Spy thrillers have always appealed to audiences due to their high stakes, action, and suspense, but some of these shows have sadly been forgotten. While big-name titles like The Day of the Jackal, The Night Agent, Slow Horses, and Special Ops: Lioness are currently dominating pop culture discourse, there are other brilliantly crafted espionage series deserving of the same attention, even years later.
Despite not being as famous as they once were, these TV shows feature gripping narratives and engaging mysteries; sadly, limited marketing and unfortunate timing have allowed them to fade into obscurity. These forgotten shows might not enjoy immense popularity, but they are still as compelling today as they were during their first run.
Deutschland 83/86/89 (2015)
Jonas Noy as Martin Rauch in Deutschland 83
The first German-language series to air on a US network, Deutschland 83/86/89 premiered on Sundance TV to critical and audience acclaim. The show centers on Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay), a German border guard who gets way in over his head when the Stasi recruits him to gather intelligence in West Germany. Each season of the three-part series sees Rauch on different missions: He’s in West Germany in 83, in 86 he goes abroad, and in 89 he goes to East Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Deutschland feels more personal because of Rauch, who isn’t a trained super spy by any means. He is young and inexperienced, which often leads him to make mistakes that spies with years of field experience wouldn’t. Deutschland thrives on tension. Every moment is filled with nervous energy, and one can’t help but wonder if Rauch will make a catastrophic mistake that will blow up the whole operation.
In From The Cold (2022)
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Netflix’s The Night Agent might be all the rage right now, but there’s another Netflix spy thriller that premiered four years ago that no one talks about anymore. In From the Cold follows a seemingly ordinary single mother, Jenny Franklin (Margarita Vladimirovna Levieva), who turns out to be a highly skilled ex-Russian operative. When her cover is blown, Franklin is forced back into the life she was certain she had left behind.
In From the Cold isn’t necessarily a show that treads new waters. It includes covert missions, secret identities, and global threats, tropes that are familiar within the genre. Despite the show’s common plots, its popularity proved why audiences love these tropes. The series is filled with action and suspense, and Franklin’s supernatural ability to shape-shift makes it all the more interesting.
Deep State (2018)
The US might have some of the best spy thrillers on TV right now, but there’s no denying that the British have dominated the genre for years. Deep State follows Max Easton (Mark Strong), a former MI6 operative who left the intelligence world to live a quiet life with his family. The ex-MI6 agent is brought back into the fold following the death of his son.
Unlike most action-heavy spy thrillers, Deep State places its emphasis on a shadowy network of intelligence and powerful individuals who control geopolitics. However, the show’s biggest draw isn’t its highly dangerous world, but Max himself. He is, at his core, an ordinary man who is pulled back into his past life because of his son’s death. This deeply personal aspect makes the stakes in the show feel even higher.
Spies of Warsaw (2013)
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Adapted from Alan Furst’s novel of the same name, Spies of Warsaw stars David Tennant as Jean-François Mercier, a French intelligence attaché working at the embassy in Warsaw. On the surface, he is officially involved in diplomatic and military affairs. In reality, he is gathering intelligence on rising tensions in Europe, particularly the growing threat of Nazi Germany.
Although the legendary David Tennant leads the espionage thriller, it has still faded into obscurity. Spies of Warsaw isn’t as adventurous or exciting as other TV shows in the genre. It’s a slow-burning show that takes a while to get hot. However, the series proves that not every spy thriller needs to have extraordinary gadgets or over-the-top action sequences to work.
Kleo (2022)
When it comes to international releases, Netflix far outshines other streaming platforms. In 2022, the streaming giant added Kleo to its expansive catalog. This German release follows the title character, Kleo (Jella Haase), an ex-Stasi assassin who embarks on a path of revenge after her release from prison, having served years on a false charge.
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Kleo blends spy thriller elements with stylized action and dark humor. While it features assassinations, conspiracies, and Cold War aftermath intrigue, it also plays with an almost surreal tone. The show’s titular character is often detached and has an emotionally complex personality. It’s these parts of her character that result in an enjoyably chaotic series.
The Bureau (2015)
Widely considered one of the best French TV shows, The Bureau is a spy thriller that follows the inner workings of France’s intelligence agency, the DGSE. At the center of the story is Guillaume “Malotru” Debailly (Mathieu Kassovitz), a deep-cover operative who returns to Paris after spending years living under a false identity in Syria.
One of the reasons The Bureau stands out in the overcrowded spy-thriller landscape is its focus on authenticity. The French series drew inspiration from real accounts by former spies, giving it a realistic, grounded feel that some other shows in the genre lack.
Agent Hamilton (2020)
Loosely based on the series of novels by Jan Guillou, Agent Hamilton follows Carl Hamilton (Jakob Oftebro), a highly trained intelligence operative working for Sweden’s security services. After several cyberattacks unfold, Hamilton is forced to return to Stockholm, where he is enlisted to uncover the attacker’s source.
Agent Hamilton excels because of its fast-paced storytelling style and geopolitical tension. The title character’s missions often take him across Europe, providing a global scope that lends the series a sense of scale without losing focus on the personal stakes of Hamilton’s individual missions.
The Little Drummer Girl (2018)
Based on the 1983 novel of the same name by John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl sees a young English actress recruited by Mossad to infiltrate a Palestinian militant group. So that Charlie (Florence Pugh) can complete her mission without major hiccups, she is trained in espionage techniques and assumes a false identity.
The Little Drummer Girl (2018) is the second adaptation of this John le Carré novel. There’s also a 1984 film with the same name.
The Little Drummer Girl’s biggest appeal is how it takes an ordinary person and puts them in an extraordinary situation. Sure, Charlie isn’t a typical spy, but one could argue that her training as an actress prepared her for this particular role. The series benefits from its slow-burning infiltration structure. Because any flaws in Charlie’s performance could result in her death, there’s an additional undercurrent of tension present throughout the show.
A Spy Among Friends (2022)
A Spy Among Friends
A Spy Among Friends is a Cold War espionage drama based on real events and adapted from Ben Macintyre’s nonfiction book. The series follows Nicholas Elliott (Damien Lewis) and Kim Philby (Guy Pearce), two close friends and colleagues working for MI6. On the surface, they share a deep bond built over years of intelligence work. However, Elliott slowly begins to suspect that Philby has secretly been working as a Soviet double agent for years.
What makes A Spy Among Friends such a compelling series is that it explores betrayal in personal and professional relationships rather than action-heavy spy operations. The emotional tension between Elliot and Philby is really where the series shines. Elliott is stuck between finding out the truth because that’s his job, but he also has to reckon with the fact that he doesn’t want to know if his friend has been lying to him for years.
Patriot (2015)
Patriot is one of the funniest and unique spy thrillers to grace the small screen in recent years. The Prime Video series introduces John Tavener (Michael Dorman), an intelligence operative assigned to a deep-cover mission that requires him to assume a fake identity as a pipeline engineer in the Midwest to prevent a nuclear escalation involving Iran.
Being a spy is obviously a taxing job, but very few TV shows take the time to examine the negative effects of constantly taking on new identities. In Patriot, John struggles with his missions and the emotional toll they take on him. The show leans into deadpan humor and awkward interactions, but this spy thriller doesn’t forget that it’s a story about a person whose years of deception have left a psychological wound.