13 Best Shows on Apple TV+: Pluribus, The Studio, Severance, and More

Odd in the world of modern streaming, Apple TV+ relies almost exclusively on the power of original content. Compare that to the other major players and their vast existing libraries, and you can quickly see how this one forges a unique path. There’s a reason Apple TV+ was recognised as the most award-winning streaming service by the Hollywood Critics Association Streaming TV Awards for the second consecutive year in 2021, and recently saw a massive 22 wins at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards. If you’re looking for a few reasons to dive into Apple TV+ this year, we’ve got your back. We’ve curated all the best shows available on the streaming service and compiled them in one convenient place to make finding your next binge easy.

Best TV Shows on Apple TV+ at a Glance

Highlights of our list include the following options:

• Best for Sci-Fi & mind-bending concepts: Severance
• Best for spy-thriller tension (with bite): Slow Horses
• Best for gripping true-crime drama: Black Bird
• Best for big laughs: The Studio
• Best for prestige drama that hits hard: Pachinko

Now that you’ve read our favourites, let’s take a look at the complete list.

1. Pluribus

IMDB rating: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 98%
Created by: Vince Gilligan
Starring: Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga
Number of seasons: 1
Release date: 7 November 2025

One of the newest titles on Apple TV+, Pluribus is a masterclass in just about every way. Created by Vince Gilligan, the man behind Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise: and yet, it’s still an impressive feat. Returning to his sci-fi roots (Gilligan started out writing episodes for X-Files), Pluribus is something of a first contact story.

In the first episode, humanity detects a radio signal from space that seems to spell out the makings of a virus: something that researchers seem to be keen to reproduce–for science! Well, the inevitable happens, and after an outbreak, the virus begins to spread through human saliva. However, in a genre twist, rather than killing off humanity, it brings anyone infected into a blissfully happy hive mind.

We follow Carol Sturka (played masterfully by Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn), who, for an unknown reason, is resistant to the infection and finds herself as one of the sole remaining free-thinkers on the planet. From there, it’s a race: can the hive-mind figure out how to infect Carol? Or can she figure out how to survive in this new world? I highly recommend you watch to find out for yourself.

2. Drops of God

IMDB rating: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 100%
Created by: Quoc Dang Tran, based on works by Shin Kibayashi, Yuko Kibayashi and Shu Okimoto
Starring: Tomohisa Yamashita, Fleur Geffrier
Number of seasons: 1
Release date: 21 April 2023

It’s not often we see a manga about the ins-and-outs of wine collectors turned into a TV series, but here we are. Drops of God takes us into the dramatic world of Issei Tomine and Camille Léger—protege and daughter of the deceased wine collector Alexandre Léger, respectively—as they fight for control of his massive and incredibly valuable collection.

To ‘win’ this battle, and earn what each sees as their inheritance, the pair must face off in a series of challenges to prove how much each knows about wine, and, in the process, Drops of God lifts the veil on the arcane art of wine appreciation.

Don’t know your pinot noir from your pinot gris? Don’t worry about it. The show doesn’t need you to be an expert, as long as you’re willing to go along for the ride. It’s an incredibly satisfying show to watch at times, and is probably best viewed with a good drop of something to hand. A second season is set to drop in early 2026, so get in quick!

3. Black Bird

IMDB rating: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 98%
Created by: Dennis Lehane, based on works by James Keene and Hillel Levin
Starring: Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Sepideh Moafi, Greg Kinnear, Ray Liotta
Number of seasons: 1
Release date: 8 July 2022

Imagine you were sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security prison with no opportunity for parole. Okay, now imagine that you’re given the opportunity to have that sentence completely wiped and be set free: all you need to do is befriend a serial killer and get them to confess to more murders. It sounds like a Hollywood set-up, but it actually happened.

That’s the basic premise of Black Bird, a story in which Jimmy Keene is given one chance at freedom. All he has to do is get serial killer Larry Hall to talk before anyone finds out he’s an informant, which ends up being a more complicated affair than anyone expected.

It’s a chilling tale based on the autobiographical novel In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption, written by the real-life James Keene, who was actually an FBI informant and really did enter a prison for the criminally insane to elicit a confession out of a murderer.

4. Slow Horses

IMDB rating: 8.3
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 98%
Created by: Will Smith, based on works by Mick Herron
Starring: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves
Number of seasons: 5
Release date: 1 April 2022

Somehow treading the line between spy thriller, police procedural and black comedy, Slow Horses is honestly one of the best shows on TV today. Bringing the brilliance of Gary Oldman to the fore, the show follows a team of MI5 service agents that have been shifted to ‘Slough House’, a place for agents that have fucked up in the line of duty, but not bad enough to get fired. Instead, they get sent to work under Jackson Lamb (Oldman), who comes across as a bit of a prick on first meeting.

However, Lamb and his team of rejects end up reluctantly embroiled in a conspiracy that dives deep into the heart of MI5 and the British Government.

Like quite a few titles on this list, Slow Horses is based on a series of books: in this case, the Slough House series by Mick Herron. Each season of the show has, so far, reflected one of the books in the series, and with seasons six and seven already confirmed, it looks like we’ve got a lot of Slow Horses to look forward to.

5. Severance

IMDB rating: 8.7
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 96%
Created by: Dan Erickson
Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, John Turturro, Zach Cherry
Number of seasons: 2
Release date: 18 February 2022

One of the best things on modern TV, Severance debuted at exactly the right time in 2022 and, despite having only two seasons to show for it, has essentially eclipsed every other show on the planet at the moment. The hype isn’t undeserved—it’s a legitimately creepy and thrilling look at the ins and outs of corporate hell, as well as how deep the conspiracy really can go.

But Severance is honestly more than that. It’s also a critique of modern work-life culture, and a warning against the idea of giving everything to a corporation that doesn’t really have your best interests at heart. It’s also funny and weird in all the right ways, delivering something close to Lynchian in nature, but maybe a bit less abstract.

Adam Scott gives the performance of his career as Mark Scout, a man working for the mysterious Lumon Industries, and has undergone the process of Severance: having his conscious time split between a work life and a home life. Anything that happens to one won’t be experienced by the other, which makes it difficult to keep track of the danger he and his coworkers are in. Must watch.

6. The Studio

IMDB rating: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%
Created by: Seth Rogan, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyuk, Alex Gregory, Frida Perez
Starring: Seth Rogan, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Bryan Cranston, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders
Number of seasons: 1
Release date: 26 March 2025

The Studio effectively swept the 2025 Emmys, taking home the title of Outstanding Comedy Series, alongside 12 other awards. It’s little wonder, though. The show is a fantastically funny look at the realities of movie-making, told from the perspective of those at the top. Seth Rogan plays Matt Remick, the new studio head at Continental Studios, with a love for cinema who, unfortunately, has to figure out how to make good movies make money.

As we all know, it’s not quite that simple, and the suits quickly remind him that while making art is all well and good, people need to be paid. The stress of this begins to wear on Remick, as he comes to grips with whether the top job is really for him.

If that sounds bleak, remember that this is a Seth Rogan comedy—you’re still going to get your one-liners and self-deprecating humour, just with the added benefit of a wry look at complications of the modern film industry.

7. Pachinko

IMDB rating: 8.4
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 97%
Created by: Soo Hugh
Starring: Lee Min-ho, Jin Ha, Min-ha Kim
Number of seasons: 2
Release date: 25 March 2022

Based on the 2017 novel of the same name, Pachinko is a detailed look into the trials faced by four generations of a Korean family that immigrated to Japan. With episodes regularly jumping between decades ranging from the 1910s to the 1980s, the series focuses largely on Kim Sunja (played by Min-ha Kim and Youn Yuh-jung across different time periods) as she leaves her home country to start a new life in Osaka, Japan.

While things weren’t easy for Sunja in Korea, in Japan, she faces racial discrimination largely due to long-standing international tensions between the two countries. During much of the period Pachinko takes place across, Japan ruled over Korea and extracted wealth and resources from the peninsula until, in 1945, the end of the Second World War led to Korea being split between the United States and the Soviet Union: a divide that exists to this day.

While Pachinko is sometimes an uncomfortable watch, its examination of racial tensions and the generations-long impact of segregation, discrimination and isolation is increasingly relevant in our hyper-polarised society. Check it out if you’re willing to be challenged.

8. Your Friends & Neighbours

IMDB rating: 7.7
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 81%
Created by: Jonathan Trooper
Starring: Jon Hamm, Hoon Lee, Olivia Munn, Amanda Peet, Mark Tallman, Lena Hall
Number of seasons: 1
Release date: 11 April 2025

“Rich guy loses his big job, has liquidity problems, and turns to petty crime,” is about as apt a description of Your Friends & Neighbours there is, and it comes directly from the trailer. Things get out of hand quickly, though, as hedge-fund manager turned thief Coop (Jon Hamm) starts learning more about what goes on behind the scenes in rich people’s homes.

See, after losing his job and needing to support his ex-wife’s and their kids’ lifestyle, Coop starts breaking into other rich people’s homes to steal designer goods that, in all honesty, they probably don’t even remember they have. But complications always arise, and between a new relationship, maintaining old ones, keeping himself afloat and staying out of the police’s gaze, it’s clear the good times aren’t going to last forever.

It’s nice to see Hollywood poke fun at the rich and the famous every once in a while, and Your Friends & Neighbours is a high-quality take-down of capitalism’s worst offenders. Plus, Jon Hamm is always worth watching.

9. Bad Sisters

IMDB rating: 8.2
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 88%
Created by: Sharon Horgan, Dave Finkel, Brett Baer, based on work by Malin-Sarah Gozin
Starring: Sharon Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Claes Bang, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene
Number of seasons: 2
Release date: 19 August 2022

An Irish black comedy about a group of sisters who are united by a supposed murder, and the life-insurance agents out to prove they’re guilty in order to avoid paying out. In typical black comedy fashion, the deceased was an absolute prick, and barely anyone misses him, but murder is still murder.

The Garvey sisters have a long history of hating their brother-in-law, John Paul, married to their sister Grace, but at a certain point, that hate may just have spilled over into a full-blown intent to kill. Between the constant insults, controlling behaviour, and his history of sadism, JP may just have had it coming, but insurance agents (and half brothers) Matt and Tom need to prove his death was unlawful, or else their insurance agency will go under, thanks to the sizeable policy on John Paul’s life.

It’s deeply hilarious, deeply dark, and deeply Irish in the best way. Based on a Belgian mini-series, Bad Sisters is honestly one of the funniest shows to grace our screens in a while, and dropped a second season continuing the Garveys’ story beyond the initial concept, if you’re looking for more.

10. Foundation

IMDB rating: 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 87%
Created by: Issac Asimov, David S. Goyer, Josh Friedman
Starring: Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey
Number of seasons: 3
Release date: 24 September 2021

Based on the highly influential work of auteur Issac Asimov, Foundation is a galaxy- and era-spanning sci-fi epic that largely follows the despotic rule of Emperor Cleon (Lee Pace). Though in a sci-fi twist, we actually follow Cleon and his clones throughout generations of rule: so tight is his grip that only three genetically exact matches are allowed to follow in his footsteps.

Only, each generation of Cleon turns out just a bit different: depending on the politics and situations of the day, each ruler shows radically different behaviours and personalities. Regardless of whether they’re the same man, they’re all different: something Pace revels in as an actor, with each season bringing a new way to play the same character in a completely fresh way.

Fun fact: Foundation has quite a bit in common with another famous far-future story, Frank Herbert’s Dune, which is no accident. Herbert penned his opus as a counterpoint to Foundation in that it also explores the fall of a galactic civilisation, but from the point of view of the revolutionary Muad’Dib, rather than the incumbent Emperor.

11. Shrinking

IMDB rating: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%
Created by: Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, Brett Goldstein
Starring: Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Harrison Ford, Michael Urie
Number of seasons: 2
Release date: 27 January 2023

Breaking just about every code of ethics he can, a grieving therapist decides to start being far more honest with his clients about what he thinks and what they could do to solve their problem following the death of his wife.

Driven by grief, Jimmy Laird (Segel) begins to form a more personal connection with the people he aims to help, and things quickly become more complicated. It turns out that telling people what to do has consequences!

Now, this is a comedy, so don’t expect a detailed exploration of the ethical issues inherent in Laird’s actions. However, the resulting show has been praised for its surprisingly deep examination of grief, sorrow, and the cast’s performances.

12. Ted Lasso

IMDB rating: 8.8
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 90%
Created by: Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, Joe Kelly
Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster
Number of seasons: 3
Release date: 14 August 2020

An absolute classic, the show follows the titular Ted Lasso (Sudeikis), an American college football coach who takes a job coaching a failing English Soccer club, and despite knowing almost nothing about the game, leads them to victory. It’s been running for three seasons, and a fourth is on the way.

Ted Lasso delivers on the classic journey of one man’s attempt to unite a failing sports club, and pairs that with the wit and humour expected from anything involving Sudeikis. Thankfully, he delivers, and Ted Lasso is a must-watch for anyone who has even a passing interest in it.

It’s borderline worth getting Apple TV+ just to watch Ted Lasso, but thankfully, we have another 12 reasons on this list to make that purchase more worth your dollars.

13. For All Mankind

IMDB rating: 8.1
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%
Created by: Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, Ben Nedivi
Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Wrenn Schmidt, Coral Peña, Krys Marshall
Number of seasons: 4
Release date: 1 November 2019

What would have happened if the Soviet Union had landed on the moon first, instead of the U.S.? What if, subsequently, the space race never ended? That’s the story of For All Mankind, which centres on an alternate history where NASA’s attempts to catch up to the Soviet Union’s dominance drive disgraced astronaut Ed Baldwin to attempt to get back in the race.

Well, at least that’s the story of the first season. You see, For All Mankind does something interesting in its story, in that each season takes place 10 years in the future, and sees the show’s history spiral further and further out of sync with our own. Due to the increased focus on occupying and defending space, technology developed in far different ways, and by the 2000s, there were space bases and human colonies across the Sol system.

It’s a fairly realistic style of sci-fi, though: don’t expect aliens, sleek spacecraft, or anything that doesn’t particularly make sense for even the made-up world For All Mankind creates. It’s a pretty slept-on series, to be honest, and we think you should watch it.

Key Things to Consider for Apple TV+

Thinking of pulling the trigger on an Apple TV+ subscription? Much like Netflix, Stan and Max, there are a few key considerations to keep in mind. Consider the following variables before you do:

• Content Quality – With their deep pockets and reliance on original content, Apple pays big for talented actors and elaborate set pieces. There may ultimately be less content to choose from, but what you get is going to be well-produced. Furthermore, the limited-run production method typically involves a few short seasons of a show, allowing Apple TV+ to attract big-name movie stars for its TV shows, which is vastly different from its streaming counterparts.
• Exclusive Content – The service’s Apple Originals are offered exclusively through Apple TV+, so if you’re a fan of Ted Lasso or Severance, this is the only place you’ll find those award-winning releases.
• Cost of Apple TV+ – The current cost of an Apple TV+ subscription in Australia is AUD $12.99, which is slightly more expensive than some of its competitors. Importantly, anyone who hasn’t signed up before will qualify for a 7-day free trial, meaning you can check out all the much-loved titles before you have to make a final decision.