Most of us lead a life full of activities and chores that take up a large part of our day and tend to leave us pretty exhausted. That's why, once we get home from work, or even during the weekends, many of us enjoy having a snack, curling up on the couch and using that time to binge-watch a movie or catch up on the latest episodes of our favorite shows.
But, if we have a little more time to spend watching TV, there is another interesting option: the miniseries. This television format sits halfway between a movie and a TV show, allowing us to enjoy a longer story than the ones featured in movies, but without having to commit to a multi-season production or wait extended periods of time to find out how things turn out.
Although miniseries have been around for many years, they have recently become one of the most popular TV formats, especially due to the emergence of streaming platforms. As a result, all kinds of miniseries have been released, covering all genres and featuring some of the most renowned actors in the industry. Here's a look back at some of the best miniseries of the 21st Century.
25 Love & Death
Love & Death was one of Max's most anticipated productions of 2023, and it also became the most watched in the history of the streaming platform. This crime miniseries stars Elizabeth Olsen alongside Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, and Patrick Fugit, and is inspired by the story of Candy Montgomery, a housewife from Wylie, Texas who, following an affair with one of her friend's husband, ends up implicated in a crime that turns her community upside down. One year before this premiere, Hulu released another miniseries inspired by Candy's story, but starring Jessica Biel.
24 WandaVision
Olsen also heads the cast of another popular miniseries, but this time alongside Paul Bettany. In 2021, WandaVision became the first TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the life of Wanda Maximoff and Vision in Westview, New Jersey. This production, which also features Kathryn Hahn, Debra Jo Rupp, Evan Peters, and Teyonah Parris, was widely acclaimed and paid homage to some of the most iconic sitcoms in history. Its popularity spurred the development of two upcoming spin-offs, Agatha: Coven of Chaos and Bettany's Vision (per Variety).
23 Sharp Objects
The 2018 psychological thriller show Sharp Objects became the final production directed by Jean-Marc Vallée before his death in 2021. This series, based on the book of the same name by Gillian Flynn, stars Amy Adams as Camille, a crime reporter who heads back to her hometown to investigate a crime, only to face her own ghosts and relationship with her estranged mother along the way. Joining Adams in her first starring TV role are Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Eliza Scanlen, and Matt Craven.
22 Lost Ollie
Ollie is a toy who enjoys going on adventures with Billy, his owner and best friend. But after the boy loses him, and Ollie ends up in an antique shop, this brave toy must embark on a quest of his own, sorting through his blurry memories to return home and reunite with Billy. That's the plot of Lost Ollie, the Netflix miniseries inspired by William Joyce's book Ollie's Odyssey. This 2022 production was created by Shannon Tindle and featured voice performances by Jonathan Groff, Mary J. Blige, and Tim Blake Nelson.
21 The Staircase
Miniseries inspired by real crimes proved to be very popular in recent years, and The Staircase ranks among the most successful ones. This Max production created by Antonio Campos is inspired by a 2004 documentary and, simultaneously, by the case of Michael Peterson, a man who was blamed for the death of his own wife. Colin Firth and Toni Collette headline the cast of this acclaimed production, joined by Michael Stuhlbarg, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
20 Normal People
The miniseries format has also embraced the romance genre, and so it is that in 2020, BBC One released Normal People, an Irish production directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald. It stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones and, throughout its twelve episodes follows the complex romantic relationship of Marianne and Connell. Normal People became a hit with audiences and earned tremendous critical acclaim, garnering nominations at the Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.
19 The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House is a Netflix production that in 2018 kicked off a popular anthology series that grew into an audience favorite. This miniseries by Mike Flanagan is inspired by a novel by Shirley Jackson and features several siblings who grew up in a haunted mansion with ghosts that still haunt them, and are forced to go back to the place as adults following a family tragedy.
The Haunting of Hill House stars Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, Victoria Pedretti, Timothy Hutton, Carla Gugino, and Henry Thomas, many of whom were also seen in The Haunting of Bly Manor.
18 Maid
Maid is yet another hit Netflix production, but created by Molly Smith Metzler based on Stephanie Land's book Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive. In this miniseries, Margaret Qualley plays Alex, a young mother who goes to great lengths to provide for her young daughter working as a house cleaner after running away from the home they shared with her abusive ex-boyfriend.
Maid became one of the most watched productions on Netflix in 2021, and went on to earn, among other accolades, three Golden Globe Award nominations.
17 Tabula Rasa
Tabula Rasa is a masterpiece for those who love productions that leave you on the edge of your seat until the very end. This 2017 miniseries was created by Veerle Baetens, who also stars as Mie, a woman who suffers from amnesia as a result of a car accident. One day, Mie wakes up in a psychiatric hospital to discover that she is the prime suspect in the disappearance of a man, and the only way to clear her name is to go back in her footsteps and try to remember what really happened.
16 Mare of Easttown
HBO's crime miniseries Mare of Easttown landed Kate Winslet one of the biggest TV starring roles of her career, as well as a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. In this 2021 production, she plays Mare Sheehan, a detective in Easttown, Pennsylvania who is investigating a local murder while trying to keep her own life from falling apart. Joining Winsley in this series created by Brad Ingelsby are Evan Peters, Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, and Angourie Rice.
15 Unorthodox
Netflix's Unorthodox follows Esty Shapiro, a woman who has been living in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community all her life. Fed up with her situation and tired of an arranged marriage that doesn't make her happy, Etsy escapes to Germany looking for a new life where she can rediscover herself, although leaving the past behind won't be that easy. This acclaimed 2020 production is inspired by Deborah Feldman's autobiography Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots and stars Shira Haas, Amit Rahav, and Jeff Wilbusch.
14 The Night Of
2016 marked the premiere of HBO's The Night Of, a drama miniseries inspired by the TV show Criminal Justice. Created by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian and starring Riz Ahmed and John Turturro, the production features Naz, a young man who ends up in jail after a woman he just spent the night with is murdered and must rest on the defense of attorney Jack Stone to regain his freedom. The Night Of was widely acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, earning numerous awards.
13 The Little Drummer Girl
In 1983, beloved author John le Carré published The Little Drummer Girl, one of his many acclaimed novels that got adapted to film and television. A year later, George Roy Hill adapted the story to the silver screen, and in 2018, it made its way to TV via BBC One in the form of a miniseries. This production stars Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgård, and Florence Pugh, and earned the latter critical and audience acclaim. In The Little Drummer Girl, Pugh plays Charlie, an aspiring actress who ends up involved in a spy operation that could have deadly consequences.
12 Watchmen
Watchmen is a superhero miniseries inspired by the 1986 hit comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. This production, created by Damon Lindelof for HBO, is set 34 years after the events of the comic book, in a world where police officers must hide their true identities under masks and nicknames to stay safe after a white supremacist group killed a massive number of cops. Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are among the actors who star in this show, which in 2019 captured the heart of the audience and gained critical acclaim.
11 The Queen's Gambit
The Queen's Gambit is the 2020 production that cemented promising actress Anya Taylor-Joy as a widely acclaimed international star. This miniseries, which at the time became one of Netflix's most-watched, is inspired by Walter Tevis' novel of the same name and features Beth, a prodigy chess player with a career on the rise who struggles with an addiction that gets the best of her and tears her life apart. Joining Taylor-Joy in the cast of this popular production are Bill Camp, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster.
10 When They See Us
When They See Us is yet another Netflix miniseries that became a hugely acclaimed hit. This production, created and directed by Ava DuVernay, is inspired by the Central Park Five case, in which five Black and Latino teenagers were falsely convicted of raping and assaulting a white woman in New York City. When They See Us features an ensemble cast that earned widespread acclaim, made up of actors such as Asante Black, Caleel Harris, Jharrel Jerome, and Jovan Adepo, among many others.
9 Black Bird
The crime miniseries Black Bird is also inspired by real events. In this case, it is based on James Keene's autobiographical novel In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption. It was created by Dennis Lehane for Apple TV+, and features Taron Egerton as Jimmy Keene, a sports star turned criminal who, while serving time in prison, is offered a chance to collaborate on a dangerous case in exchange for his freedom. Joining Egerton in this six-episode production are Paul Walter Hauser, Sepideh Moafi, Greg Kinnear, and Ray Liotta.
8 Band of Brothers
In 1998, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks worked together to develop Saving Private Ryan, a production that went on to become a cinema classic. Three years later, the two teamed up again to create Band of Brothers, an HBO miniseries based on Stephen Ambrose's book of the same name. Over the course of ten episodes, the production follows the soldiers of Easy Company through World War II. Among all its accolades, Band of Brothers won a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries and also earned multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
7 The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
The People v. O. J. Simpson is the first season of the anthology true crime TV series American Crime Story. This 2016 production is inspired by Jeffrey Toobin's book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson, and follows the events of the murder case in which the sportsman was involved. Sterling K. Brown, Kenneth Choi, Christian Clemenson, Sarah Paulson, Cuba Gooding Jr., John Travolta, and David Schwimmer are among the actors featured in this production, whose success spawned the development of two additional seasons centered on other real-life cases.
6 The Imagineering Story
Nowadays, Disney's theme parks are known all over the world, and their popularity leads to a huge number of people visiting them on a daily basis. The Imagineering Story is a documentary miniseries by Leslie Iwerks that allows audiences a first-hand look at the process of creating these parks, which are now known as "The Happiest Place on Earth," and its evolution over the years. This 2019 production features Angela Bassett as narrator, a role that earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.