The 10 best shows like Outlander to watch next are Poldark, The Last Kingdom, Bridgerton, A Discovery of Witches, Black Sails, The Tudors, Reign, Vikings, Turn: Washington’s Spies, and The White Queen. Each one captures something specific that makes Outlander addictive, whether that’s the sweeping romance, the morally complicated men, the gorgeous period costumes, or the feeling that history itself is a living, breathing force pressing down on every scene.
I have spent an embarrassing number of hours inside this genre, and what I keep noticing is that most “shows like Outlander” lists miss the actual why. It’s not just the kilts. Outlander works because it layers political danger, impossible love, and a woman who refuses to shrink into one story. With Outlander: Blood of My Blood already renewed for Season 2 at Starz and the final Season 8 arriving in early 2026, here is every show worth watching while you wait.
Poldark
If the brooding Highlander energy is what you’re chasing, Poldark delivers it without the time travel. Aidan Turner plays Captain Ross Poldark, a British officer who returns to Cornwall after the American Revolutionary War to find his estate ruined and his sweetheart married to his cousin. Based on Winston Graham’s 12-novel series, the BBC production ran five seasons from 2015 to 2019 and was filmed at Bodmin Moor and the Cornish coast.
The Last Kingdom
This one hits harder than most people expect. Set in late 9th-century England before it was even called England, The Last Kingdom follows Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a Saxon raised by Vikings after his father’s death. Based on Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories novels, it ran five seasons on BBC Two and Netflix from 2015 to 2022. The political complexity, the clan loyalties, and the morally grey protagonist are closer to Outlander’s DNA than almost anything else on this list.
Bridgerton
Bridgerton is the show for fans who love the romance but could do with less warfare. Set in Regency-era London, it follows the eight Bridgerton siblings through courtship seasons dripping with scandal and longing. Shonda Rhimes produces for Netflix. Season 4, centered on Benedict Bridgerton, is currently in production. The anachronistic soundtrack and the Gossip Girl structure are polarizing, but the emotional stakes and the gorgeous production design genuinely scratch the same itch.
A Discovery of Witches
Few shows blend fantasy, forbidden romance, and historical texture as well as this one. Based on Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy, the Sky/AMC series follows Oxford scholar and witch Diana Bishop, played by Teresa Palmer, and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, played by Matthew Goode. It ran three seasons from 2018 to 2022. The second season time-travels directly to Elizabethan London, which for Outlander fans is the show finally speaking your language.
Black Sails
This is the pick most people overlook, and it is a mistake. A Starz prequel to Treasure Island set during the Golden Age of Piracy in the early 1700s, Black Sails stars Toby Stephens as Captain Flint, one of television’s most psychologically rich antiheroes. It ran four seasons from 2014 to 2017. The production budget was enormous, the Nassau sets were built in Cape Town, and the show’s final season pulls off one of the most satisfying endings in prestige TV.
The Tudors
The Tudors is unabashedly maximalist in the best possible way. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays a young, dangerously charismatic Henry VIII across four Showtime seasons from 2007 to 2010. The costumes, the court politics, and the rotating cast of women navigating impossible circumstances make it irresistible. Natalie Dormer’s Anne Boleyn is a masterclass in using intelligence as armor. If you love watching a woman play a long game inside a system designed to destroy her, this is required viewing.
Reign
Reign is the guilty pleasure on this list and it absolutely earns its place. The CW series ran four seasons from 2013 to 2017 and follows young Mary Queen of Scots at the French court. Yes, the dresses are anachronistic. Yes, it leans into teen drama. But the show’s central tension, a woman ruler trying to keep her crown, her country, and her heart intact simultaneously, mirrors Outlander’s emotional core more than critics gave it credit for. Adelaide Kane is genuinely compelling.
Vikings
Vikings gives you the raw, brutal version of what Outlander keeps just slightly off-screen. Created by Michael Hirst, who also wrote The Tudors, it ran six seasons on History Channel from 2013 to 2020. Travis Fimmel’s Ragnar Lothbrok is the template for the charismatic, violent, visionary man Outlander fans keep falling for. The show was filmed almost entirely in Ireland and Norway. The spinoff Vikings: Valhalla, which picks up 100 years later, is streaming on Netflix and adds three more seasons.
Turn: Washington’s Spies
This is the most underrated show on this list, and the one most directly connected to Outlander’s later seasons. AMC’s Turn ran four seasons from 2014 to 2017 and follows the real Culper Spy Ring during the American Revolutionary War. Jamie Bell plays Abraham Woodhull with the same conflicted loyalty Jamie Fraser carries through Seasons 6 and 7. Based on Alexander Rose’s nonfiction book Washington’s Spies, it is grounded in documented history while being genuinely suspenseful week to week.
The White Queen
The White Queen is the show for viewers who want Outlander’s intensity applied directly to real English history. The BBC miniseries, based on Philippa Gregory’s Cousins’ War novels, covers the Wars of the Roses through the eyes of three women: Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort, and Anne Neville. Rebecca Ferguson’s Elizabeth is one of television’s great historical heroines. It ran one 10-episode season in 2013, and the follow-up series The White Princess, focusing on Elizabeth of York, aired in 2017 on Starz.
The Common Thread No Other List Mentions
What ties every show on this list together is not the costumes or the century. It is the feeling that the people on screen have genuine skin in the game. In each of these series, love is not a subplot. It is the mechanism through which characters understand power, loss, and survival. Outlander built its audience by taking that premise seriously from episode one, and that is exactly what the best replacements do. Start with Poldark or The Last Kingdom if you want the closest match. Start with A Discovery of Witches if you want the fantasy spine. But do not skip Black Sails, because that show earned its ending in a way very few series ever do.
