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Shows Like Underground

If you enjoyed Underground, should consider this hand-picked list which questions the purpose and weight of our choices while grounding the story in targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a compelling continuation of these themes.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

The Underground Railroad
7.2

The Underground Railroad

2021

Follow young Cora’s journey as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping her Georgia plantation for the rumored Underground Railroad, Cora discovers no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.

Roots
7.4

Roots

1977

The epic tale of celebrated Pulitzer-prize winning author Alex Haley's ancestors as portrayed in the acclaimed twelve hour mini-series Roots, was first told in his 1976 bestseller Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The docu-drama covers a period of history that begins in mid-1700s Gambia, West Africa and concludes during post-Civil War United States, over 100 years later. This 1977 miniseries eventually won 9 Emmy awards, a Golden Globe award, and a Peabody award, and still stands as the most watched miniseries in U.S. history.

The Book of Negroes
6.5

The Book of Negroes

2015

Kidnapped in Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate a revolution in New York, isolation in Nova Scotia and treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone, in an attempt to secure her freedom in the 19th century.

Queen Sugar
7.7

Queen Sugar

2016

Two sisters, Nova Bordelon and Charley Bordelon, with her teenage son Micah moves to the heart of Louisiana to claim an inheritance from her recently departed father - an 800-acre sugarcane farm.

Upstairs, Downstairs
7.8

Upstairs, Downstairs

1971

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.

Roots
6.9

Roots

2016

An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots", chronicling the history of an African slave, Kunta Kinte sold to America and his descendants.

The Blue and the Gray
6.7

The Blue and the Gray

1982

The Blue and the Gray is a television miniseries that first aired on CBS in three installments on November 14, November 16, and November 17, 1982. Set during the American Civil War, the series starred John Hammond, Stacy Keach, Lloyd Bridges, and Gregory Peck as President Abraham Lincoln. It was executive produced by Larry White and Lou Reda, in association with Columbia Pictures Television, then owned by The Coca-Cola Company.

Julia
7.3

Julia

2022

Through Julia Child’s life and her singular joie de vivre, the series explores a pivotal time in American history – the emergence of public television as a new social institution, feminism and the women's movement, the nature of celebrity and America's cultural evolution.

More Shows Like Underground

Tell Me Lies
7.5

Tell Me Lies

2022

When Lucy Albright and Stephen DeMarco meet at college, they are at that formative age when seemingly mundane choices lead the way to irrevocable consequences. They quickly fall into an addictive entanglement that will permanently alter not only their lives, but the lives of everyone around them.

Downton Abbey
8.1

Downton Abbey

2010

A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.

Taboo
7.9

Taboo

2017

Adventurer James Keziah Delaney returns to London from Africa in 1814 along with fourteen stolen diamonds to seek vengeance after the death of his father.

Atlanta
8.0

Atlanta

2016

Two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.

Tyler Perry's Sistas
8.4

Tyler Perry's Sistas

2019

There's nothing that bonds a group of single black women together more than sidestepping the land mines of living, working and dating in Atlanta. In a sea of swipe-lefts, social media drama and unrealistic #relationshipgoals, these friends try to find their Mr. Right.

Sweet Magnolias
7.7

Sweet Magnolias

2020

Lifelong friends Maddie, Helen and Dana Sue lift each other up as they juggle relationships, family and careers in the small Southern town of Serenity.

Alex Haley's Queen
7.0

Alex Haley's Queen

1993

Queen is the story about Easter, the illegitimate daughter of James Jackson, III and her lifelong affair with plantation owner Tim Daly, which would result in the birth of Queen. Queen's story revolves around her early years as a slave who yearns to know who her father is, and her condition as a fair skin mixed race woman who spends her life trying to figure out where exactly she fits in.

Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots
7.5

Tyler Perry's The Haves and the Have Nots

2013

Follow the complicated dynamic between the rich and powerful Cryer family and the hired help who work in their opulent Savannah, Georgia, mansion.

Chapelwaite
7.3

Chapelwaite

2021

In the 1850s, Captain Charles Boone relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine after his wife dies at sea. Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family’s sordid history, and fight to end the darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations.

Snowpiercer
7.4

Snowpiercer

2020

More than seven years after the world has become a frozen wasteland, the remnants of humanity inhabit a gigantic, perpetually-moving train that circles the globe as class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out.

Star
8.0

Star

2016

Star is a tough-as-nails young woman who came up in the foster care system and decides one day to take control of her destiny. She tracks down her sister, Simone, and her Instagram bestie, Alexandra, and together, the trio journeys to Atlanta with the hope of becoming music superstars.

The Clearing
6.5

The Clearing

2023

When a local girl goes missing, a woman is forced to face the demons from her traumatic childhood.

Why These Shows Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Underground (2016): Drama themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of Underground.

See full details for Underground (2016)

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