TV

30 Best HBO Shows to Add to Your Queue

From A Black Lady Sketch Show to Big Little Lies.
Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji Insecure
HBO

Thanks to HBO Max, the best HBO shows are more accessible than ever. All the ones you love are right in one place—yes, all of them. I’m talking Big Little Lies, which costars the one and only Meryl Streep in its second season. And Euphoria, which earned Zendaya an Emmy Award. Let’s not forget beloved series like Sex and the City and Game of Thrones, which are available alongside newer classics Insecure and I May Destroy You. HBO Max offers new exciting original series too, including soapy dramas like The Flight Attendant and Made for Love. 

There are even more shows from HBO and HBO Max you’ll love. Have you heard about Years & Years, a political thriller that will hook you just like The Handmaid’s Tale did in 2017? What about Succession? Or A Black Lady Sketch Show? Or Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen, featuring a badass Regina King? Perhaps historical fiction is more your thing, in which case you must see Helen Mirren in Catherine the Great. We truly are in the golden age of television, and what’s happening on HBO (and now HBO Max) is a big reason for that.

Below, check out all the best HBO shows that will fill the Iron Throne–shaped hole in your heart. They’re all available to watch on HBO Max. 

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  • A still from HBO's new show Euphoria starring Zendaya.
    HBO
    1/30

    Euphoria

    Zendaya spearheads this provocative drama series about a group of teens navigating love, friendship, high school, drugs, sex, social media, and everything in between. Warning: You’ll come away from it feeling inspired to suddenly buy a ton of body glitter and neon makeup, so leave room in your budget. Season two premieres January 9, 2022 on HBO Max.

  • HBO
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    The White Lotus

    The White Lotus opens with a mystery: Someone has died at a ritzy Hawaiian resort, but we’re not sure who. What follows is a delicious and insightful satire about the intersecting lives of the hotel’s guests and staff over the course of one chaotic week. It’s so good, you won’t want to leave your couch—unless it’s for a trip to Maui. 

  • HBO
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    Insecure

    These days, the best romantic comedies are on television. Case in point: Issa Rae’s beloved HBO series, Insecure. Catch up before the fifth and final season debuts later this year. 

  • Warrick Page
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    Genera+ion

    “It’s evident queer representation is a priority for Generation—and it succeeds with flying colors,” Glamour entertainment editor Christopher Rosa wrote in his review of this HBO Max series, which follows a group of impossibly cool teens. The show’s success can be attributed to 19-year-old Zelda Barnz, who created Genera+ion with her father. “I wanted to see myself and the people I know onscreen represented in the most fresh, real, and authentic ways possible,” she tells Glamour.

  • JOHN P JOHNSON
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    Made for Love

    If you like Black Mirror, then make time for Made for Love. The HBO Max original series is a dark comedy about a woman (Cristin Milioti) trying to escape her husband (Billy Magnussen), a tech genuis, after learning he had secretly installed a high-tech tracking device inside of her.

  • Jon Pack
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    Search Party

    Search Party—the funniest thriller you’ll ever watch—originated as a TBS series but moved to HBO Max with the streaming service’s launch. Hopefully that opens it up to a whole new audience, because this comedy about a group of Brooklyn hipsters looking for their missing friend is just so good.

  • ©DC Universe/Courtesy Everett Collection
    10/30

    Harley Quinn

    Not into comic book stories? Think animated comedies aren’t really your thing? Don’t care—watch Harley Quinn anyway. This half-hour series about the infamous DC Comics villain (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) is so dark, funny, and feminist that it’ll have you reconsidering your taste in TV. 

  • HBO
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    Game of Thrones

    Though Game of Thrones has ended, the fandom lives on! Rewatch all eight seasons and laugh about how many fan theories turned out to be false. If you never watched during the original run, there’s still time to join in on the madness.

  • HBO
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    Gentleman Jack

    Gentleman Jack is based on the real-life diaries of Anne Lister, a queer woman who lived during the industrial revolution period. “People haven’t been aware that women like Anne Lister existed until now because people like her have been rendered invisible by history,” creator Sally Wainwright tells Glamour. “That’s why Anne Lister’s diary has been referred to as the Rosetta Stone of lesbian life [in the 19th century]. We realized we have a clear record of the level of intimacy that existed among women.”

  • HBO
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    Big Little Lies

    Monterrey’s five favorite moms came back for a second season of this soapy thriller. The women are now connected by a dark, lethal secret—but how soon before everything comes to the surface?

  • HBO
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    Years & Years

    Emma Thompson plays a celebrity political candidate with radical views in this six-part dystopian thriller that originally aired on BBC One. Hmmm...sound familiar? It’s definitely worth watching—but only when you’re mentally ready. 

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    Leaving Neverland

    This harrowing two-part docuseries captivated the world when it debuted. In it we see two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, open up about the alleged sexual abuse they faced as children by Michael Jackson.

  • HBO
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    Succession

    The second season of Succession picks up just after the events of season one, dropping us once again into the lives of the mega-rich Roy family, who can best be compared to the Murdochs. You’ve got prickly patriarch Logan, his children—Kendall, Siobahn or “Shiv,” Roman, and Connor—and their hangers-on all jockeying for positions in the family business. The show is darkly funny and a brilliant glimpse into the dysfunctional world of the 1%. Come for the boardroom drama, stay for Cousin Greg.

  • HBO
    20/30

    The Righteous Gemstones

    The Righteous Gemstones is the latest from the hilarious Danny McBride, of Eastbound and Down and Vice Principals fame. John Goodman plays the head of a (not-so-squeaky-clean) Gemstone televangelist family that runs a massive church and business. McBride, Adam Devine, and Edi Patterson play his three—very messy—children.

  • HBO
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    His Dark Materials

    If you’re missing the fantasy fix you got from Game of Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of the Phillip Pullman novels of the same name might be for you. Plus, it’s got Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

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    Mrs. Fletcher

    Kathryn Hahn’s Eve is a 40-something single mom whose son, Brendan, has just gone off to college. Now that they’re both on their own, they have a lot of self-exploration to do. 

  • HBO
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    Watchmen

    Based on the popular DC comic, this series stars Regina King and takes us to an alternative universe where superheroes are treated like outlaws.

  • PHIL CARUSO@2019/HBO
    30/30

    The Flight Attendant

    Kaley Cuoco stars in this nail-biting comedy-drama about a flight attendant who wakes up next to a dead man…and has no idea what happened. Intrigued? You should be. 

Topicshbobig little liestvgame of thrones
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