In many ways, the art of making a great miniseries is to leave the audience wanting more. The art of securing a lasting legacy for a miniseries can reside in resistance, as fans and critics alike call for more despite the story running its course. Of course, not every limited series made has shown such resolve, and it has resulted in many shows that thrived with their first, self-contained season only to lose the plot as they try to expand the narrative.
The creators of the miniseries that don’t cave in to such external pressure and fanfare deserve commendation for their conviction in their storytelling triumphing over the lure of more audience engagement and, presumably, more money. Not only an admirable showing of artistic integrity, but such resolve has also established many of the greatest feats the medium has ever seen, with everything from gripping war drama to superhero suspense, romantic tragedy, and absorbing crime mystery included among the miniseries that are made better by not having ensuing seasons.
10
‘The Penguin’ (2024)
Image via HBO
As both a concentrated, isolated story of criminal ambition and a gripping and complex expansion on the world of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, HBO’s The Penguin soars as one of the most captivating miniseries of the decade so far. Set amid the chaos, destruction, and disorder following the events of The Batman, the eight-part limited series focuses on organized crime enforcer Oswald Cobb (Colin Farrell) as he rises to become the kingpin of crime in Gotham City.
By tracking the story through to Cobb’s acquisition of power, and by virtue of the character’s storied criminal empire in the “Batman” comic books, it would have been incredibly easy to cave to the temptation to make The Penguin an ongoing series. However, with the finale ending on the perfect note to reaffirm Cobb’s ruthless amorality and callous inhumanity, the miniseries alone delivers the perfect spin-off to The Batman as it darkens the story world of the movie, but it also serves as a faultless character study of criminal ambition, power, violence, and want.
9
‘Normal People’ (2020)
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Image via Hulu
An enrapturing portrait of the magic and angst of young love, Normal People delivers a ravishing teen romance bolstered by the infectious chemistry between stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones. The 12-part miniseries follows the two lovers as their secretive high school relationship grows strained as they both try to decide what they want to do in life and begin to realize they may have to decide between their aspirations and their romance.
Mature, grounded, and completely empathetic to both parties, Normal People balances the tragedy and heartbreak of first love with a sense of illuminating vulnerability that extends humanity to both characters’ plights. Despite the series serving as an adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, the desire for a second season was abundant, and it even came to a boiling point when Mescal and Edgar-Jones’ cryptic advertisement for a charity event was misconstrued as being a teasing hint at a follow-up season. While the stars and director Lenny Abrahamson have expressed interest in returning to the story in the future, the series in isolation stands as a beautiful, all-encompassing immersion in the fragility and volatility of teenage romance.
8
‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)
Image via ©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
Over the course of the past decade, Mike Flanagan has established himself as a spearhead of modern horror television through several acclaimed miniseries productions with Netflix. While many of his projects have been adaptations, and therefore contained to a degree by the breadth of the source material’s story, Midnight Mass could have evolved into anything as it marked Flanagan’s first original narrative in the form.
Furthermore, the story could easily have been extended into a multi-series plotline as it unfolds in a small island town as the arrival of a new priest brings much-needed miracles but gives rise to ghastly horror by night as well. Its seven-episode arc proves to be perfect, though, not only because it enables the story to run with a concentrated beginning, middle, and end, but because it allows for focused thematic exploration of faith, forgiveness, and mortality as well. There are many who herald Midnight Mass as being one of the greatest TV productions of the past decade, and while Mike Flanagan himself toyed with a second season, the standalone miniseries imbued the show with integrity and impact.
7
‘Chernobyl’ (2019)
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