10 Shows Like Peaky Blinders
<i>The Sopranos</i>
Without Tony Soprano there would be no Tommy Shelby. Considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time—for obvious reasons—the series, which had a six-season run on HBO (plus a 2021 film prequel, The Many Saints of Newark), forever changed not just the crime family trope, but the entire medium of TV itself. Should you belong to the tiny sliver of the population who has never seen The Sopranos, now would be a great time to catch up.
<i>Warrior</i>
The premise of Warrior already has all the trappings of a great period gangster piece—it's set during the Tong Wars of 1870s San Francisco, during which rival Chinese gangs violently fought it out in various Chinatowns across the country. What makes the show really worth watching, though, is the martial arts. And it's all authentic, too: Not only is main protagonist Ah Sahm played by real martial artist Andrew Koji, the series (a third season is in production) is based on an original, but never-published, idea by none other than the legendary Bruce Lee himself (his daughter Shannon, who found her late father's notes, is an executive producer).
<i>Boardwalk Empire</i>
Steve Buscemi won high praise (plus 2 SAG Awards and 2 Emmy nominations) for his turn in Boardwalk Empire as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, a character loosely inspired by the real-life Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, the infamous Prohibition-era crime boss and corrupt kingpin of the Atlantic City political machine. During its five-season run, the stylish HBO production, whose pilot episode was directed by Martin Scorsese and cost $18 million to make, netted 20 Emmys.
<i>Tokyo Vice</i>
Loosely based on a memoir by American journalist Jake Adelstein— who relocated to Tokyo in the '90s, got a job at its biggest newspaper, and fell in too deep investigating the criminal underworld—Tokyo Vice is set during a time when the yakuza still had considerable power in town. Stylish cinematography is balanced with a nuanced portrayal of the capital thanks to a production overseen by Michael Mann (of Miami Vice glory), a cast of Japanese OGs like Ken Watanabe, and a highly bingeable storyline that offers a fascinating peek inside how these fearsome gangs used to operate.
<i>Ozark</i>
Much like Peaky Blinders, Ozark—which wrapped its fourth and final season in April—is at its core a dark tale of just how far a family is willing to go for survival. One of Netflix's most critically successful hits, the show centers on the Byrde family, who are forced to relocate from Chicago to Missouri's Ozarks region to set up a money laundering operation for a ruthless Mexican drug cartel—and, like the Shelbys, forge a violent path towards legitimizing their criminal activities.
<i>Yellowstone</i>
The Succession of the Wild West is arguably as much a drama about extreme dynastic dysfunction as it is an old-fashioned gangster tale. In Yellowstone, patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is the don and the cowboys of his colossal ranch his loyal capos. In their version of modern-day Montana, where this supremely popular Paramount Network show is set, the laws don't apply, government officials are easily bought, enemies are conveniently made to disappear over cliffs, you get the idea.
<i>Sons of Anarchy</i>
Before Taylor Sheridan became TV's most in-demand creator with his hit Yellowstone (and three spinoffs: 1883, and the soon-to-come 1932 and 6666), he had a part in Sons of Anarchy. The series, which ran for 7 seasons on FX, is about the members of an outlaw motorcycle club and in particular its vice president Jax (Charlie Hunnam), who grapples with his desire to ensure the longevity of the organization his father co-founded and his growing disillusionment with its criminal ways.
<i>Gangs of London</i>
Joe Cole, who played Shelby sibling John in Peaky Blinders, leads the well-received Gangs of London, a British series with a sophomore season on the way. The premise? The head of London's most powerful crime family is assassinated, leaving a dangerous vacuum within the city's network of rival international gangs, which includes cartels and mafias from Albania, Pakistan, Wales, and Nigeria. His son (Cole) takes his place to deal with the fallout and suss out who ordered the hit—little does he know that in the midst of it all, a police officer has infiltrated the organization.
<i>Animal Kingdom</i>
Watch Seasons 1-5 on Amazon Prime Video
Most tales of dynastic drama—criminal or otherwise—center around a patriarch. Animal Kingdom flips the script with a badass matriarch, in this case the formidable Ellen Barkin. The sixth and final season of the TNT series premieres June 19 on the network. A brief primer: Barkin plays Janine "Smurf" Cody, who runs a Southern California criminal enterprise with her four sons. When grandson Joshua (played by none other than Finn Cole, aka Michael in Peaky Blinders) moves in after the death of his mother, he is about to get a crash course in the violent family business, and all the complicated dynamics within it.
<i>Deadwood</i>
Set in the 1870s in the real-life South Dakota town for which it's named, the HBO drama mixes historical facts with fictional elements to depict Deadwood's evolution from a lawless gold-mining camp that didn't belong to any U.S. state to its annexation and establishment as an American city. During its three-season run in the early aughts (plus a movie that came out in 2019), Deadwood netted 8 Emmy Awards and critical acclaim for its writing and its leads Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane, who played real-life Deadwood residents Seth Bullock and Al Swearengen.
Slick period gangster tales—from legendary OGs like The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire to contemporary hits like Warrior and Tokyo Vice—to fill the void left by Tommy Shelby & co.