There are countless goodwar movies, but whenyou’re considering the genre’s best, don’t forget about these war TV shows.It’s hard to make a list ofthe best war moviesbecause everyone has a favorite. There are different eras, different fronts, and different sides of these stories, all worth telling, and movies have generally been the best medium to do it in. A movie has access to the budgets and the talent necessary to pull off massive battle scenes, harrowing sequences, and intense melodramatic moments. That does not mean that there are no good war TV shows, though.
There just simply aren’t as many. Often, TV shows feature war, but it is only one aspect of the series. InGame of ThronesorOutlanderorAll the Light We Cannot See, war is a critical part of the story, but it is only a part of it, and the real focus is on survival, or political scheming, or a mystery. If you are looking for a war movie that offers thesame spectacle as something likeSaving Private Ryan, you can’t go wrong with these shows, where warfare is the order of the day.
Thefive seasons ofThe Last Kingdomtell the story of Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon) in the middle of the 9th century in an ununified England. Uhtred is a Saxon whose family was killed by Danes. He was then brought up as a Dane and thus has native English blood, but also the fierce heart and battle prowess of the warlike Danes.The Last Kingdomdepicts the final years of England before it was unified under King Æthelstaninto one country.
It takes decades of political struggles, marriages, betrayals, promises, and friendships to reach that point, but what it mostly takes is war. There are plenty of battles inThe Last Kingdom, and it’s one of the few TV shows to depict these Dark Age battles with real specificity and the production it needs to look realistic. Many medieval and Dark Age war movies don’t get close to looking this good.
The most recent entry in the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks World War II TV project,Masters of the Airrecounts the story of the 100th Bomb Group, which flew missions over Europe during World War II. Starring Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, and Callum Turner,Masters of the Airhas a better cast than most blockbuster movies.The series also does not skimp on effects and features some incredible moments of aerial warfarenot seen in even the best war movies.
Masters of the Airfeatures some impeccable production design, with the airship feeling like it flew right out of history, and the characters are not caricatures in the slightest. There are some old-fashioned storytelling elements that may feel a bit dated, but it also makes the series feel more cinematic, fitting in well alongside films like1917orDunkirk.
The Pacificis the second series in the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks project to explore the different fronts of World War II. InThe Pacific, the Marines of the 1st Marine Division hop around islands in the ocean, fighting the Imperial Japanese Army. We’re introduced to many different characters, some of whom never meet one another, which makesThe Pacifica bit more disjointed than something likeBand of Brothers, where we stick with the same group of men throughout the war.
It’s a brutal and distressing series that makes the Marines into survivors even more than heroes.
However, that doesn’t meanThe Pacificis without some incredibly powerful momentsof its own. It’s a brutal and distressing series that makes the Marines into survivors even more than heroes.The battles on Okinawa, Peleliu, and other beachheads are some of the most intense depictions of the conflicts in the Pacificfront to ever get on screen.
The modern warfare answer toBand of Brothers,Generation Killis an even more grim look at soldiers on the front lines than even something likeThe Pacific. The series is based on Evan Wright’s 2004 novel of the same name, which he wrote after embedding himself in the US Marine Corps' 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It is a period piece despite depicting a time only a little over two decades old, andit perfectly captures the attitude and atmosphere of that time period.
Generation Killis engrossing with its storytelling and characterization, and yet manages to have very few actual action set pieces. The Americans rolling into Iraq greatly outgunned the Iraqis, but this makes the brief moments of fighting in between the endless boredom and bureaucracy all the more terrifying and real. It’s likeThe Hurt LockerandJarheadstretched out over seven episodes.
From the creator ofPeaky BlinderscomesSAS: Rogue Heroes, a war TV show with the heart ofPeaky Blindersbut with a much more heroic and historical scope. The series depicts, as the name suggests, the formation of the British Army Special Air Service during the Western Desert Campaign in World War II. Connor Swindells stars as David Stirling, the brainchild behind the formation of the elite fighting force, and the two seasons track the unit’s efforts in Africa and later in Italy.
SAS: Rogue Heroesholds a perfect 100% rating onRotten Tomatoes.
LikePeaky Blinders,Knight manages to capture a tone that is both harrowing and also just the tiniest bit irrelevant, making for a series that’s hard to look away from, but can also deliver powerful moments when it needs to. The action sequences are as cinematic as you’ll find on television, and they take place in fronts not often depicted on screen.
The ultimate war TV show, and to some, the ultimate war production of TV and movies,Band of Brothersis where Tom Hanksand Steven Spielberg put everything they learned fromSaving Private Ryaninto a ten-episode miniseries. The result is one of the best seasons of television ever. The series follows the members of the elite parachute division, the 101st, specifically Easy Company, who jumped into Normandy on D-Day.
Band of Brothersis based on the 1992 non-fiction book of the same name by Stephen E. Ambrose.
The series tracks the men’s journey from training camp to Hitler’s palace at the end of the war, and many of the soldiers who start the series don’t make it to the end. It’s an incredibly cinematic work of television, from its battle scenes, which still stand up with today’s blockbusters, to the acting, which includes a cast of Hollywood’s best, to the story structure, which draws you right in and makes every episode of thewar TV showa movie.
