The best Apple TV Plus series 2026 has to offer are not about the size of the catalogue, but about the consistency of its original shows. This guide ranks 10 Apple TV Plus dramas, thrillers, comedies and sci-fi series that are genuinely worth starting now.
Apple TV Plus has a smaller catalogue than Netflix or HBO Max, but its strongest originals include prestige drama, spy thrillers, sci-fi, limited series and smart comedies. Rather than listing every Apple TV Plus original, we have ranked 10 standout series by critical reception, consistency, cast, current relevance and how clearly they suit a particular mood. For a wider cross-platform ranking, see DubaiPress’s best TV series of all time guide.
How we chose the best Apple TV Plus series 2026
Every pick below is available through Apple TV, although catalogue availability, audio options and subtitles can vary by country. Rotten Tomatoes critic scores were checked on 5 October 2026 and may change as new seasons receive reviews. Scores are useful context, not a substitute for choosing a show that matches your mood.
- Best for: the type of viewer most likely to enjoy the series.
- No-spoiler premise: enough context to decide whether to start it.
- Series details: release year, format, creator or showrunner, and key cast.
- Rating: Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score, checked on 5 October 2026.
- Where to watch: Apple TV. Check the official Apple TV UAE catalogue for current local availability.
Best Apple TV Plus Series 2026: Quick Picks
| If you want… | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The best overall choice | Severance | A distinctive mystery, excellent cast and two strong seasons. |
| A spy thriller | Slow Horses | Fast, funny and consistently strong across multiple seasons. |
| A complete weekend watch | Black Bird | Six tense episodes and a finished story. |
| Uplifting comedy | Ted Lasso | Warm, accessible and easy to watch with others. |
| Dystopian sci-fi | Silo | A compelling underground mystery with rich world-building. |
| A new 2026 series | Pluribus | A high-profile new sci-fi mystery from Vince Gilligan. |
Best Apple TV Plus Series 2026: 10 Top Picks
1. Severance — best overall Apple TV series
Best for: viewers who want a smart, unsettling mystery with a slow-build payoff.
What it is about: Employees at Lumon Industries undergo a procedure that separates their work memories from their personal memories. When one employee begins to question the company’s rules, the neat divide between both lives starts to look much less secure.
Series details: First released in 2022; two seasons available, with a third confirmed. Created by Dan Erickson. Key cast: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro and Zach Cherry.
Rating: 95% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: Severance is the strongest all-round recommendation on the service because its concept, visual design, acting and mystery all work together. If you like cerebral thrillers, continue with our best thriller series to watch guide after this one.
2. Slow Horses — best spy thriller
Best for: anyone who wants espionage, sharp dialogue and flawed characters instead of glamorous secret agents.
What it is about: A group of disgraced MI5 agents are sent to Slough House, a dumping ground for officers who have made career-ending mistakes. Their abrasive boss, Jackson Lamb, may look careless, but the team repeatedly finds itself pulled into serious national-security cases.
Series details: First released in 2022; six seasons available or in progress in 2026. Developed by Will Smith from Mick Herron’s novels. Key cast: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas and Saskia Reeves.
Rating: 98% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: The episodes are compact, each season has a clear case, and Gary Oldman gives the series its messy, funny edge. It is the safest pick for viewers who want a current, fast-moving thriller rather than a slow prestige drama.
3. Pluribus — best new Apple TV series of 2026
Best for: viewers who enjoy original sci-fi mysteries and want to begin a major new series while it is still being discussed week by week.
What it is about: A woman named Carol finds herself confronting a world-changing mystery that is much larger and stranger than it first appears. The show reveals its ideas gradually, so it works best if you go in with as little plot information as possible.
Series details: Released in 2026; ongoing drama and sci-fi series. Created by Vince Gilligan. Key cast: Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra and Carlos-Manuel Vesga.
Rating: 99% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: This is the best choice if you want something new rather than a completed back catalogue. Apple lists it as a drama and sci-fi series, and it has the kind of premise that is more enjoyable before social-media discussion reveals too much.
4. Black Bird — best limited crime series
Best for: viewers who want an intense, complete crime drama they can finish in a weekend.
What it is about: A convicted drug dealer is offered a chance at freedom if he can enter a maximum-security prison and earn the trust of a suspected serial killer. The story is inspired by real events, but the tension comes from the psychological relationship between the two men rather than graphic crime scenes alone.
Series details: Released in 2022; one complete season with six episodes. Developed by Dennis Lehane. Key cast: Taron Egerton, Paul Walter Hauser and Greg Kinnear.
Rating: 98% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Content note: This is a dark prison and true-crime-inspired drama. For more factual crime viewing, see our best true crime series guide; for other self-contained choices, see the best mini-series to watch.
5. Silo — best dystopian sci-fi series
Best for: fans of post-apocalyptic mysteries, underground worlds and long-form science fiction.
What it is about: Thousands of people live in a vast underground silo and follow strict rules designed to protect them from the supposedly toxic world outside. When an engineer starts investigating a death, she uncovers questions that the silo’s leaders do not want asked.
Series details: First released in 2023; three seasons available in 2026, with a fourth and final season planned. Created by Graham Yost from Hugh Howey’s novels. Key cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Common, Harriet Walter and Tim Robbins.
Rating: 92% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: Silo has a clear central mystery, strong production design and enough world-building to reward viewers who want more than a one-season thriller.
6. Ted Lasso — best uplifting comedy
Best for: viewers who want a genuinely warm comedy with football, friendship and emotional payoffs.
What it is about: An American college-football coach is hired to manage an English Premier League club despite knowing almost nothing about the sport. The premise begins as a culture-clash comedy and grows into an ensemble story about confidence, pressure and belonging.
Series details: First released in 2020; four seasons by 2026. Developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly. Key cast: Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple and Brett Goldstein.
Rating: 90% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: It is Apple TV’s safest recommendation for viewers who do not want violence, bleakness or a complicated mystery. It also works well for couples or households with different tastes in television.
7. The Studio — best new comedy
Best for: viewers who enjoy Hollywood satire, industry jokes and fast ensemble comedy.
What it is about: A newly appointed film-studio boss tries to protect ambitious movies while dealing with commercial pressure, famous actors and increasingly chaotic production decisions. The show mocks the business without requiring viewers to work in entertainment to understand the joke.
Series details: Released in 2025; comedy series. Created by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory and Frida Perez. Key cast: Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz and Kathryn Hahn.
Rating: 93% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: Choose this over Ted Lasso if you want something sharper and more adult, with shorter bursts of comedy and a larger number of guest appearances.
8. Shrinking — best character-led comedy
Best for: viewers who want funny, emotionally grounded episodes rather than a plot-heavy sitcom.
What it is about: A grieving therapist starts ignoring professional boundaries and telling clients exactly what he thinks. His impulsive approach changes his relationships with his patients, family and colleagues in ways that are sometimes helpful and sometimes disastrous.
Series details: First released in 2023; returning comedy-drama series. Created by Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel. Key cast: Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams and Christa Miller.
Rating: 82% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: The show balances grief, friendship and humour without becoming overly sentimental. It is a better choice than a traditional sitcom if you want characters who develop across episodes.
9. Pachinko — best sweeping historical drama
Best for: viewers who want a visually rich family drama with real emotional scale.
What it is about: Based on Min Jin Lee’s novel, Pachinko follows a Korean family across generations, countries and social upheavals. It moves between time periods, but its focus remains on the personal choices that shape one family’s future.
Series details: First released in 2022; ongoing historical drama. Created by Soo Hugh. Key cast: Youn Yuh-jung, Kim Min-ha, Lee Min-ho and Jin Ha. The series uses Korean, Japanese and English dialogue.
Rating: 98% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: This is the pick for viewers who want something more sweeping and literary than a thriller. It is also one of the strongest examples of Apple TV investing in international storytelling.
10. Dark Matter — best alternate-reality thriller
Best for: viewers who want science fiction with a quick hook and an emotional, relationship-driven story.
What it is about: A physicist is abducted and wakes up in a version of his own life that is not the one he remembers. His attempt to understand what happened becomes a race to return to the people and choices that matter most to him.
Series details: First released in 2024; two seasons by 2026. Created by Blake Crouch from his novel. Key cast: Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga and Jimmi Simpson.
Rating: 81% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Where to watch: Apple TV.
Why start it: It is more accessible than Severance and less slow-burning than Silo, making it a good first Apple TV sci-fi series for viewers who want momentum from episode one.
What to watch on Apple TV based on your mood
- Start with Severance if you want the best all-round mystery.
- Start with Slow Horses if you want a sharp, current spy thriller.
- Start with Black Bird if you only have one weekend and want a complete story.
- Start with Ted Lasso if you want something optimistic and easy to share.
- Start with Silo or Dark Matter if you want sci-fi with a strong central mystery.
- Start with Pachinko if you want an ambitious, emotional drama rather than a genre series.
Apple TV price in the UAE and whether it is worth subscribing
Apple TV is listed in the UAE at AED 27.99 per month after a seven-day free trial, but check the live price on Apple’s official page before subscribing because local pricing and offers can change. It is not the best standalone service for someone who wants the largest possible library. It works better as a focused subscription for one or two months when several shows you want to watch are available.
Before choosing a service, compare the best streaming services in the UAE and our full guide to streaming prices in the UAE. If you are comparing app subscriptions with TV or broadband bundles, see our breakdown of du TV packages and e& bundles in the UAE. For a much larger prestige-drama library, compare these picks with our guide to the best shows on HBO Max.
Final verdict
If you want one Apple TV series to start tonight, choose Severance for mystery, Slow Horses for thriller, Ted Lasso for comedy or Black Bird for a complete limited series. Apple TV may not have the broadest catalogue, but these shows make it one of the strongest services for viewers who prefer fewer, better originals.
For more streaming recommendations, browse DubaiPress’s Movies category.