Tom's Guide

5 best shows like 'Prison Break' to stream right now

By Xandra Harbet,

15 hours ago

Nothing says brotherly love quite like getting a full body tattoo and landing yourself in prison to break your brother out. “Prison Break” welcomed fans behind bars in 2005 and the show has kept a steady and growing fan base long after its initial four-season run and the season-long 2017 reboot. Netflix recently added "Prison Break" to its library and it's been trending on and off since.

Maybe someone should have noticed the red flag of Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller) smiling when he got arrested for armed robbery, but who could have possibly guessed that it was all a ploy to land himself in Fox River Penitentiary? Michael strolls into his incarceration with the prison’s blueprints hidden in tattoo ink ahead of his brother Lincoln’s (Dominic Purcell) execution date for allegedly (with a capital A) killing the vice president’s brother.

During its runs, “Prison Break” featured more than a few, well, prison breaks . They kind of got locked into the title on that one. Of course, the heartbeat of the Paul T. Scheuring-created series is the bond between the brothers and those they pick up along their journey to take down a shadowy cabal called The Company that orchestrated Lincoln’s setup.

Between brother-centric shows like “Supernatural” and prison shows like “Oz,” here are five of the best shows like "Prison Break" to stream.

'Supernatural'

When it comes to self-sacrificing brothers, the only TV duo with a more co-dependent bond than Michael and Lincoln is the Winchester bros in “Supernatural.” The show isn’t set in prison, but demon-hunting brothers Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) get arrested more than a few times and even pull an actual prison break once or twice. That tends to happen when you spend your time committing credit card fraud, breaking and entering, impersonating FBI agents, and constantly showing up on the scene of grotesque, unexplained murders.

Like Michael and Lincoln, the Winchesters are always trying to one-up each other in the “trying to die for their brother” department. Yet unlike Michael and Linc, the Winchesters actually succeed in sacrificing themselves due to handy dandy resurrections, demon deals, and heavenly (and not so heavenly) interference.

Eric Kripke created the show in 2005 and stayed on as the showrunner until season 5 when he carried out what he initially planned to be the series finale. The series lasted a decade longer before it ended in 2020. The early seasons especially focused primarily on the brothers, but there were a number of recurring guest stars and regulars, particularly in later seasons. From season 4 and on, Misha Collins entered the scene and became the series’ most-featured recurring character as the angel Castiel.

Watch on Netflix

'Orange is the New Black'

Luckily, the prison blues in “Prison Break” are, well, blue. The inmates in “Orange is the New Black” aren’t so lucky. On top of having to barter for tampons, the prisoners are stuck with hideous orange getups. A good chunk of “Prison Break” takes place outside of Fox River (and the other featured jails), but the Netflix show is almost entirely set in the women’s prison Litchfield Penitentiary.

“Orange is the New Black” centers on new inmate Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling) as she goes from a naive suburban housewife to paying for her stupid (and illegal) college decisions. She quickly has to become a hardened prisoner willing to do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means screwing over her friends. The series tackles a slew of injustices in the prison system — from corrupt guards (something we definitely see in “Prison Break”), prison gangs, a lack of mental health care, and treating the entire system as a money-making endeavor rather than focusing on reform.

Alongside Schilling, the 2013 series stars Danielle Brooks (Taystee), Taryn Manning (Pennsatucky), Emma Myles (Leanne), Kate Mulgrew (Red), Uzo Aduba (Suzanne), Dascha Polanco (Dayanara), Laverne Cox (Sophia), and Laura Prepon (Alex). Jenji Kohan created the series that aired for seven seasons.

Watch on Netflix

'Breakout Kings'

It’s not immediately clear that “Breakout Kings” is actually (kind of) a “Prison Break” spinoff, but given that it hails from the same creators, there was bound to be some crossover. The OG character T-Bag appears, connecting the shows after the ”Prison Break” finale. However, T-Bag’s updated storyline is retconned a lot in the “Prison Break” reboot (but then again so are other details from the actual show, so fans just have to take it with a grain of salt).

The tone of “Breakout Kings” tends to be more lighthearted than “Prison Break,” upping the comedy and showcasing a more even-spread ensemble cast rather than hyper-focusing on two characters. Rather than centering the show on the breakouts themselves, “Breakout Kings” brings a group of cons together who help the US Marshalls catch newly escaped convicts. In return, they get to enjoy the spoils of a minimum security prison and get reduced sentences with every catch.

Rent/buy on Amazon or Apple

'Mayor of Kingstown'

“Prison Break” has nitty gritty elements, but Taylor Sheridan's “Mayor of Kingstown” takes the cake for dark prison shows — including the lighting. Like "Prison Break," “Mayor of Kingstown” centers on a family. Somehow, the McLuskys manage to be even more dysfunctional than Michael, Lincoln, and their endless family baggage. Of course, the town’s actual mayor isn’t the one referenced in the title, but Jeremy Renner’s Mike McLusky, who basically runs the prison system (and thus the town).

Given that Kingstown’s seven prisons are essentially the town’s only industry, it’s not surprising that the show tackles everything that’s wrong with for-profit prisons. Between systematic racism, a wild amount of corruption, and the role poverty plays in the fate of who’s in and out of the barbed wire, “Mayor of Kingstown” doesn’t pull any punches. The city’s politicians and prison guards are often worse than the inmates, which brings to mind Sucre’s “Prison Break” quote: “I'm telling you, the guards are the dirtiest gang in this whole place. The only difference between us and them is the badge.”

Watch on Paramount Plus

'Oz'

No, the inmates aren’t off to see the wizard in this super dark TV show (except for the ones smuggling drugs, probably). The particular unit of Oswald Prison that the show focuses on may be nicknamed the Emerald City, but the walls run red far more than green. As HBO’s first hour-long TV show, Tom Fontana's “Oz” helped pave the way for the direction of the network’s future hit shows. However, its status as a cable show allowed for a much more violent and visceral showcase of deaths, race wars, sex, and executions.

While there’s a level of unbridled brutality to the series, it’s also full of comedic moments and dark humor, often brought to viewers by inmate and narrator Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau). Tim McManus (Terry Kinney) may prioritize rehabilitation over punishment, but that doesn’t stop the inmates (and guards) from doing The Most (which often translates to The Bloodiest). The narration component of the series is also an interesting style choice, as it breaks the fourth wall and adds some surrealism to the gritty drama. “Oz” paved the way for shows like “Prison Break,” and ended its six-season broadcast just two years before the 2005 show debuted.