Peaky Blinders is set to bow out on Netflix, with its sixth season arriving on June 10. The Shelby family leaves behind a trail of blood and broken loyalties, yet they’ve also endured heavy losses over the years. It’s only natural that the roster of foes grows longer. Tommy Shelby’s fans and his lieutenants will miss their clashes in the wake of the gang’s brutal ascents, but the Birmingham crime clan has other levers to pull as they navigate a dangerous, changing landscape in the early 20th century. Here is a look at eight series that echo Peaky Blinders. Some are nostalgic, others contemporary, but they all share a thread of characters who operate outside the law.
1. Gangs of London
It isn’t staged in the 1920s or 1930s like Peaky Blinders, yet Gangs of London borrows heavily from the show’s vibe. The creator, Steven Knight, crafts a London underworld saga where a family’s power struggle plays out on the city’s dangerous streets. One of the memorable figures from Peaky Blinders, Joe Cole, returns in a new role as John, a character who readers may recall from the Netflix series’ fourth season. Sean Wallace, a young man who inherits a criminal empire after his father Finn is killed, suddenly becomes a central player in a brutal power struggle. The quest for vengeance fuels the action with vivid, kinetic sequences that keep viewers on edge—staged by Gareth Evans and produced for Starzplay with a sharp sense of peril and ambition.
2. King of Warsaw
Marketed as a Polish homage to the hard-edged tone of Peaky Blinders, King of Warsaw is set in the 1930s, a period when the mob wields terror in the capital. The plot centers on a Jewish boxer who is the trusted lieutenant to a gangster who champions socialist ideals; this ambitious figure aims to claim control of the criminal empire in Warsaw on the cusp of a world-changing era. The drama unfolds with the tension and swagger that fans of Birmingham’s underworld will recognize, and the power plays resonate with the same mood of gritty, disciplined violence that defined the best moments of Peaky Blinders. The series explores loyalty, betrayal, and the price of ambition.
3. Boardwalk Empire
Executive producer Martin Scorsese helped launch this acclaimed five-season saga set in Prohibition-era America. Atlantic City, New Jersey, becomes a lawless city where Enoch “Nucky” Thompson lays down the rules. The show introduces a cast of historical figures such as Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, and Arnold Rothstein, weaving fiction with real events to illuminate how organized crime reshaped a nation. The series offers a richly textured look at governance, power, and the uneasy bargains struck under a cloak of corruption, all presented with the craft and atmosphere viewers associate with top-tier crime dramas. The world of early 20th-century crime has rarely felt so immersive.
4. The Sopranos
If there is a quintessential mafia series, it’s The Sopranos. Created by David Chase, the show blends dark humor with brutal realism as it follows Tony Soprano’s life of crime, family obligations, and therapy. The narrative dives into murders, confrontations, illicit schemes, and the strain of living with a double life, all anchored by Gandolfini’s unforgettable performance. The series moves through its arc with a fearless, intimate gaze at the pressures faced by a crime boss and the people who orbit a dangerous empire. The six-season journey remains a landmark in television drama for its depth and moral ambiguity.
5 Gomorrah
From the country where the mafia’s roots run deepest, Gomorrah presents a stark, brutal portrait of the Neapolitan Camorra. Based on Roberto Saviano’s real-life exposé, the show follows rival clans who control illicit trade and the volatile underworld economy that sustains it. The brutal feuds, betrayals, and the human cost of drug trafficking are laid bare with a raw, unflinching gaze. Saviano’s work brought real danger into the spotlight, turning the tale into a cultural phenomenon and a warning about the reach of organized crime. The series offers a sobering counterpoint to more stylized crime drama by grounding its storytelling in hard facts and stark character studies.
6. Tokyo Vice
Though the Japanese yakuza differ in style from the Shelby brothers, the core methods echo: extortion, violence, and calculated risk. Based on the memoirs of journalist Jake Adelstein, this HBO Max series follows a novice American reporter as he dives into Tokyo’s underworld in the 1990s. It charts his push toward a historic break into what many viewed as the inner circle of Japan’s largest newspaper, a milestone that underlines the lure and danger of crime reporting. The show culminates in a dangerous clash between rival factions that tests the journalist’s resolve and courage, highlighting the personal toll of chasing truth in a world where loyalty is costly.
7. Animal Kingdom
Another tale tied to the Peaky Blinders ethos, Animal Kingdom stars Finn Cole—the cousin of the Shelby siblings—in a California-set drama about a family of outlaws. After a mother’s death, a teenager moves in with his grandmother and a trio of cunning uncles, only to discover a web of criminal activity that draws him deeper into the family operation. Led by a formidable matriarch, the clan navigates loyalty, risk, and survival in a landscape where danger is always within reach. The series offers a sharp, character-driven look at how crime can shape a family’s destiny, even as it erodes its own moral foundations.
8. Taboo
From the same mind that gave Peaky Blinders its distinctive tone, Taboo centers on a formidable figure who returns to London in the 19th century to claim control of a fading empire. Tom Hardy plays a morally complex protagonist who, with grit and grit alone, challenges rivals and factions as he reconstructs a family business. The atmosphere is thick with menace, brutality, and a sense of inevitability as stealth, cunning, and an appetite for power drive the action. The show blends historical texture with a hint of the supernatural, offering a moody, uncompromising take on crime, loyalty, and legacy.