4 Shows Like Breaking Bad to Watch Next
Key takeaways
- Better Call Saul is the closest match, sharing a fictional universe and focusing on Saul Goodman.
- Ozark follows a family drawn into criminal business and the danger it brings home.
- Narcos offers a wider view of the drug trade and the pursuit of traffickers.
- The Sopranos explores organized crime colliding with domestic responsibilities.
Table of contents
4 Shows Like Breaking Bad to Watch Next
If you want another show like Breaking Bad, start with Better Call Saul: it follows a familiar character in the same fictional universe, with a similarly gradual focus on personal change. For a different story about a family pulled into criminal business, try Ozark. Narcos is a better fit for cartel conflict, while The Sopranos explores the strain of balancing criminal work with family life.
“Like Breaking Bad” can mean different things. You might be looking for an antihero’s transformation, a family caught up in crime, or a tense story about the drug trade. These four crime dramas offer different versions of those elements—without all repeating Walter White’s story.
| If you liked… | Try… | The main connection |
|---|---|---|
| The characters and world of Breaking Bad | Better Call Saul | A story set in the same universe, centered on Saul Goodman |
| A family becoming entangled in crime | Ozark | Money laundering and the danger it brings home |
| Cartels and law enforcement | Narcos | A broader look at the drug trade and the pursuit of traffickers |
| A criminal antihero’s divided life | The Sopranos | Organized crime colliding with domestic responsibilities |
1. Better Call Saul: The closest match
For the most direct follow-up, watch Better Call Saul. The series centers on Jimmy McGill, the lawyer who becomes Saul Goodman, and tells a story primarily set before the events of Breaking Bad. AMC describes it as a prequel set six years before Saul becomes Walter White’s lawyer; the final season also reaches into a later period in the character’s timeline. The show was created by Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, according to AMC’s series page.
The appeal isn’t just the returning character or shared setting. Like Breaking Bad, the series takes time to develop a central character’s choices and the consequences that follow. But it has its own focus: Jimmy’s professional ambitions, relationships and shifting sense of who he is. You don’t need a new criminal world to learn, but the story isn’t simply another version of Walter White’s rise.
Choose it if: You want more from the Breaking Bad universe and are interested in character-driven crime drama. It’s also the clearest choice if what you miss most is the writing and world of the original series.
2. Ozark: A family pulled into criminal business
If the family consequences of Walter White’s secret life were what held your attention, Ozark is a strong thematic match. It follows Marty and Wendy Byrde as money laundering draws their family deeper into dangerous criminal circumstances. The resemblance is in the pressure placed on domestic life—not in an identical plot, setting or premise. Entertainment coverage from Looper and TVLine has also grouped Ozark with shows that appeal to Breaking Bad viewers.
That family focus gives Ozark a different angle from a story centered mainly on one person’s transformation. The criminal operation affects the people around Marty and Wendy, and the show’s central tension comes from the gap between keeping a family safe and doing business in a dangerous world.
Choose it if: You want crime drama that keeps family relationships close to the center. It’s a particularly natural pick if you’re interested in what happens when criminal decisions don’t stay at work.
3. Narcos: A wider view of the drug trade
For more cartel and law-enforcement conflict, try Narcos. It shifts the emphasis away from one family’s domestic life and toward the wider drug trade and the pursuit of major traffickers. TVLine includes it among crime dramas likely to interest Breaking Bad fans (TVLine’s recommendations).
That difference matters. Breaking Bad gives viewers a close perspective on an individual entering the drug business; Narcos offers a broader criminal and law-enforcement frame. It shares the subject of drug trafficking, but it isn’t a close match for the original show’s particular character journey.
Choose it if: You’re most interested in the criminal organizations and law-enforcement side of drug-trade stories, rather than a family drama or a direct continuation of the Breaking Bad universe.
4. The Sopranos: Crime, family and a divided life
The Sopranos is a good option if the part of Breaking Bad that interests you most is the clash between criminal work and life at home. Its central figure, Tony Soprano, is a mob leader who must navigate family life alongside his criminal responsibilities, as outlined by JustWatch’s guide to shows like Breaking Bad.
The overlap is in that divided existence: a character can have family obligations and a criminal identity that continually complicate one another. The difference is the criminal world. The Sopranos focuses on organized crime rather than Walter White’s entry into drug manufacturing, so it offers a related character dynamic without retelling the same kind of story.
Choose it if: You’re looking for a crime drama about an antihero’s personal and professional lives colliding, and you’re open to a mob story instead of a drug-trade plot.
Which show should you watch first?
- For the same universe: Better Call Saul
- For family caught up in crime: Ozark
- For cartel and drug-trade conflict: Narcos
- For a criminal antihero balancing home and work: The Sopranos
If you’ve just finished Breaking Bad and want to stay with its characters and setting, begin with Better Call Saul. If you’d rather start a separate story with a family at the center, choose Ozark. Pick Narcos for a wider drug-trade perspective, or The Sopranos for organized crime and the strain it puts on domestic life.
Streaming availability varies by country and can change, so check your local services before choosing where to watch.
