True Detective (2014) is a drama and mystery series created by Nic Pizzolatto and Issa López. Its recurring themes include philosophy, detective, investigation, anthology. The 20 series below were selected because they overlap with it on measurable signals — shared genres, shared themes, overlapping cast or crew, and the audiences TMDB records as watching both. True Detective stars Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw; where a recommendation shares one of those performers it is noted on the card.
Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police also leads a secret life as a serial killer, hunting down criminals who have slipped through the cracks of…
Why it’s similar: Drama • Mystery • murder • serial killer • murder investigation
After Portland homicide detective Nick Burkhardt discovers he's descended from an elite line of criminal profilers known as "Grimms," he increasingly finds his responsibilities as…
A modern-day drama about a crime-solving duo that cracks the NYPD's most impossible cases. Following his fall from grace in London and a stint in rehab, eccentric Sherlock escapes…
An anthology horror drama series centering on different characters and locations, including a house with a murderous past, an asylum, a witch coven, a freak show, a hotel, a farmho…
Why it’s similar: Drama • Mystery • anthology • serial killer
A Las Vegas team of forensic investigators are trained to solve criminal cases by scouring the crime scene, collecting irrefutable evidence and finding the missing pieces that solv…
Alex Cross is a brilliant but flawed homicide detective and full of contradictions. A doting father and family man, Cross is single-minded to the point of obsession when he hunts k…
Why it’s similar: Drama • Mystery • detective • serial killer
An elite team of FBI profilers analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's most experi…
The Philadelphia homicide squad's lone female detective finds her calling when she is assigned cases that have never been solved. Detective Lilly Rush combines her natural instinct…
Columbo is a friendly, verbose, disheveled-looking police detective who is consistently underestimated by his suspects. Despite his unprepossessing appearance and apparent absentmi…
From England to Egypt, accompanied by his elegant and trustworthy sidekicks, the intelligent yet eccentrically-refined Belgian detective Hercule Poirot pits his wits against a coll…
Set in 1932 Los Angeles, the series focuses on the origin story of famed defense lawyer Perry Mason. Living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator, Mason is haunted by h…
Perhaps their strikingly different personalities make the relationship between detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles so effective. Jane, the only female cop in Bo…
A brilliant but idiosyncratic British detective and his resourceful local team solve baffling murder mysteries on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie.
Thirty years ago, in the sleepy community of Waterbury, a killer known as “The Executioner” murdered Sarah Bennett's parents. Now Sarah and her husband Dylan have returned to town,…
A dark psychological crime drama starring Idris Elba as Luther, a man struggling with his own terrible demons, who might be as dangerous as the depraved murderers he hunts.
Twisted tales run wild in this mind-bending anthology series that reveals humanity's worst traits, greatest innovations and more.
Why it’s similar: Drama • Mystery • anthology
How this list was built
Candidates come from the recommendation and similar-title data TMDB publishes for True Detective, merged and deduplicated. Each candidate is then re-ranked on genre overlap, shared TMDB keywords, shared creator or cast members, and audience-rating confidence. Titles without a poster, a synopsis or enough votes to be a meaningful signal are dropped rather than padded in — which is why some pages show ten results and others twenty.
