The 25 Best Action Series Of All Time, Ranked
Angel Shaw is a Lead Writer and Critic on ScreenRant's TV team, covering new-release and classic TV shows across all major streaming platforms. She has been a writer with ScreenRant since 2022 and specializes in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and fantasy.
Angel holds a bachelor's degree in language interpreting and is passionate about all things culture and communication—especially in how it relates to popular media throughout history (from Shakespeare to Friends to Game of Thrones).
There are far too many action television shows to ever reasonably account for, and when it comes down to it, most of them aren't anything all that special. This is a genre that centers on violent intensity and excitement, so it's meant to inspire endless thrills in its viewers. The trouble is that it gets harder and harder to thrill modern audiences. Anything that could be considered great has to stand out, and to stand out, it has to do something different.
For as long as the television industry has existed, screenwriters and showrunners have been trying to come up with unique ideas to contribute to the action genre. It's only every so often that one is successful. When it happens, however, the resulting ripples are felt through the broader entertainment landscape. The best of the best action TV shows are those that left precisely this sort of mark. They did something different, and audiences continue to benefit for years thereafter.
25 Cobra Kai
Netflix's Cobra Kai is campy silliness at its core, but there truly is an excellent action series here. The entire thing feels like a tribute to the martial arts genre, and this is emphasized through truly excellent choreographed action. Every single fight in Cobra Kai is extremely ambitious and beautifully executed, and this is further layered with great character development, over-the-top drama, and the perfect amount of heart.
24 The Night Agent
The Night Agent is one of Netflix's most-watched action shows, and that's for a very good reason. This is good old-fashioned, fast-paced entertainment. There's plenty of suspense, and there's a solid emotional element to this series as well, but where The Night Agent shines is in its relentlessness. Action comes in rapid succession, and while the realism is about as low as it gets, the run-and-gun format keeps hearts pumping even when the brain can't quite accept what it is seeing.
23 Invincible
Invincible is another series that earns its badge of honor through subverting traditional genre tropes, this time in the superhero landscape. It's all visceral, high-stakes storytelling layered with uncompromising action, without sacrificing its character arcs. What is perhaps the most thrilling here is the way Invincible rolls out the story, beginning with a twist in that very first episode and then using every moment after to turn the tables further.
22 Dragon Ball Z
Even those who aren't fans of anime are likely to be familiar with Dragon Ball Z. This series set the standard for shonen, inviting viewers from all over the world to take part in the Japanese genre. The villains are what really make Dragon Ball Z good. They aren't just evil figures the heroes must stand against, but whole cosmic, near-invincible demigods whose domination seems assured. This basically means the power scale goes through the roof every episode.
21 The Unit
Some other entries on this list prove that action television doesn't have to be realistic to be great. However, The Unit is a great example of what can be achieved through authenticity. This show is based on the book Inside Delta Force by Eric L. Haney, a real-life founding member of the US Army special ops unit. This brings The Unit some natural appeal, but it drives the whole concept home by splitting its attention between the home front and combat.
20 SEAL Team
SEAL Team is another action series that went out of its way to be as authentic as possible. Former Tier 1 special operators and military veterans serve as advisors, writers, and producers on SEAL Team, and every combat sequence is coordinated as accurately as possible. All those crazy Hollywood tropes are thrown out the window, but the action remains thrillingly captivating.
19 My Name
The Netflix Korean drama My Name embraces a pretty heavily used plotline of revenge and deception, but it by no means makes the series feel ordinary. The intense action of My Name is extremely raw and relies heavily on hand-to-hand choreography. Star Han So-hee is the absolute highlight, and with only eight episodes, My Name avoids many of the greatest pitfalls of the action genre. It's just tight, binge-worthy, and simply excellent.
18 Blue Eye Samurai
The action genre slept on 2.5D stylized animation for far too long, and Blue Eye Samurai proves it. This hybrid between 2D and 3D allows for beautifully fluid animation, which is fantastic for the sorts of fast-paced sequences of swordplay action. Blue Eye Samurai used pre-recorded stunt footage to get everything just right, and with its surprisingly mature storytelling, it's no stretch to call the series a masterpiece.
17 24
Plenty of action TV shows try to be unique, and 24 is one of the few that actually pulled that off. This series uses an intriguing real-time storytelling format, with each episode covering a single hour in-story, and a full 24-episode season covering an entire day. This significantly alters the urgency viewers experience while watching 24, and that ticking clock imagery ramps up the tension even further.
16 The Old Man
The title of this espionage thriller effectively emphasizes the intense vulnerability of the series. The Old Man contradicts the standard tropes of heroism. Jeff Bridges' character is certainly dangerous, but he isn't the sort of macho or indestructible protagonist that Jack Reacher is. Instead, the choreography of The Old Man captures the realism of aging. It's heartbreaking and anxiety-inducing, all while remaining completely and entirely thrilling.
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