Published Sep 23, 2026, 12:27 AM EDT
Christine is a freelance writer for Collider with two decades of experience covering all types of TV shows and movies spanning every genre. With a particular affinity for dramas, true crime, sitcoms, and thrillers, if it’s a top TV show, Christine has likely watched it and is eager to share her thoughts. When she’s not furiously writing away, you can find her enjoying the next binge obsession with a glass of wine in front of the TV.
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Since the late 1990s, HBO has been producing quality shows, including miniseries. They are often heavy, sometimes dark, and also thought-provoking. While not every show has aged well, many HBO miniseries have aged like fine wine.
This is because they focus on issues and topics that are still relevant today. It’s a lens into how much progress we both have and haven’t made as a society. Some of these series, ranging from ones released decades ago to some that came out only five or so years ago, still resonate today as much as they did back then. In every case, it’s for different reasons. But with some of these shows, it’s because the conflict they address is still very much existent in present times. Here are eight HBO miniseries that have aged excellently.
It took decades for a show to be made about this 1986 nuclear disaster, diving into the real stories of what happened in the aftermath. Yes, creative liberties were taken in Chernobyl, and some people criticized the historical inaccuracies. But the historical drama is also accurately reflective of the time and setting, and a deeply emotional look at a harrowing story.
These types of things sadly happen all the time, and there’s never going to be a moment when we forget Chernobyl and the lives that were impacted. The show remains one of the best of its kind, bringing emotion and education to the story in a way that many of us hadn’t seen. It’s just as impactful today as it was seven years ago and a perfect weekend binge.
The tragedy and complexities of war remain as relevant today as they were 25 years ago when the series Band of Brothers premiered. The war drama is based on the Stephen E. Ambrose non-fiction book and is heavily inspired by Saving Private Ryan, with both **Steven Spielberg **and Tom Hanks serving as executive producers.
Set during World War II, Band of Brothers follows one group through their harrowing journey fighting for their country. What’s so compelling about the series is that the events, though dramatized for TV, are taken from interviews with the real veterans of Easy Company. It doesn’t get more real and emotionally impactful than that.
Criticisms of the justice system, the public being quick to judgment, and racism are sadly still as relevant topics of discussion today as they were a decade ago when this crime drama premiered. In The Night Of, Riz Ahmed is Nasir “Naz” Khan, a Pakistani American college student whose thrilling one-night stand goes horribly wrong when he wakes up next to the woman’s dead body. Naz is certain he did nothing to this woman, but the judgmental eyes and the situation that makes him look guilty cause him to question his own reality.
The near-perfect HBO miniseries follows Naz’s court case, led by his lawyer John Stone (John Turturro). The way the series both points out serious flaws in the justice system and shows what can happen to a promising young man when he’s caught in a bad situation will break your heart. Sadly, it’s a situation we could, and do, see in real life all the time. The message is powerful and the delivery even more so. The show is bound to inspire dialogue and debate.
Six actors. One role. Your answers point to the Bond who shares your presence, your method, and your particular way of carrying the weight of being the most dangerous person in the room.
You are the original — and you carry that fact without needing to announce it. There is an authority in the way you occupy a room that others spend careers trying to replicate.
You understand something that more serious people miss: that wit is its own form of intelligence, and that making people laugh is not a retreat from danger but a way of mastering it.
You took the role seriously when everyone wanted you to coast — and that refusal to take the easy version of anything is the most defining thing about you.
You are the complete package — and you know it, which is part of what makes you so effective and occasionally so infuriating to the people around you.
You stepped into something enormous with less preparation than anyone around you thought was sufficient — and you delivered something genuine anyway, which is the more impressive achievement.
You stripped everything back and found what was underneath — and what was underneath was harder, more honest, and more human than anyone expected.
One of those 20-year-old HBO miniseries many of us forgot about, Empire Falls is about a small, decaying town in Maine and the residents who are simply trying to get by. Sound familiar? The situation is one that many face in similar towns today as costs rise, systems change, and it becomes tough to keep your head above water.
In the story, which is based on the Richard Russo novel, local factories have closed, and the community is struggling to survive amidst a class divide and troubles that resurface from the past. At the center is Miles Roby (Ed Harris), a manager at a local restaurant who is deeply entrenched in his blue-collar roots. Empire Falls was nominated for 10 Emmy Awards and four Golden Globes. It’s as realistic a depiction of middle-class life now as it was two decades ago.
Another forgotten HBO miniseries, Show Me a Hero debuted a decade ago and chronicles the fight of the white middle-class community in Yonkers, New York, against federally mandated public housing developments in their area. Based on the nonfiction book by Lisa Belkin, a writer for The New York Times, Show Me a Hero touches on tensions that still exist today in similar communities.
The conflict involving a class divide and pushback against affordable housing is one that endures. The idea is to provide housing for those in need who would otherwise remain unhoused, but residents fear it would devalue their property. Plus, they don’t want an influx of lower-class citizens in their hometown. The series stars Oscar Isaac as Nick Wasicski, a former police officer running for mayor of Yonkers, along with Jim Belushi, Alfred Molina, and Winona Ryder. Show Me a Hero takes this very political topic and helps to humanize the players in the fight. Note that it’s created by David Simon, the same man behind another politically and socially charged series, The Wire**.
It doesn’t matter what decade or era it is — the idea of a woman coming of age during midlife at the same time as her child is coming of age as a teenager transcends time and location. It’s something every female parent goes through, especially if they have had children at a certain age. Women having children later and later in life is becoming more and more common nowadays, which makes Mrs. Fletcher even more topical.
The comedy miniseries dives into this dynamic with Eve Fletcher (Kathryn Hahn) as a divorced mom in her 40s raising her son Brendan (Jackson White), who has just gone off to college. As Fletcher rediscovers her body and her sexuality, her son is coming to terms with his own sexual life and journey to adulthood. The series isn’t just fitting today — it will be just as so another 20 years from now, too.
One of those passion projects by A-list actors, Angels in America is set during the Ronald Reagan era of the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic was in full swing. While times have changed a lot since then, the core premise of the show remains topical today. It centers on struggles with sexuality, feelings of loneliness and abandonment, and the pressures of conservative beliefs in finding one’s truth. At the heart of the story is Prior Walter (Justin Kirk), a gay man with AIDS who is visited by an angel as he grapples with his loneliness.
As a made-for-cable project, Angels in America is one of the most essential HBO miniseries. It swept every major Emmy award category, an accomplishment that has only recently been tied by The Crown and Schitt’s Creek. The exploration of topics like sexuality, religion, and conservative politics will still resonate today. Plus, the A-list cast is impressive, including Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Patrick Wilson, Mary-Louise Parker, Emma Thompson, and Jeffrey Wright. This show not only has a powerful message but also tremendous star power to deliver it effectively.
The #MeToo Movement went global in 2017, and I May Destroy You was released right in the midst of public talk and controversial cases about the subject. Michaela Coel stars as Arabella Essiedu, a young novelist enjoying her success. She goes out with friends to celebrate before writing her next book, but the night doesn’t turn out the way she hoped. She awakens to horror, unable to remember what happened, and eventually realizes that she was raped.
The topic of sexual violence against women, the impact it has on victims, the trauma they carry with them afterward, and the treatment and viewpoints of others all come into the conversation in the series. I May Destroy You uses dark humor to explore Arabella’s journey as she reaches out to friends to try and piece together the night, then works her way through the trauma that she’ll carry forever. The HBO masterpiece is an honest look at the raw and real journey to healing. As a spotlight is shined more and more on sexual assault, victim-blaming, and accountability, *I May Destroy You *fits just as well today as it did six years ago.
I May Destroy You
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