The best Amazon Prime shows you can stream right now - Android

Here are the best Amazon Prime shows you can check out right now on the premium video streaming service.

In February 2011, Amazon announced that Amazon Prime members could access thousands of streaming movies and TV shows for free as part of its subscription service.

Today, it is estimated that there are over 150 million people around the globe who have access to Amazon Prime features, including its streaming video library. That’s a massive audience for any TV show, current or classic, spread across devices ranging from smartphones to big-screen TVs.

Let’s take a look at the best Amazon Prime shows in the US, including both original shows exclusive to the service, and older shows first shown by other outlets. Keep in mind that Amazon Prime Video does use geo-restrictions, so not all of these shows are available in every market.

Best Amazon Prime Video shows:

Editor’s note: We will be updating this list as more great TV shows are added to Amazon Prime Video and others are removed.

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1. The Night Manager

One of the best shows on Amazon, The Night Manager is a limited British television series based on a John le Carre book by the same name. The show stars Tom Hiddleston as the night manager of a luxury hotel in Cairo, Egypt. It just so happens that Hiddleston’s character is also a former British soldier. When he unwillingly comes in possession of a confidential list of weapons and warfare chemicals, he reports it to the International Enforcement Agency in London. He is then recruited by an intelligence agent (Olivia Colman) to infiltrate an arms dealer’s (Hugh Laurie) inner circle. However, there’s a mole in the British intelligence community that makes things all the more complicated.

The Night Manager has won several accolades to date, including two Emmy awards and several Golden Globe awards. There are just six one-hour-long episodes in the show, so it’s a quick watch. It’s definitely addictive and will keep you at the edge of your seat throughout.

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2. The Man in the High Castle

Based on the classic novel by the late Philip K. Dick, this Amazon Prime original show takes place in the 1960s, but in an alternate timeline where Nazi Germany and Japan won World War II and now occupy the coasts of either side of the US. This “what if” series tells the tale of several characters in this alternate Earth, who discover a series of movies that show the US winning World War II.

This series expands from Dick’s original novel and shows the characters not only realizing that they are on an alternate Earth, but also that it might be possible to actually travel to the timeline where the US and its allies won World War II. The Man in the High Castle is not only one the best Amazon Prime shows, but perhaps the best original Amazon Prime TV drama series.

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3. The Expanse

Originally shown on the SyFy cable channel, this excellent sci-fi epic is now available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Based on The Expanse novels by “James S. A. Corey” (actually a pen name for two writers, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck), the show takes place hundreds of years in the future, where humanity has colonized the entire solar system. However, there are now factions in various locations in the system: Earth, Mars, and the “Belters” who live in the outer system.

The show not only has a huge cast and an epic feel, but it may have some of the best visual effects ever made for a space-based sci-fi series. The good news is that Amazon head Jeff Bezos, an admitted big sci-fi fan himself, loved The Expanse so much that when SyFy decided not to renew the show for a fourth season, Bezos got Amazon Prime Video to pick up the rights and approve production of that season.

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4. The Americans

The Americans may be the best TV show that most of you may have never watched. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys play Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, a normal married couple who live in the Washington D.C. area in the early 1980s with their two kids. It sounds like a standard family drama, right? Wrong! Elizabeth and Philip Jennings are actually two deep-undercover KGB spies who are actively trying to gain intel for the Soviet Union.

This show has tons of twists and turns, especially as Philip starts to enjoy his time in the US, while Elizabeth sticks with her KGB training and her ideology. Oh, and their two kids have no idea that their mom and dad are spies. All six seasons of The Americans are available to stream now, and it is a no-brainer for our best Amazon Prime shows list.

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5. Hannibal

If you thought no one but Sir Anthony Hopkins could portray the brilliant serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter,  then check out this short-lived series that originally aired on NBC. Mads Mikkelsen gives us a highly creepy performance as Dr. Lecter, and Hugh Dancy plays FBI profiler Will Graham, who has to hunt down Lecter after he reveals himself to be a killer and a cannibal.

The series takes place before the first Hannibal Lecter novel by Thomas Harris, Red Dragon, for the first two and a half seasons. However, it actually adapts that novel for the second half of its third and final season. It’s too bad that this frightening show got canceled before the series could adapt the other Lecter novels, but what is available is still excellent, if you are not too squeamish.

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6. Good Omens

Some TV shows on streaming platforms are designed to be “one-and-done,” with their stories completed in just one season. That’s the case for Good Omens. Based on the acclaimed fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett, the series centers on two supernatural beings on Earth. One is the angel Aziraphale, played by Michael Sheen, and the other is the demon Crowley, played by David Tennent. The two beings, despite being on opposite sides, not only grow to become friends but also love being on Earth. That’s a problem, however, as the series deals with these two friends trying to prevent the end of the world.

Gaiman served as the showrunner for this six-episode limited series, and it shows. Good Omens feels like both a great adaptation and an extension of the original novel. It’s also flat out funny. Look for a lot of interesting cameos and voices in this show as well.

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7. Homecoming

Homecoming is an Amazon Prime Video original starring Julia Roberts in the lead. The show is produced and directed by Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail. It’s a fast-paced thriller, the plot of which revolves around a sketchy transitional support facility for US soldiers. Roberts plays Heidi Bergman, a social worker hired by the facility to help battle-torn soldiers transition smoothly into civilian life. But something sinister is going at the Homecoming center and after four years of working there, Bergman has no memory of what she did until a defense auditor comes inquiring about her past.

Homecoming has 10 half-hour-long episodes in its first season, and we also hear a second season is on its way. The 2018 show was nominated for three Golden Globes, including Best Drama Series. If you have an Amazon Prime Subscription, Homecoming is one show you should really not miss.

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8. Downton Abbey

We have seen tons of movies and TV shows about the British class system, but none of them have been as entertaining as this show. Originally shown on ITV in the UK and on PBS in the US, Downton Abbey is centered on a fictional estate in the British countryside and all of the people who live and work there in the early part of the 20th century. Real-world events of the time affect both the Crawley family and their domestic servants.

The show puts the spotlight on the many changes in the class system in Britain during that time period, as the aristocracy start to lose their once massive influence on society. The show has some great writing and terrific performances by the cast, who make you care about what happens to them through the years. All six seasons are available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

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9. The Boys