10 Best TV Shows Like Netflix’s Man On Fire

The 1980 novel “Man on Fire” by author A.J. Quinnell has been adapted for television by Netflix, breathing bloody new life into the story. Anchored by an absolutely magnetic performance from Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, the series follows former special forces soldier Creasy as he takes a security job in Brazil. After the family that hired him is massacred, Creasy embarks on a violent revenge spree, uncovering the disturbing truth behind the attack. Packed with plenty of brutal set pieces and cinematic-level spectacle, Abdul-Mateen II reinvents himself as a high-octane action hero.

There is no shortage of action thrillers on television, with the genre alive and well in the streaming age. Often led by emotionally guarded protagonists who are forced to step up and make a difference, these shows are tightly executed and built to keep audiences riveted. With that in mind, we’re looking at similarly vicious thrillers that keep their narratives all killer and no filler. Here are the 10 best TV shows like Netflix’s “Man on Fire,” each offering its own brand of action-packed storytelling.

Before he was channeling his inner supervillain as Homelander on “The Boys,” Antony Starr was leading small-town crime action in “Banshee.” Starr plays a nameless ex-convict who assumes the identity of incoming sheriff Lucas Hood after witnessing the real lawman get killed in a barroom fight. After taking Hood’s position in a Pennsylvania town near Amish country, the ex-con struggles to balance law enforcement with his lingering mob ties. Hood settles into his new identity, though his past sins have a habit of tracking him down.

“Banshee” brings a gratuitous amount of sex and violence to its small-town intrigue, keeping audiences on the hook with its salacious thrills. Beneath its flashier elements, there’s a genuinely compelling crime thriller at the show’s core that grows more complex as the series progresses. Antony Starr has been delivering Emmy-worthy work on “The Boys,” and he brings a different kind of intensity to his presumed sheriff role. Running for four seasons, “Banshee” is a rollicking action thriller that makes the most of its tight-knit community stakes.

The 2015 Netflix original series “Narcos” provides an action-packed approach to its recounting of the drug war in Colombia. Beginning in the late ’70s, the series follows Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) as he rises to power through the manufacturing and distribution of cocaine. As cocaine floods into the United States, the DEA assigns agents Steve Murphy (Boyd Holbrook) and Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal) to dismantle Escobar’s cartel. After Escobar’s downfall, Peña contends with other drug lords eager to fill the power vacuum he left behind.

“Narcos” is a crime show without a single bad season, starting with a classic rise and fall story before expanding its drug war narrative. Pascal and Moura are both particularly good, standing as opposite sides of the coin for this cops-and-robbers dynamic. Similar to “Man on Fire,” the series uses its Latin American backdrop to heighten the tension and intensity of its action sequences. The franchise later expanded with the spin-off “Narcos: Mexico,” and both series stand as immensely entertaining crime dramas in their own right.

After Stephen Hunter’s Bob Lee Swagger novels inspired the 2007 film “Shooter,” a television adaptation followed in 2016. The series centers on former U.S. Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger (Ryan Phillippe), who retreats into a reclusive lifestyle after leaving the military. After reluctantly agreeing to help with a Secret Service detail regarding a presidential visit to Seattle, Swagger is framed for the assassination of a visiting head of state. Escaping from prison, Swagger moves to identify the true killers and expose the sinister conspiracy within the American government.

Phillippe remains one of “Shooter’s” biggest strengths, bringing surprising emotional depth beneath his character’s stoic exterior. This is balanced by a strong supporting cast around him, especially Shantel VanSanten playing Swagger’s wife Julie. “Shooter” was cancelled after three seasons, ending its story on an abruptly tragic note for Swagger by the end. Given the never-ending cycle of violence surrounding its marksman protagonist, though, the bleak ending feels thematically appropriate for the story the series had been telling all along.

If there were ever a Marvel character who could fit seamlessly into the world of “Man on Fire,” it’s Frank Castle. After debuting in “Daredevil” Season 2, the gun-toting antihero headlined his own Netflix original series, “The Punisher,” which premiered in 2017. Starring Jon Bernthal as Castle, the series pits the vigilante against his former friend and fellow U.S. Marine, Billy Russo (Ben Barnes). Castle’s feud with Russo uncovers a larger government conspiracy involving the military-industrial complex and a teenager (Giorgia Whigham) that he’s protecting.

In line with its no-nonsense protagonist, “The Punisher” delivers some of the bleakest and most graphic storytelling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Guiding viewers through this grim tour of the superhero universe’s dark underbelly is an intense performance from its main cast, taking hold of the audience and never letting go. Though “The Punisher” was cancelled by Netflix after two seasons, Bernthal reprised his fan-favorite role for an immensely satisfying return in “Daredevil: Born Again.” And with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher also set to appear in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Frank Castle’s fight is never truly finished.

Author James Grady’s novel “Six Days of the Condor” was first adapted into the Robert Redford film “Three Days of the Condor” in 1975 before receiving a television adaptation in 2018. Simply titled “Condor,” the series stars Max Irons as young and idealistic CIA analyst Joe Turner, who hopes to reform the intelligence agency from within. After Turner stumbles across plans for a deadly false-flag biological attack, all of the co-workers in his satellite office are murdered to keep this plot a secret. This places Turner on the run from a team of hired assassins as he seeks to expose the malicious government figures involved in the scheme.

“Condor,” unfortunately, only lasted two seasons, but it delivers a strong modern update to the classic deep-state espionage thriller. Reflective of the text and the cinematic adaptation “Three Days of the Condor,” the television series is powered by an unrelenting sense of paranoia. This not only draws viewers in but informs every character dynamic and plot development as Turner fights for his life while trying to unveil the truth. A masterclass in maintaining political thriller tension on television, “Condor” is a worthy adaptation of both its literary and cinematic source material.

After his fan-favorite run on “Game of Thrones,” Richard Madden headlined the British limited series “Bodyguard,” which premiered in 2018. Madden plays David Budd, a troubled combat veteran who accepts a government protection assignment despite deeply distrusting the government itself. These sensibilities create immediate professional friction when Budd is assigned to protect Home Secretary Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes), whose political policies her new bodyguard vehemently disagrees with. This is complicated when Montague is targeted by a series of terrorist attacks, with Budd’s family also targeted in retaliation for him foiling their early plots against the politician.

Running for six episodes, there isn’t an ounce of superfluous fluff on “Bodyguard” as it dives into its explosive story. Madden delivers what is arguably the best performance of his career to date, playing his character like a volatile raw nerve chafing with his strong sense of duty. His performance keeps viewers invested as the narrative veers from major twists and tense developments that steadily push this thriller forward. Propulsively paced and powered by a clear sense of escalation, “Bodyguard” is one of the finest political thrillers to come out of the United Kingdom in recent memory.

Here at TVLine, we’re big fans of South Korean television, and one series that shares a lot in common with “Man on Fire” is 2019’s “Vagabond.” The story centers on stunt performer Cha Dal-gun (Lee Seung-gi), who loses his nephew to a plane crash en route to Morocco. After traveling to Morocco for the funeral, Dal-gun realizes that the crash was not an accident, uncovering a sinister scheme. His investigation eventually leads him to team up with the South Korean National Intelligence Service in order to expose the people truly responsible.

True to its protagonist’s initial profession, “Vagabond” has some of the most impressive stunt work in a major K-drama. This is coupled with the show taking advantage of its on-location Moroccan filming locations, giving the series an international flair that most K-dramas lack. The show does end on a currently unresolved cliffhanger, but the road to get there is still an engaging ride worth seeing through. For K-drama fans searching for a compelling conspiracy thriller, “Vagabond” delivers expertly staged action and gripping international intrigue.

Author Lee Child created the musclebound action hero Jack Reacher in a bestselling series of novels that later became the basis for Prime Video’s television adaptation. Simply titled “Reacher,” the series stars Alan Ritchson as the surly drifter, a former U.S. Army officer who is as intelligent as he is physically imposing. Wandering cross-country, Reacher constantly finds himself falling into trouble, from small towns controlled by cruel crooks to far-reaching conspiracies connected to his military past. That usually results in the title character single-handedly dismantling criminal operations while outsmarting and overpowering anyone in his path.

For anyone who wants more one-man army narratives, like with Creasy in “Man on Fire,” “Reacher” certainly delivers on that score. Ritchson plays the character with a mix of confidence and intimidation, fully convincing as someone with both the brains and brute strength to back up his swagger. That’s acutely underscored by Season 3’s brutal final brawl, as Reacher squares against an opponent even bigger than he is. As hyper-masculine as contemporary television gets, “Reacher” makes for a hard-hitting good time, in no small part because of Ritchson’s laser-focused performance.

Before “Man on Fire,” Netflix had a hit political thriller on its hands with “The Night Agent,” based on the novel by Matthew Quirk. The series follows FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) as he searches for a traitor operating at the highest levels of the federal government. This infiltration investigation begins while Sutherland is protecting tech entrepreneur Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan) after her family is murdered because of their connection to the conspiracy. In Season 3, Sutherland is facing a global conspiracy involving dark money, political corruption, and a deadly cover-up tied to the President of the United States.

“The Night Agent” feels like the heir apparent to any number of Tom Clancy paperback political thrillers in the best ways. Basso provides a steadying presence throughout the chaos, grounding the series even as the story moves at a breakneck pace. The show also boasts a clear sense of escalation, exploding to a grander stage as each season tries to outdo the last. “The Night Agent” is set to end with Season 4 on Netflix, giving viewers a consistent source of quality spycraft during the streaming era.

Following the record-setting viewership of Netflix’s “Squid Game,” Disney+ began building its own library of original K-dramas, the common term for South Korean scripted television. This includes the 2024 series “Red Swan,” following unhappily married Oh Wan-soo (Kim Ha-neul), whose philanthropic work takes her around the world. While on a business trip in Manila, Wan-soo is targeted by a terrorist attack, leading her and her bodyguard Seo Do-yoon (Rain) to go on the run. As the pair grow closer, they begin uncovering a larger conspiracy tied to both the attack and Wan-soo’s philandering husband, Kim Yong-kook (Jung Gyu-woon). That discovery pushes them onto the offensive as they try to expose the people working against them.

While the bodyguard narrative in “Red Swan” goes very differently from “Man on Fire,” there are broader similarities. Those similarities include Do-yoon going far beyond the expected line of duty and the shadowy conspiracy surrounding the story’s explosive inciting incident. With the strong chemistry between its leads, the Disney+ K-drama features a healthy dose of romance on top of its intrigue, adding to the emotional stakes. An underrated K-drama that should be on your watchlist, “Red Swan” takes a familiar premise and presents it in an exciting, emotionally charged way.