Looking for new period movies and tv shows to watch? I’ve got you covered. Here are the 10 best period dramas (streaming and in theaters) that have released in 2026 (so far), from the oldest period setting to the most recent.
The Odyssey (Christopher Nolan)
Circa 1200 BCE Mediterranean Sea
As I said in my article, Is Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY Movie Really That Good? Yes, rather than summarize this epic poem that you should have read in high school and college if you went, I’m going to assume that you have a working knowledge of at least the events in The Iliad and The Odyssey. Still, I had many concerns going into The Odyssey film adaptation. What could you possibly add to improve a millennia-year-old story? Why do you need to adapt it again?
But that’s the thing about an epic poem… after the actual events, whatever they were, The Odyssey was told and retold for between two to five hundred years before it was ever written down, and every single storyteller altered it for their audience. The epithet “Sing in me, muse,” wasn’t just for the bards to buy time while they collected their thoughts: it was literally asking for fresh inspiration on the same very old story.
So, retelling the story for a new audience is the nature of this beast. That is what happened for the next 2700 years or so, but this time in writing, and through translation. This movie is a retelling of an ancient story for a new audience. The important things are consistent, but it interprets The Odyssey to an adjacent purpose. It provides a fresh perspective—plus a fresh medium.
The Odyssey is available to rent or buy on Prime Streaming or Apple TV.
Wicker (written and directed by Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson)
Medieval Europe
As I’ve said in the article Wicker Brings the Fable to Life, it’s medieval, Europe when the ostracized and smelly Fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) grows tired of her town’s ridicule and her own loneliness, she travels out to the Basketmaker (Peter Dinklage) with a special request: make me a husband out of wicker. He tells her to be at the chapel in one month, where her new Wicker Husband (Alexander Skarsgård) will marry her.
The Wicker Husband is basically a masculine Galatea in that the whole town is absolutely entranced by his beauty and sincerity, but they also grow wildly jealous of his kindness and his unflinching love for his new wife.
It’s an incredible adaptation from story to screen.
Wicker releases in theaters Friday, 23 October.
The Death of Robin Hood (Michael Sarnoski)
13th century Yorkshire and greater England
Credit: Aidan Monaghan
Courtesy of A24
As I’ve said in a previous article, Legendary Folk Horror Retribution in The Death of Robin Hood Movie, Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman), some fifteen years after his killing sprees, is now an older—still very fit—wanderer. He rambles the mountains of northern England alone, maybe on the lam, brooding on his successes as a murderer and bandit. Robin seems to despair of never dying in a fight. Little John (Bill Skarsgård) has meanwhile made a new life for himself as “Edward” the farmer, in which he married Margaret with red hair like “the setting summer sun,” and had a daughter.
Somehow, Little John’s true identity has been discovered, and a group of men seeking vengeance for deaths of their kin have commandeered his house, wife, and daughter. He needs Robin Hood’s help to free them. Robin agrees to help, but gets horribly wounded in the fight. Little John drops Robin Hood at the door of an island Priory, where the Prioress (Jodie Comer) will nurse him back to health against his will… and Robin Hood will have to reflect on all his atrocities.
I loved the spin on the legend of Robin Hood, and I recommend this film to anyone who likes justice served.
The Death of Robin Hood is now streaming on HBO.
Blood of My Blood
1714 Inverness-shire, Scotland
If you enjoyed Outlander (or, honestly, even if you haven’t) this period drama television series is truly worth the investment. It’s a prequel, so you can jump in without having already watched eight seasons. You just might miss some Easter eggs. Here’s the premise:
Married English couple Julia (Hermione Corfield) and Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine) are driving through Inverness-shire in the Scottish Highlands after the Great War when their car crashes. They stumble toward an ancient standing stone, and when they touch it, they are transported through time back to 1714… and into the dramas between the clans of Ellen Mackenzie (Harriet Slater) and Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy). So, technically, it’s a double period piece! The plot gets romantic—and real sloppy—real quick. It’s a true delight, both for the many sex scenes and the vivid history and landscapes playing visually.
You can watch all of Blood of My Blood Season 1 on Starz, and new episodes of Season 2 release every Friday.
Sense & Sensibility (directed by Georgia Oakley and written by Diana Reid)
1790s Devonshire, England
From what I understand, die-hard fans of the 1995 BBC adaptation will not want this, 2026 adaptation, but such is the case with any retread. Still, Jane Austen’s Regency-Era masterpiece novel, Sense & Sensibility can’t never be brought to the big screen (again), and in my opinion, the film held was largely faithful to the original novel. It’s a romantic comedy, yes, but more important than the marital relationships is the relationship between the sisters Elinor (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Marianne (Esmé Creed-Miles)
When Mr. Henry Dashwood dies, all of his wealth and estate goes to his eldest son with the expectation that John will provide for Henry’s surviving second wife Mrs. Dashwood (Caitriona Balfe) and their three daughters. He intends to, until his wife Fanny persuades him instead to dole out a pittance and eject them from their home, Norland Park. While they’re getting ready to move, Elinor falls in love with Fanny’s brother, Edward Ferrars (George MacKay).
With the assistance of distant cousin Mrs. Jennings (Fiona Shaw), Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters have to finally move to a small house in Devon, which removes Elinor from Mr. Ferrars (though he promises to visit), wild and free Marianne falls in love with a gentleman visiting the country, Mr. Willoughby (Frank Dillane). Although Mrs. Jennings has every intention of finding suitable husbands for all three Dashwood girls, things don’t shake out the way one would expect.
Sense & Sensibility released in theaters on Friday, October 16.
“Wuthering Heights” (Emerald Fennell)
Late 1700s, Yorkshire, England
Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of (the first half of) Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights takes many creative liberties, and Fennell has said it’s basically a “loosely inspired by film.” It is, in actuality, a love story between Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) and Cathy (Margot Robbie). Unlike the novel, none of the original themes of racism, class rage, nor incest among the aristocracy are involved. Instead, Cathy falls in love with Heathcliff as a little girl, and because of a misunderstanding, they’re kept apart.
If you know you’re a purist, though, and you’re unwilling to accept any creative license, you won’t enjoy any adaptation. My favorite element was the Isabella Linton’s Liberation.
Wuthering Heights is now streaming on Prime Streaming and HBO.
The Bride (Maggie Gyllenhaal)
1930s Chicago
Image provided by Warner Bros.
As I’ve said in a previous feature, Mary Shelley (played by Jessie Buckley) has been waiting in some sort of hellish limbo to tell more of the Frankenstein story than she could include in her novel. Shelley chooses to possess a 1930s gangster’s moll, Ida (also played by Jessie Buckley, in homage to the 1935 film in which Elsa Lancaster plays both roles, as well, I assume). And the identity of Shelley’s new monster is the main question of the film. Shelley says she’ll continue to call her Ida, “until she finds her own name.”
This film is ambitious, but with Sandy Powell costuming, Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale starring, and a genre crossover between horror, noir, classic monster, and even a dash of Golden Hollywood Musical, this film is a damn delight. I’ll recommend it to anyone with taste.
The Bride is now streaming on HBO.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (Tom Harper)
1940 Birmingham, England
As I said in A Hero’s Journey with a Warrior’s Ending Explained, if you’ve seen the television show, Peaky Blinders, then you know it chronicles Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy)’s rise as rushes from adrenaline high to high. He rigs horse races and takes illegal bets while dodging both the police and the IRA. It shows him partnering with the London gangsters like Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy) and Darby Sabini (Noah Taylor) as he recklessly noses in on their clearly delineated territory so he can supply alcohol to Prohibition Era America—and that’s a fun inversion for viewers like me, who love to romanticize organize crime, seeing the British side of the supply chain. Peaky Blinders also shows encounters with the “White Russians” who want their aristocratic positions back and can only pay for contract kills with smuggled (cursed) jewels. We even get a season where the Shelbys dodge Italian Americans’ (Adrien Brody) vendetta, and a season when Tommy Shelby holds for political office as the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham South.
The Immortal Man’s plot begins: it’s 1940, and Tommy has isolated himself in his country house while England fights World War II. Only Johnny Dogs (Packy Lee) and Ada (Sophie Rundle) bother to try to bring him back into the world—there’s no Polly to tough-love sense into him anymore. His illegitimate Gypsy son, Erasmus/Duke (Barry Keoghan) is running the Peaky Blinders gang, just as brutal as Tommy with one key difference: Duke has zero allegiance to anyone, but he does have the same passive suicidal ideation. Makes sense, as his father only recently acknowledged his paternity and rather than being an actual father, he throws money at him. But back to that key difference. Unlike Tommy, Duke doesn’t even pretend to have any integrity. He says to the English Nazi, “The world don’t give a shit about me, and I don’t give a shit about the world.”
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is now streaming on Netflix
Wild Horse Nine (Martin McDonagh)
1973 Easter Island
Just before the 1973 Chilean coup, which they orchestrated, veteran CIA agents, Lee (Sam Rockwell) and Chris (John Malkovich) are dispatched by their bureau chief MJ (Steve Buscemi) from Santiago to Easter Island. Wild Horse Nine is a dark comedy, as Martin McDonagh is known for, which means that after a lifetime of cold, ruthless work in behind-the-scenes global politics, we enter the narrative on Chris’ last days of terminal cancer. It is a comedy, though, so rather than a Shakespearean soliloquy, we get bantering dialogue among the jaded, swearing men.
Facing death, and the Catholic afterlife, he’s forced to reckon with all the horrors he’s done. Especially when he meets beautiful, Chilean, Marxist, rebel, feminist students (Mariana di Girolamo and Ailín Salas)… then he really wants to atone, which, of course, sends everything into free fall.
If this film sounds similar to McDonagh’s earlier movie, In Bruges, it’s because they are very similar. To me, Wild Horse Nine is a heavy rewrite of In Bruges, but as somewhat of a political thriller.
Wild Horse Nine releases in theaters on Friday, November 6.
Tony (Matt Johnson)
1975 Cape Cod, U.S.A.
As I summarized in my article, If you love Anthony Bourdain’s books, then you’ll love TONY, if you’ve revisited Kitchen Confidential recently, you’ll recognize that quote from the “First Course” section entitled “Food Is Sex.” This whole film Tony is set between pages 17 and 35 of that 300+ page book, but I don’t mean that as a negative critique: I see Tony as an expansion of the most famous, begrudgingly celebrity chef’s origin story.
This film is the part of “Tony” (Dominic Sessa)’s life in which he flounders at his Ivy League school, wanders to Cape Cod lovestruck after a girl (Emilia Jones), and ends up grinding in a kitchen… which he ends up loving.
Tony will soon release to streaming, but is available to rent or buy on Prime Streaming or Apple TV.
If you enjoyed this article, then you’ll probably like these, too:
—The Best Period Pieces to Watch this Winter
—Legendary Folk Horror Retribution in THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD Movie (Explained)
—THE IMMORTAL MAN Peaky Blinders Movie Plot Summary and Analysis: A Hero’s Journey with a Warrior’s Ending Explained
