Special Ops: Lioness is one of those shows that gets a different response depending on who you ask.
My favourite review when it first came out was in The Guardian, calling it “brilliantly executed nonsense.” She meant it as a compliment. Some love it. Others have knocked it for being a bit unrealistic, with some questioning creator Taylor Sheridan’s ability to write women believably and with substance (though fans of Emily Blunt in Sicario may disagree). Some viewers also find it hard to get past Nicole Kidman’s practically immovable face.
But none of this really matters, because the viewing figures speak for themselves: Lioness Season 1 set the record as Paramount’s most-watched series premiere, amassing nearly six million total viewers in its first week. Season 3 recently broke that record, hitting 7.1 million viewers in its first seven days of streaming. It also consistently ranks in Paramount+ Australia’s top 10 shows.
So if you like espionage thrillers with plenty of action and jeopardy – even if that means having your imagination stretched to limits normally reserved for the last 15 minutes of a hot yoga class – you’re not alone. And there’s plenty more where Lioness came from.
From the new and darkly funny to the classic and straight-up intense, here’s our list of go-to spy thrillers to watch next.
Slow Horses
While Lioness showcases hyper-tactical operators backed by high-tech command rooms, Slow Horses looks at the messy, bureaucratic, and unvarnished human side of intelligence. Anchored by Gary Oldman as the foul-mouthed, dishevelled leader of a division of MI5 rejects, it’s a gritty British spy thriller with the perfect combination of action, tension, and dark comedy.
It’s based on the Slough House novels by Mick Herron. Each season has a stand-alone threat for the team to tackle, but with an overarching thread of inter-agency and government conspiracy. It’ll make you laugh and break your heart, sometimes in the same scene. Gary Oldman is absolutely sublime.
Slow Horses has 23 Emmy and 21 BAFTA nominations to date (including 7 wins). And with Season 6 dropping on Apple TV on 16 September 2026, that list is likely to grow.
Rogue Heroes
Created by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) and starring Jack O'Connell (Sinners), Connor Swindells (Sex Education), and Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones), it tells the true story of how the SAS was born out of a rogue World War II operation carried out by British and Irish military misfits who refused to play by the rigid rules of combat.
It’s violent, high-octane, and has a rock-and-roll, morally questionable, against-all-odds feel. It’s not too dissimilar to Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (which recently made our list of top movies on Prime).
You can watch Seasons 1 and 2 of Rogue Heroes on SBS On Demand, with Season 3 slated to drop in late 2026.
The Night Manager
With two seasons released in 2016 and 2026, The Night Manager pulls off the near-impossible feat of impressing critics and meeting high audience expectations after a decade of anticipation. For this, and many other reasons, it earned a spot on our top shows to watch on Prime in 2026.
The first season pitted Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman against Hugh Laurie in an undercover operation where a former soldier turned hotel manager infiltrates the inner circle of a high-society arms dealer. Hiddleston and Colman reprised their roles for the second season, with an entirely new story set in Colombia.
Think stunning international locations, high-stakes espionage, and a bit of a cinematic James Bond vibe. Unsurprisingly, the lead actors are top-shelf, with all three winning Golden Globes for Season 1.
Seasons 1 and 2 of The Night Manager are available on Prime Australia now, but if you’ve already binged through the latest episodes, we’ve grabbed the next best to watch.
Black Doves
Starring Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw, Black Doves is a six-part British drama about a spies-for-hire organisation that obtains intel and secrets for the highest bidder. It mixes high society settings with the violent underworld that threatens them. It’s sharp, witty, fast-paced, and lethal.
Critics enjoyed this one more than the general public, with 91% and 65% Rotten Tomatoes scores, respectively. But if you’re in the mood for a high-quality British spy thriller with decent performances, it’s worth a watch. According to critics, Whishaw’s performance alone as a complex hitman with baggage is worth tuning in for.
Season 1 of Black Doves is available on Netflix Australia now, with Season 2 slated to arrive in late 2026.
The Terminal List
This dark and savage thriller starring Chris Pratt is the exact opposite of Black Doves – critics were largely unimpressed, but the audience rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes speaks for itself. Both active and retired operators helped with on-set weapons handling here, so if you want a SEAL team thriller with hyper-accurate gear and execution, this is a good place to start.
Based on the bestselling novel by Jack Carr (himself an ex-Navy SEAL), The Terminal List is about a commander who sets out to avenge his platoon after they die in an ambush on duty, and a shadow conspiracy threatens his family along with those who survived. It’s more grounded, dark and slow-burning than your average revenge action thriller. Taylor Kitsch and Constance Wu star alongside Pratt, so you know you’re in capable hands.
Season 1 of The Terminal List is available on Prime Australia now, with Season 2 dropping on 21 October 2026.
The Day of the Jackal
Eddie Redmayne knows how to pick a role with teeth. Based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel and the 1973 movie of the same name, The Day of the Jackal is a cat-and-mouse assassin thriller that will keep you hooked.
It’s big-budget, stylish, and exciting – though you might find it a little bloated at times across its ten-episode run. Both Redmayne and Lashana Lynch put in a decent shift, with Redmayne nominated for a Golden Globe for his Bond-gone-bad style performance.
Season 1 of The Day of the Jackal is available now on Foxtel, with Season 2 expected in 2027.
Tehran
Centred on a lethal female protagonist navigating deep-cover intelligence missions under the constant threat of exposure, Tehran simply had to make it onto this list.
This Israeli spy thriller follows a Mossad hacker-agent sent undercover into Iran’s capital to neutralise air defences for a strike on a nuclear reactor. But as things don’t quite go to plan, she’s stuck behind enemy lines and forced into a high-stakes fight for survival while trying to hide her real identity. It won an International Emmy for Best Drama back in 2021 and has a 92% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. So, all in all, you know you’re in for high-quality drama here.
Seasons 1-3 of Tehran are available to stream on Apple TV, with a fourth season already in the works.
The Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes)
Created by Éric Rochant for Canal+, this French intelligence drama is frequently ranked by critics alongside iconic shows like The Wire and The Sopranos. It’s tense, hyper-realistic, and so addictive in a high-quality slow-burn kind of way.
The story follows an elite agent who returns to France after spending six years undercover in Syria. But as he struggles to shed his double life and reconnects with his Syrian lover, he sets off a series of catastrophic geopolitical crises and counter-intelligence betrayals. Unlike your average action-packed spy thriller, it unpacks the psychological toll of deep-cover work with meticulous precision.
Real-life former agents from the DGSE (the French CIA) called it the most accurate portrayal of intelligence work ever put on screen. And, alongside widespread critical acclaim, it has a 95% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is pretty good innings.
All five seasons of The Bureau are available to watch on Paramount+ Australia now.
The Americans
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I highly rate Matthew Rhys as an actor. From Brothers and Sisters to The Beast In Me, he can literally do no wrong in my eyes. And while he enjoyed plenty of career success before this show, it was pairing up with his now long-term partner Kerri Russell as deep-cover Soviet KGB officers in The Americans that took things to the next level and earned the accolades and industry recognition he deserves.
The story begins with the aforementioned officers posing as an average American couple and raising their oblivious American-born children in 1980s suburban Virginia. But when an FBI counterintelligence agent moves in across the street, things get intense, to say the least. Think psychological tension, moral ambiguity, and high-stakes secret missions. The show received 18 Emmy nominations and four wins, one of which was Best Actor for Matthew Rhys – obviously.
Seasons 1-6 of The Americans are available to watch in full now on Disney+ and SBS On Demand.
Homeland
Based on the Israeli drama Prisoners of War and released bang slap in the middle of Showtime’s golden era of TV, Homeland was the must-watch show of 2011. Starring Clare Danes and Damien Lewis, the first season follows a CIA officer with bipolar disorder (Danes) who becomes convinced that a Marine Corps sniper (Lewis) has been turned by al-Qaeda while held captive. The result is a paranoid, high-octane, and frantic espionage investigation that will leave you guessing at the very edge of your seat.
Homeland won 8 Emmys and 5 Golden Globes over its entire run, with Clare Danes winning Best Actress twice.
All eight seasons of Homeland are available to watch on Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV right now.