A quartercentury after it first premiered, The Sopranos retains a remarkably strong foothold over the television landscape. The show shaped what’s become known as antihero TV, and it remains one of the very best shows of its kind to ever air. We’re no longer in the Golden Age of TV, but there are still plenty of modern shows that owe at least a small debt to what The Sopranos was able to pull off.
While none of these series is exactly like The Sopranos, we’ve gathered three great shows that have something in common with that show. Whether you’re just finishing up your first watch or have seen the show hundreds of times, these shows may help to fill the hole that it leaves behind.
Better Call Saul (2015-2022)
A prequel to Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul follows the man who would become Walter White’s lawyer, Saul Goodman, as he becomes the morally bankrupt lawyer we know and love. What’s shocking about Saul is that, while it’s lighter on its feet than Breaking Bad, it’s no less profound in its study of a man who is becoming a worse and worse version of himself.
Like The Sopranos, it’s a show about a sympathetic man who keeps on doing the wrong thing, but unlike that show and its own predecessor, Better Call Saul offers a ray of hope to its viewers, suggesting that, although it’s unlikely, redemption may be possible.
Succession (2018-2023)
One of the most underrated things about The Sopranos was its unexpected sense of humor. These were mobsters, to be sure, but they were also men who spent most of their free time making fun of one another. Succession is much more biting than The Sopranos, but it features the same combination of frequent comedy and emotional devastation.
This show, which follows the scions of a wealthy media executive as they vie for the chance to take over his empire, is brilliant in part because it reminds you at every turn that none of these children are worthy of the job. They’ve been broken by the lives they’ve led, in much the same way Tony Soprano was doomed before we even met him.
Industry (2020-)
It seems telling that today’s antihero stories take place in the realms of business instead of the world of the mob. Industry follows a group of young associates at a brokerage firm in London as they begin to learn what it takes to make it in the world of stock trading.
Industry is thrilling in part because it focuses so specifically on the lives of its characters, and because it seems to acknowledge that none of them are people you’d want to hang out with. Although it doesn’t have the same kind of moral reflection as The Sopranos, at least not yet, Industry‘s relentless pace and constant reconfiguration of its characters makes it feel every bit as high stakes as The Sopranos.
