The Sopranos is one of the greatest television shows ever, but there’s one problem with it: finding another show to watch after finishing it. Luckily, there’s a long list of the best television shows ever made, and a few of them are perfect follow-ups to The Sopranos. Obviously, nothing could perfectly replace The Sopranos, but there are at least four options that fans of the show are almost guaranteed to enjoy.
There are a lot of shows that tried to be The Sopranos. Gangsters have been a big focus of television for the past 25 years, with everything from Tulsa King to Narcos to Sons of Anarchy taking different approaches to organized crime. There are also plenty of protagonists who try to be as complex and interesting as Tony. While there are a lot of shows like The Sopranos, these four are true replacements for it.
Peaky Blinders
Stream On: Netflix
While it may take place 80 years before The Sopranos, Peaky Blinders hits many of the same notes as James Gandolfini’s classic show. Peaky Blinders follows the eponymous British gang and its leader, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), as he rises in power to go from street gang to major politician in the 1920s and 30s. That set up means Tommy gets into many of the same antics Tony does, from gang warfare to mental health issues.
It’s remarkable how similar Tommy Shelby and Tony Soprano are. Both have serious mental health issues that are only exacerbated by the stress and danger of their illicit businesses. Both have to deal with the fallout of their often incompetent or downright volatile families and trusted cronies. Both also get significantly worse as their shows go on, and despite their raw charisma, are awful people drunk on power.
Peaky Blinders and The Sopranos obviously have their differences, but that’s also a reason the former is such a great option to watch after the latter. Peaky Blinders is a British period drama, which is a bit more interesting a setting than North Jersey. Tommy’s rise to power also proves incredibly compelling and feels like a heist show as his plans slowly unfold. As an added bonus, Peaky Blinders also has some great action scenes.
The Wire
Stream On: HBO Max
Another HBO show about gangsters, The Wire, is certainly different from The Sopranos, but it still scratches the same itch. The Wire follows the city of Baltimore, its police, gangs, politicians, and even dockworkers and school children, in the early 2000s. Each season presents a new angle on the city, but it’s mostly a story about the police’s attempts to take down Avon Barksdale’s drug network.
The Wire has much more interest in the police side of organized crime than The Sopranos did, but there’s still plenty to compare between the two. Barksdale’s organization and the effects it has on Baltimore are incredibly similar to the DiMeo family: both have very rigid power structures, both are in constant conflict with the police, and both corrupt every single member with impunity.
Perhaps the best part of watching The Wire as a fan of The Sopranos is that it recreates the grittiness of the latter. The Sopranos was a spot-on look into modern organized crime, and The Wire was as realistic a look into crime and corruption as you could get. Every instance of violence in both shows was raw and uncomfortable, every character had shades of gray to them, and there was no predicting what would come next.
Breaking Bad
Stream On: Netflix
In the years since The Sopranos ended, only one crime drama has arguably taken its place: Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad follows Walter White, a chemistry teacher turned meth kingpin, and Jesse Pinkman, a slacker stoner who works as his right-hand man. While he’s not a gangster in the traditional sense, Walt has plenty of similarities to Tony, from his narcissism to his manipulative ways.
What really makes Breaking Bad a great replacement for The Sopranos is its plot. Both shows are about their main characters’ corruption as they descend further into crime. They also both have such a compelling blend of family drama, edge-of-your-seat suspense, and unpredictable power plays that throw everything into disarray. Each season of both shows also builds up to a bigger, better, and unforgettable ending.
There’s a reason Breaking Bad has been called a perfect crime drama and is so frequently mentioned in the same breath as The Sopranos. So many of the moving parts of both shows are similar, but they also use them the same way. You wind up both hating and loving both Walt and Tony, you end up dreading and anticipating every plot twist, and you end up glued to your seat to find out how their criminal empires come tumbling down.
Boardwalk Empire
Stream On: HBO Max
Possibly the best replacement for The Sopranos is Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk Empire has all the same similarities the other shows do, but it also goes much deeper than that. Terence Winter, one of the writers for The Sopranos, created Boardwalk Empire, and his signature style is baked into both shows. Boardwalk Empire also stars Steve Buscemi, who famously played Tony Blundetto in The Sopranos.
Boardwalk Empire was also an HBO original, which means it has the same level of quality that set The Sopranos apart from the rest of television back in the day. Prohibition-era Atlantic City has been painstakingly brought to life, and everything about the show looks even better than The Sopranos. That, coupled with the huge number of celebrities who played historical gangsters, made it a great gangster series.
| Shows To Watch After The Sopranos | ||
|---|---|---|
| Title | Rotten Tomatoes Audience % | Rotten Tomatoes Critic % |
| The Sopranos | 96% | 92% |
| Peaky Blinders | 94% | 93% |
| The Wire | 96% | 95% |
| Breaking Bad | 97% | 96% |
| Boardwalk Empire | 95% | 92% |
Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson also has so many similarities to Tony Soprano. Both of them are prominent fixtures in their community (though Nucky is a bit more public), both of them get wrapped up in and further corrupted by their respective criminal underworlds, and they’re both absolutely mesmerizing to watch. If you need a new show after watching The Sopranos, you can’t go wrong with Boardwalk Empire.
- Release Date
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1999 – 2007
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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David Chase
- Directors
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Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Alan Taylor, Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Attias, David Chase, Andy Wolk, Danny Leiner, David Nutter, James Hayman, Lee Tamahori, Lorraine Senna, Matthew Penn, Mike Figgis, Nick Gomez, Peter Bogdanovich, Phil Abraham, Rodrigo García
- Writers
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Michael Imperioli, Jason Cahill, Lawrence Konner, David Flebotte, James Manos, Jr., Salvatore Stabile, Toni Kalem, Mark Saraceni, Nick Santora
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James Gandolfini
Tony Soprano
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Edie Falco
Carmela Soprano
