Summary
- Apple TV+ Originals offers a wide variety of genres and showcases both lesser-known actors and major stars, ensuring a unique programming selection.
- Despite mixed reviews, Apple TV+ has produced buzz-worthy hits and critical favorites, proving that "worst" hardly means bad when it comes to their original shows.
- From crime dramas to psychological thrillers, Apple TV+ continues to release products at its own pace, captivating audiences with gripping narratives and impressive performances.
The list of Apple TV+ Originals is quite expansive, offering a little something from nearly every genre and featuring tons of lesser-known actors with impressive talents and major stars in complex roles. From water cooler comedies to star-studded dramas, Apple TV+ maintains its reputation for rolling out products on its own timetable in a manner designed for maximum impact, and this has continued with its original Apple TV+ shows. With a myriad of other streaming services to choose from, Apple TV+ has certainly cornered the market with its unique programming selection and wide variety.
Since launching its first original scripted programming in 2019, AppleTV+ has released a slew of new shows at a rapid pace. Despite its initially small base and lack of acquired series, Apple has produced a number of buzz-worthy hits and critical favorites like Severance or The Morning Show and even some more low-key comedies like Ted Lasso and Shrinking. While the list of Apple TV+ originals ranks the drama and comedy offerings of Apple TV+ Originals from worst to best, it’s clear worst hardly means bad where Apple is concerned.
64 City On Fire (2023)
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Crime Drama/Mystery
- Starring: Wyatt Oleff, Chase Sui Wonders, Jemima Kirke
One of the more contemporary Apple TV+ originals is the crime drama/mystery series City on Fire. This 2023 AppleTV+ drama starred Wyatt Olef as a New York City cop who is tasked with investigating a murder in Central Park. He finds that the crime has connections to a series of fires and the highest reaches of society. The thriller received a mostly negative reaction from critics, who found the plot and characters uninteresting, and City on Fire failed to catch on in the way the most addictive crime series can.
63 Liaison (2023 - )
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Drama/Thriller
- Starring: Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Peter Mullan
Audiences may recognize actor Vincent Cassel from his role in 2010's Black Swan, but he actually plays a protagonist in one of the first foreign language Apple TV+ originals, Liaison. Liaison is another thriller series that met a muted response from critics and the public. It is the first French-language Apple TV+ show and stars Vincent Cassel and Eva Green as Gabriel Delage and Alison Rowdy, respectively. The two are government spies who find themselves caught up in a terrorist plot. Critics did praise Cassel and Green's chemistry, and without many foreign-language series on the service so far Liaison may still find an audience.
62 Truth Be Told (2019 - 2023)
- Number of seasons: 3
- Genre: Crime Drama/Mystery
- Starring: Octavia Spencer, Mekhi Phifer, Ron Cephas Jones
Explore the world of true-crime podcasts with this NAA Image Award-winning mystery anthology series starring Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) as a podcaster willing to risk everything to pursue truth and justice. In one of the most unique Apple TV+ originals, Kate Hudson (Knives Out 2) s the cast in season 2 of the gripping suspense drama based on the novel by Kathleen Barber. Truth Be Told puts on display America’s obsession with true crime podcasts and doesn’t shy from the consequences of pursuing justice on a public stage. The series has three seasons to binge, with each installment running about 45 minutes.
61 The Last Thing He Told Me (2023)
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Drama/Thriller
- Starring: Jennifer Garner, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Angourie Rice
Apple TV+ is known for bringing big stars to its series, and one example of this is Jennifer Garner, who appears in The Last Thing He Told Me. In the growing list of thriller Apple TV+ originals, Garner stars as Hannah Hall, a woman searching for her missing husband that also forms an unexpected connection with her stepdaughter. The Apple TV+ miniseries' cast also includes Angourie Rice, Aisha Tyler, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones). Despite mixed reviews, The Last Thing He Told Me became Apple TV+'s most-watched limited series within its first month of release.
60 Suspicion (2022)
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Crime Drama/Thriller
- Starring: Kunal Nayyar, Georgina Campbell, Elizabeth Henstridge
While Suspicion is only a miniseries, the 8-episode mystery presented in one of the few British Apple TV+ originals is an intriguing watch. Apple TV Original Suspicion features five ordinary people who become suspects in the disappearance of an American media mogul's son, causing them to go on a high-speed adventure to prove their innocence, with the narrative all the while suggesting some of them may be guilty. The series features Urma Thurman and Noah Emmerich in ing roles. Reviews were lukewarm, but critics did praise the atmosphere of paranoia Suspicion generates throughout, meaning it lives up to its name.
59 Surface (2022 - )
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ari Graynor
Adding to the list of Apple TV+ originals that consider themselves part of the mystery/thriller genre is the show Surface. Surface stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Sophie, a woman who wakes up after a suicide attempt with no recent memories and tries to figure out what led her to jump. The Apple TV+ show turns into a psychological mystery, with Mbatha-Raw's performance, in particular, receiving praise. Surface was renewed for a second season by Apple TV+, meaning there's more of the thriller to come.
58 Lisey's Story (2021)
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
- Starring: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Jennifer Jason Leigh
There's been no shortage of streaming Stephen King adaptations in recent years, and Apple TV+ ed the party with its version of the horror master's 2006 novel Lisey's Story. In one of the only Stephen King Apple TV+ originals, Julianne Moore plays the widow Lisey, whose recently deceased author husband left within his notes a secret that Lisey soon begins to unravel. The psychological drama is helmed by acclaimed director Pablo Larrain and also stars Clive Owen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Dane DeHaan. While Lisey's Story didn't get rave reviews, it was nominated Primetime Emmy Award and a Visual Effects Society Award.
57 Strange Planet (2023 -)
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Adult animation
- Starring: Tunde Adebimpe, Demi Adejuyigbe, Lori Tan Chinn, Danny Pudi, Hannah Einbinder
Strange Planet is an adult-animation series that brought Dan Harmon (Rick and Morty) to Apple TV+ for an adaptation of a popular webcomic. Harmon co-created the series with the Life Is Strange webcomic's creator, Nathan W. Pyle, and told the story of Blue beings trying to understand the complexities of human traits. However, the twist here is that these beings don't live on Earth, but on a distant planet that is a lot like Earth in many ways. It gave Harmon a chance to show how ridiculous things in Earth culture really are when looked at from outside the spectrum of humanity. The Apple TV+ original dropped in August 2023 and picked up mixed reviews from critics.
56 Invasion (2021 - )
- Number of seasons: 2
- Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
- Starring: Golshifteh Farahani, Shamier Anderson, Shioli Kutsuna
Apple TV+ has become known as a home for major science fiction productions, with Invasion being one of the lesser-known among the Apple TV+ originals. The Apple TV+ show takes a more cerebral perspective on the typical alien invasion plot, featuring the perspectives of individuals around the world, including characters played by Sam Neill and Shamier Anderson. Some found the first season too slow-paced, but with Invasion season 2 currently ongoing the build-up may be about to pay off. All in all the first season contains 10 episodes about an hour a piece, and the second season premiered in August 2023.
55 Amazing Stories (2020)
- Number of seasons: 1
- Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
- Starring: Dylan O'Brien, Austin Stowell, Robert Forster
A reinvention of Steven Spielberg’s anthology series of the same name, Amazing Stories features imaginative worlds of wonder told by some of the most notable filmmakers of today. Including recognizable faces like Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner), Kerry Bishé (Penny Dreadful: City of Angels), and Shane Paul McGhie (What Men Want), each episode features a compacted but complete story that unfolds in unexpected ways as it explores fanciful sci-fi concepts with the heart and relatability Spielberg is known for. Unfortunately, this was one of the many Apple TV+ originals that didn't get picked up for a second season, but is a unique entry into the streaming roster, regardless.
