What to Watch
What to Stream Before Nocturne Arrives on Apple TV
By Jordan A. · · 4 min read
Apple TV is about to get a lot darker. Nocturne premieres on October 30, a ten-episode crime thriller adapted from Lars Kepler's bestselling Joona Linna novels, with Liev Schreiber and Stephen Graham leading the hunt for a serial killer in small-town western Pennsylvania. The episodes roll out weekly into late December, so it is shaping up to be the moody, slow-burn obsession of the season. The wait until October 30 is the problem. Here is what to watch to get in the right headspace.
Nocturne is built from the same ingredients as the best modern crime dramas: a haunted investigator, a methodical killer, and a cold, specific sense of place. The shows below all share at least one of those, so any of them will scratch the itch until the first two episodes drop. A couple are even on Apple already, so you will not have to leave the app.
Presumed Innocent for the Apple crime fix
Start where Nocturne will live. Presumed Innocent on Apple TV stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a prosecutor accused of murdering a colleague, in a twisty adaptation of the Scott Turow novel from David E. Kelley. Ruth Negga is excellent as his wife, watching her marriage and her certainty erode in real time, and Bill Camp adds a layer of quiet menace as the lawyer running the defense. It is a propulsive, eight-episode whodunit that plays with your certainty right up to the end, with a final twist that had everyone arguing online for weeks after it dropped. It proves Apple knows how to do this exact kind of prestige crime story, which is a good sign for Nocturne. If you want a complete, bingeable mystery to hold you over, this one closes its loop in a single weekend and leaves you hungry for more.
Mindhunter for the serial-killer psychology
If it is the killer side of Nocturne you are drawn to, Mindhunter on Netflix is essential. David Fincher's series follows two FBI agents in the late 1970s who interview imprisoned murderers to build the new science of criminal profiling, and it is as chilling as it is intelligent. The show is all restraint and dread, more interested in the quiet horror of understanding these men than in any chase. For more in that methodical, procedural vein, our list of shows like Mindhunter points you toward the best of the genre.
Mare of Easttown for the small-town dread
Nocturne's Pennsylvania setting makes Mare of Easttown on HBO Max an obvious companion. Kate Winslet plays a weary detective working a murder in a tight-knit Pennsylvania town where everyone knows everyone, and the show treats the community's secrets as carefully as the crime itself. It is a limited series, so it delivers a full, satisfying story in seven episodes, and its sense of place is so strong you can feel the November chill. Evan Peters and Julianne Nicholson round out a cast that makes every strained relationship feel lived-in and real. If the trailer for Nocturne gave you that specific small-town-America unease, where the landscape itself feels like a suspect, this is the purest version of it.
The Killing for the Nordic-noir roots
Nocturne comes from Scandinavian source material, so it is worth going to the genre's roots with The Killing. The American version, available on Netflix, follows a Seattle homicide detective through the rain-soaked investigation of a single murder across a full season, and it set the template for the brooding, weather-beaten crime dramas that followed. Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman make a compelling, mismatched pair of detectives, and the show is as interested in the victim's grieving family as in the procedure. It is deliberately paced and gorgeously bleak, exactly the mood Nocturne is reaching for. If you have never explored Nordic noir, this is a gateway drug for the whole style, and it leads straight into the kind of story Lars Kepler tells.
Dark Matter to stay on Apple
Want to keep it on the same service? Dark Matter on Apple TV is not a crime show, but it shares the brooding, high-concept tension that Apple does so well, following a man confronted with alternate versions of his own life. Its second season is wrapping up right around the Nocturne premiere, so you can catch up on one Apple obsession while another begins. It is proof that the service has quietly become the home of smart, unsettling genre television.
A few more while you wait
Still counting down the days? These keep the tension high:
- True Detective on HBO Max, the atmospheric gold standard for the haunted-detective story, which we break down in our guide to shows like True Detective.
- Bosch on Prime Video, for a long-running procedural you can sink into for weeks.
- Our roundup of the best new crime shows of fall 2026, if you want to see what else is premiering alongside Nocturne this season.
Nocturne has all the makings of the kind of show people obsess over in group chats, the slow unspooling of a mystery you cannot stop thinking about. Lining up a few of these first will put you in exactly the right frame of mind for October 30, so you can appreciate every chilly, deliberate frame. However you like your crime drama, there is a perfect warm-up here. And if you would rather skip the browsing and get straight to the match, BingeNext reads across every service you already pay for and hands you the next one. Get TV recommendations and dim the lights.
Topics covered: nocturne, apple tv, crime thrillers, liev schreiber, nordic noir
About the author
Jordan A., Founder, BingeNext
Jordan A. is the founder of BingeNext and is responsible for every guide published on this site. He built the recommendation engine after one too many nights lost to the streaming menu. Dates, season counts and where-to-watch details in these guides are checked against official sources before publishing, and corrections are welcome at Jordan@Bingenext.com.