Audiences love watching television shows that give them a reason to keep watching. It’s why thrillers are one of the most popular genres. Maybe it’s through a gripping mystery teased at the top or the introduction of a brazen character you simply cannot fathom getting away with their actions. A good thriller can lure you in during a sensational pilot and throughout the series.
A good pilot must have a hook that draws you in, establishes the world, and gives you a reason to want to continue. When it comes to strong pilots that followed through until the series, these ten thrillers have lived up to the hype. Some listed are crime thrillers, others offer a story that is simply shocking. What they all have in common is being great from start to finish.
1
‘The Shield’ (2002–2008)
The crime thriller has been done to death, so finding a new way in is crucial. Then came The Shield. Instead of presenting the police as the good guys, Shawn Ryan‘s hit FX series focused in on corruption. Inspired by the Rampart Division police scandal, The Shield focuses on the strike team operating out of The Barn led by Vic Mackay (Michael Chiklis). Using criminal methods to coerce information, stage arrests, and take a share of various drug busts, the team’s maddening methods become scrutinized with their mission to maintain the peace in the district and reduce crime.
For The Shield to take off, it required the establishment of a definitive new world to become a sandbox in which to play in. The pilot delivered. Right off the bat, we watch as LAPD Captain David Aceveda (Benito Martinez) reveals that crime rates are dropping as we watch the corruption on the other side from Mackay and the Strike Team. Throughout the episode, you get shades of who the character Chiklis is portraying while pondering how this guy is going to maintain his antics. And that was the hook that kept fans coming back. Mackay was an overtly big character, unlike the cops you’d seen on screen, yet entirely fitting the mold of what a police officer on television should be. The Shield was gritty, daring, and well before its time.
2
‘Yellowjackets’ (2021–)
Let’s get it out of the way. Yellowjackets was billed as a thriller about a plane crash of a girls’ soccer team that turns to cannibalism. We were already sat, but after the pilot, we were more than hooked. Telling the tale through the past and present, Yellowjackets is a story about survival. And again, cannibalism. Knowing that’s where we’re ultimately going to go, the pilot brilliantly avoids these while still making allusions to them. With the present timeline offering clues to the mystery, Yellowjackets becomes a series in which you simply cannot look away. And still, even in its periods of poor decisions, it’s still better than most things you’re probably not watching.
Rich with characters in which you can track their arcs, Yellowjackets smartly keeps the intrigue just far enough away that you can still focus on the journey to get there. We know the core survivors, including Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), Taissa (Tawny Cypress), Misty (Christina Ricci), and Nat (Juliette Lewis), so there’s a reason to stay in tune with how they made it and why some other core characters in the past timeline do not. As some long-running series do, Yellowjackets has had to introduce new characters and storylines to maintain its longevity. It means it does go off the rails on occasion, but if you take the series for what it is, it’s still a juicy, fun time.
3
‘Silo’ (2023–)
Oftentimes, we expect post-apocalyptic stories to depict the barren wasteland and the living left searching for means of survival. Now, Silo does so, but they drop the action below the surface. Literally. Created by Graham Yost from the trilogy of books by Hugh Howey, Silo brings the mythology and lore of the 144-level titular silo, which houses a community of survivors cut off from the surface and the truth. Like many fantastical dystopian thrillers, Silo pulls you in immediately with the mystery of the location alone, but it goes even deeper with the premiere story.
In the premiere, we meet the key players, including engineer Juliette Nichols, played by Rebecca Ferguson. We understand the brutal class system that is in place in this broken community. And we learn what happens when someone requests to “go out.” The simple fact that Silo tells us in episode one that they’re about to kill off Rashida Jones in the first season not only prepares us for losing her, but it tells us this show is willing to take massive risks. And that they do. With the pilot introducing a series of mindblowing mysteries, Silo bravely pushes the riveting lore to the forefront without leaving you hanging. Because there is source material to work from, as in Game of Thrones, the map ensures the proper journey. By Season 2, when the second novel is dropped in, Silo continues to know where it’s going. Hopefully, when Silo runs out of rope, it won’t overextend like Game of Thrones.
4
‘The Night Agent’ (2023–)
The 21st century has played host to some political thrillers that have made us question our political system. Gone are the days when we hoped and prayed that only good things would happen in the White House, as depicted in shows like The West Wing. Ever since House of Cards blew the box wide open, we’re all convinced conspiracy theories are front and center in every aspect of politics. So, when The Night Agent dropped, a new reality of conspiracies came to light. Based on the novel of the same name by Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent follows FBI Agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) as he discovers the truth about a mole within the highest levels of the United States government. In order to save the nation, he goes on a desperate hunt for the traitor while protecting former tech CEO Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) from the people who murdered her aunt and uncle.
In the pilot, it all begins with the call that sets the action in motion and the bond that will form between Peter and Rose. With multiple murders setting the tone, The Night Agent ensures viewers that the race to uncover the traitor’s identity will be a nonstop, high-adrenaline rush. There’s rarely a moment when you can catch your breath, making the series one of the best political thrillers in recent memory. Through two seasons thus far, The Night Agent hasn’t let up!
5
‘The Hunting Wives’ (2025–)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you know how The Hunting Wives has taken over pop culture. Inspired by May Cobb‘s novel, the series follows a group of women with an affinity for the 2nd Amendment in Texas as they welcome an East Coast housewife into their group. As Sophie O’Neill (Brittany Snow) begins to integrate into this new universe, she develops quite an intimate relationship with the leader of the pack, Margot Banks (Malin Akerman). The Hunting Wives pilot feels very much like a juicy nighttime soap, but the thrill of lust becomes your initial draw. Then come the characters who you know are certainly not who they say they are. Though the murder of Abby (Madison Wolfe) isn’t revealed until the second episode, the simple fact that The Hunting Wives pulls you in before the inciting incident proves the wealth of potential the characters and story are filled with.
The Hunting Wives has a gripping mystery at its center, but it’s also a brilliant character study. They are larger-than-life, leaning into campy stereotypes, yet these women are raw, unfiltered, and authentic. It’s risqué, and as the story goes on, it just keeps getting better. With suspects galore, perhaps you saw the resolution right from the get-go, but Rebecca Cutter‘s ability to keep you questioning reality is why The Hunting Wives has become a viral sensation. Yes, you can make an argument that the word-of-mouth hive mind has aided in the series’ success, but the deeper you analyze it as a juicy comedic thriller, the more you understand why it works.
6
‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (2023)
When it comes to modern horror, no one does it quite like Mike Flanagan. After back-to-back-to-back hit miniseries on Netflix, Flanagan had a difficult task of topping himself. And then he brought us The Fall of the House of Usher, which became one of the most thrilling horror series of the modern era. Loosely inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher adapts a series of his classics through a haunting, nonlinear narrative about the titular family. Documenting the rise and fall of Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood and Zach Gilford), the powerful CEO of a pharmaceutical company, and his CCO sister Madeline (Mary McDonnell and Willa Fitzgerald), as they grapple with the events that led to the death of his six children. With death lurking around every corner and the extraordinarily haunting performance of Carla Gugino as Verna, The Fall of the House of Usher kept you glued because it was not necessarily a matter of who is going to die; it’s about how they’re going to die.
By setting up the action at the final funeral, viewers were given an endpoint and a reason to keep intrigued about how they’re going to get there. Thanks to a fairly accessible and straightforward two-timeline story, The Fall of the House of Usher is the epitome of a single-session binge-watch. Flanagan is at his finest through his captivating storytelling as each episode gets better and better. The mystery has clues dropped along the way, so it’s an exceptional rewatch. Plus, if you study up on your Poe, a second watch with a further grasp on the source material provides even further proof of his wizardry.
7
‘The X-Files’ (1993–2018)
The ’90s were filled with some brazen and daring thrillers that filled the network’s true vision schedule alongside some of the most beloved sitcoms of all time. Fox, still a fledgling network compared to the big three, was always eager to push the boundaries, and such came The X-Files. Conceived as a series intended to scare audiences, the pilot introduced viewers to FBI Agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Special Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) as they embarked on a mission to solve the X-Files, an obscure FBI section covering unexplained phenomena. As they set forth on their first case, Mulder and Scully learn about the mysterious deaths of high school classmates in Oregon. Meanwhile, the mythology arc was opened up, serving as the overarching story for the remainder of the series.
Set up as a mystery of the week series with some overarching recurring plots and themes, The X-Files served as a complete game-changer in the types of thrillers television could offer. The paranormal and extraterrestrial stories became a draw for audiences who found something fascinating to watch weekly. By maintaining a mythology and lore, it gave longtime fans something to hold onto as they explored the weekly case files. The X-Files will forever be a mainstream cult favorite thanks to its day-one hook.
8
‘Dept. Q’ (2025–)
We’ve had endless crime thrillers and police procedures that, in order to stand out, you have to have an exceptional hook. The Scottish series Dept. Q seemed like just another entry on the list, but the premiere episode promised a journey perfect for a binge. We begin with an ambush of DCI Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), DI James Hardy (Jamie Sives), and patrol officer PC Anderson (Angus Yellowlees) that leaves James paralyzed, Morck traumatized, and Anderson dead. With the trauma keeping him away from full strength, Morck is relegated to the police station’s basement to launch the titular new cold case alongside a ragtag team of helpers. Meanwhile, we dive back in time to learn of the cold case at the center of the story: the disappearance of Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie). As we learn she’s being held in a hyperbaric chamber, Morck sets out to solve two crimes at once.
Perhaps the easiest to compare to Slow Horses as a crime thriller centering on underdogs, the ability to contain the universe in its first season allowed it to rise to the top of a pretty stacked television year. By setting up a trio of gripping stories destined to collide, Dept. Q had a pilot that drew you in. By slowly unraveling multiple mysteries while simultaneously building strong characters, the momentum never faltered.
9
‘Severance’ (2022–)
Apple TV’s biggest risk was bringing Severance to life. But it has also earned one of the greatest payoffs. Even still today, the premise of Severance takes a bit of explaining. Following the lives of the Lumon Industries employees who have voluntarily opted to undergo a medical procedure called “severance” to separate their memories. At work, they are called “innies,” who have no recollection of the world outside. At home, they are called “outies,” where they have no memory of the action at work. As a result, innies and outies experience two different lives, with distinct personalities and agendas. In the pilot, we learn of the lore and mysteries of these worlds through the lens of the newest employee, Helly R (Britt Lower). But under the awful fluorescent lights, outie Mark (Adam Scott), who underwent the process to aid in the grieving of the death of his wife, begins to learn about the potential of reversing the severance process alongside the mysteries of Lumon.
With a beyond intriguing universe set up by director Ben Stiller, creator Dan Erickson, and a top-notch cast, viewers were hooked much like they had been with Lost back in the day. The difference, though, is that Lost jumped the shark while Severance has maintained its exceptional storytelling. Everything about the pilot was bizarre, calculatedly so. It started off with unique risks in establishing the world, and continues to do so. With a cast that included major names like Christopher Walken, Patricia Arquette, and John Turturro playing along, the willingness to go on the ride was present. Yes, the hook of a monotonous workplace kicked us off, but that was simply the canvas on which to paint a masterpiece.
10
‘Breaking Bad’ (2008–2013)
Who knew a story about a cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher turned drug lord would end up becoming one of the greatest series of all time? Based on the pilot, we all did. In Vince Gilligan‘s pilot episode of Breaking Bad, he dropped us off in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as we met the White family. As Walter White (Bryan Cranston) learns he has life-threatening lung cancer, he turns to blackmailing a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), into helping him get into the crystal meth business. Using an RV in the middle of the desert to cook, he forges what becomes a long-standing odd couple relationship as he falls deep into the drug underworld.
The pilot was near perfect. The unlikely story of an unlikely antihero played by an unlikely actor became the perfect recipe one could possibly cook up. The intrigue was built from the start. Would this family man on his last legs of life manage to skirt past the obstacles of an unknown world to help his family, going through the explosive great lengths of dark decisions? The desire to learn that answer kept viewers glued to their screens week after week. Just when you thought Breaking Bad wouldn’t go to places unimaginable, it did. It pushed the boundaries unlike any show before it, proving to be a blueprint for what thrillers could be in the future. Everyone wants to be the next Breaking Bad or Walter White. That’s a testament to how good the series was. Without the brilliant setup and character development in the pilot, the landscape of small-screen storytelling might look drastically different today.
Breaking Bad
- Release Date
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2008 – 2013-00-00
- Network
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AMC
- Showrunner
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Vince Gilligan
- Directors
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Vince Gilligan, Michelle Maclaren
