10 Best American Espionage Shows Of All Time
Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel.
The best American espionage TV shows include classics from the '60s, network comedies, and more recent prestige fare. Spies, espionage, and undercover agents have been popular subjects of fiction forever, and it hasn't just been James Bond that's put the concepts on screen.
There is a rich history of spies and espionage on television, and while there are many fantastic series from around the world, the American series alone make up a big chunk of the best of them. You might find some shows missing from the list, but if they weren't made in America, they're not going on.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1968)
Before it was a popular Guy Ritchie film, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a very popular TV series that ran for four seasons on NBC. The series follows American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Russian Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum), two spies working for the eponymous multinational secret intelligence agency.
The spy craze of the 1960s gave rise to dozens of spy shows, but none stand the test of time like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The series led to numerous spin-offs and featured a significant number of celebrity guest stars, making the show a who's who of Hollywood of the era.
Alias (2001-2006)
Jennifer Garner stars in Alias as Sydney Bristow, an undergraduate who is approached by someone she believes is working for the Central Intelligence Agency but who is actually a member of an evil, worldwide organization. When the real CIA approaches Sydney, she jumps at the chance to be a double agent.
The five-season action thriller sees Sydney taking on a variety of identities as she works to take down the nefarious organization from the inside. Alias is filled with well-choreographed action, strong writing, and a lead performance from Garner that is winning from start to finish. Network spy comedy dramas that came afterward owe a lot to Alias.
24 (2001-2014)
24 may have been one of the biggest TV shows of the 2000s, and though some of the politics regarding torture and the treatment of prisoners are quite outdated, the series itself is still a strong, thrilling show with a lot that makes it worth returning to. For nine seasons on 24, viewers watched Agent Jack Bauer protect America from all sorts of threats.
Famously, each season of the series takes place over one 24-hour period, with each episode taking about an hour of real time. It makes for a wonderfully fast-paced, gripping spy drama where you feel like you are right there in the action. The strength of the series comes in large part from its willingness to make the uncomfortable choice more often than not.
Chuck (2007-2012)
Chuck is an action spy comedy drama that premiered on NBC in 2007 and ran for five seasons. Zachary Levi stars as Chuck Bartowski, a shelf-stocker at an electronics store in California who inadvertently has the entirety of the CIA's database downloaded into his brain. When he sees a trigger, he receives flashes of information stored in his brain.
At a loss, the CIA decides to recruit Chuck and partners him with CIA officer Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski), and the pair work to stop terrorists and world threats with Chuck's latent knowledge. Levi and Strahovski have incredible chemistry that powers the series, and the fresh spy plots keep things entertaining.
Rubicon (2010)
Rubicon premiered on AMC in 2010, and though it was canceled after one season, it remains one of the most compelling American espionage series of the 21st century. The series stars James Badge Dale as Will Travers, a brilliant analyst at an NYC-based intelligence think tank, the American Policy Institute.
After 9/11, in which Will lost his wife and daughter, Will has become reclusive, but one day notices a code in the crossword puzzles printed in different newspapers. His discovery leads him on a journey through the U.S. national security apparatus and to a major conspiracy. Sharp, puzzling, and thoughtful, Rubicon deserved another season.
Homeland (2011-2020)
Homeland stars Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison, a CIA officer with bipolar disorder who comes to believe that a war hero, Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), was seduced by al-Qaeda and is planning an attack on the United States. The series evolves from that point, hopping across the continents as Carrie leaves the government for private work and eventually returns.
The series makes some missteps over eight seasons, but it always manages to bring things back before they go over the edge. Danes' performance is one of the best of her career, and the series is filled with tense twists and turns that keep you on your toes, winding to an immensely satisfying ending.
The Americans (2013-2018)
Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys star as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings in The Americans, a married couple living in Falls Church, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., with their two children. Secretly, Elizabeth and Philip are deep undercover KGB intelligence officers who are posing as a couple.
It's a fascinating series that examines how everyone is hiding something. The Jennings hiding their identities to appear as a happy, normal American family is not too far off from any ordinary American family attempting to portray stability and calm to their neighbors, friends, and coworkers.
Patriot (2015-2018)
The little-seen Prime Video original Patriot deserves more love. The comedy-drama premiered in 2015 and ran for two seasons before it was canceled. Michael Dorman stars as John Tavner, an intelligence officer who takes on a perilous unofficial cover role at an industrial piping business in Milwaukee to prevent nuclear war.
Patriot is a wickedly smart espionage show with a darkly humorous streak that never stops being funny, and never stops being a bit uncomfortable. It's an atmospheric, even surreal series at points, and it can be difficult to start into, but once you do, you'll likely binge the entire show.
Andor (2022-2025)
Leave it to Tony Gilroy to take a science fiction adventure property and turn it into one of the great American espionage stories, more relevant to America than maybe any show in the last ten years. It's a triumph of storytelling and acting, and a new bar for the flailing Star Wars franchise.
The series is set in the lead-up to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and focuses on Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a common thief who turns into a rebel spy after the crimes of the Empire become too destructive to abide. It's a heart-pounding series, dressed in the incredible costumes and world of Star Wars but with a story applicable to any time period.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024-Present)
Prime Video's Mr. & Mrs. Smith is an eight-episode spy series inspired by the 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. In the show, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine play two strangers working for the same intelligence agency. They are assigned a deep undercover role as John and Jane Smith, a married couple.
Every episode, the pair takes on a new mission which sends them around the world, and at the same time, the two spies begin to develop real feelings for one another. This American espionage series carefully balances the humor, heart, and thrills for an incredible ride that is getting another season.
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