Loving ‘Earth Abides’? Check out MGM+’s best original series
Loving ‘Earth Abides’? Check out MGM+’s best original series
From a buzzy sci-fi horror to a documentary about the 1960s California music scene, these are the best MGM+ original series streaming now.
Arguably, there’s been no better way to wrap up 2024 than with a series about the apocalypse. With the success of survival dramas in recent years like “The Last of Us” and “Fallout,” MGM+ recently premiered its adaptation of George R. Stewart’s 1949 novel “Earth Abides” The six-episode limited series, which stars Alexander Ludwig, Jessica Frances Dukes, Aaron Tveit, and more, takes place as a viral pandemic has decimated the vast majority of the human species and a group of shattered survivors fight against full extinction, rebuilding society from scratch.
The post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama debuted on Dec. 1 and will wrap up its story on Dec. 29, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bring your subscription with you into the new year. The streamer is home to plenty of other great series, movies (including recent hits like “Smile 2,” and “Challengers”), and more, which, if you haven’t signed up for yet, you can get access to for just $7 per month after a seven-day free trial.
From a buzzy sci-fi horror to a documentary about the 1960s California music scene, check out the best original series you can currently stream on MGM+!
No. 7: ‘Condor’ (2018– ) | Thriller
The series adaptation of “Three Days of the Condor” has had a thrilling life, just not the kind it was hoping for or deserves. It started on Audience before being picked up by then-Epix, now MGM+ for its second season, and since then, the thriller series has been in limbo. The updated adaptation stars (starred?) Max Irons as Joe Turner, a millennial who’s a little too optimistic and joins the CIA with hopes to reform it from the inside, until he returns from lunch to discover everyone in his office has been killed and must go on the run. It’s unlikely it will get a chance to wrap up its story, especially since the death of major player William Hurt, but between its cast, concept, and speed, it has a lot to work with if it does.
Condor
Young CIA analyst Joe Turner has his idealism tested when he learns that the CIA has been using an algorithm he developed to spy on American citizens, leading the organization to a terrorist plot that threatens the lives of millions. Inspired by Sydney Pollack’s 1975 political thriller Three Days of the Condor.
No. 6: ‘A Spy Among Friends’ (2022) | Spy Thriller
From Bond to “Black Doves,” “Spooks” to “Slow Horses,” the Brits have cornered the spy market. “A Spy Among Friends” is another fitting entry to the genre and does its job by sneaking up on you. Based on real-life events, it stars Damian Lewis as British Secret Intelligence Service officer Nicholas Elliot, who finds out his close friend and co-worker, Kim Philby (Guy Pearce), has been secretly working as a double agent for the KGB for the past 30 years. Less action-packed than emotion-packed, it’s Lewis and Pierce’s chemistry that carries the intrigue in an easy-on-the-eyes story of love and betrayal.
A Spy Among Friends
Follow the defection of notorious British intelligence officer and KGB double agent, Kim Philby, through the lens of his complex relationship with MI6 colleague and close friend, Nicholas Elliott.
No. 5: ‘Hollywood Black’ (2024) | Docuseries
It doesn’t take much digging to know Black actors, writers, directors, and producers have had to work far harder than their white counterparts over history (and if you forget, let Viola Davis remind you), but “Dear White People” filmmaker Justin Simien did the digging. The four-part docuseries, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca and began streaming on MGM+ in August, chronicles a century of Black cinema history, unearthing stories of those who fought for their place in front of and behind the camera. It’s a history lesson, looking back on what has been lost, but it’s also a reminder to look forward to what could be.
Hollywood Black
The epic story of the actors, writers, directors, and producers who fought for their place on the page, behind the camera and on the screen. From blackface to Black Panther, this series is a definitive chronicle of more than a century of the Black experience in Hollywood and a powerful reexamination of a quintessentially American story – in brilliant color.
No. 4: ‘Laurel Canyon’ (2020) | Docuseries
Two years after the rock doc “Echo in the Canyon,” the MGM+ docuseries took a trip back to the famous neighborhood that in the 1960s and 1970s was basically a West Coast genius factory. Any place that served as an incubator for Joni Mitchell, The Doors, Bonnie Raitt, and other greats deserves as much attention as filmmakers want to give it. The two-part project — which features interviews from Raitt, Linda Rondstadt, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, and more — spreads the love and reverence freely.
Laurel Canyon
Featuring all-new, original interviews with Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Roger McGuinn and more, this uniquely immersive and experiential two-part docuseries takes us back in time to a place where a rustic canyon in the heart of Los Angeles became a musical petri dish.
No. 3: ‘Rogue Heroes’ (2022– ) | Historical Drama
“Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight has a historical fixation, and “Rogue Heroes” feels like a blast from the past in the best way. The period drama depicts the beginnings of the British Army Special Air Service during World War II as officer David Sterling (Connor Swindells), hospitalized after a failed training exercise, forms a plan to create a special commando unit that could operate deep behind enemy lines. Count me amongst the viewers fatigued from military dramas, but the BBC series, which is a massive hit across the pond under its full name “SAS: Rogue Heroes,” is popular for a long list of reasons, including its raucous, likable cast, clever writing, and constant adrenaline drip. Its second series will premiere on Jan. 12 on MGM+.
SAS Rogue Heroes
The dramatised account of how the world’s greatest Special Forces unit, the SAS, was formed under extraordinary circumstances in the darkest days of World War Two.
No. 2: ‘FROM’ (2022– ) | Sci-Fi, Horror
“FROM” may be the closest thing we’ve gotten to “Lost” since it went off the air in 2010, but it’s far from a carbon copy. The sci-fi horror series takes place in a nightmarish kind of Brigadoon where those who enter can’t leave and are forced to survive the terrifying nocturnal creatures that inhabit the surrounding woods. With an excellent Harold Perrineau, who plays Boyd Stevens, the town’s self-appointed sheriff and de-facto mayor, the show’s ensemble drives it toward new thrills, shocks, and twists, and the journey is the destination. (It has to be, because who knows if we can ever actually leave?) The third season just wrapped last month, and the streamer has already renewed the buzzy series for a fourth season.
FROM
Unravel the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all those who enter. As the unwilling residents fight to keep a sense of normalcy and search for a way out, they must also survive the threats of the surrounding forest – including the terrifying creatures that come out when the sun goes down.
No. 1: ‘Godfather of Harlem’ (2019– ) | Crime Drama
Oscar winner Forest Whitaker has pretty much always been associated with quality since his debut in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” so it’s no surprise that given a lead role in a crime drama, he would take that character and become king of New York— and MGM+. “Godfather of Harlem,” which tells the fictionalized story of crime boss Bumpy Johnson, premiered in 2019 and has been running strong ever since with Whitaker as its kingpin, pairing great writing with nuanced, complex performances (Giancarlo Esposito… need we ever say more?). The series has been renewed for a fourth season unsurprisingly, and so far three seasons in, it’s got the familiarity of the mob stories you already know and love with the guts to go somewhere new.
Godfather of Harlem
Loosely based on infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who in the early 1960s returned from ten years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy attempts to regain his piece of Harlem.