Not sure if you know this, but Evil is the best show on TV right now. The procedural started out as a CBS series, moved to Paramount+ for Season 2, and never lost any of its charm in the process. It centers around a trio of investigators (played by Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, and Aasif Mandvi) hired by the Catholic Church to look into a series of mysteries (many of the demonic possession variety) that have occurred. It’ll creep you out just as often as it makes you laugh, something few other shows can do.
Unless you’ve made a deal with the devil to speed up time, you might be looking for similar shows to check out while you wait for new episodes (which drop on Paramount+ each Sunday). We’ve rounded up a list of shows that scratch the same kind of itch, whether you’re on the hunt for more exorcisms, horror homages, skeptic-and-believer partnerships, or just really weird crimes.
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Looking for more recommendations of what to watch next? We have a ton of them! And if you’re looking for more hand-picked recommendations based on shows you love, we have those too.
Midnight Mass
Hamish Linklater, Midnight Mass
Netflix
For another show that deals explicitly with the intricacies of Catholicism, Midnight Mass is your best bet after Evil. Mike Flanagan‘s miniseries is set on a remote fishing island in New England that is shaken up by the arrival of a priest (Hamish Linklater), who quickly gains hordes of devoted followers in the community as he seemingly begins to perform miracles. But nothing is ever what it seems on a Flanagan show, and it quickly becomes clear that there’s a sinister threat looming over the island, each episode unfolding with a certain amount of gripping eeriness. Midnight Mass is less interested in the jump scares than it is in examining religion and faith. It’s all very Stephen King, despite King not being involved in any way. –Allison Picurro [Watch on Netflix]
Fringe
Fringe
FOX Image Collection via Getty Images
Trade the supernatural for science fiction with Fringe, a thrilling deep dive into the evils — and the wonders — made possible by science. Anna Torv plays Olivia Dunham, an agent with the FBI’s Fringe Division, who enlists Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) and his scientist father, Walter Bishop (John Noble), to consult on strange cases. The series started as mostly a case-of-the-week procedural, but, like Evil, it was too ambitious to be contained by standalone stories. As it embraced its destiny as a twisty serialized epic about parallel universes, Fringe grew into one of the best and most underappreciated dramas of its era. [Watch on IMDb TV (free with ads), Amazon (for purchase)]
Constantine
Matt Ryan, Constantine
Quantrell Colbert/NBC
Looking for another irreverent thriller about demonic activity? The short-lived NBC drama Constantine stars Matt Ryan as occult detective John Constantine, who travels the country battling supernatural threats in the hopes of saving his own soul. Ryan was such a hit in the role that after this show’s cancellation, he eventually resurrected the character on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, becoming a series regular. But Constantine is all Constantine all the time, packed with action, Biblical lore, atmospheric scares, and, yes, exorcisms. It’s a little uneven, but Ryan’s performance anchors it. [Watch on Amazon Prime Video (for purchase)]
The Good Wife and The Good Fight
Christine Baranski, Andrea Navedo, The Good Fight
CBS/Paramount+
If you’re ready to go deeper into the minds of Evil creators Robert and Michelle King, start with The Good Wife and The Good Fight, a pair of legal dramas that share Evil‘s winking sense of humor. The Good Wife follows Julianna Margulies‘ Alicia Florrick as she returns to her law career after her husband is involved in a political scandal; its spin-off, The Good Fight, switches focus to Christine Baranski‘s Diane Lockhart as she takes a job with a Black-owned law firm in the age of Trump. In addition to featuring plenty of actors who also pop up on Evil (including Mike Colter), the two shows push boundaries in the same way Evil does; they aren’t confined to the courtroom any more than Evil is confined to an exorcism a week. The Good Wife and The Good Fight will throw anything at the wall. [Watch The Good Wife on Amazon Prime Video (for purchase) and Paramount+. Watch The Good Fight on Paramount+]
Outcast
Patrick Fugit, Outcast
Cinemax
During the resurgence of horror TV series (and TV in general) in the mid 2010s, Cinemax got into the act with Outcast, a project from The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman that was based on his comics of the same name. Like Evil, it’s mostly about demonic possession, and like Evil, it’s deliciously F’d up. Patrick Fugit stars as Kyle Barnes, a man whose life has been plagued with unwanted spiritual invaders possessing his family and his hometown of Rome, West Virginia. It’s darker than Evil, but still probes questions of the inherent nature of evil and the secrets we keep rather than pinning it all on a singular baddie. It only lasted two seasons, but it’s a solid religious-based look at demonic possession. –Tim Surette [Watch on Cinemax]
The Exorcist
Alan Ruck and Geena Davis, The Exorcist
Chuck Hodes/FOX
You’ve seen the movie, but have you seen the TV show? Fox’s two-season follow-up to the 1973 horror classic flew under the radar when it aired in 2016 and 2017, but it’s worth a watch: a spooky, well-acted tale of crises of faith and haunted families. Geena Davis plays the matriarch of a family with something dark going on beneath the surface, so she recruits a pair of priests — played by Ben Daniels and Alfonso Herrera — to rid her home of demons. The first season twists that premise in surprising directions, especially for fans of the film. But The Exorcist only gets stronger when it leaves that storyline behind in Season 2 and leans into Daniels and Herrera’s rapport. [Watch on Hulu]
The X-Files
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, The X-Files
Fox
You had to know this list would get here eventually. The X-Files‘ Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) are TV’s definitive believer and skeptic, paired up to investigate paranormal phenomena for the FBI. On the surface, Evil is basically a riff on The X-Files with exorcisms instead of alien abductions. It’s not just the spooky cases; both shows share a deep-down fear that something is wrong with the world, and that people in authority are lying about it for their own benefit. Decades after its premiere, The X-Files‘ moody blend of monsters and government paranoia is as relevant as ever. And while Evil is more playful, The X-Files isn’t above poking fun at itself, either — especially in the episodes written by Darin Morgan, whose absurd sense of humor is right in line with Robert and Michelle King’s. Evil fans looking for a taste of The X-Files might want to start with one or two of Morgan’s episodes; we recommend the Season 3 Emmy winner “Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose.” [Watch on Hulu]
Hannibal
Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy, Hannibal
Brooke Palmer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Before Season 1 of Evil, which aired on CBS, pushed the limits of what a network procedural could be, Hannibal did the same on NBC. Bryan Fuller‘s lavish drama, where the dead bodies are as elegantly composed as the food, built up a cult following for its tangled, transgressive exploration of romance and violence. The series focuses on the complicated love between Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and the FBI profiler hunting him, Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), a relationship that increasingly brings out their most self-destructive instincts. The horror here is gorier than on Evil, but the shows are united by their ability to spin a scary story into something more provocative and weird. Though fans have been clamoring for more from Hannibal since its cancellation, the Season 3 finale is, to my taste, the perfect ending. [Watch on Hulu]
Lovecraft Country
Courtney B. Vance, Jurnee Smollett, and Jonathan Majors, Lovecraft Country
Eli Joshua Ade/HBO
For another show that blends horror and social commentary, check out Lovecraft Country. Misha Green‘s HBO drama, based on Matt Ruff‘s novel of the same name, is set in 1950s Jim Crow America and uses classic pulp scares to expose the real-life horrors of a racist nation. Led by an extraordinary cast, including Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, and Wunmi Mosaku, the series is dense with Black culture, calling up James Baldwin or evoking Gordon Parks’ famous photographs of segregated America alongside all the tentacled monsters that come with the territory of cosmic horror. The show’s first and only season is uneven, but when the big swings connect, it’s satisfying. Evil fans should also enjoy the way the show leaps from genre to genre from one week to the next, dabbling in everything from haunted house scares to Indiana Jones-style adventures to time travel. [Watch on HBO Max]
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Nicholas Brendon, Anthony Head, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Charisma Carpenter and Alyson Hannigan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Fotos International/Courtesy of Getty Images
If you love Evil‘s knack for turning ghost stories into metaphors for modern anxieties, watch Buffy, where the ghost stories are metaphors for growing up. The classic coming-of-age drama follows Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who fights the vamps and demons in her town — which happens to be situated over a Hellmouth — as part of her calling as the Slayer, all while navigating homework and prom and really bad breakups. Like Evil, Buffy loves horror, and it uses the conventions of the genre to tell clever stories about how scary real life can be. It’s also daring and funny, and it takes its characters to unexpectedly dark places. Evil isn’t the kind of procedural that needs everything to be OK at the end of the hour. Neither is Buffy. [Watch on Hulu, Amazon]
Looking for more shows based on ones you already love? Check out our massive list of recommendations centered on some of TV’s best shows.
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