Amazon Prime Video: the best shows from 2024
Amazon’s Prime Video had a bunch of strong releases in 2024, ranging from a surprisingly great video game adaptation to a visually pleasing fantasy spinoff. There’s even an update to the raunchiest superhero show in streaming. It had plenty of other series worth watching, too — even with the pesky commercial breaks Prime Video started showing during shows and movies. Here’s our list of some of the best shows that came out on Prime Video this year.
It’s hard to find a television adaptation of a video game that stays true to the source material, but Prime Video’s Fallout does just that. The first eight episodes take place in the aftermath of a global nuclear disaster, and the show stars Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean, who emerges from Vault 33 — one of the many shelters for survivors — with a mission to track down her kidnapped father. As she traverses the postapocalyptic wasteland, she encounters Brotherhood of Steel squire Maximus (Aaron Moten) and a ghoul bounty hunter (Walton Goggins). Hijinks ensue.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power returned for a second season this year, and it’s just as impressive as the first. The series — set thousands of years prior to the events in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings — picks up at a more peaceful time in Middle-earth’s history. The show goes over the origins of the Rings of Power, introducing you to some familiar characters like Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo), along with some new names created for the series.
Prime Video has released a fourth season of The Boys, the brutally bloody series that shows what happens when the world’s most powerful superheroes get out of control. The latest season builds on the story laid out in the first three seasons, which has the non-superpowered Hugh Campbell (Jack Quaid) working with Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and other misfits to expose corruption within The Seven, an elite group of heroes closely managed by a multibillion-dollar corporation.
The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy is sort of like what you’d get if you crossed Futurama with Grey’s Anatomy. Set in the year 14002, this animated comedy series follows two alien surgeons, Dr. Sleech (Stephanie Hsu) and Dr. Klak (Keke Palmer), who deal with a range of strange — and often silly — conditions, while also managing their relationship with each other and their coworkers. You might hear some other recognizable voices throughout the show, as it features appearances from Natasha Lyonne, Maya Rudolph, and singer Sam Smith.
Prime Video has released yet another video game adaptation this year: Like a Dragon: Yakuza. The series is loosely based on the Yakuza game franchise, which is known for its goofy take on Japanese gangster life. However, Prime Video’s Yakuza takes on a more serious tone and features a lot more violence. The six-episode series centers around Kazuma Kiryu’s (Ryoma Takeuchi) evolution as a yakuza member across two timelines: 1995 and 2005.
Cross is the latest take on James Patterson’s Alex Cross book series, with Aldis Hodge playing the titular forensic psychologist and detective. At the start of the series, Cross is ready to take a break from police work following the murder of his wife, but a new case involving the death of a Black Lives Matter activist draws him back to the job, where he must unravel a string of murders across Washington, DC.
If you’re a fan of animated shows and superheroes, you might want to check out Batman: Caped Crusader. The series, made by Batman: The Animated Series producer Bruce Timm, places a young Batman (Hamish Linklater) inside a version of Gotham City that’s inspired by DC’s classic comic books. The series showcases the rampant criminal activity from across the city over the span of 10 episodes, with appearances from well-known villains like Harley Quinn (Jamie Chung) and Harvey Dent (Diedrich Bader).
Mr. & Mrs. Smith offers a twist on the 2005 movie of the same name, following a couple who must pose as a husband and wife despite being complete strangers. While under the guise of “John” (Donald Glover) and “Jane Smith” (Maya Erskine), the duo must carry out a series of missions, all while navigating a fake relationship that starts turning into the real thing.
Just like the novel My Lady Jane, Prime Video’s adaptation offers an alternative look at 16th-century England, in which Lady Jane Grey (Emily Bader) and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley (Edward Bluemel) were never beheaded and live under the rule of King Edward VI (Jordan Peters). The series, which also features some fantasy elements, was unfortunately canceled after the first season — but it’s still worth a watch if you’re into historical dramas.
With The Legend of Vox Machina reaching its third season (and with a fourth on the way), now’s a good time to binge-watch the show if you haven’t yet. It’s based on the first campaign played out during the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role, expanding on the story behind the eclectic seven-member group known as Vox Machina as they traverse the world of Exandria. All the voice actors who starred in the original web series, including Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, and others, take on their original roles.
