The Sopranos is the most influential and groundbreaking television show of all time, and there are not many popular culture pundits who would disagree with that. There are a lot of comparisons that can be made between The Sopranos and The Godfather, and not just because they are two epic stories about mafia families and the “American dream.” The Godfather is so essential to the development of modern cinema that it will be taught in every film course for the end of time, and The Sopranos is so equally important to the rise of modern prestige television that anyone working within the medium has to give it credit.
The Sopranos is such an addictive experience that fans might feel lost when they have finished watching the entire series, but there are some other shows with similar themes and participants that might serve as a suitable next binge watch.
10
‘Boardwalk Empire’ (2010–2014)
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Image via HBO</figure>
Boardwalk Empire is the most obvious heir-apparent to The Sopranos because it was created by Terrence Winter, a writer who also worked on The Sopranos. Interestingly enough, Boardwalk Empire was also executive-produced and had its pilot directed by Martin Scorsese; Scorsese is obviously a main influence on The Sopranos because it is something that Tony and his friends talk about, and many actors from Scorsese’s film Goodfellas also appear in The Sopranos.
Boardwalk Empire is a very similar story about an anti-hero who ranks highly within the mafia and feuds with other crime families. It stars Steve Buscemi, who is also known for his unforgettable performance in the fifth season of The Sopranos as Tony B, the cousin of James Gandolfini‘s character. Buscemi also directed many of the best episodes of The Sopranos, including “Pine Barrens,” and he was creatively involved with Boardwalk Empire.
9
‘Peaky Blinders’ (2013–2022)
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Image via BBC</figure>
Peaky Blinders has been one of the most popular gangster shows in the world for over a decade, and it is easy to see it as the “heir apparent” to The Sopranos because it took the story of a family crime epic and inserted it into a different time period and showed a different country.
Both The Sopranos and Peaky Blinders appealed to audiences beyond the core set of crime buffs because they presented complicated characters who are trapped between sociopathic behavior and genuine love for their families. Although there are very few actors who hold the same gravity on screen as Gandolfini did during the height of The Sopranos, Cillian Murphy is so great as Thomas Shelby that it has become his defining role, even though he also won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in Oppenheimer.
8
‘The Penguin’ (2024)
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Image via HBO</figure>
The Penguin is one of the biggest pleasant surprises of the contemporary era of comic book television shows because it has a lot more in common with The Sopranos than it does with any other superhero series. Although Colin Farrell‘s iteration of the famous DC Comics villain Oz Cobb made his debut in The Batman, it is within his solo series that he truly becomes the powerful criminal mastermind and kingpin known as “The Penguin,” a character who holds as much power in Gotham City as Tony did in The Sopranos.
There is a clear inspiration from The Sopranos that is seen in The Penguin because they both tell the stories of ambitious anti-heroes who attempt to seize power when there is a vacuum within the dynamics of the criminal underworld. Both TV shows are violent, but surprisingly emotionally rewarding.
7
‘Mad Men’ (2007–2015)
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Mad Men is another show that shares some DNA with The Sopranos because it was created by Matthew Weiner, who had been an acolyte of David Chase. Chase had been so impressed with Weiner’s writing of the Mad Men pilot that he hired him to develop some of the scripts for the final two seasons of The Sopranos, which many fans would cite as being the apex of the series in terms of quality.
Mad Men and The Sopranos are similar because they identified an archetype of the “anti-hero,” who is a self-destructive, sociopathic protagonist who does have tragic events in his past that make him somewhat sympathetic, but consistently proves that his love of his family can only do so much to redeem him. Jon Hamm brings the dangerous, yet likeable quality to Don Draper that is reminiscent of Gandolfini.
6
‘The Shield’ (2002–2008)
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Image via FX</figure>
The Shield is one of the most essential crime shows of the 21st century, and it curiously exists on the other side of the law as The Sopranos did. If The Sopranos examined how the mythologization of gangsters had cast the wrong impression of deeply flawed, insecure men who wrestle with their mental health and fear for their families, then The Shield did the same thing by exposing the complexity of corrupt members of the Los Angeles Police Department who are as fearsome as they are fragile.
Michael Chiklis’ performance as Vic Mackey is among the few anti-hero characters on television who are anywhere close to Gandolfini’s work in The Sopranos, and it is impressive how both actors were able to consistently unravel new layers to their parts that made the ambiguous finales even more interesting to talk about in the aftermath.
Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours.
Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from
the encounter.
Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you
completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the
conversation is.
- Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He
never raises his voice, because he has never needed to. - You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve
is exactly the door he would knock on. - The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence.
It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person. - He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.
Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is
after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.
- The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence
against him. It is the entire reason he showed up. - He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool
you would normally reach for. - His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend
the rest of your life proving him wrong. - He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.
Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work
out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.
- Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from:
a mind the equal of the hero’s, pointed the wrong way. - You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he
has already built the room. - This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs
the game to be worth playing. - It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.
Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that
is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.
- Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the
answer was decided long before you opened your mouth. - You trust yourself to handle things. He is the one problem in the world that has no
interest in how capable you are. - No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences
quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work. - Call it. He will wait.
5
‘Ozark’ (2017–2022)
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Image via Netflix</figure>
Ozark did for Netflix what The Sopranos did for HBO, as it provided a slick, propulsive style of crime storytelling that felt more visceral and exciting than what was on the big screen at the time. One of the clear qualities that both shows have is their very dark sense of humor; the black comedy is a reminder that the act of handling a criminal organization is not as simple as it often seems based on a collective popular culture understanding of how they should act.
One of the most interesting links between The Sopranos and Ozark is that they are both shows about marriages. Edie Falco was just as important to The Sopranos as Gandolfini was, and it is the back-and-forth between Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy Byrde (Laura Linney) that makes Ozark such an interesting take on the family crime saga.
4
‘Narcos’ (2015–2017)
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Image via Netflix</figure>
Nacros is another exhilarating show that explores the life and times of a powerful kingpin, but the difference with The Sopranos is that this show is based on history. Although Pablo Escobar has become a larger-than-life figure who has been interpreted in many different ways by generations of popular culture, Narcos shows his rise to power as a “man of the people” who had ambitions to represent Colombia on the political stage and was undone by the psychopathic behavior he exhibited in his business affairs.
Wagner Moura gives a performance that is worthy of Gandolfini because he is able to make Escobar into a realistic, compelling anti-hero, and not just the caricature that he is often projected as being. The show’s spinoff, Narcos: Mexico, felt even closer to The Sopranos because it examined a modern mafia family and its rivalries.
3
‘Succession’ (2018–2023)
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Image via HBO</figure>
Succession is the only show since The Sopranos that could conceivably make a case for itself as being the greatest of all time, as it is arguably the only other series that has had as much acclaim and earned so many accolades. Succession might be centered in the world of media and Murdoch family-esque infighting, but it is very similar to The Sopranos because they are both about power struggles involving dynasties that attempt to exert their control over what they perceive to be “The American Dream.”
Succession and The Sopranos stand out among other HBO shows because they are actually quite funny. The banter between Tony and his friends ended up making their character dynamics feel even more realistic, and there are a lot of sharply written one-liners in Succession that make it amusing in a way that almost lets the audience sympathize with its ruthless characters.
2
‘The Gentlemen’ (2024–Present)
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Image via Netflix</figure>
The Gentlemen is essentially England’s answer to The Sopranos because it examines a similar story of generational power and family empires, but is applied to a British dynasty that has gained power through the selling of marijuana. Guy Ritchie is a very successful British filmmaker who has done as much to develop the London underworld era of international crime cinema as anyone else, and he adapted one of his best films into a show that has the operatic style of The Sopranos.
The Sopranos distinguished itself from other crime shows because it showed a nearly chivalrous, old-fashioned level of respect between the different mafia families, and The Gentlemen also does something different by examining how the various dynasties involved in illegal trafficking have formed a strict protocol that is predicated on mannerisms reminiscent of the feudal era of European history.
1
‘Tokyo Vice’ (2022–2025)
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Image via HBO Max</figure>
Tokyo Vice is the perfect companion piece to The Sopranos because they examine the highly specific political and cultural baggage of generational crime dynasties, albeit in two completely different countries with different protocols. Although Tony often describes his role in The Sopranos by comparing himself to characters from classic films, Tokyo Vice details the history of the yakuza and how it has served as the template for the Japanese underworld.
Both shows are elevated because they feel more cinematic than most of what is on the small screen, as Tokyo Vice was executive-produced by the legendary filmmaker Michael Mann, whose influence can be seen in the series through its slick visuals, existential themes, and propulsive use of both color and music. While sadly cancelled too soon, it’s a show that deserves another look for anyone who considers themselves a fan of The Sopranos.
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