It seems like every few weeks there’s a new crime drama on streaming that heats up the charts and gets everyone talking. Well, the latest in that long line of hits is “Task,” an HBO Max original starring “Avengers” star Mark Ruffalo as FBI agent Tom Brandis. He’s working a case involving a daring group of bank robbers. 

Like many other shows of its kind, “Task” focuses on a law enforcement agent with a troubled past. In Brandis’ case, his wife was recently killed and his own son was responsible, leaving him with a darkness in his soul that’s left him a shell of a man. But when a string of bank robberies lights up the FBI’s proverbial switchboards, Brandis is on the case, throwing himself into his work to avoid the pain of his loss.

Hardly the only show of its kind, “Task” joins a stable of shows about brooding cops who struggle with trauma. If you love Mark Ruffalo and his brand of darkness, you’re in for a treat, because we’ve collected a list of the 12 best shows to watch next.

If you discovered “Task” from surfing HBO Max, you may not have realized that its creator, Brad Inglesby, has another hit series under his belt: “Mare of Easttown.” That’s the first place you should go if you’ve just finished “Task.” Not only does it come from the same creator, but it’s a series with many of the same themes, featuring a troubled investigator dealing with their own issues while working to solve a vicious crime.

“Mare of Easttown,” like “Task,” is headlined by a big screen star. In this case, it’s “Titanic” heroine Kate Winslet. She plays Mare Sheehan, a detective sergeant in the fictional suburb of Easttown, on the outskirts of Philadelphia. It’s a dreary town brimming with problems, and when a dead body turns up, Mare is on the case. Solving a murder isn’t the only problem she’s dealing with, though. After the death of her son, Mare is grappling with custody of her grandchild while trying to keep her marriage from disintegrating. At the same time, many in Easttown are distrustful of her. It’s somewhat understandable: Years earlier, she failed to deliver justice on another high-profile case.

“Mare of Easttown” feels like a spiritual precursor to “Task.” It’s also one of the best crime dramas in recent years, with Winslet and co-stars Julianne Nicholson and Evan Peters (who was terrified to work with Winslet) all taking home Emmys.

You might not find much similarity between “Task” and “Mayor of Kingstown” based on their plot synopses alone, but both share a common bleakness. Both are also led by stalwart “Avengers,” with Jeremy Renner playing the titular mayor of Kingstown, where corruption and crime runs rampant. It also hails from the mind of Taylor Sheridan, whose ever-growing “Yellowstone” universe includes hits like “1883” and “1923.”

In the heart of America’s rust belt lies the fictional backwater burg of Kingstown, Michigan — a once booming city that’s now anything but prosperous. In the time since its golden years, the town’s previous blue-collar industry has been replaced by the business of incarceration, as corporatized prisons slowly became the dominant revenue stream for the region. Now wracked with the politics, corruption, and violence that come with this controversial industry, the task of keeping the shaky system from total collapse rests on one man’s shoulders: Mayor Mike McLusky (Renner). McLusky isn’t a knight in shining armor. He’s got a troubled past of his own and a habit of doing whatever it takes to keep the peace in the powder keg that he calls home.

Known for its hard-hitting drama, dazzling dialogue, nuanced characters, and stories with a social message, “Mayor of Kingstown” is one show that is greater than the sum of its parts. Like “Task,” it’s a series with a complicated hero trying to do the right thing: He’s bringing justice to a lawless city.

Arguably the biggest source of drama in “Task” is FBI Agent Tom Brandis’ struggle with a past that hangs over him. If that’s the angle you want, then your first stop should be Britain, where haunted investigators are the order of the day. Their crown jewel is probably ITV’s “Broadchurch,” which puts David Tennant into the role of brooding investigator Alec Hardy.

In the fictional English coastal community of Broadchurch, their idyllic way of life is shattered for good in the wake of a shocking murder. Worse, the target of the slaying is a local child, whipping the public into a frenzy until the killer is brought to justice. At the center of the investigation is detective Alec Hardy (Tennant), who arrives in town to lead the investigation alongside Detective Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman). They soon realize that, in Broadchurch, it doesn’t take much digging to find skeletons in closets. Every resident is hiding a secret, and every one of them is a potential suspect. 

Like Brandis in “Task,” Hardy has a difficult past that he’ll have to work through to catch the culprit. But it’s not all on Tennant, as co-star Colman provides a striking performance. Colman’s hard work turns this series into one of the best crime shows with a strong female lead.

If it’s the dreary setting and atmospheric tone of “Task” that drew you in, “The Killing” is for you. It also happens to feature a troubled law enforcer — as well as an even more distressed partner — whose latest case involves a mysterious murder with unsettling undertones. “The Killing” also helped to bring “Suicide Squad” star Joel Kinnaman to the attention of wider audiences, with his standout performance as a rookie cop who struggles with addiction.

Loosely based on the Danish television series “Forbrydelsen,” “The Killing” is set in the gloomy city of Seattle, where a young woman’s murder sets into motion a dizzying investigation to find her killer. Leading the search is detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos), a stressed cop ready to hang up the badge until she’s called up for one last case. At her side is the rookie Stephen Holder (Kinnaman), another detective with a rocky past of his own. Together, this misfit pair must work together to uncover the truth behind the crime, all while an upcoming election for the city’s next mayor hangs ominously over the case.

With a double dose of haunted heroes, “The Killing” is “Task” on steroids. It’s also a stunning thriller and one of the best crime dramas in recent memory, with a story that mixes different elements into a blended smoothie of mystery and suspense.

“Task” debuted on HBO Max in September of 2025 and, right away, earned comparisons to another streaming crime drama, “Untamed.” Yes, it’s about a moody investigator on the trail of a diabolical criminal. “Untamed” is a Netflix original from earlier in the same year, and some would later call “Task” HBO’s answer to its success. Just to add an extra layer of comparison, this one also stars a former “Hulk” actor. In this case, it’s Eric Bana, who took a turn as Bruce Banner in Ang Lee’s 2003 version.

Against the backdrop of Yosemite National Park, one of the world’s greatest examples of natural beauty, something ugly is brewing. A body turns up dead under a sheer rock face, and the unusual details surrounding its discovery immediately begin raising questions — the most sinister of which is the potential for foul play. With the body unidentified, agent Kyle Turner (Bana), a grizzled ranger who never got over the death of his son, is put on the case. But the deeper he digs into the mystery, the more the case starts bringing up ghosts from his past.

With a lead investigator still grieving from a tragic loss and difficult criminal investigation, it’s easy to see why some make comparisons to “Task.” Those comparisons are apt, and not just because of their shared story points. Both shows are sobering dramas about how love, loss, and grief can forever change even the toughest of us.

Moving back to the British Isles where the brooding police drama is an entire genre unto itself, “Happy Valley” leads the way after “Broadchurch.” Detective Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is still struggling with a family tragedy, and one that is arguably even worse than the death of a spouse. Here, it’s the loss of her daughter that’s weighing on them — along with the heavy duty of being a grandmother to a child conceived by rape –  as she goes back to work as a police sergeant in West Yorkshire.

Despite its upbeat title (a sour joke about the town’s drug issues), “Happy Valley” is a tough watch, with difficult, even uncomfortable themes. It’s a powerful story about a cop whose daughter was the victim of a sexual assault years before, a trauma that eventually led to suicide. Now, the veteran officer Cawood is investigating a kidnapping plot, and she soon comes to believe that one of the suspects may well have a connection to the death of her daughter. It all adds up to one of our best British crime dramas of all time.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Britain isn’t the only member of the Commonwealth where you’ll find a show that will attract fans of “Task.” Up in the Great White North of Canada, there’s the aptly titled “Murder in a Small Town.” Like “Task,” it introduces audiences to an investigator dealing with their own personal problems while working a case.

Set in the picturesque shore town of Gibsons, British Columbia, “Murder in a Small Town” follows Detective Karl Alberg (Rossif Sutherland), the new police chief who’s recently relocated from the American city of Minneapolis. But Alberg’s job as the town’s top cop is complicated by his relationship with Cassandra Lee (Krisin Kreuk), a Gibsons local who doesn’t like that her new partner puts his life on the line every day. She knows Gibsons is much more than the idyllic little village it appears to be. Eventually things get gritty in the town’s seedy underbelly, with murders and more piling up around the pair.

A different kind of show than “Task” with a mystery of the week format, “Murder in a Small Town” nevertheless similarly dives into the dark personal life of its hero cop. It’s one of the most underrated shows on our list.

We did say that Britain had a whole host of shows like “Task” and we weren’t kidding: Next up is the 2015 drama “River,” starring Stellan Skarsgård, another veteran of the Marvel multiverse. The “Thor” star plays yet another grizzled investigator haunted by the death of someone close to him, and whose trauma is hard to handle as he returns to work. But “River” isn’t a single, season-long story. It’s more of a weekly procedural — one with some strange supernatural elements.

Skarsgård stars as Detective John River, a man plagued by voices in his head. But these aren’t delusions, because River has the uncanny ability to speak with the deceased. It’s not an ability he wants, nor one that he particularly enjoys. It’s a gift — or curse — that he uses to help track down the city’s worst criminals. While it may sound gimmicky, like the cast of “Law & Order” crossed over with an episode of “Ghost Hunters,” it all goes deeper than that. The series uses River’s power to commune with the dead to explore his grief over the death of his partner, along with his own trauma.

A series that could have devolved into schlock, “River,” is instead elevated by Skarsgård’s powerhouse performance. That’s much like Mark Ruffalo’s success with “Task,” which could have easily been a by-the-numbers crime drama if anyone else had taken the role.

If it’s Mark Ruffalo that has you hooked on “Task,” then you probably like a strong-jawed, brooding cop who will do whatever it takes to bring down the bad guy. For that, there are few better stars than Titus Welliver, star of the Amazon Prime show “Bosch.” It’s based on a long-running series of thriller novels by Michael Connelly, who also wrote “The Lincoln Lawyer.” That makes this a shared universe, at least on the page. While the upcoming fourth season of “The Lincoln Lawyer” is based on a book that guests Bosch, due to the tangled nature of screen rights, it’s unlikely that Welliver will make an appearance.

In the Amazon series, we meet Harry Bosch (Welliver), an LAPD detective who does things his own way. He’s far from the kind of by-the-book officer we know from classic prime time cop shows. He’s not above breaking the rules to see justice done, and the show’s first season sees him working a murder case involving a young boy. Of course, he’s also facing his own troubles: He’s involved in a controversial police shooting, and is still facing a tough investigation into his actions. It doesn’t make his job any easier.

Buoyed by strong performances from its stellar cast — which includes the late, great Lance Reddick — “Bosch” is as gritty as a cop show gets. It’s also as in-your-face as “Task” when it comes to action.

“Task” is a series about a tortured FBI agent struggling with the darkness of his personal life, and the same can be said of the 2024 Amazon series “American Rust.” Taking its name from its American Rust Belt setting, the series takes place in rural Pennsylvania and focuses on a small town police chief named Del Harris, played by Jeff Daniels. He’s a man with his own past traumas, but this time it’s not a family tragedy. Instead, he’s an Iraq war veteran who has come home from war a changed man, one that struggles to get out of bed every morning.

Shot on location in a struggling town in Pennsylvania, “American Rust” is set in the fictional Buell, where jobs are scarce and the standard of living is low. As a result, crime becomes a means to survive, and that means police chief Harris (Daniels) has plenty on his plate. But when the son of his new love interest is accused of murder, things get personal, and Harris struggles with how to maintain law and order in a place where right and wrong aren’t so easily defined.

As in “Task,” the personal challenges and difficult choices of its lead cop are the focus of the story. As one man fights for justice, he must also fight his inner demons.

Another show to check out if you liked “Task” is the 2019 serial killer thriller “The Following,” which once again features a big screen star in the leading role. This time it’s Kevin Bacon, who stars alongside fellow “X-Men” alum Shawn Ashmore, “Justified” standout Natalie Zea, and James Purefoy. It’s a stunning thriller that will keep you locked in across its three incredible seasons, where nail-biting tension is the order of the day.

Created by Kevin Williamson, the screenwriter who launched the “Scream” franchise, “The Following” puts “Footloose” favorite Bacon into the role of FBI agent Ryan Hardy. He’s on the trail of a notorious serial killer, and he might be the one man capable of catching him. Hardy’s never afraid to bend the moral bars of justice in order to stop a diabolical killer. Even more fascinating is the show’s second season, which sees Hardy working side-by-side with the most unlikely of allies on a new case.

Just like Tom Brandis, Hardy is an FBI agent willing to do whatever it takes to catch a crook. With sometimes excessive amounts of blood and violence, “The Following” will have you riveted in between sporadic peeks between your fingers.

If you’re looking for a show with a dedicated investigator who feels a tremendous sense of loss and guilt, “Dept Q.” is the latest show we can recommend. A Netflix original that debuted just a few months before “Task,” it stars Matthew Goode as a skilled detective named Carl Morck. But Morck’s dark past has nothing to do with family. Instead, it’s the loss of a fellow officer during a police shooting in which he was responsible — a shooting that also paralyzed his own partner.

Based on a series of novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen, “Dept. Q” sees Morck coming back to work after some time off to deal with the fallout of the shooting, which means he’s been mandated to see a therapist. His return to work also comes with a twist, as Morck is handed a new assignment, leading a cold case task force. Though he has few resources, Morck does have the help of Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), a civilian who aids in his quest to solve a case involving a missing person.

Just as Brandis throws himself into the investigation of a bank heist to distract from his own troubles, Morck becomes obsessed with solving the crimes nobody else could. Yup, there are a lot of troubled detectives out there to pick from, all for our fascinated entertainment.