9 Near-Perfect Crime Shows To Binge If You Love The Shield

Published Oct 3, 2026, 2:45 PM EDT Faith Roswell is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's Classic TV team. Since earning her degree in Creative Writing over a decade ago, Faith has written articles on film and TV from a variety of different angles. Faith now combines her knowledge of psychology with her love of monster movies to give more insight into what makes the best ones. You may have read her Screen Rant lists and features covering horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, or read her Amazon Top 10 book, "Movie Monsters of the Deep." Faith has had an extensive career as a writer, appearing on BBC live radio, researching true crime for Rotten Mango podcast, and writing for publications including Mental Floss, Atlas Obscura, and The Daily Jaws before beginning here at Screen Rant. While The Sopranos gave us one of TV's greatest antiheroes, just one year later, The Shield would give viewers another in Vic Mackey, whose descent resembles a Greek tragedy taking place within a police department. The series might have started as a more typical police procedural, but it soon evolved into a perfect crime show and a true rollercoaster of highs and lows. The Shield's seven seasons follow Vic and his Strike Team, a corrupt wing of the Los Angeles Police Department in the fictional Farmington District, as they find themselves over their heads with brutal consequences. After continuing the emerging trend for high-quality genre-blending drama TV series, The Shield paved the way for prestige TV like Breaking Bad by taking risks with its tone and setting up a story arc that practically defied cancellation, from Vic's first shocking act of violence to the end that nobody could have seen coming. Few crime TV series have come close to the legacy of The Shield, but some meet the show in terms of quality, and are well worth binging if you love The Shield. Banshee Antony Starr might be best known for his terrifying performance as the evil Homelander in The Boys, but he is just as good in Banshee, where he plays an antihero that you just cannot help but root for. Starr plays a paroled thief who steals the identity of a sheriff, beginning a double life as a cop in the fictional town of Banshee. Each episode sees him dig himself deeper into the lie as his past threatens to catch up with him. Like The Shield, Banshee is violent, gory, and action-packed, and while it occasionally requires some suspension of disbelief, the series is so much fun that that is easy to overlook, with both critics and audiences in agreement, giving the show 90% and 92% Rotten Tomatoes scores respectively. Viewers who preferred The Shield's explosive action to its politics and procedural storylines must try binging Banshee next. Banshee Release Date 2013 - 2016-00-00 Showrunner Jonathan Tropper Southland Gritty crime dramas set on the streets of Los Angeles are hardly unusual, but the best quality ones bring something new to the table, and Southland has attracted some extremely impressive reviews and praise. Legendary horror writer Stephen King called Southland's writing "genius" and Rotten Tomatoes audiences have given the show a 96% positive rating, while critics have praised its tone and breakneck pace. Michael Chiklis won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in The Shield. Just as The Shield attracted A-list character actors, Southland's cast is surprisingly stacked, featuring actors who later became famous, including Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead,) Regina King (Watchmen,) and Kevin Alejandro (Lucifer.) Both shows are dramas that appear to be police procedurals, with several characters in The Shield having counterparts in Southland, and viewers who liked the raw and realistic camera style will enjoy the show for its similar visuals. Southland Release Date 2009 - 2013-00-00 Network NBC, TNT Cast Michael Cudlitz Officer John Cooper Fargo The Shield tells its story in a very specific and distinctive way, using handheld cameras to create gritty documentary-style footage, but while Fargo has similar themes and storylines, the show has an equally distinctive but opposite aesthetic. Fargo makes crime look cinematic, with each season of the show following a different cast of characters played by actors including Billy Bob Thornton, Kirsten Dunst, David Thewlis, and Jon Hamm. Both series explore characters who make terrible choices, taking the viewer on their journeys of self-destruction while blurring the line between hero and villain, but while The Shield follows the same core characters throughout, Fargo takes a different approach, making it a groundbreaking series in its own right. Crime dramas don't get much better than Fargo for the way it perfected the anthology format, and this makes each season extremely bingeable. Fargo 10/10 Release Date 2014 - 2024-00-00 Network FX Cast Dan Willmott Buck Olander Sons Of Anarchy For fans of The Shield, Sons of Anarchy often feels like an observation exercise, with many of The Shield's actors appearing in Sons of Anarchy, including a stealth cameo from Michael Chiklis that is central to a farfetched Sons of Anarchy fan theory that might just make sense. The series shares DNA with The Shield, being a tragic saga that unfolds over multiple seasons, but while Vic Mackey is ostensibly on the side of the law, Sons of Anarchy's protagonist is not. Sons of Anarchy is essentially Hamlet on motorcycles, following Jax Teller as he tries to get his motorcycle club out of organized crime and live up to his father's legacy, but encountering obstacles and hostility at every turn. While Kurt Sutter was a writer and later executive producer for The Shield, Sons of Anarchy is his own creation, which makes the series feel like a spiritual successor to The Shield, with a similar tone but more stylized aesthetic and rock soundtrack. Sons of Anarchy 8/10 Release Date 2008 - 2014 Network FX Cast Charlie Hunnam Jax Teller Katey Sagal Gemma Teller Morrow Third Watch Image via MovieStillsDB While Third Watch did not receive the same acclaim as its medical equivalent show, ER, which shares its executive producer, it surpasses the long-running drama for its intensity, following the first responders in the fictional 55th precinct of New York. The Shield centers on the police, but viewers interested in the relationship between the various emergency services should binge Third Watch's six seasons, which began before The Shield, but ended during season 4, making The Shield a logical next show to begin at the time. ER and Third Watch share some crossover episodes, with characters from one show appearing on the other. Both Third Watch and The Shield feature many of the same dangers, from internal corruption to criminals, while the creators were not afraid to kill off main characters in a way that was still relatively rare in the early 2000s. That said, The Shield is almost relentlessly brutal, and viewers who enjoyed the series but would have preferred a slightly less violent experience must watch Third Watch next, as the show is a little gentler with the same high emotional stakes. Third Watch Release Date 1999 - 2005-00-00 Cast Coby Bell Tyrone Davis Jr. Anthony Ruivivar Carlos Nieto Skipp Sudduth John Sullivan Line Of Duty Credit: BBC Line of Duty is one of the best British crime shows ever created, and while British TV series can often be slower-paced than their American counterparts, this is not necessarily a bad thing, with the series bringing a slow-burning tension and plenty of shocks. Line of Duty is an underrated crime masterpiece with a 96% positive critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the same gritty tone as The Shield, and centers on a department that tackles police corruption. The police procedural is unlike most others set on crime-filled streets, and is instead famed for its suspense-filled interrogation scenes and standout performances from acclaimed actors like Thandiwe Newton (Westworld,) Lennie James (The Walking Dead,) and Stephen Graham (Adolescence.) Viewers who want to see more Vic Mackeys being brought to justice and more quickly must watch Line of Duty, and fans will be pleased to know that the series is returning in 2027. Line of Duty Release Date 2012 - 2026-00-00 Directors David Caffrey, Douglas Mackinnon, Daniel Nettheim, Michael Keillor, John Strickland, Jed Mercurio, Sue Tully, Gareth Bryn, Jennie Darnell The Wire Credit: MovieStillsDB While The Shield produced some timeless villains, one of the series' greatest strengths is the way it showed crime to be systemic, with the deep rot at the heart of the political system producing an effect that trickled down to the streets, with poverty driving desperation and crime. This approach is the entire premise for The Wire, which treats the city of Baltimore almost as a living thing, with each episode exploring a different aspect of its crime and drug landscape, and showing these parts to be linked. The show's approach was groundbreaking, and The Wire deserves its ranking among the greatest TV shows of all time. While the show aired around the same time as The Shield, The Wire received attention and critical acclaim from academics and cultural writers for its ambition. The two shows are equally good in terms of representing their genre and fulfilling their intent, with The Shield being a perfect crime thriller and The Wire being a cultural commentary. The Wire 10/10 Release Date 2002 - 2008-00-00 Network HBO Cast Dominic West Jimmy McNulty Lance Reddick Cedric Daniels Justified The Shield's Shane Vendrell has one of the most brutal endings in any TV show, and his journey from being Vic Mackey's right-hand man and best friend to his eventual fate as a family annihilator could only be pulled off by a character actor like Walton Goggins. While the actor has gone on to play one of the most varied ranges of characters in the TV landscape, The Shield was Walton Goggins' first perfect role. Now, his role in Justified has overshadowed even Shane, making the show essential viewing for fans of both The Shield and Goggins. The critically-acclaimed neo-Western has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating and follows lawman Raylan Givens, whose idea of justice often sets him against his superiors. Givens sometimes resembles a less-corrupt Vic Mackey, but it is Goggins' Boyd Crowder who steals the show. The charismatic career criminal is a villain people love to hate, and while Justified has many antagonists, he makes the show the perfect one for The Shield fans to binge next. Justified 8/10 Release Date 2010 - 2015-00-00 Network FX Cast Timothy Olyphant Raylan Givens Breaking Bad Image via MovieStillsDB The Shield is bloodier and more explosive than most other great police procedurals, but Breaking Bad takes even the show's most farfetched parts to another level entirely. Following a timid chemistry teacher who builds a crystal meth empire to fund his cancer treatment, Breaking Bad is a saga that continues to build on itself until the final gut-punch ending. The show features prominent police characters like Hank Schrader, whose manner and appearance are very similar to Mackey, but takes viewers further into the criminal underworld than The Shield. Many of Breaking Bad's episodes are true masterpieces and while the series is less like The Shield in terms of its genre and approach, the central theme is remarkably similar. Both series document the downfall of a man who at one point appeared to have everything that he ever wanted before growing too ambitious. Vic Mackey and Walter White might have different motivations and final fates, but Breaking Bad is also a must-watch character study. Breaking Bad 10/10 Release Date 2008 - 2013-00-00 Network AMC Showrunner Vince Gilligan