMC, its popularity exploded when it landed on Netflix, bringing in new viewers who made it one of the biggest shows in streaming and on TV until its finale in 2013. So, what are some other shows like Breaking Bad if you’ve been missing the binegable crime drama?
Breaking Bad follows high-school-science-turned-meth-cooker. Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Walter White becomes a career criminal to make quick cash and support his family in the face of mounting bills. Walter rises through the ranks of the criminal drug trade, becoming infamous for his high0-quality product, all while endangering the family he claimed to want to protect in his search for glory.
Below, you’ll find seven shows with similar themes and styles as Breaking Bad, running the gamut from serious dramas and thrillers to (dark) comedies) and including some streaming originals. Or you can check out Breaking Bad, which is streaming on Netflix.
Shows like Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul (2015-2022)
- Rating: TV-MA
- Runtime: 41-69 minutes per episode
- Creator: Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould
- Main cast: Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, Michael Mando
- Genre: Crime/drama
- Ratings: 8.9 – IMDB / 98% – Rotten Tomatoes
Saul Goodman, the crowd-pleasing sleazy lawyer from Breaking Bad, is in the spotlight in this prequel/sequel series from AMC. In Better Call Saul, we follow Jimmy McGill as he goes from conman to lawyer.
It’s hard to find a better show like Breaking Bad than a Breaking Bad spin-off. Originally pitched as a half-hour comedy, Better Call Saul has instead become a terrific companion to Breaking Bad, matching quality while carving out its own path. Better Call Saul is an award-winning drama full of compelling characters, gripping suspense, and dark comedy.
Ready to watch? You can find the show right here on Netflix.
Ozark (2017-2022)
What you need to know:
- Rating: TV-MA
- Runtime: 51-80 minutes per episode
- Creator: Bill Dubuque, Mark Williams
- Main cast: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner, Sofia Hublitz
- Genre: Crime/drama
- Ratings: 8.5 – IMDB / 82% – Rotten Tomatoes
In the Netflix original series Ozark, mild-mannered accountant Marty Byrd has to flee Chicago when he falls on the wrong side of a drug syndicate. Laying low in the Ozarks, Marty enlists the whole family in a scheme to make things right by laundering money, all while trying to start a new, rural life.
When Ozark was first announced, it sounded like Netflix was shamelessly trying to create its own knockoff of Breaking Bad. In reality, the show carved its own path, becoming one of the best crime shows on the service. Still, those first impressions weren’t totally off, as Ozark is a terrific show like Breaking Bad, sure to appeal to a similar audience.
Ready to watch? You can find the show right here on Netflix.
Weeds (2005-2012)
What you need to know:
- Rating: TV-MA
- Runtime: 26-31 minutes per episode
- Creator: Jenji Kohan
- Main cast: Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Justin Kirk, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould
- Genre: Drama/crime/comedy
- Ratings: 7.9 – IMDB / 70% – Rotten Tomatoes
When suburban mom Nancy Botwin’s husband suddenly dies, she needs to find a way to support her sons. With few options, she starts selling weed to her neighbors, identifying an untapped market of well-off stoners. Soon, she’s expanding her operation, and making enemies along the way.
Perhaps the most obvious precursor to Breaking Bad, Weeds tackles a lot of the same themes, with an outsider learning the ropes of the drug trade after tragedy strikes, and then rising through the ranks against all odds. It’s probably the funniest of the shows like Breaking Bad, aiming for a funnier though still pitch-black tone.
Where to watch:
Barry (2018-2023)
What you need to know:
- Rating: TV-MA
- Runtime: 26-35 minutes per episode
- Creator: Alec Berg, Bill Hader
- Main cast: Bill Hader, Stephen Root, Sarah Goldberg, Glenn Fleshler, Anthony Carrigan, Henry Winkler, Sarah Burns
- Genre: Comedy/crime/drama
- Ratings: 8.4 – IMDB / 99% – Rotten Tomatoes
Barry is a depressed hitman. While working a job in California, he finds himself moved by an acting class attended by his mark. Now, he sees a future for himself tapping into artistic inspiration. His old life may not be ready to let him go.
While most shows like Breaking Bad see regular folks getting lost in a life of crime, Barry goes in the other direction, with the titular hitman trying to get out and live a normal life outside of crime. The results aren’t all that different as the two worlds collide.
Ready to watch? You can find the show right here on HBO Max.
Narcos: Mexico (2018-2021)
What you need to know:
- Rating: TV-MA
- Runtime: 45-69 minutes per episode
- Creator: Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato, Doug Miro
- Main cast: Diego Luna, Michael Peña, Scoot McNairy
- Genre: Crime/drama
- Ratings: 8.4 – IMDB / 90% – Rotten Tomatoes
When Felix Gallardo takes the helm of the Guadalajara Cartel, he begins the process of organizing the Mexican drug trade in unprecedented ways. The previously loose, disorganized confederation of growers and sellers suddenly finds itself with a new structure, which attracts the attention of the DEA in California.
See the drug trade from a whole other angle in this Netflix original drama. While Walter often comes into contact with Mexican cartels in Breaking Bad, this series goes straight to the source, following real-life kingpins in the 1980s and 90s.
Ready to watch? You can find the show right here on Netflix.
Justified (2010-2015)
What you need to know:
- Rating: TV-MA
- Runtime: 37-53 minutes per episode
- Creator: Graham Yost
- Main cast: Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Joelle Carter, Natalie Zea, Walton Goggins, Jere Burns
- Genre: Drama/crime/western
- Ratings: 8.6 – IMDB / 97% – Rotten Tomatoes
When he gets into trouble in Florida, U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens is sent home to the past he tried to leave behind in Kentucky. There, his wild-west approach to justice lands him in all kinds of new trouble with the local crime world.
While Raylan is perhaps a more savvy fish-out-of-water than Bryan Cranston’s Walter, reluctantly returning to his roots rather than a new world, Justified is still a show like Breaking Bad in a few ways. Namely, its tone and focus on criminals will feel familiar to fans of the AMC show.
Ready to watch? You can find the show right here on Hulu.
Sneaky Pete (2015-2019)
What you need to know:
- Rating: TV-MA
- Runtime: 41-59 minutes per episode
- Creator: David Shore, Bryan Cranston
- Main cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Marin Ireland, Shane McRae, Libe Barer, Margo Martindale
- Genre: Crime/drama
- Ratings: 8.1 – IMDB / 96% – Rotten Tomatoes
Marius is a conman with a new lease on life. Assuming the identity of his cellmate Pete as he leaves prison, he attempts to leave his old life behind and integrate into Pete’s family, who don’t know that Marius isn’t their estranged relative. But soon “Pete” realizes he’s in deep, keeping secrets within a family that has many of its own, all while his old life tries to catch up with him.
Co-created by Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, Sneaky Pete similarly circles around crime, with a questionable hero who’s trying to keep the truth about himself hidden from the people closest to him.
Ready to watch? You can find the show right here on Prime Video.
