The 10 Greatest 7-Episode Miniseries, Ranked
Updated
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The television miniseries has been a favorite format of the medium for decades. Unlike a typical full TV season, the miniseries offers a full story, usually in ten episodes or fewer. Because of their format, miniseries can usually attract prestigious talent, including actors who don't often do television and directors who might be best known for their work on the big screen.
When it comes to episode count, miniseries usually have between six and ten episodes, but more than a few go for seven. It makes sense; after all, seven is an important number all around, so why wouldn't a TV show also choose it to tell its story? This list will rank the best miniseries with seven episodes based on their premise, performances, production values, legacy, and overall quality. Almost every major streamer and network will be represented, from Netflix to HBO, so get ready for a lot of prestige TV.
10 'Generation Kill' (2008)
Generation Kill follows members of the U.S. Marine Corps' First Reconnaissance Battalion during the opening stages of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The seven-part HBO miniseries focuses primarily on Sergeant Brad "Iceman" Colbert (Alexander Skarsgård), Corporal Josh Ray Person (James Ransone), Lieutenant Nathaniel Fick (Stark Sands), and Wright himself (Lee Tergesen) as they move through increasingly chaotic combat zones.
Created by David Simon and Ed Burns, Generation Kill has little interest in hero worship. Its episodes favor realism, particularly the soldiers' conflicting attitudes toward what they are being asked to do. The ensemble is exceptional, particularly Skarsgård and Ransone, whose very different performances help capture both the discipline and absurdity of military life.
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Two-time Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield stars in Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black's true crime drama miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven. Based on the 2003 non-fiction book, the plot centers on detective Jeb Pyre (Garfield), as he sees his faith shaken while investigating the murder of a young mother and her baby daughter that seemingly involves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Under the Banner of Heaven is a poignant exploration of very weighty themes, most notably faith. The plot stumbles in the balance of the true-crime, procedural aspects and the more emotional themes, but the result remains a powerful examination of religion powered by an outstanding, Emmy-nominated turn from Garfield. Unlike the abundance of true-crime dramas on modern TV, Under the Banner of Heaven doesn't seek simple answers. Its ambition often goes unrealized, but the questions it poses provide compelling food for thought.
8 'Disclaimer' (2024)
Four-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón is behind the underrated Apple TV miniseries Disclaimer. Based on the eponymous 2015 novel, the show stars the always-great Cate Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a famed documentarian who discovers she is the main character in a novel seeking to reveal a secret she has long tried to keep buried.
Disclaimer is probably Cuarón's most uneven effort since his 1998's Great Expectations, another misunderstood update of its source material. However, his approach to the story is also worthy of admiration; here, Cuarón eschews traditional expectations of prestige TV in favor of a more pulpy story that walks the line between great drama and cheaper thrills. Blanchett is expectedly great, joined by an equally impressive cast including a commanding Kevin Kline and a scene-stealing Lesley Manville. Disclaimer might not be what many expected from a collaboration between Cuarón and Blanchett, but it is no less riveting, especially when looked at as a straightforward mystery.
7 'Escape at Dannemora' (2019)
Oscar winners Benicio del Toro and Patricia Arquette join Paul Dano in the crime drama Escape at Dannemora. Based on the real-life story of the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape, the show follows two convicted murderers, Richard Matt (del Toro) and David Sweat (Dano), who escaped from prison aided by Joyce "Tilly" Mitchell (Arquette), a married employee engaged in an extramarital affair with both.
At points, Escape at Dannemora's slow pace can be near-unbearable, but the story at its center demands a clinical approach. The series takes its time exploring the inner world of the characters, particularly Tilly's, providing Arquette with one of the best roles of her career. The actress is as mesmerizing as she is complicated, avoiding simple definitions while crafting a tragic, painfully humane portrayal. Directed by Ben Stiller, Escape at Dannemora offers no simple answers; instead, it seeks to paint a vivid depiction of a time and a place that not many might recognize; indeed, not many might even care.
6 'Godless' (2017)
The Western drama hasn't been exactly successful on television, which makes Godless even more of an outlier. Set in 1884, the series centers on Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), a young outlaw on the run from his brutal boss and mentor, who ends up in a New Mexico town populated almost entirely by women. Jeff Daniels, Merritt Wever, Michelle Dockery, and Scoot McNairy also star.
Praised by many as the best Western of the 21st century, Godless is a powerful reinvention of the genre. Brutal but emotionally resonant, the show features everything one would expect from a Western, from the expansive landscapes of the American West to the blood-soaked themes of revenge and lawlessness in a corrupt and broken world. However, Godless' distinct female approach is the key to its ultimate success. With just a simple choice, the show deconstructs and reassembles the genre, stripping it to its bare minimum and rebuilding it from the ground up under a new perspective.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun
Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.
🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)
🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)
🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)
🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)
01
How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.
02
What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.
03
You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.
04
What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.
05
What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.
06
You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.
07
What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.
08
Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.
The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…
Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your life would be like.
Dustin Henderson
You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he. What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the plan.
- Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense, enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
- You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous, and they last for decades because of it.
- He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously, which is far rarer than it sounds.
- You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.
Emily Cooper
You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she. Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with yourselves.
- Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion, which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy levels.
- You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when something was happening somewhere else.
- She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly, publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
- She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very good photo.
Wednesday Addams
You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this list.
- Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for an enormous amount.
- You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally incapable of offering you anything else.
- Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a performance out of caring.
- Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.
Seong Gi-hun
You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.
- Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
- You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long after anybody would blame you for leaving.
- He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
- He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.
5 'John Adams' (2008)
HBO is the ultimate home of prestige, grand, rewarding miniseries, a reputation it built throughout the 2000s with epics like John Adams. Two-time Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti stars in the titular role as the US' second president. The show follows his role as a founding father of the country all the way to his death. Three-time Oscar nominee Laura Linney co-stars as his formidable wife, Abigail.
What John Adams does so well, perhaps better than any other historical miniseries of the time, is presenting its story with a near-perfect blend of gravitas and reverence. There is true passion behind every shot, every line, every choice. Gimatti is in fine shape as Adams, bringing all the dignified skill one would expect from an actor of his caliber, and Linney is every bit his equal. Director Tom Hooper, an expert in this type of grand period storytelling, confidently handles both the big set pieces and the quieter, more intimate moments. It's occasionally more educational than entertaining, but it's still a huge accomplishment of dramatic storytelling.
4 'Midnight Mass' (2021)
Mike Flanagan created several gems for Netflix, including his undeniable masterpiece, The Haunting of Hill House. A close second to that triumphant miniseries, however, is 2021's Midnight Mass, based on an original idea by Flanagan. The plot centers on a man returning to his hometown after a four-year stint in prison. His return coincides with that of a charismatic priest harboring a dangerous secret.
Like other Flanagan efforts, Midnight Mass thrives on its atmospheric dread. Gloomy and bleak, the show is a fascinating study of faith and grief that boasts all of Flanagan's best traits as a writer and director. At the center of it all is a never-better Hamish Linklater as Father Hill, one of Flanagan's most complex creations. Unconstrained by any ties to source material, Midnight Mass is bold and unafraid to get creepy, weird, and outright unsettling, especially in its final hours. It might not secure Flanagan any new devotees, but those already under his terrific spell will reaffirm their loyalty.
3 'Baby Reindeer' (2024)
Few others have as many highs and lows as Netflix, but when the streamer is in top form, no one comes close to its heights. Last year, Netflix's big win was Baby Reindeer, a black dramedy thriller created and starring Richard Gadd. Adapted from his autobiographical one-man show, it tells the story of Donny Dunn (Gadd), an aspiring comedian who must face his demons and traumas after becoming the target of a stalker's obsession.
Equal parts bleak and morbidly funny, Baby Reindeer sees Gadd using his artistic license to process deep, painful events from his past. The result is a punishing but ultimately cathartic work of fiction that is as emotionally challenging as it's strangely fascinating. Gadd and co-star Jessica Gunning deliver committed, tour de force, Emmy-winning performances that turn a confrontational story into an examination of obsession, trauma, and the desire to overcome that which haunts us.
2 'The Queen's Gambit' (2020)
Anya Taylor-Joy rose to the A-list thanks to her performance in the Netflix period miniseries The Queen's Gambit. Based on the eponymous 1983 novel, the plot follows Beth Harmon (Taylor-Joy), a chess prodigy dealing with severe substance abuse as she rises to become one of the top players in the country. However, her inner struggles will be her greatest obstacles.
The Queen's Gambit greatly benefits from Anya Taylor-Joy's magnetic, commanding central performance. The actress is the epitome of self-destructive glamour, a statuesque icon slowly crumbling down. The actress is front and center in almost every scene, acting as the show's beating heart, furious soul, and even its instinctive gut. Lush production values, an intriguing look into the world of chess, and a game supporting cast further elevate the series, turning it into one of Netflix's most riveting and emotionally affecting efforts. Come for Anya Taylor-Joy; stay for her and pretty much everything else.
1 'Mare of Easttown' (2021)
In what is possibly the best performance of her long career, Kate Winslet plays hardened police detective Marianne "Mare" Sheehan, who is investigating the murder of a teenage mother in a small town outside Philadelphia. The community doubts her skills because of her inability to solve another disappearance for over a year, leading to tension in her professional life. Joining her is a supporting cast including Evan Peters, Julianne Nicholson, Guy Pearce, and Jean Smart.
Mare of Easttown is, first and foremost, a showcase for Winslet's considerable talents. In a multi-layered performance, the Oscar winner displays a combination of emotions — pain, frustration, anger, grief, and a biting brand of sardonic humor — seldom seen from female protagonists, even in prestige TV. The mystery is both compelling and genuinely surprising, and the supporting cast is stellar. However, what makes Mare of Easttown so effective is its focus on small-town life, the lies hiding beneath the facade, and the way everyday lives can get derailed in a matter of seconds.
Mare of Easttown
- Release Date
- 2021 - 2021-00-00
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Brad Ingelsby
- Directors
- Craig Zobel
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