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Shows Like Roots

Looking for more content like Roots, will find these recommendations questions the purpose and weight of our choices while maintaining targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a solid addition to your watchlist.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

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.

Shōgun
7.6

Shōgun

1980

An English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in complex political games in feudal Japan.

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.

Black Sails
7.6

Black Sails

2014

The pirate adventures of Captain Flint and his men twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic “Treasure Island.” Flint, the most brilliant and most feared pirate captain of his day, takes on a fast-talking young addition to his crew who goes by the name John Silver. Threatened with extinction on all sides, they fight for the survival of New Providence Island, the most notorious criminal haven of its day – a debauched paradise teeming with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers, a place defined by both its enlightened ideals and its stunning brutality.

Shōgun
8.4

Shōgun

2024

In Japan in the year 1600, at the dawn of a century-defining civil war, Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village.

Most Dangerous Game
6.9

Most Dangerous Game

2020

Desperate to take care of his pregnant wife before a terminal illness can take his life, Dodge Maynard accepts an offer to participate in a deadly game where he soon discovers that he’s not the hunter but the prey.

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.

Washington Black
6.0

Washington Black

2025

11-year-old George Washington "Wash" Black embarks on a globe-trotting journey of identity after fleeing a Barbados sugar plantation aboard a flying machine in the company of his master’s eccentric inventor brother.

More Shows Like Roots

Sanditon
7.6

Sanditon

2019

The spirited and impulsive Charlotte Heywood moves from her rural home to Sanditon, a fishing village attempting to reinvent itself as a seaside resort.

Underground
6.6

Underground

2016

A group of slaves plan a daring 600-mile escape from a Georgia plantation. Along the way, they are aided by a secret abolitionist couple running a station on the Underground Railroad as they attempt to evade the people charged with bringing them back, dead or alive.

Roots: The Next Generations
7.5

Roots: The Next Generations

1979

Roots: The Next Generations is a television miniseries, introduced in 1979, continuing, from 1882 to the 1960s, the fictionalized story of the family of Alex Haley and their life in Henning, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, USA. This sequel to the 1977 miniseries is based on the last seven chapters of Haley's novel entitled Roots: The Saga of an American Family plus additional material by Haley. Roots: The Next Generations was produced with a budget of $16.6 million, nearly three times as large as that of the original.

New Worlds
6.1

New Worlds

2014

New Worlds is a four-part 2014 British television drama serial created by Peter Flannery and Martine Brant, a follow-up to their 2008 series The Devil's Whore, produced by Company Pictures for Channel 4. During the turbulent Restoration period of the 1600s, young, idealistic renegade Abe Goffe is determined to fight for England to become a true republic. A romantic at heart, he falls for privileged Beth—daughter of Countess of Abingdon Angelica Fanshawe—and brings her into his quest for a new future, transforming her from the innocent young woman she starts out as.

The Day of the Jackal
8.2

The Day of the Jackal

2024

An unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.

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.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox
6.8

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

2025

Amanda Knox arrives in Italy for her study abroad only to be wrongfully imprisoned for murder weeks later. Follow Knox's relentless fight to prove her innocence and reclaim her freedom and examines why authorities and the world stood so firmly in judgment.

The Slap
5.9

The Slap

2015

Hector and his wife Aisha plan a party for family and friends, but the day doesn't turn out as they expected when Hector's hot-headed cousin Harry slaps a misbehaving child. The party ends abruptly with the child's parents threatening legal action, and a chain of events is ignited that will uncover secrets, challenge core values, and leave the party guests and hosts forever changed.

Poldark
7.7

Poldark

2015

Britain is in the grip of a chilling recession... falling wages, rising prices, civil unrest - only the bankers are smiling. It's 1783 and Ross Poldark returns from the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall to find his world in ruins: his father dead, the family mine long since closed, his house wrecked and his sweetheart pledged to marry his cousin. But Ross finds that hope and love can be found when you are least expecting it in the wild but beautiful Cornish landscape.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles
7.5

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

2008

The story of Tess Durbeyfield, a low-born country girl whose family find they have noble connections.

Banshee: Origins
8.3

Banshee: Origins

2013

Banshee: Origins is a series of webisodes based on the American drama television series produced by Cinemax called Banshee. The series offers flashbacks in-between the time where Lucas Hood was arrested and when Sheriff Lucas Hood first arrived in Banshee.

The Long Song
6.7

The Long Song

2018

Set during the final days of slavery in 19th century Jamaica, we follow the trials, tribulations and survival of plantation slave July and her odious mistress Caroline.

Why These Shows Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Roots (2016): Drama and Action & Adventure 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 Roots.

See full details for Roots (2016)

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