Shows Like
Shows Like The White Lotus: Darker Dramas
By Jordan A. · · 5 min read
The White Lotus did something rare: it made you laugh at terrible people while slowly pulling the floor out from under you. By the time the bodies showed up, you'd already spent five episodes loving the exact characters who deserved what was coming. It's a trick not many shows can pull off - equal parts comedy, mystery, and social commentary wrapped in a location so gorgeous you almost forget everyone on screen is awful.
Finding that same mix is harder than you'd think. You need shows that balance sharp writing with genuine tension, ensembles where every character could be the villain, and enough style to make the ugliness look beautiful. Here are twenty shows that get close.
If you loved the rich-people satire
Succession is the obvious pick and I won't apologize for leading with it. The Roy family makes the White Lotus guests look like saints. Four seasons of the best dialogue on television, and an ending that actually lands.
The Menu technically lives on the movie shelf, but its spirit is pure White Lotus. Ralph Fiennes cooking for rich people who deserve everything that's coming. Watch it as a double feature with season two.
Triangle of Sadness won the Palme d'Or for a reason. A luxury yacht cruise falls apart in the most spectacular way possible. The seasick dinner scene alone is worth the ticket.
Industry on HBO follows young bankers in London destroying themselves for money they don't need yet. It's messier than White Lotus and just as addictive. Season three is the best one.
If you loved the exotic setting and dread
The Night Manager is a John le Carré adaptation starring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie in luxury hotels and Mediterranean villas. The spy stuff is fine. The scenery and tension are the real draw.
Nine Perfect Strangers puts Nicole Kidman in charge of a wellness retreat where nothing is what it seems. It's uneven but when it hits, it hits. The Hulu limited series captures that same trapped-in-paradise energy.
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is a BBC mystery set in a picturesque English town where everyone has secrets. Lighter in tone but similar in structure - peel back the pretty surface, find the rot.
The Resort on Peacock follows a couple at a Mexican resort who stumble into a fifteen-year-old missing persons case. It's weird and ambitious and doesn't fully stick the landing, but the vibes are immaculate.
If you loved the ensemble mystery
Only Murders in the Building is funnier than White Lotus but shares its DNA: strangers in a beautiful building, someone's dead, everyone's suspicious. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez have genuine chemistry. It's gotten better every season.
The Afterparty on Apple TV+ tells a murder mystery from different characters' perspectives, each in a different genre. It's clever without being smug about it.
Big Little Lies season one is the closest spiritual cousin White Lotus has. Monterey instead of Maui, school moms instead of hotel guests, but the same slow reveal of who's hiding what. Nicole Kidman is outstanding.
Sharp Objects is Amy Adams in a small Missouri town where the beauty pageants hide something much worse. It's slower and darker than White Lotus, but if you liked Jennifer Coolidge's character work, you'll appreciate how this show builds its people.
If you loved the dark comedy tone
Dead to Me starts with a hit-and-run and a grief support group and gets wilder from there. Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini carry it through three seasons of escalating chaos. It's the show you watch when you want White Lotus energy but faster.
The Flight Attendant sends Kaley Cuoco on a murder mystery through international luxury that she absolutely did not ask for. Season one is tight and thrilling. The comedy is earned, not forced.
Search Party starts as a Brooklyn millennial satire and slowly becomes something much stranger and darker. Five seasons that keep reinventing themselves. Alia Shawkat is a revelation.
Poker Face from Rian Johnson is a case-of-the-week mystery show with Natasha Lyonne as a human lie detector traveling across America. Each episode feels like a little White Lotus of its own - meet the characters, figure out who's terrible, watch justice arrive sideways.
If you just want something smart and bingeable
Beef takes a road rage incident and builds an entire season of escalation out of it. Ali Wong and Steven Yeun are incredible. It's darkly funny in a way that makes you uncomfortable, which is exactly the point.
The Diplomat puts Keri Russell in London as a newly appointed ambassador dealing with political crisis and personal chaos simultaneously. It's a thriller wearing a prestige drama's clothes.
Lessons in Chemistry on Apple TV+ isn't a mystery, but it shares White Lotus's gift for making you furious at systems while falling in love with the person fighting them. Brie Larson is fantastic.
Bad Sisters is an Irish dark comedy about five sisters who may or may not have murdered their brother-in-law. It's warm and vicious at the same time, which shouldn't work but absolutely does.
Twenty shows is a lot to sift through, and I know you're already losing the title of the third one. That's exactly why we built BingeNext's TV recommendation engine. Tell it you loved The White Lotus, add another show you're into, and it'll give you a ranked shortlist pulled from every streaming service you actually pay for. Thirty seconds, no scrolling through thumbnails you've already seen.
The White Lotus isn't just a show about rich people behaving badly - it's a mirror held at a specific angle. These twenty shows all hold their own mirrors. Some of them will make you laugh. Some will make you squirm. The best ones do both.
Topics covered: dark-comedy, mystery, drama, ensemble-cast, prestige-tv, streaming
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and writes every guide on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu, and he still tests every pick the hard way: by watching it.