The 25 Best TV Shows Streaming On HBO Max

It’s been a long time since HBO boasted that “it’s not TV, it’s HBO,” but years down the road, the network is still synonymous with small-screen excellence. With that said, which HBO shows are the very best — and more specifically, which of those great shows can you binge-watch on their proprietary streamer HBO Max?

The good news is that pretty much every HBO original series is available to watch on HBO Max, but the service is chock-full of things to watch, so it can be pretty overwhelming when you log in. We’re here to help you winnow it down a bit, but first, a caveat or two. First, even though HBO has aired plenty of incredible miniseries, only multi-season shows are included on this list. Second, there are a lot of HBO originals to choose from, but we had to narrow it down to the very best. Without further ado, here are the 25 best shows streaming on HBO Max, ranked.

“Euphoria” has become a bit of a punchline due to seemingly endless delays between seasons and creator Sam Levinson’s apparent refusal to staff a writer’s room. But there’s no denying that, thanks to incredible cinematography and performances from its entire cast, “Euphoria” still has some greatness within. The series as a whole is led by Rue Bennett, a teenage drug addict played by Zendaya (a two-time Emmy winner for her genuinely astonishing turn), and the people in her orbit, including her on-again, off-again girlfriend Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer), and her friends Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney), Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi), and Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie), just to name a few.

The first season of “Euphoria” still holds its own as a great HBO project, and despite seemingly constant controversy over the show as a whole, it’s still one of HBO’s best originals. Definitely check trigger warnings for this show, though; it gets dark.

Alan Ball’s HBO series “True Blood” is campy, sexy, bloody, and truly silly… and because of all that, it’s a ton of fun. Based on a series of novels by Charlaine Harris, the series is set in a world where vampires are free to “come out of the coffin” after scientists come up with artificial blood, called Tru Blood, allowing them to exist alongside humans without devouring them. (At least, that’s the idea. They still definitely devour them.) Enter Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress who works at the local watering hole in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and overhears some patrons discussing their intended assault and kidnapping of a vampire named Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). After saving Bill, the two form an unexpected connection.

Thanks to a supporting cast that includes gems like Alexander Skarsgård, Carrie Preston, Rutina Wesley, Sam Trammell, Ryan Kwanten, and the late, great Nelsan Ellis, “True Blood” is a delightful, blood-soaked romp. The later seasons don’t fully match the heights of the first few, but still — it’s worth a watch.

After finding success with their live act and a show with the BBC, New Zealand natives Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie joined forces with HBO for their own comedy series, “Flight of the Conchords” — and we’re all lucky they did. The show, which premiered in 2007 and ran for two short seasons, stars Clement and McKenzie as fictional versions of themselves alongside a handful of then-unknown comedy geniuses like Rhys Darby (as their enthusiastic but ineffective band manager Murray) and Kristen Schaal (as the band’s only fan and fervent stalker Mel).

Hilarious, catchy songs like “Business Time,” “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room),” “Not Crying,” “Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros,” and “Albi the Racist Dragon” helped McKenzie and Clement’s act reach new audiences and heights, but the two did step away from the series in 2009. Don’t worry about them, though; Clement and McKenzie’s success with “Flight of the Conchords” ensured the two stuck around in the zeitgeist for years to come.

There aren’t enough truly great shows about the highs and lows of female friendship, and that’s where “Insecure” comes in. Adapted from star and creator Issa Rae’s web series “Awkward Black Girl,” “Insecure” focuses on Rae’s Issa Dee, a fictionalized version of herself living in Los Angeles and trying to figure out her place in the world alongside her best friend Molly Carter (Yvonne Orji) and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Lawrence Walker (Jay Ellis). Issa and Molly’s friendship, though, is the beating heart of the show, especially through its ups and downs.

“Insecure” is funny, heartfelt, and above all, emotionally real, thanks to Rae’s vision and her grounding lead performance as a fictional Issa who gives herself elaborate pep talks in the mirror. If you need a pick-me-up but still want a dose of reality, try “Insecure.”

As the first prequel and spin-off of “Game of Thrones,” HBO’s massive hit “House of the Dragon” doesn’t necessarily match the heights of its predecessor, but it’s still a definitively fun ride (on dragonback, specifically). Set years before the events of “Game of Thrones” and based on “Fire & Blood,” a book by original “Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin, “House of the Dragon” begins when Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, her father’s sole heir to the Iron Throne, is a teenager, played by Milly Alcock. Before long, Rhaenyra is shocked when her best friend and confidante, Alicent Hightower (played in her younger years by Emily Carey) marries said father, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine), and attempts to build a new Targaryen dynasty… ousting Rhaenyra and challenging her claim to the throne.

After a timeline jump, Rhaenyra and Alicent are played by Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke, respectively, who are both excellent, and other supporting players like Matt Smith and Eve Best help build the expansive world of “House of the Dragon.” Plus, this show has way more dragons than “Game of Thrones,” if that piques your interest.

The concept of “The Righteous Gemstones” is funny enough, but this HBO comedy about megachurches also boasts one of the funniest ensemble casts in recent memory. Created by star Danny McBride — who also worked on “Eastbound & Down” and “Vice Principals” for the premium cabler — “The Righteous Gemstones” focuses on the titular Gemstone family, led by patriarch Eli (John Goodman), who’s constantly trying to corral his large adult children Jesse (McBride), Judy (Edi Patterson), and Kelvin (Adam Devine). (We have to shout out Patterson’s unbelievably committed performance as the foul-mouthed, crass, and generally unhinged Judy, who provides some of the show’s biggest laughs.) Additionally, “The Righteous Gemstones” features Walton Goggins playing a character named Uncle Baby Billy; what more could you ask for?

As we learn about the Gemstone family’s various misdeeds and the corruption found within their megachurch, the show rises to absurd heights but remains compulsively watchable. It’s not enough that “The Righteous Gemstones” has a great cast — it knows how to wield each of its players perfectly to boot.

Inspired by the real South Dakota town named Deadwood — which was annexed by the Dakota Territory and was also home to a number of valuable gold deposits — showrunner David Milch used as much real history as possible to create the HBO series “Deadwood,” which is precisely what makes the show so great. Ian McShane stars as real-life “entrepreneur” Al Swearengen (who ran a brothel in the town) alongside Timothy Olyphant’s U.S. Marshal Seth Bullock, immediately setting up conflict between the two.

The original series ran from 2004 to 2006, but remained popular and beloved enough that “Deadwood: The Movie” came to HBO in 2019, proving its timelessness. Any time you want to watch masters like McShane at work, cue up “Deadwood.”

Nathan Fielder is a demented man, and we’re all lucky to bear witness to his bizarre television experiments like “The Rehearsal.” After “Nathan For You,” Fielder has, across two seasons as of this writing, taken his deadpan, intensive approach to creating insane situations to a massive, unforeseen level with “The Rehearsal.” Even its first season, which watched Fielder try to “rehearse” social interactions and various life events and encourage others to do the same in order to get them exactly right, couldn’t match the enormous scale of Season 2, which tackles commercial airline incidents and builds to a truly stunning reveal that Fielder became a commercially licensed airplane pilot… as a bit.

Fielder’s muted, unsettling energy might make some viewers cringe, but it’s ultimately what sells the sheer absurdity of “The Rehearsal.” After the success of this series, there’s no question that as Fielder keeps coming up with wild concepts, people will pay attention.

Based on Liane Moriarty’s hit novel of the same name, David E. Kelley’s HBO adaptation of “Big Little Lies” moves the action from a fancy Australian suburb to the lush California city of Monterey — but the gripping story remains the same. When single mother Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) moves to Monterey with her son Ziggy (future “Young Sheldon” star Iain Armitage), she meets a group of wealthy moms that includes the bubbly alpha Madeline Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), the effortlessly glamorous Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), the uber-wealthy Renata Klein (Laura Dern), and new-age yoga teacher Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz), who’s now married to Madeline’s ex-husband. As we discover alongside Jane, not everything in Monterey is as perfect as it seems; in fact, the series opens by telling us that the story ends with a shocking murder.

Unfortunately, Season 2 of “Big Little Lies” wasn’t nearly as good as the first, but that inaugural season remains one of the best adaptations that’s ever aired on HBO.

Shortly after “Friends” ended its run on NBC, Lisa Kudrow (who made a name for herself as Phoebe Buffay on the massively popular ensemble comedy) took on the role of Valerie Cherish on HBO’s mockumentary series “The Comeback” — and appropriately, Valerie happens to be a former sitcom star who’s become somewhat obscure since her fictional series “I’m It” ended. (To be clear, though, Kudrow’s star was far from fading at this point, and decades later, she remains a comedy pinch-hitter who makes basically any series funnier.) Kudrow, along with Michael Patrick King, conceived the series, which, in its debut season, sees Valerie agree to the role of the “older,” mumsy Aunt Sassy on a new show called “Room & Bored” that features a cast of hot young stars. It doesn’t take long for her to clash horribly with one of its writers, Paulie G (Lance Barber).

Nearly 10 years after “The Comeback” premiered in 2005, King and Kudrow brought it back for a second season, which proved that the world can always use more Valerie Cherish — and a third (and final) season is due in 2026. Frankly, if it’s up to us, Kudrow’s Valerie can come back on TV any time she wants.

The king of cringe comedy, Larry David, defined this super-specific genre with his NBC series “Seinfeld” — but his HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” removes any of the guardrails necessitated by network TV rules and lets him run absolutely, horrifyingly wild. From 2000 to 2024 (when the series finally called it quits after 12 seasons with a few very long gaps between filming), David, playing a twisted version of himself, wreaks havoc on social situations in Los Angeles as he sets expectations and rules for those situations that nobody else even knows they should be following, then gets really upset when they don’t. (An example from Season 2 is when Larry declines to give Halloween candy to two trick-or-treaters who he deems too “old” for the activity, because they’re teenagers, which leads to a set of unbelievably ridiculous circumstances later down the road.)

Largely improvised and always hilarious, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” also casts Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin, and Susie Essman, and even if your shoulders hurt from cringing, you won’t want to leave David’s version of Hollywood.

“The Leftovers” experienced an interesting journey across its three seasons on HBO, which ran from 2014 to 2017. Adapted by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, the latter of whom wrote the book of the same name, the first season of this apocalyptic drama sticks closely to Perrotta’s book, which chronicles the mysterious disappearance of 2% of the world’s population … and what happens to the people left behind. Smartly, though, the show expanded its world past Perrotta’s (excellent) book for its second and third seasons, giving world-class performers like Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Regina King, Christopher Eccleston, Amy Brenneman, and Ann Dowd room to play around in this dystopian world.

By the time “The Leftovers” reached its conclusion in Season 3, Lindelof and Perrotta constructed a poignant, beautiful tale of survival in an uncertain time, gifting Theroux and Coon with an incredibly rich and resonant story that will leave you in tears. The first season is a bit on the grim side, but do yourself a favor and watch “The Leftovers” all the way through.

When he created “Sex and the City,” Darren Star probably didn’t know he’d changed the television landscape after it premiered in 1998, but it ultimately became one of the most well-known HBO shows in the premium network’s history (and one of its first big original hits). Centered around sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and based on the work of her real-life counterpart Candace Bushnell, “Sex and the City” chronicles the life of four single girls in New York City — Carrie, hopeless romantic Charlotte York (Kristin Davis), brilliant bombshell and PR maven Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), and type-A lawyer Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) — but, at the end of the day, the show is devoted to the friendship between them, and relationships with men (almost) always come second.

Over the years, “Sex and the City” has spawned two movies and a spin-off series — titled “And Just Like That…” — but the original show still remains head and shoulders above what followed. Ignore the feature films and the reboot: “Sex and the City” has everything you want and need, including Samantha (because Cattrall only ever made a cameo in the offshoot).

After competing on “Survivor: David vs. Goliath” and writing movies like “School of Rock,” showrunner Mike White came up with the idea for “The White Lotus,” which ultimately became an anthology series that takes place in a variety of luxurious and exotic locales. Every season features super-rich characters and chronicles their inevitable downfalls, but the casts change along with the location of the White Lotus hotel. In Season 1, we meet Jennifer Coolidge’s deranged heiress Tanya McQuoid and watch as she bamboozles spa manager Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell), only to reunite with Tanya in Sicily in Season 2, where she vacations alongside conniving housewives like Daphne Sullivan (Meghann Fahy) and her unlikely new friend Harper Spiller (Aubrey Plaza). Season 3 takes place in Thailand and brings Belinda back into play, and besides that, every single season is filled with intrigue, sex, and power plays. 

Also, in every season, someone gets murdered at The White Lotus, which does make you wonder how this imaginary resort chain remains open. “The White Lotus” has experienced some major highs and lows, but it’s always fun, thanks to White’s shrewd writing and an extraordinary cast for every season. You might not want to stay at a White Lotus, but you’ll want to watch the fictional people who do.

To say “Girls” was radically misunderstood when it first hit HBO in 2012 is a massive understatement. Created by its star Lena Dunham, “Girls” was presented as a sort of spiritual sequel to “Sex and the City,” but the two shows couldn’t be more different. Dunham’s Hannah Horvath is a self-obsessed aspiring writer who’s constantly getting in her own way; Jemima Kirke’s free-spirited and flighty Jessa Johansson doesn’t care about stepping on anyone’s toes in her pursuit of self-fulfillment; Zosia Mamet’s bubbly and ambitious Shoshanna Shapiro masks a dark interior with her incessant chatter; and Allison Williams’ Marnie Michaels is, put simply, one of the most insidious TV villains in the medium’s history. (That’s sort of a joke, but Marnie, a high-strung would-be singer with a shocking mean streak, is truly terrible, and Williams plays her perfectly.)

Don’t listen to whatever you’ve heard about “Girls.” Dunham’s show is sharp, shrewd, and a pitch-perfect portrait of millennial culture in the 2010s — please watch it if you skipped it during all the overwrought backlash. (Also, the show features a young, fresh Adam Driver, and guess what? He’s incredible.)

Based on the bestselling Naughty Dog video game of the same name from Neil Druckmann (who served as the TV series’ co-showrunner until the end of Season 2), “The Last of Us” isn’t just an excellent video game adaptation. It’s also one of HBO’s best shows by a mile. When we first meet Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) before the outbreak of the cordyceps pandemic, he’s a single father to his daughter, Sarah (Nico Parker). And when Sarah is killed in the chaos as the cordyceps virus spreads across the world, Joel is left bereft. Years later, he’s asked to shepherd a young and strong-willed girl, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), halfway across the United States to investigate whether or not she’s fully immune to the virus, and a father-daughter relationship unexpectedly forms.

Between “The Last of Us” and its 2020 video game sequel, there’s plenty of material for the series, spearheaded by “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin, to cover — and Season 1 gets the show off to an especially strong start.

We all knew Bill Hader was funny before he created the dark HBO comedy series “Barry,” but this half-hour show did more than prove that Hader is hilarious; it also let him flex his dramatic chops as an actor and a director. “Barry,” which kicked off its run in 2018, was created by Hader and Alec Berg and introduces audiences to Hader’s titular Barry Berkman, a Marines veteran and dangerous assassin who’s tasked with murdering some in Los Angeles and unexpectedly falls in love with acting. Alongside his acting teacher Gene Cousineau (a spectacular Henry Winkler) and a cute girl in his class, Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg), Barry tries to pursue this new dream, only to be held back by shady associates like Monroe Funches (Stephen Root) and “NoHo Hank” (Anthony Carrigan).

“Barry” is wild, experimental, funny, heartbreaking, and everything in between. If you’re not familiar with just how versatile Hader can be, drop what you’re doing and watch “Barry.”

Before “True Blood,” Alan Ball made a name for himself with “Six Feet Under,” a gut-wrenching, deeply emotional look at death — and, more specifically, a funeral home run by the Fisher family in Los Angeles. When Nathaniel Fisher Sr. (Richard Jenkins) dies, he leaves control of the Fisher & Sons Funeral Home to his son Nate (Peter Krause), inadvertently bringing the family — including Nathaniel Sr.’s widow Ruth (Frances Conroy) and younger children David and Claire (Michael C. Hall and Lauren Ambrose) — closer together as they fight their own demons. Episodes typically open with a death that’s then mourned at Fisher & Sons, and characters like Nathaniel appear in visions where they talk to the living characters, blending the line between life and death.

“Six Feet Under” is a magnificent family drama that also deals with the heaviest possible themes, and there’s no question that it’s one of HBO’s very best original shows, capped by a stunning series finale.

Decades after John Wells, Noah Wyle, and R. Scott Gemmill worked together on NBC’s medical drama “ER,” the three creatives teamed up again to craft “The Pitt,” an HBO Max original about a busy Pittsburgh emergency room that takes place “in real time,” with each episode spanning one “hour” of an ER shift. (For legal reasons, though, “The Pitt” is not a spin-off of “ER.”) 

With Wells on board as a writer and director and Gemmill as showrunner, “The Pitt” stars Wyle as Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, a trauma attending at that ER who, to put it lightly, is usually having a really bad day at work. Surrounded by colleagues like charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa), his night shift counterpart Dr. Jack Abbot (Shawn Hatosy, who took home a guest Emmy for his role), and his mentee Dr. Frank Langdon (Patrick Ball), among others, Robby strives to get through the day and take care of his patients as well as he can.

While it’s comforting to see Wyle donning scrubs and a stethoscope again, Robby and his “ER” character Dr. John Carter couldn’t be more different, and “The Pitt” marks new creative territory for the venerated actor. Check into “The Pitt,” and you won’t be disappointed.

After working together on “Broad City,” Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky went on to create “Hacks” for HBO Max in 2021, officially cementing this trio’s place in the comedy Hall of Fame. When we first meet fictional comedy legend Deborah Vance (a perfectly cast Jean Smart), she’s relegated to a Las Vegas residency, and ticket sales are flagging, so she hires a recently disgraced millennial comedy writer named Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) to help her with new material. Obviously, the women from vastly different generations butt heads, but throughout the series, the relationship they develop is also amazing to watch. (Downs, by the way, co-stars as their shared manager Jimmy LuSaque Jr. He’s so good.)

The longer “Hacks” goes on, the funnier and sharper it gets, bringing Ava and Deborah’s bond to new and surprisingly emotional heights. Even if stand-up comedy makes you cringe, you should definitely consider giving “Hacks” a shot.

Despite a rough finish, “Game of Thrones” is still one of HBO’s very best original shows. Based on “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin, this fantasy series is set on the sprawling continent of Westeros and introduces us to a whole litany of characters. As people like Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) squabble over the Iron Throne of Westeros, others, like Kit Harington’s presumed Stark bastard Jon Snow, are more concerned with a threat from the far North: specifically, the ancient and seemingly unkillable White Walkers, who are heading south to destroy everything in their path.

“Game of Thrones” is, at times, a masterclass in storytelling, a showcase of truly phenomenal performers, and a nail-biting thrill ride. Yes, the series finale was bad, but don’t let that stop you from your first (or 15th) binge-watch. (Just consider stopping that binge-watch at the end of Season 6, because that’s where things start to get really dumb for “Game of Thrones.”)

Few shows are nastier than HBO’s “Succession,” and few are better. Created by Jesse Armstrong in 2018, the show hones in on the powerful Roy family, helmed by patriarch and Waystar Royco CEO Logan Roy (a snarling Brian Cox) as he supposedly tries to choose which of his children will succeed him. Unfortunately for Logan, his children are, as he ultimately puts it, “not serious people”; from the bombastic but blustering Kendall (Jeremy Strong) to the unnerving, sardonic Roman (Kieran Culkin) to the supercilious but ultimately ineffective Siobhan aka “Shiv” (Sarah Snook), his options aren’t great. (Logan’s eldest son, Alan Ruck’s Connor, is never even truly considered.)

A profanity-laden, whip-smart retelling of sorts of William Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” “Succession” is one of HBO’s best series, thanks to its clear vision, unbelievable performances (every sibling except Connor has an Emmy, appropriately), and its perfect ending. Even if you think you hate the Roys, stick with “Succession.” It’s worth it.

First things first: David Simon’s masterpiece “The Wire” can be hard to watch. Simon, a former police reporter, pulls zero punches in his series about law enforcement and criminals in Baltimore, but despite the sorrow, bloodshed, and pathos found within this series, it’s one of the most worthwhile watches of all time (or, perhaps, it’s because of those things). On the side of the fictional law enforcement, you’ve got detectives Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and Bunk Moreland (Wendell Pierce), and on the criminal side, you’ve got drug kingpin Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) and his acolytes, including Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) — even as Omar Little (Michael K. Williams) causes trouble with both factions.

Everyone knows “The Wire” is one of the best TV shows of all time, so what are you waiting for? Go watch it! Yes, it’s heavy and dark — but it’s also an American masterpiece, and few shows can match its powerful storytelling.

“Veep,” which began in 2012, is HBO’s best comedy series of all time, and it’s also one of the funniest TV shows ever made, period. Led by comedy legend Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the titular American vice president (who eventually becomes president) Selina Meyer — a deeply and hilariously craven, power-hungry freak of a woman who will stop at nothing to sit behind the Resolute Desk — “Veep” is a staggeringly profane and insanely funny look at power players in Washington D.C. There are so many great comedic actors featured in “Veep,” but without room to list every one, special attention must be paid to Tony Hale’s subservient Gary Walsh, whose love for Selina is ultimately his downfall.

Louis-Dreyfus is one of our funniest living actors, and if you’ve ever doubted that, go watch “Veep.” Plus, as a bonus, you might learn some wild new insults, but tread carefully before deploying them on your friends.

How could anything but “The Sopranos” be at the top of this list? David Chase’s drama changed the TV landscape forever when it started airing on HBO in 1997, cementing the premium network’s reputation for great projects and telling the bloody, often extremely funny story of mob boss Tony Soprano, portrayed unflinchingly and perfectly by the late, great James Gandolfini. With Edie Falco as Tony’s long-suffering wife Carmela, Lorraine Bracco as Tony’s similarly long-suffering therapist Dr. Jennifer Melfi, and a whole bunch of character actors as his subordinates, Gandolfini’s Tony straddles the line between family man and ruthless predator, and the actor does so masterfully.

“The Sopranos” will make you laugh. It’ll make you cry. It’ll make any aspiring screenwriter feel better when they see what that doofus Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) is working on. Just go watch “The Sopranos” if you haven’t; it’s necessary viewing for any TV fan.