20 Best TV Shows of 2026 (So Far)

13. Paradise (Season 2)

With its bigger and bolder second season, Paradise feels more like a throwback TV event than ever before, a messy thriller with too many pieces on the table that is impossible not to hook onto.

Created by This Is Us mastermind Dan Fogelman, Paradise's sophomore outing finds former secret service agent Xavier (played by a brilliantly determined Sterling K. Brown) on a perilous mission to reunite with his family in the shadow of a world decimated by calamity and political chaos. 

Reminiscent of 2000s thrillers like Lost, Paradise plays with time to tangle its mystery into more and more knots, creating a messy web of deceit and uncertainty that its hero may never escape, and the results, whilst often entertainingly silly, make for addictive TV.

Pure escapism through-and-through, Paradise soars with its cast - which also includes newcomer Shailene Woodley in a scene-stealing supporting turn - and urgency, and feels like the exact kind of twisty thriller we need right now.