E. Lockhart’s bestselling 2014 young adult novel, We Were Liars, was optioned for the screen in 2022. Now, the television series developed by Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and Carina Adly Mackenzie (Roswell, New Mexico) is a huge success for Amazon Prime Video. It’s one of the platform’s most-watched shows of the summer, but with only eight episodes, audiences are left wondering what to watch next.
Fortunately, We Were Liars isn’t the only thriller on streaming right now. There are several teen thrillers and even a few adult thrillers that are likely to appeal to We Were Liars fans. Teen thrillers have become pretty popular over the past few years, so many of these shows are recent releases, with the oldest coming out in 2020. Here are the best TV thrillers to watch after We Were Liars.
10
‘The Wilds’ (2020–2022)
A Celebrated Survival Thriller
The Wilds is a survival thriller created by Sarah Streicher (Daredevil) that ran for two seasons on Amazon Prime Video. A group of teenage girls are headed to a young women’s empowerment retreat in Hawaii when their plane goes down. Stranded on a desert island, they must fight for their lives to survive. The show stars Sophia Ali (Grey’s Anatomy), Shannon Berry (The Survivors), Jenna Clause (The Furies Inside Me), Reign Edwards (MacGyver), Mia Healey (The Monster), Helena Howard (I Saw the TV Glow), Erana James (We Were Dangerous), and Sarah Pidgeon (Tiny Beautiful Things) as the castaways. Rachel Griffiths (Saving Mr. Banks) plays Gretchen Klein, head of the Dawn of Eve program funding the empowerment retreat.
The Wilds did well with critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, though reviews for Season 2 were good rather than as strong as those for Season 1. The show scored a GLAAD Media Award nomination and a Women’s Image Network Award nomination before it was canceled in 2022, and it also earned a ReFrame Stamp.
9
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (2021)
Twists, Turns, and Murder
For viewers who loved We Were Liars but also enjoy a little teen horror with their thrillers, there is the TV adaptation of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Based on the 1973 novel by Lois Duncan and the 1997 movie, this series was developed by Sara Goodman, who also produced Preacher and the 2024 television adaptation of Cruel Intentions.
After a car accident on graduation night changes their lives forever, a group of friends discovers that a killer is hunting them down one by one because of the secret they share. Madison Iseman (Annabelle Comes Home), Brianne Tju (Light as a Feather), Ezekiel Goodman (Cruel Intentions), Ashley Moore (Rule of Thirds), and Sebastian Amoruso star as the recent graduates involved in the accident that night. The remainder of the cast is filled out by Bill Heck (The Old Man), Fiona Rene (Tracker), Cassie Beck (Joe Bell), and Brooke Bloom (Kindred).
8
‘Panic’ (2021)
One Fast-Paced Season
Panic is one of those rare instances where the creator of the series is also the author of the book on which it is based. Lauren Oliver’s young adult novel, Panic, was published in 2014, and she adapted it into a television series for Amazon Prime Video, also serving as showrunner. In a rural Texas town, graduating high school seniors compete in a series of dangerous challenges. Only one will win the life-changing cash prize awarded to the victor. Fear Street‘s Olivia Scott Welch stars as Heather Nill, who decides to compete in the games after her mother spends the tuition money she had been saving for college.
Heather’s competitors include her best friend, Natalie Williams (Jessica Sula), the new guy in town, Dodge Mason (Mike Faist), and Ray Hall (Ray Nicholson). Mike Faist (Challengers) received a Critics’ Choice Super Award nomination for his portrayal of Dodge. While Panic was not renewed for a second season, it resolves enough by the end of its 10-episode run to make it worth the watch.
7
‘Chloe’ (2022)
Obsession in the Digital Age
Chloe is a British six-part miniseries created by Alice Seabright, best known for directing episodes of Sex Education and Say Nothing. Erin Doherty (Adolescence) gives a phenomenal performance as Becky Green, who becomes obsessed with the death of her estranged childhood friend, Chloe. Becky creates a fake persona in order to get closer to the people who knew Chloe best, intertwining herself with Chloe’s friends. The cast includes Billy Howle (The Perfect Couple), Pippa Bennett-Warner (Gangs of London), Jack Farthing (Spencer), Brandon Micheal Hall (Search Party), and Poppy Gilbert (The Pale Horse).
This psychological thriller is a tale of obsession and identity in the age of social media. It teems with misdirection, surprising humor, and even empathy for a character who would otherwise be difficult to stomach, much of which is a testament to Doherty’s work in the role. Chloe holds a strong critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, though audience reaction has been considerably more divided.
6
‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ (2023)
Critical Acclaim From Down Under
This coming-of-age drama is set in Australia and follows Alice Hart, a girl who moves in with her grandmother after her parents die in a fire. Abused as a child, Alice struggles to reconcile her past as she grows older. Alyla Browne (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and Alycia Debnam-Carey (Fear the Walking Dead) play Alice at different ages. Sigourney Weaver (Avatar) plays her grandmother, June Hart. Sarah Lambert created the series, and Glendyn Ivin directed all seven episodes.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is based on Holly Ringland’s 2018 novel of the same name. Designed as a seven-part miniseries, the show did incredibly well. Praised by critics and audiences alike, the drama received 12 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award nominations and won four, including Best Miniseries. It also received a GLAAD Media Award nomination in the Limited or Anthology Series category.
5
‘Harlan Coben’s Shelter’ (2023)
The Mickey Bolitar Trilogy Begins
Plenty of Harlan Coben’s novels have been adapted for television, but Shelter is one specifically aimed at teen audiences. After his father’s sudden death, Mickey Bolitar is relocated to New Jersey. Soon, however, he finds himself embroiled in the disappearance of a student at his high school. Jaden Michael (Wonderstruck) stars as Mickey with a cast that features Constance Zimmer (Big Sky), Adrian Greensmith (Metal Lords), Abby Corrigan (Castle Rock), Sage Linder (The Next Step), and Brian Altemus (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin). In addition to penning the source material, Coben also developed the story for the screen alongside Charlotte Coben.
Shelter is the first book in Coben’s Mickey Bolitar trilogy, which opened the show up to multiple seasons. Unfortunately, the series was canceled after the first season’s eight-episode run. Despite the cancellation, reviews were positive, with critics calling it a strong adaptation of Coben’s 2011 novel.
4
‘Wilderness’ (2023)
Danger on the Open Road
Wilderness is a six-part miniseries based on the 2019 thriller by B. E. Jones and developed for television by BAFTA-winning writer Marnie Dickens, who also created the 2016 thriller Thirteen starring Jodie Comer. Wilderness stars Jenna Coleman (The Serpent), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Emily), and Ashley Benson (Pretty Little Liars), with all six episodes directed by So Yong Kim.
After learning that her husband, Will (Jackson-Cohen), has had an affair, Liv Taylor (Coleman) decides to take matters into her own hands. The couple embarks on a road trip across the United States, taking in Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon, and Yosemite. Will is hoping to repair their relationship, but Liv sees this trip across remote stretches of the country as a landscape where accidents happen all the time, and the perfect place to get revenge.
3
‘Cruel Intentions’ (2024)
French Origins, Modern Campus
Created by Phoebe Fisher and Sara Goodman, who previously worked on the I Know What You Did Last Summer series together, Cruel Intentions is a psychological teen drama about wealthy step-siblings Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess). After a hazing incident on their prestigious college campus goes wrong, the two attempt to maintain some level of power by seducing Annie Grover (Savannah Lee Smith), daughter of the Vice President of the United States.
Cruel Intentions is based on the psychosexual thriller of the same name written and directed by Roger Kumble (Beautiful Disaster) in 1999, and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Reese Witherspoon. The film remains well known today, but viewers might not realize the 1999 movie was also an adaptation. Kumble based it on Les Liaisons Dangereuses (also known as Dangerous Liaisons), a 1782 French novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos that has been adapted numerous times for the stage, screen, and even radio.
2
‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ (2022–2025)
Lighter Dramatic Fare
The Summer I Turned Pretty is a coming-of-age romantic drama based on the trilogy of young adult novels written by Jenny Han, who also developed the work for television. Lola Tung stars as Isabel “Belly” Conklin, a teenager who becomes entangled in a love triangle with the sons of her mother’s best friend. Christopher Briney (Mean Girls) and Gavin Casalegno (Queen of the Ring) play Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher, the objects of Belly’s affection.
While The Summer I Turned Pretty isn’t a thriller, it is a compelling summer drama inspired by a beloved YA book that is likely to resonate with We Were Liars fans. The show doesn’t hinge on a big mystery, but it offers a fun coming-of-age alternative set in the summer. The series has three full seasons, and in 2024, it won a People’s Choice Award for Bingeworthy Show of the Year.
1
‘The Better Sister’ (2025)
Family Drama With the Rich and Famous
The Better Sister is a miniseries based on Alafair Burke’s 2019 novel of the same name. Ocean’s Eight scribe Olivia Milch created it for television. Jessica Biel (Candy) and Elizabeth Banks (Skincare) star as estranged sisters Chloe Taylor and Nicky Macintosh. The two are thrown together when Chloe’s husband Adam (Corey Stoll), who also happens to be Nicky’s ex-husband, is murdered.
The Better Sister received rave reviews. Banks in particular shines in her role. There’s a strong supporting cast and all eight episodes are easy to binge, with fast pacing and sharp writing, the whole thing brimming with sibling drama set against the backdrop of wealth and privilege.
- Release Date
-
June 18, 2025
- Network
-
Prime Video
- Directors
-
Nzingha Stewart
