They say revenge is a dish best-served cold. In the case of television, revenge can be a delicious theme for writers to indulge in. It makes for great storylines and automatically draws the viewer into a world very different from everyday life. Audiences love having a protagonist to cheer more, and it can be so satisfying to see that character get revenge on the enemies that have wronged them.
So many movies over the years have tackled the theme of revenge, mostly to great success. Movies like Kill Bill, The Revenant, and John Wick have done a great job of giving viewers a hero to root for and rewarding them with satisfying endings. Revenge storylines have also made their way to television, and these shows are the ones that are the best at showing audiences what it means to get even.
10 The Glory
Neflix’s hit show The Glory is an excellent example of how revenge themes can work on TV. It’s a show that was released in two parts in 2022 and 2023, and it focuses on a teenage girl named Moon Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo) who is bullied at school. When Dong-eun grows up, she becomes a school teacher herself and uses her position to exact revenge on her childhood bullies, one of whom has a kid in her class.
The Glory is partially based on a true story. A South Korean girl was abused by her classmates in 2006 and ended up using objects to torture and seek revenge on her bullies later on. The show incorporates more shocking facts from the real-life story, and it will be ingrained in your mind forever.
9 Alias
The 2001 TV show Alias is a cult favorite for several reasons. For five seasons, fans were engrossed in the world of Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner), a CIA agent secretly infiltrating the criminal organization known as SD-6. Alias was created by noted producer J. J. Abrams, and it’s one of his best TV shows. In season one, the audience learns about Sydney’s double life, but it’s revealed that she also has a hidden motive for being a double agent.
In the pilot of Alias, SD-6 murders Sydney’s fiancé Danny Hecht (Edward Atterton) because they learn Sydney is a spy. This only feeds her determination to take down the bad guys. SD-6 is also part of the Alliance of Twelve, a larger crime group that is a known enemy of the United States. In the end, Sydney gets her revenge and the epilogue shows that she has a daughter named Isabelle who also has double agent tendencies.
8 The Punisher
It’s hard to picture a better revenge-themed TV show than Marvel’s The Punisher. Jon Bernthal stars as Frank Castle, a former Marine who turns into a renegade killer after his family is murdered. The show is a spinoff from another Netflix favorite, Daredevil, and continues Frank’s journey to becoming The Punisher, an armed vigilante who will stop at nothing to get revenge.
The Punisher first appeared in the Marvel comic The Amazing Spider-Man #129, and he’s been kicking butt and taking names ever since. As a military veteran, he’s a master of marksmanship and skilled at hand-to-hand combat. Although his methods are extreme, fans love the grittiness, unpredictability, and violence of The Punisher TV show. The Punisher will also have a large role in the upcoming Netflix reboot Daredevil: Born Again, coming in 2024.
7 Revenge
Revenge is a show that aired on ABC for four seasons from 2011 to 2015. Taking inspiration from the classic Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo, the show is literally one of the most thrilling shows about revenge. Emily VanCamp plays a woman named Emily Thorne who moves back to the Hamptons on Long Island after many years away. She’s not quite who she seems, though, as her real name is Amanda Clarke and she has hidden motives for coming home.
Amanda’s real reason for returning is to exact revenge on the people that wronged her family. Several years before, her father was framed for a crime he didn’t commit and was sent away to prison. Amanda is determined to get even with the families that double-crossed hers, and she uncovers lies, deception, and hidden motives along the way.
6 Scandal
Scandal is an excellent show created by legendary TV producer Shonda Rhimes. Kerry Washington plays Olivia Pope, a White House crisis management aide who works with the President (Tony Goldwyn) to control the narrative that comes out of his office. When Olivia learns about the mysterious involvement of a woman named Amanda Tanner (Liza Weil) with the President, she’s determined to get to the bottom of the case.
Washington carries the show with her impressive performance as Olivia. She’s been nominated for several awards for her portrayal, including an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award. Although Scandal had some mixed reviews during its run, there were definitely huge fans that were sad to see it go. When Scandal ended in 2018, it blew up on social media.
5 My Name
My Name is another South Korean show that made its North American debut on Netflix. It centers around a young woman named Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee) who starts working for a criminal organization called Dongcheonpa to find out who is responsible for her father’s sudden and senseless death. Ji-woo teams up with the crime gang’s leader Choi Moo jin (Park Hee-soon) to invade the police force and try to find out the truth.
In an epic twist, Ji-woo eventually finds out that it was Moo jin himself that killed her father. She exposes herself as a mole to the police and decides to take on Moo jin herself, ultimately killing him and finally exacting her revenge for her father’s death. My Name has astonishing reviews and holds an impressive 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s also one of the best Korean dramas to watch on Netflix right now.
4 Dexter
Showtime
Through eight seasons and 96 episodes, the Showtime mystery/drama series Dexter has become a dependable fan favorite. Michael C. Hall plays Dexter Morgan, a forensic scientist for the Miami Metro Police Department who secretly leads a double life. During the day, he helps the police solve crimes, but at night, he tracks down terrible criminals and delivers street justice by murdering them and dismembering their bodies.
The show is derived from the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. In 2013, Showtime decided to end Dexter’s run after season eight. Almost 3 million people tuned in to see the series finale in which Dexter successfully fakes his death and moves to Astoria, Oregon to live under a different identity. He was never caught for his crimes, which gave the audience a weird sense of comfort.
3 Killing Eve
Killing Eve is a great revenge-themed show that aired on BBC America from 2018 to 2022. The show was co-written and produced by the brilliant Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who’s recently been making a name for herself as a potential Indiana Jones replacement. Killing Eve follows Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), an analyst with MI5 who is insanely bored with her job. After overstepping her boundaries on a witness protection job, Eve decides to join MI6.
Eve is then tasked with following a secret assassin named Villanelle who works for a deadly organization called The Twelve. The two women become obsessed with each other and are eventually forced to work with each other. In season four, Eve goes on a revenge mission against The Twelve to find out who killed her son.
2 How to Get Away With Murder
How to Get Away With Murder stars Viola Davis as Annalise Keating, an attorney and law professor who, along with a group of her students, gets caught up in a murder investigation. Annalise chooses five of her students to intern at her law firm. When Annalise’s husband Sam is murdered, she’s unsure of who did it or exactly what happened. Through flashbacks, the audience is pulled into a fascinating story of jealousy, revenge, and betrayal.
The show is another murder mystery/drama produced by Shonda Rhimes through her Shondaland production company. How to Get Away with Murder was mostly filmed on location in Philadelphia with, ABC airing the show from 2015 to 2020. Just when viewers thought everything was wrapped up in season five, a new murder pulled Annalise and her students into a new web of lies for season six. The final episode aired on May 14, 2020.
1 The Terminal List
Amazon Prime Video’s war series The Terminal List stars Chris Pratt as Lieutenant Commander James Reece, a US Navy Seal who looking to uncover a conspiracy. After his team is killed in an ambush, Lietenant Reece returns home only to find out that his entire family is in danger as well. The show is based on Jack Carr’s novel of the same name and explores Reece’s battles with himself as he tries to seek revenge for his colleagues.
As Reece dives deeper into the conspiracy, he soon realizes his memory is not quite correct. He begins to question everyone and everything around him. In the end, Reece discovers that there was a coverup and the attack he experienced with his troops in Syria was planned all along. The Terminal List is a big hit and Pratt says season two is on the way.
