12 Movies Like The Americans You Need to Watch
Craving tense spy stories and dark drama? Explore 12 sharp picks with crime, mystery, thriller, action, and undercover tension fans of The Americans will love.
If you’re searching for movies like The Americans, you probably want tense espionage, layered betrayals, and characters who can’t fully trust the people closest to them. This list pulls together 12 smart picks that lean into crime, drama, mystery, thriller, and action, with standout options such as The Sandbaggers, Banshee, The Bridge, Ray Donovan, and Wentworth. You’ll also find genre-bending choices like Comrade Detective and the rugged, high-stakes energy of Sniffer, all of which echo the same mix of pressure and moral compromise. Whether you loved the slow burn, the undercover tension, or the family drama hiding under the mission, these titles deliver similar thrills in very different ways.
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01
The Sandbaggers
thriller
The Sandbaggers is a British television drama series about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980, The Sandbaggers examines the effect of the espionage game on the personal and professional lives of British and American intelligence specialists.
Directed by Michael Ferguson, Peter Cregeen, David Reynolds, Derek Bennett, David CunliffeCast Roy Marsden, Ray Lonnen, Jerome Willis, Bob Sherman, Alan MacNaughtanAmazon Prime VideoFreeveeMore details on IMDb → -
02
Banshee
Won 1 Emmy
action · crime · drama · mystery · thriller
Banshee is an American drama television series set in a small town in Pennsylvania Amish country and features an enigmatic ex-con posing as a murdered sheriff who imposes his own brand of justice while also cooking up plans that serve his own interests.
Directed by Ole Christian Madsen, Greg Yaitanes, Loni Peristere, S.J. Clarkson, Miguel SapochnikCast Antony Starr, Ivana Milicevic, Ulrich Thomsen, Frankie Faison, Matt ServittoMaxMore details on IMDb → -
03
Sniffer
action · crime · drama
An extraordinary sense of smell gives a crime investigator unique insight into solving mysteries, but his gift takes a toll on his personal life.
Directed by Artem LytvynenkoCast Kirill Käro, Ivan Oganesyan, Nikolay Chindyaykin, Mariya Anikanova, Nina GogaevaAmazon Prime VideoFreeveeMore details on IMDb → -
04
The Bridge
crime · drama · mystery · thriller
A murdered body on a bridge between El Paso and Juarez bring together El Paso detective Sonya Cross and Chihuahua State Police detective Marco Ruiz.
Directed by John Dahl, Alex Zakrzewski, Keith Gordon, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Colin BuckseyCast Diane Kruger, Demián Bichir, Thomas M. Wright, Ted Levine, Matthew LillardAmazon Prime VideoAMC+FreeveeMore details on IMDb → -
05
Wentworth
crime · drama · thriller
Bea Smith is locked up while awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her husband and must learn how life works in prison. A modern adaptation and sequel of the iconic Prisoner series.
Directed by Kevin Carlin, Fiona Banks, Catherine Millar, Steve Jodrell, Mat KingCast Kate Atkinson, Katrina Milosevic, Robbie Magasiva, Jacquie Brennan, Celia IrelandAmazon Prime VideoFreeveeMore details on IMDb → -
06
Comrade Detective
action · comedy · crime · mystery · thriller
In the 1980s, millions of Romanians tuned in to Comrade Detective, a gritty, sexy, communist buddy cop show that has now been digitally remastered and dubbed into English for the first time.
Directed by Rhys ThomasCast Channing Tatum, Florin Piersic Jr., Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Corneliu Ulici, Jenny SlateAmazon Prime VideoMore details on IMDb → -
07
Ray Donovan
Won 1 Emmy 3x Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series · 10 nominations
crime · drama
Set in the sprawling mecca of the rich and famous, Ray Donovan does the dirty work for LA's top power players, and makes their problems disappear. His father's unexpected release from prison sets off a chain of events that shakes the Donovan family to its core.
Directed by John Dahl, Tucker Gates, Michael Uppendahl, David Hollander, Allen CoulterCast Liev Schreiber, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Pooch Hall, Kerris DorseyAmazon Prime VideoParamount PlusMore details on IMDb → -
08
The Canyons
drama · thriller
The discovery of an illicit love affair leads two young Angelenos on a violent, sexually charged tour through the dark side of human nature.
Directed by Paul SchraderCast Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Gerard Funk, Amanda Brooks, Tenille HoustonAMC+More details on IMDb → -
09
The Following
crime · drama · horror · mystery · thriller
A brilliant, charismatic, and psychotic serial killer communicates with other active serial killers and activates a cult of believers who follow his every command.
Directed by Marcos Siega, Nicole Kassell, Joshua Butler, Liz Friedlander, Rob SeidenglanzCast Kevin Bacon, Shawn Ashmore, James Purefoy, Sam Underwood, Jessica StroupNetflixMore details on IMDb → -
10
Mindhunter
2 Emmy nominations
crime · drama · mystery · thriller
An agent in the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit develops profiling techniques as he pursues notorious serial killers and rapists.
Directed by David Fincher, Carl Franklin, Andrew Douglas, Asif Kapadia, Tobias LindholmCast Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallany, Anna Torv, Sonny Valicenti, Stacey RocaNetflixMore details on IMDb → -
11
Totems
drama · thriller
In 1965, in the midst of the Cold War, a French rocket scientist is thrown in the field for a nearly impossible spy mission and falls for a Soviet woman secretly working for the KGB.
Directed by Frédéric Jardin, Jérôme Salle, Antoine BlossierCast Niels Schneider, Vera Kolesnikova, José Garcia, Lambert Wilson, Ana GirardotAmazon Prime VideoMore details on IMDb → -
12
The Blacklist
Won 1 Emmy 10 nominations
crime · drama · mystery · thriller
Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.
Directed by Andrew McCarthy, Michael W. Watkins, Bill Roe, Michael Caracciolo, John TerleskyCast James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, Hisham Tawfiq, Amir ArisonNetflixMore details on IMDb →
Wrapping Up
From covert operations and criminal underworlds to fractured loyalties and constant danger, these picks capture the same gripping energy that made The Americans such a standout. Each title brings its own angle, whether you want tighter spycraft, heavier action, or a darker character study. Bookmark this page and come back whenever you want another sharp, suspenseful watch. It’s updated regularly, so the recommendations stay fresh as new matches are added.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes these movies similar to The Americans?
These picks were matched by tone, themes, and story style using a similarity model trained on plot synopses, genres, and cast — not just shared genre tags — so the connection runs deeper than a simple category match.