The 30 Best Original Shows Streaming on HBO Max Right Now

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The erstwhile HBO Max streaming app has always benefited from being the home for HBO hits like Game of Thrones, The White Lotus, and The Last of Us, but has also produced some quality original programming of its own. Hacks is a buzzy award winner, and shows like Peacemaker and The Sex Lives of College Girls have drawn eyeballs. More recently, The Pitt is burning up social media and Spanish-language import When No One Sees Us is drawing critical acclaim.

Given the volume of streaming content out there, and the number of shows Max and HBO have already produced, together and separately, there are some great choices that might have flown under your radar. In our current streaming era, in which good shows aren’t just canceled but erased from existence (farewell, Raised by Wolves), it never hurts to take a moment to consider the slightly less talked-about shows that are equally worthy of your attention. In that spirit, we're suggesting some popular hits and a few shows that might have flown under your radar.

Duster (2025 – , season one ongoing)

J. J. Abrams is back, and Hollywood's preeminent excavator of faded genres (for better and worse) is taking on the hard-driving (literally) 1970s, with Josh Holloway (Lost, Yellowstone) stars as Jim Ellis, a getaway driver with a sweet cherry-red Plymouth. He's becoming increasingly disenchanted with his crime-syndicate boss, Ezra Saxton (Keith David), especially when he's tasked to transport a just-harvested human heart and then asked to then help with the surgery. Into his life walks Nina Hayes (Rachel Hilson), the FBI's first Black woman agent (this is 1972, after all) who enlists Ellis in her plan to bring down Saxton. It's fast-paced and (mostly) fun, with immaculate period vibes. There seems to be a fair bit of buzz here, so maybe we'll get word of a season two when the current run is done. You can stream Duster here.

The Pitt (2025 –, second season coming January 2026)

E.R.'s Noah Wyle is back in scrubs as Dr. Michael "Robby" Rabinavitch, senior attending at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital’s emergency room. Robby’s mentor died during the height of COVID-19, and he’s only just recovering from his traumatic experiences. It's gonna be a long day, though: Each episode represents a single hour of a tumultuous 15-hour shift, peppered by tragedies including a mass shooting. It feels like medical dramas are a dime a dozen, but this one is quite a bit more interesting, and a lot buzzier, than most. You can stream The Pitt here.

Hacks (2021 –, renewed for a fifth season)

After getting canceled over a tweet, 25-year-old writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder) struggles to get her career back in order, reluctantly taking a job for Deborah Vance (Jean Smart)—a comedy trailblazer who remains popular with an older Vegas crown, but whose career is largely on autopilot. They're an entirely mismatched pair, but their chemistry is ultimately explosive, with Jean Smart doing some of the best work of her incredible career as the often deeply unlikeable Vance, and Einbinder more than holding her own in return. It's funny, bitchy, and surprisingly moving when it wants to be. You can stream Hacks here.

When No One Sees Us (2025 –)

A distinctive police thriller imported from Spain, When No One Sees Us stars Mariela Garriga (Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning) as a Cuban-American special agent of the U.S. Army, and Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth) as a Spanish Civil Guard sergeant, both investigating an apparent death by violent suicide on an air base during Holy Week. It's a twisty-turny mystery, but the performances and the emphasis on character over plot make it a standout. No word yet on whether or not we'll get another season. You can stream When No One Sees Us here.

Dune: Prophecy (2024 – , renewed for a second season)

No matter how good the movies have been, a Dune prequel tie-in series was, most likely, going to be pretty inessential. But this one's been a surprise: a juicy space soap opera set 10,000 years before the Denis Villeneuve films, a time frame that puts it well out of the way of later events and lets it stand alone. There are a lot of threads here, but the series focuses on Valya and Tula Harkonnen (Emily Watson and Tula Williams), struggling to build and maintain the Sisterhood that we'll later come to know as the Bene Gesserit in the face of an unstable political order. The ruling dynasty has a new weapon in Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), a manipulative former soldier who seems immune to the persuasive abilities of the Sisters, thus threatening their places at the Emperor's side. Especially given that we're on HBO Max, it's not entirely unfair to suggest that the vibe (full of intrigue, shady dealings, and violent plot-twists) is a bit that of a star-spanning Game of Thrones. You can stream Dune: Prophecy here.

The Gilded Age (2022 – , third season coming in June)

Julian Fellowes made period drama buzz-worthy with Downton Abbey, and does something similar here while shifting the time and place to the 1880s in New York City. We're introduced to the world of upper and extremely upper-class New York City society by Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson), poor relation to the estranged aunties who take her in, and Peggy Scott (Denée Benton), a young Black writer from a solidly middle-class family who becomes a secretary to Christine Baranski's Agnes van Rhijn. Old-money Agnes and sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) live across the street from new-money social climbers the Russells (led with juicy imperiousness by Carrie Coon's Bertha); established society isn't keen on letting in these upstarts—though money very much talks. In one sense, the stakes here could not possibly be lower (Bertha wants a better seat at the opera!)—so why is the show so addictive? You can stream The Gilded Age here.

Industry (2020 – , renewed for a fourth season)

This British co-production debuted somewhat quietly back in 2020, getting good reviews but not much in the way of buzz. Perhaps because it was a different era (meaning: barely five years ago), HBO brought the show back, giving it time to grow until the third season premiere was up by almost 90% in viewership over the series debut, and earned a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. Wild, isn't it, what happens if you actually give viewers time to discover a show? Surely a fluke with no discernible lessons for networks and streamers. Anyway! The show, created by two actual former investment bankers, chronicles the cutthroat world of the fictional Pierpoint & Co in which, at the series' outset, a group of young graduates are made to compete for a vanishingly small number of permanent positions. There are juicy soap-opera vibes, but the attention to detail when it comes to the world of high finance gives the show a feeling that the stakes are very real when it comes to the lives, and mental health, of our leads. You can stream Industry here.

Trixie Motel (2022 – 2024, two seasons)

A pick-up in its second season from Discovery+, Trixie Motel poses that all-important question: How would a drag queen with disposable income run a hotel? In the first season, RuPaul alum Trixie Mattel and then-partner David Silver buy a run-down Palm Springs motel and turn it into a campy desert destination; in the second the two buy and decorate a new home. Celebrity guests stop by to help the pair drag up their accommodations. It's fluffy, flashy, and fun. You can stream Trixie Motel season one here, and Drag Me Home, the second season, here.

Doom Patrol (2019 – 2023, four seasons)

Max’s early DC show was originally ported from the now-defunct DC Universe streamer (past and future episodes are now Max-exclusive), a largely forgotten effort. Thank goodness it survived; it was an uncharacteristically bold and freaky entry in the superhero canon. Nearly indescribably weird, the show includes characters like the non-binary Danny the Street (a literal street), paranormal investigators the Sex Men, Imaginary Jesus, and orgasm-generating body builder Flex Mentallo—while also grounded in some excellent, frequently emotional character work from the entire cast, including Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer, Michelle Gomez, and Timothy Dalton. It’s also very queer and sex positive, making it a standout among the usually chaste and straight world of superhero cinema. You can stream Doom Patrol here.

Full Circle (2023, miniseries)

Creator Ed Solomon (Now You See Me) and director Steven Soderbergh navigate a big cast and a labyrinthine plot involving murder, kidnapping, corporate espionage, and magic. The title refers to a murder ritual conducted by a Guyanese crime lord (played by CCH Pounder) that involves drawing a literal circle in New York, centered on the scene of a murder. There are a few too many balls in the air at any given time, but watching the chaos unfold is addictive. Pounder is joined by Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, and Dennis Quaid. You can stream Full Circle here.

Scavengers Reign (2023, one season)

A qualified recommendation for this one, only because it was canceled after its first season with plenty left unresolved. Nevertheless! It's a smart, impressively voice-acted, and beautifully animated sci-fi epic following the stranded survivors of the crashed interstellar cargo ship Demeter 227. The web of natural life on the world on which they find themselves is unusually complex, an the rules they're used to don't seem to apply. The creators are shopping a second season around, but it seems likely we'll be left with a few questions—which is maybe not the worst thing. You can stream Scavengers Reign here.

The Flight Attendant (2020 – 2022, two seasons)

Kaley Cuoco plays hard-living (i.e. alcoholic) flight attendant Cassie Bowden, who, in the first episode, wakes up in a Bangkok hotel room with no memory of the night before. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing, given that she's sharing a bed with a dead passenger from her last flight. Afraid to call the police, she tries, on her own, to piece together the increasingly convoluted memories of that last night. Impressively twisty-turny, but also with a hallucinogenic sense of fun, it's a unique show that earned several Emmy nominations, including for a great Cuoco. Despite generating plenty of buzz and seemingly good numbers, it was canceled after two seasons—which will become something of a theme with Max. You can stream The Flight Attendant here.

The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021 – 2025, three seasons)

Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) is an endlessly naïve scholarship student; Bela (Amrit Kaur), is an aspiring comedy writer on the make for the hottest guys; Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott) is an overachieving athlete and senator’s daughter; Leighton (Reneé Rapp) is a closeted sorority girl. They're randomly assigned to room together as freshmen at the fictional Essex College in Vermont. Created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble, the comedy-drama isn't nearly as salacious as its title suggests: There's sex, for sure, but like Sex and the City before it, the funny and queer-friendly show is more about female friendship. You can stream The Sex Lives of College Girls here.

Jellystone! (2021 – 2025)

The Hanna-Barbera cartoon pantheon has been largely dormant in recent decades, but this is a fun revisit, with the titular town serving as home to dozens of characters from back in the day, led by Mayor Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear (now a doctor at Jellystone Hospital), Augie Doggy, Jabberjaw, Top Cat, and dozens more, with out-of-towners like The Jetsons and Space Ghost popping in now and again. The show's silly, anarchic style is definitely not a one-for-one match to the source material, but it's not a terrible thing that the show is focused on appealing to modern kids rather than their parents (or grandparents, at this point). It's fun for that older elementary age group. You can stream Jellystone! here.

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai (2023 –, two seasons)

It was weird, but kinda cool, that the original Gremlins movie was marketed toward kids, given that the plot turns on moments like a Mogwai blowing up in a microwave and an anecdote about someone's dead dad mouldering in a chimney dressed like Santa Claus. That all being said, this animated prequel is legit kid-friendly, even if it doesn't shy away from the Looney Tunes-esque style of the live-action movies. It also takes the awkward Orientalism of those movies and makes it a virtue: Sam Wing (played by Hollywood legend Keye Luke in Gremlins) is, here, a 10-year-old boy who meets Gizmo and is then forced to join him on a journey through the Chinese countryside, sometimes encountering mythical creatures. The stacked voice cast includes Izaac Wang, Ming-Na Wen as Fong Wing, B. D. Wong, and the great James Hong; no word yet on a third season. You can stream Secrets of the Mogwai here.

The Other Two (2019 – 2023, three seasons)

Heléne Yorke and Drew Tarver stars as a couple of meandering siblings whose lives are turned upside down when their younger brother becomes a viral sensation. The show has a lot of fun dissecting modern pop culture, and, though it has a sweet side, it’s some of the best cringe comedy you'll find on Max. As class satires go, it never quite achieved Succession levels of obsession, but deserves a bit more love. You can stream The Other Two here.

Tokyo Vice (2022 — 2024, two seasons)

Your tolerance for Ansel Elgort may vary (given assault allegations), but he stars here alongside always-welcome Japanese actors Ken Watanabe and Rinko Kikuchi as a young journalist who becomes embedded with veteran detectives in Tokyo’s vice squad circa 1999. The show pays tribute to both the glitzy and wonderfully seedy aspects of the title city, while also working as an effective crime drama set in a very different context from more typical America-set shows. You can stream Tokyo Vice here.

Rap Sh!t (2022 — 2023, two seasons)

Issa Rae follows up Insecure with the story of socially conscious Miami rapper Shawna (Aida Osman), who winds up selling out, at least in her own eyes, when she teams up with her friend Mia (KaMillion), whose popular OnlyFans brings the new rap group a built-in fanbase. Meanwhile, Shawna’s boyfriend Cliff (Devon Terrell) has to come to terms with the fact that Shawna’s more commercial career path might put his dreams of political success in danger. Like Insecure, it’s deeply funny, but also has plenty to say about friendship and ambition between young Black women. You can stream Rap Sh!t here.

The Big Brunch (2022, one season)

Finally: a reality show for people who love brunch (some of whom, I’m informed, might even be straight). Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy hosts the cooking show involving 10 chefs competing for the money to make all their dreams come true (to the tune of $300,000)—but only if they can make the perfect brunch. The show avoids the stressful elements of a Gordon Ramsey-type competition, while being quite a bit funnier than a GBBO. It’s a solid entry in the reality-cooking world with a unique style, though its one-and-done single season (at least so far) will be a pro or a con depending on how hooked you find yourself. You can stream The Big Brunch here.

It’s a Sin (2021, miniseries)

Russell T. Davies (Queer as Folk, Doctor Who) revisits the 1980s through the story of a group of friends living in London during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The miniseries brings an impressive cast to bear on a story that tracks them through the early days of queer liberation through the developing menace of a disease that no one in the broader world was willing to talk about, much less do anything about. You can stream It's a Sin here.

Peacemaker (2022 –, second season coming in August)

A funny and violent bright spot in the wildly convoluted onscreen world of DC Comics, Peacemaker spins out of James Gunn's snarky 2021 entry The Suicide Squad, with John Cena reprising his role. Having survived the events of that film, he's recruited once again by the United States government to join a team trying to stop mysterious butterfly creatures inhabiting human hosts. It's got the same bloody comic tone of the movie, but adds just enough dimension, and an emotional arc, to the jingoistic superheroes' story that it's easy to root for him, even as his self-awareness remains limited. It also seems to be a bit of a bridge between the old DC movie universe and the upcoming, James Gunn-led one—the upcoming second season will follow the events of the new Superman movie, and there's also a Viola Davis-lead Waller spin-off in the works. You can stream Peacemaker here.

South Side (2019 – 2022, three seasons)

Creators/writers Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle (who also have parts in the series) brought a unique style to their three-season sitcom set in Englewood—the close-knit cast and production crew (Bashir’s brother, Sultan, plays one of the leads) give the show a familial vibe. it follows two mismatched friends (Sultan Salahuddin and Kareme Young) trying to find success while running a rent-to-own store amid a widely diverse ensemble, and trying to find some kind of accord with the local PD. You can stream South Side here.

Through Our Eyes (2021, miniseries)

An original production from Sesame Workshop, each episode of the docuseries deals with a distinctive issue facing children, and each is directed by a different talented and acclaimed director. The four current episodes engage with kids with incarcerated parents, families displaced by climate crises, the children of veterans relying on caregivers, and those without permanent housing. The series offers a rare perspective, and takes an appropriately straightforward and honest approach without feeling the need to manipulate our emotions. It’s a miniseries at the moment, although there might be more coming. You can stream Through Our Eyes here.

Julia (2022 – 2023, two seasons)

I’m increasingly drawn to stories of people who made it later in life, probably unrelated to being solidly middle-aged while having accomplished (as yet) nothing of note. Sarah Lancashire plays Julia Child magnificently, capturing much of her distinctive style and patter, and the show has a lot of fun with the production woes of early public television. Even though it has a light touch, the show’s also an important reminder of the importance of a woman like Julia, a woman in her 50s who become an unlikely trailblazer as not just an on-camera personality, but also as an innovative producer. Another one that deserved more than two seasons, but still delightful. You can stream Julia here.

Titans (2018 – 2023, four seasons)

There’s an almost relentless edginess to an awful lot of the movies and shows based on DC superheroes, feeling at times as though they’re apologizing for the source material. Titans is right there, but with swearing, fucking, and some fairly intense violence. What it has, though, that some of the movies lack, is an addictive quality that mimics the feel of getting really into a good long-form superhero comic book storyline—but more swearsy. You can stream Titans here.

Young Justice (2010–2022, four seasons)

This is the little cartoon that could—canceled way back in 2013, picked up by the defunct DC Universe streamer for season 3, and then getting a final season as a Max original (those first three seasons are also on Max). There’s a reason it has hung in there, even without the name recognition of some of DC’s other stuff: It’s an impressively animated series that draws from any number of comics sources while scrupulously developing its characters. Unlike a lot of cartoons (or comics), it’s also allowed its characters to grow up over the years and introduced new generations of heroes along the way. You can stream Young Justice here.

Station Eleven (2021, miniseries)

The miniseries, based on the Emily St. John Mandel novel, was released at either the best time or the worst possible time, the story of a flu pandemic landed on the former HBO Max right in the middle of the first phase of COVID. The show follows Kirsten Raymonde, a young stage actor whose performance in a production of King Lear is cut short by the onset of a virus with a 99% fatality rate. We meet Kirsten at the outset of the pandemic, and then visit her 20 years on, still an actor, in a world very much changed. It’s a slow burn, but ultimately, the series makes a moving case for the power of art, even (or especially) in moments when survival is on the line. You can stream Station Eleven here.

Harley Quinn (2019– , renewed for a sixth season)

Kaley Cuoco voices Harley in this very adult cartoon series starring the anti-hero who made her debut in Bruce Timm and Paul Dini’s Batman: The Animated Series way back in the day. Don’t expect traditional superheroics—it’s a zany comedy that's often funny and delivers some solid queer representation. A Kite Man spin-off debuted in 2024, and still might get a second season of its own. You can stream Harley Quinn here.

Love & Death (2023, miniseries)

The story of 1970s housewife Candy Montgomery has been told several times before, most memorably via a 1990 TV movie and a Hulu series from just last year. Here, Elizabeth Olsen gives a stellar performance as the woman who kills her lover’s wife, maybe in self-defense? It hits plenty of the expected true crime notes, but Olsen’s performance is top-tier, humanizing the lead character. You can stream Love & Death here.

Our Flag Means Death (2022 – 2023), two seasons

I think everyone probably knows about this one already—at least those of you who are extremely online—but the swashbuckling pirate comedy isn’t only wonderfully goofy and funny: It also features, unexpectedly, one of the most believable and compelling gay romances of the last several years, so I just wanted to give it a little extra love. Max cut it short after a mere two seasons which, boo! But that doesn't mean it's not worth diving in. You can stream Our Flag Means Death here.