10 Best Historical Drama TV Shows Ever Made, Ranked

Ever wished you could escape to a different time and place for a little while? It might be time for a great historical drama, and we've got you covered with a list of some of the very best.

This seems obvious, but still: how does one define a "historical drama?" Some shows take place very specifically in modern times (and might use technology like iPhones or the Internet as part of the narrative, meaning it has to take place in modern day), and others tie themselves to a specific time period. Still, when some people think of the term "historical drama," they think of potentially stuffy shows about British aristocracy set in castles where everybody frets about tea service (like, for example, "Downton Abbey"). While there are some shows on this list about British aristocracy on this list for sure, we've tried to diversify the selection a bit and choose dramas set in extremely specific time periods or that are focused on particular historical figures. 

So what made our list of the 10 best historical dramas on the small screen? Keep reading to find out ... and you might find your new favorite show in the process.

Cast: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Henry Cavill, Natalie Dormer
Creator: Michael Hirst
Number of seasons: 4
Where to watch: Paramount+

There's no question that King Henry VIII is one of the most fascinating historical figures of all time, so in his first appearance on this list, we'll tackle the show centered exclusively around him and his six wives: Showtime's "The Tudors." With Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Henry — a man who was never supposed to be king but ended up on the throne after the death of his older brother Arthur long before the narrative begins — Michael Hirst's pulpy drama devotes four seasons that aired from 2007 to 2010 to Henry's infamous marriages. If you've never heard the rhyme about Henry VIII's six wives, it makes it pretty easy to remember their fate: "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived."

Even though Rhys-Meyers never really matches Henry's physique as he ages — the tyrannical king famously grew much larger and smellier later in his life — it's still worth watching "The Tudors" for his turn as Henry and supporting performances from Natalie Dormer as Henry's second (beheaded) wife Anne Boleyn, Henry Cavill as Henry's best friend Charles Brandon, and Tamzin Merchant, who played Daenerys Targaryen in the botched original "Game of Thrones" pilot, as Henry's fifth (also beheaded) wife Catherine Howard. "The Tudors" isn't always particularly accurate, but it sure is fun.

Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Anna Baryshnikov, Ella Hunt, Jane Krakowski
Creator: Alena Smith
Number of seasons: 3
Where to watch: Apple TV

If you want a little irreverence with your historical drama, you definitely want to try "Dickinson," Alena Smith's three-season wonder that aired on Apple TV from 2019 to 2021. Hailee Steinfeld stars in the deliberately anachronistic show as famed American poet Emily Dickinson, but not only does this show deftly explore Emily's romantic connection with her brother's wife Sue Gilbert (Ella Hunt), it also is incredibly playful; what other historical drama casts rapper Wiz Khalifa as the concept of Death itself? 

With unbelievable guest stars like Zosia Mamet, John Mulaney, Ziwe, and Billy Eichner as Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Sojourner Truth, and Walt Whitman, modern language that makes Emily's story feel fresh and modern, and astounding supporting turns from actors like Jane Krakowski (as Emily's mother Emily Norcross Dickinson) and Anna Baryshnikov as Emily's silly sister Lavinia, "Dickinson" is a total delight. It doesn't always feel like a historical drama, but still fits the bill.

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Stephen Dillane, David Morse
Creator: Tom Hooper, Kirk Ellis
Number of seasons: 1
Where to watch: HBO Max

Regarded as one of the best miniseries of all time and a defining portrait of one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, "John Adams" walked so Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" could run. Released in 2008 and based on the 2001 biography by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough, "John Adams" stars Paul Giamatti in one of the best turns of his career (which is saying something) as the titular John Adams and Laura Linney as his loving wife Abigail, an icon in her own right. 

Throughout eight episodes, "John Adams" begins its story in 1770 with the then-lawyer somewhere in his 30s, who's asked to represent soldiers that were a part of the Boston Massacre. From there, the show directed by Tom Hooper and written by Kirk Ellis takes us through the remainder of Adams' long life, only ending in 1826 when he dies ... on the exact same day as his long-time political rival Thomas Jefferson (a phenomenal Stephen Dillane). "John Adams" isn't just one of the greatest miniseries ever made; it's a gripping historical drama that'll keep you entertained and informed whether or not you're up on your Revolutionary War trivia.

Cast: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton
Creator: Peter Morgan
Number of seasons: 6
Where to watch: Netflix

Peter Morgan, the mind behind movies like "Frost/Nixon" and "The Queen," made a shrewd decision for his Netflix historical drama "The Crown" when he chose to center it around the Windsor family that's been sitting on the British throne for decades. Instead of focusing on just one portion of Queen Elizabeth II's life and using one great actor to play her, Morgan's concept cast three phenomenal British stars — Claire Foy, Oscar winner Olivia Colman, and Imelda Staunton — to spend two seasons each playing Elizabeth at different points in her life. Naturally, this was true for all of the actors; just as one example, Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies, and Jonathan Pryce portrayed Elizabeth's king consort Philip throughout the show's six-season run from 2016 to 2023.

Thanks to unbelievable turns throughout "The Crown" from then-newcomers Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin (as a young Prince Charles and Princess Diana) to industry veterans Elizabeth Debicki and Dominic Cooper (as an older Charles Diana), you can explore an entire era of British history with this astounding and moving series. If you've ever sat and watched a royal wedding with tears in your eyes, "The Crown" is a perfect historical drama for you.

Cast: Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Claire Foy
Creator: Peter Kosminsky, Peter Straughan
Number of seasons: 2
Where to watch: PBS, VOD

The second and final series that concerns King Henry VIII on this list is "Wolf Hall," which is based on a series of award-winning novels by the late, great historical fiction author Hilary Mantel. This show, however, doesn't actually revolve around Henry like "The Tudors" did; instead, it centers around Mark Rylance's take on the scheming, conniving, and far-too-clever Thomas Cromwell. With "Homeland" and "Billions" star Damian Lewis as Henry, the first season of "Wolf Hall" adapts the novel of the same name as well as the middle book in the trilogy, "Bring Up the Bodies" — covering the rise of Cromwell's influence in Henry's court as he helps the mercurial king secure a divorce, start the Church of England, and marry Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy).

The second and final season adapts "The Mirror and the Light," the final book in Mantel's original series, which begins shortly after Henry has Anne executed on a series of trumped-up charges and ends when Cromwell falls off his own pedestal thanks to Henry's failed fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves (Dana Herfuth). If you think you know a lot about Tudor history, give "Wolf Hall" a watch ... and you might learn something new through Cromwell's eyes.

Cast: Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox
Creator: Tony McNamara
Number of seasons: 3
Where to watch: Hulu

If you like the general vibe of something like "Dickinson" or find yourself rewatching the Oscar-nominated movie Yorgos Lanthimos film "The Favourite" over and over again, definitely queue up "The Great," a Hulu original series created "The Favourite" writer Tony McNamara. Another irreverent, funny, and only occasionally anachronistic take on a real historical figure, "The Great" centers around the famous and ultimately beloved Russian empress Catherine the Great, played beautifully by Elle Fanning. As the series begins, Catherine finds herself married to the amorous, often intoxicated, and fully buffoonish Emperor Peter III — an astoundingly good Nicholas Hoult — and is immediately disappointed with her husband's lack of discipline and prowess as a ruler. Before long, she's trying to stage a coup alongside her loyal handmaiden Marial Brezhnev (Phoebe Fox), but because "The Great" is really clever, her relationship with Peter also evolves in truly surprising ways.

Sadly, "The Great," which kicked off in 2020, was canceled after its third season aired in 2023 — but you can still go binge those three excellent seasons now (and happily, the show ends on a note that feels somewhat final). Whether you're an expert on Russian history or barely know Catherine the Great's story, "The Great" is a fun ride ... and, dare we say, great.

Cast: Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Eion Bailey, David Schwimmer
Creator: Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg
Number of seasons: 1
Where to watch: HBO Max

Easily one of the most beloved historical miniseries of all time, "Band of Brothers" — helmed by none other than Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg — after they worked together on "Saving Private Ryan," you can certainly see its influence here. This time, Hanks and Spielberg adapted the non-fiction bestseller of the same name by Stephen A. Ambrose, which hit shelves in 1992, nearly a decade later in 2001 ... and it focuses on a paratrooper regiment in the 101st Airborne Division known as the "Easy Company."

To say "Band of Brothers" boasts an all-star cast is a massive understatement. In no particular order, this series stars Damian Lewis, David Schwimmer, Ron Livingston, Eion Bailey, Colin Hanks, Scott Grimes, Neal McDonough, Donnie Walhberg, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and, inexplicably, late-night host Jimmy Fallon in a supporting role — and this massive cast manages to tell Ambrose's story perfectly. Thanks to that, a major cinematic production value, and the shared vision of Hanks and Spielberg, "Band of Brothers" took home an Emmy for outstanding miniseries and remains a gold standard for on-screen depictions of war.

Cast: Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, John Slattery, Christina Hendricks
Creator: Matthew Weiner
Number of seasons: 7
Where to watch: AMC+, HBO Max

"Mad Men" is widely considered to be one of the best TV shows ever made, but it's also one of the very best historical dramas ever made — and yes, that label does apply when you consider that Matthew Weiner's acclaimed AMC series covered an entire and extremely significant era in American history. "Mad Men," which takes place throughout the 1960s and ran on AMC from 2007 to 2015 across seven seasons, centers around Jon Hamm's handsome and fraudulent New York advertising executive Don Draper, who works in the city and courts numerous mistresses and flings before dutifully returning home to the suburbs each night to see his wife Betty (January Jones) and children. All the while, he's hiding a big secret — besides his affairs, that is — and while we won't spoil it directly here, suffice to say that Don might not be precisely who he says he is.

Thanks to a 4K release on HBO Max in late 2025, "Mad Men" enjoyed a renaissance a full decade after it wrapped up with a frankly perfect series finale. With phenomenal writing and performances from players like John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks, Jared Harris, Robert Morse, and the incomparable Elisabeth Moss as secretary turned star copywriter Peggy Olson, "Mad Men" is an impeccable and frank portrait of a changing America in the 1960s — and one of the best television shows in the entire history of the medium.

Cast: Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, Jessie Buckley
Creator: Craig Mazin
Number of seasons: 1
Where to watch: HBO Max

"Chernobyl" is one of the toughest watches on this entire lists, but it's well worth your time — and it's one of the best history-based miniseries ever made. Created by Craig Mazin (who went on to helm HBO's massively popular video game adaptation "The Last of Us") and released in 2019, "Chernobyl" is, obviously, about the massive nuclear power plant explosion near Pripyat in the former Soviet Union (an area that's now a part of Ukraine) and the ensuing fallout. More to the point, though, "Chernobyl" is about human fallibility and how desperately people and animals suffered in the aftermath of this explosion, which rendered the immediate area fully uninhabitable and led to thousands of health problems for people who happened to be in the semi-immediate area.

Jared Harris leads the cast of "Chernobyl" as real-life figure Valery Legasov, a chemist who advises USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev (David Dencik) on the disaster — and he's joined by luminaries like Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, and Jessie Buckley as a government official, a nuclear physicist, and the wife of a first responder to the disaster, respectively. Animal lovers should tread especially carefully with "Chernobyl," as there's an entire episode centered around the elimination of potentially affected household pets ... but if you can stomach this series, it presents an important view of how so many small factors and mistakes led to one of the worst disasters in the history of mankind.

Cast: Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Cosmo Jarvis
Creator: Rachel Kondo, Justin Marks
Number of seasons: 1
Where to watch: Hulu

When it comes to historical dramas, "Shōgun" is the gold standard — from its performances to its steadfast commitment to historical accuracy to its fully immersively and richly drawn world. Created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks with the help of their lead actor Hiroyuki Sanada and producer and translator Eriko Miyagawa, "Shōgun" wasn't content to simply present a story that's mostly told in Japanese to international audiences; they went so far as to ensure that all of the Japanese spoken in the series was faithful to the time period in which it's set. (If you want to know more about these specifics, Vulture has a phenomenal interview with Miyagawa.)

In terms of the narrative, "Shōgun," a 2024 remake of a 1980 miniseries — both of which are based on James Clavell's 1975 novel — stars Cosmo Jarvis as pilot major John Blackthorne, who arrives on shores of a region called Edo on his ship along with his starving companions. Though they're initially held hostage, John becomes part of the high society at Osaka Castle, meeting regent Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Sanada) and his translator Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai). "Shōgun" is absolutely stunning from start to finish in its exceptional first season, which won an Emmy for outstanding miniseries as well as statues for Sanada, Sawai, and supporting player Tadanobu Asano as Toranaga's disloyal ally Kashigi Yabushige. If you haven't watched "Shōgun," there's no time like the present.