Series Guide

The story of the Roy family’s battle for control of Waystar Royco — a fictional News Corp analogue — stands as the defining drama of the streaming era. Four consecutive Emmy wins for Outstanding Drama Series. Ended on Jesse Armstrong’s terms after Season 4.

The most Emmy-winning drama series in history with 59 wins from 161 nominations. An adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy saga that transcended genre to become a global cultural phenomenon. The final season was critically divisive but statistically dominant.

The five-season arc that took Walter White from chemistry teacher to drug kingpin is the definitive argument for the showrunner as novelist. Gilligan’s total creative control over a sustained character transformation — executed without a single wasted episode — remains the benchmark of long-form television storytelling.

The show that founded the prestige television era. David Chase’s depiction of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano proved that television could sustain the moral ambiguity of literary fiction. The cut to black finale remains the most debated ending in television history.

The most Emmy-nominated season of television since Game of Thrones, and the first non-English-language production to win Outstanding Drama Series. Hiroyuki Sanada’s performance as Yoshii Toranaga and the show’s refusal to center its Western protagonist redefined what a prestige epic can look like.

The definitive video game adaptation — proving that the medium can produce prestige drama of the highest order. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey anchored a series that expanded the emotional scope of the source material while remaining faithful to its core. Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett’s episode “Long Long Time” became one of the most acclaimed single TV episodes in years.

Five episodes dramatising the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The most acclaimed limited series in years — a meticulous reconstruction of the disaster and its cover-up, anchored by Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgtård. Mazin’s background in comedy made his pivot to this intensely serious material one of television’s most surprising creative transformations.