15 Best Starz Original Shows To Binge Immediately

While you might be familiar with huge streamers like Netflix, Hulu, Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Peacock, just to name a few, don't forget that Starz, the premium cable network, also has its own streaming service featuring a ton of great TV shows. In fact, a fair amount of the shows on Starz — which has been around since 1994 and launched its complimentary streaming service in 2016 — are proprietary to the platform, so you can't watch them anywhere else, and we're here to tell you that these are some shows you definitely want to watch.

From sprawling historical dramas to irreverent comedies to smaller stories that serve as character studies, there are a whole bunch of solid Starz originals you can stream right now. Here are 15 of our picks.

Even if you're not that familiar with Starz, you've probably heard of "Outlander," the network's massive hit series based on the novel series by Diana Gabaldon. In the first episode of the show — which is helmed by Ronald D. Moore — we meet Caitríona Balfe's Claire Randall, a combat nurse who provided medical services during World War II and visits Scotland with her husband Frank (Tobias Menzies) in 1945. When she approaches a "standing stone" on a hill called Craigh na Dun and touches it, Claire is sent back in time to the mid-1700s where she meets a handsome man named Jamie Frasher (Sam Heughan) and ends up stuck there.

"Outlander" flits back and forth through time pretty consistently, but throughout it all, you can stick with Claire and keep track of her many adventures; obviously, Claire's romance with Jamie is the show's big draw. If you love time travel, sweeping romances, and historical dramas, "Outlander" is perfect for you.

"Are we having fun yet?" That's the line that made Adam Scott's "Party Down" protagonist Henry Pollard mildly famous for a beer commercial — but when the audience meets Henry, he's a struggling and aspiring "serious" actor who takes a job with a catering company to make ends meet. There, he meets Party Down's painfully peppy team leader Ron Wayne Donald (a gloriously committed Ken Marino), comedian and actress Casey Klein (Lizzy Caplan), pretty boy and absolute dullard Kyle Bradway (Ryan Hansen), and would-be sci-fi writer Roman DeBeers (Martin Starr). (Throughout the series, Jane Lynch and Megan Mulally also play Party Down caterers — Constance Carmell and Lydia Dunfree, respectively — who float in and out, depending on Lynch and Mullally's busy schedules.)

"Party Down," which returned to Starz for a revival in 2023 that also featured Jennifer Garner and Zoë Chao alongside much of the original cast, is a deeply funny, weird, and slightly dark comedy that takes the Party Down crew to various (and bizarre) events in each individual episode, from a sweet sixteen that goes horribly wrong to an afterparty for adult film awards. Do you like laughing? You'll like "Party Down."

Based on creator Katori Hall's play — called "P*ssy Valley" — the Starz original "P-Valley" shortens the name for TV but keeps the same irreverent, brash tone as Hall's original work as it tells the story of Black women working at a strip club in rural Mississippi (in a specific fictional town called Chucalissa located in the state's Delta). Led by the femme, nonbinary Uncle Clifford Sayles (Nicco Annan), who owns The Pynk and oversees everything that happens there, dancers do their jobs while dreaming of new opportunities — like Mercedes Woodbine (Brandee Evans), who wants to open a dance gym of her own — but some, like Keyshawn Harris (Shannon Thornton), known as "Miss Mississippi," works at The Pynk to hopefully gain financial independence from her toxic partner.

"P-Valley" is a rare series on a major network that gives a spotlight to women whose stories aren't typically told — specifically, queer women of color in sex work — which makes it unsurprising that it's picked up awards from organizations like "GLAAD" since it kicked off its run in 2020. You should absolutely take some time to check out "P-Valley," which features incredibly strong performances; plus, if you're a huge "Grey's Anatomy" fan with a Starz subscription, both Adele Webber and Preston Burke — Loretta Devine and Isaiah Washington — appear on the show.

Need a healthy dose of female rage as we enter the back half of the 2020s? Here's some good news: "Sweetpea" is a Starz original focused on that very concept, and after a successful first season, it was renewed for a second. 2024 was a big year for British actress Ella Purnell — from her lead role in Amazon's super-successful "Fallout" series to her continued guest appearances in the Showtime hit "Yellowjackets" — and "Sweetpea," adapted from a novel by CJ Skuse, is yet another notch in her acting belt as she plays the lead role of Rhiannon Lewis, a young woman working as an assistant at a paper in a small English town. Though her condescending boss Norman (Jeremy Swift) calls her "Sweetpea" due to her seemingly meek nature, Rhiannon is absolutely chock-full of rage — and when her father Tommy (David Bark-Jones) dies suddenly in the pilot, her entire world is thrown off course.

Without her supportive and kind father to put a stop to any wrongdoings, Rhiannon is on the warpath and basically mows her way through a list of enemies, creating a series that's deeply satisfying, full of clever twists and turns, and beautifully acted — particularly by Purnell. Her previous projects have proven that Purnell is an actor to watch as her star continues to rise, so why not watch her in "Sweetpea?"

Based on Lisa Taddeo's debut nonfiction book of the same name (which hit shelves in 2019), "Three Women" is an in-depth look at the lives of — you guessed it! — three very different women living across the United States, all of whom are discovering themselves and their sexuality. The key to "Three Women," on both page and screen, is the fact that Taddeo traveled the U.S. herself to really develop the characters, speaking to women across the country along the way; in the end, she put a trio of women named Lina, Maggie, and Sloane in her book. 

On the series, which is produced by Taddeo, Shailene Woodley plays Gia (based on Taddeo herself) alongside DeWanda Wise as Sloane, Gabrielle Creevey as Lina, and Betty Gilpin as Maggie, exploring their stories as they lead radically different romantic lives and as Gia convinces them to share their stories. With a supporting cast that includes Blair Underwood, John Patrick Amedori, Lola Kirke, and Fred Savage, "Three Women" — which only spans one season as a miniseries — is a must-watch if you want to watch women's stories told honestly and bluntly on the small screen, and Creevey, Wise, Gilpin, and Woodley are phenomenal as the four leads.

In 2018, Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs — the latter of whom won a Tony Award two years prior for originating the dual role of the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in "Hamilton" — made their joint directorial debut with "Blindspotting," a film that tracks a recent parolee over a few days after he witnesses a police shooting. In the movie, Jasmine Cephas-Jones, who also played two roles in "Hamilton" alongside Diggs (specifically, Peggy Schuyler in Act 1 and Maria Reynolds in Act 2), plays Ashley, the mother of Miles' (Casal) son and his partner; when "Blindspotting" made its way to Starz in a series, it focused on Ashley instead of Miles and Collin (Diggs).

Casal stars on the series with Cephas-Jones — with Diggs on hand as a recurring player — that chronicles Ashley's life after Miles is sent to prison and she and their son have to move in with Miles' mother Rainey (Helen Hunt) and half-sister Trish (Jaylen Barron, known for "Shameless"). Whether you love the "Blindspotting" movie or you're going into the "Blindspotting" TV show completely blind, this series is excellent thanks to Cephas-Jones, and it came to an end in 2023 after two seasons.

Another series adapted from a film, "The Girlfriend Experience" first came into existence in 2009 with director Steven Soderbergh at the helm; in 2016, Soderbergh served as an executive producer of an anthology series of the same name for Starz that would focus on different high-end escorts across multiple seasons. In Season 1, Riley Keough — who would later make waves with her starring role in "Daisy Jones & the Six" — plays Christine Reade, a law school student who ends up working as a high-end escort after a friend gets her involved in the business. Season 2 changes things up and introduces two parallel stories — one centers around Erica (Anna Friel) and Anna (Louisa Krause) as two women in politics who blackmail a powerful man, and the other focuses on Bria (Carmen Ejogo), a woman who enters Witness Protection with her son and changes her name to Sarah Day before she puts her new identity at risk by returning to work as an escort. 

The third and final season of "The Girlfriend Experience," which saw showrunners Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz step aside and Anja Marquardt take over, Julia Goldani Telles stars as Iris, a college dropout who moves to London and tries to break into the tech industry before becoming an escort. "The Girlfriend Experience" is thrilling, sexy, and twisted, and with three radically different seasons, you're sure to love at least one.

Created by Courtney B. Kemp and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, "Power" — which spawned a franchise on Starz — launched on the premium network in 2014, focusing on James St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick), a powerful drug dealer living in New York who dreams of opening a nightclub and living a much quieter and safer life with his wife. Alongside his childhood best friend Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora), James opens a club in the city called Truth — which serves the dual purpose of being a money-laundering front for all of James' illegal income — and while Tommy handles the drug trade, James tries to straighten up and fly right. That proves more difficult than James anticipated, and as far as his personal life is concerned, things get a little out of control when James' childhood sweetheart Angela Valdes (Lela Loren) returns to his life, complicating his relationship with his wife Tasha (Naturi Naughton).

Not only is "Power" one of the highest-rated and most-watched shows in Starz' entire history, it ended up creating a full-on universe even after the original series ended in 2020. "Power Book II: Ghost" ran from 2021 to 2024, "Power Book III: Raising Kanan" launched in 2021, and "Power Book IV: Force" kicked off in 2022 — and at this point, it seems like the "Power" Cinematic Universe will keep going strong for quite some time.

In 2014, every network that wasn't HBO was desperately trying to create a fantastical world to rival "Game of Thrones," and it's fair to say that the Starz original series "Black Sails" was a byproduct of the height of "Game of Thrones" related mania. That year, the network launched the series, meant as a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "Treasure Island," which also brings real historical figures and names into the mix as it tells the story of pirates duking it out on the seven seas. 

We first meet Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) in the pilot when sailor John Silver (Luke Arnold) joins his crew aboard the Walrus just as a mutiny is about to rise and cause problems for Flint; as if that's not enough to deal with, there are battles to be fought against opposing pirate ships out at sea. Throughout the rest of the series, various pirates try to join together to create a Republic of Pirates, but infighting typically waylays that goal. "Black Sails" ran from 2014 to 2017, and if you haven't checked it out, it's waiting for you on Starz now.

Not every Starz original series is a huge, action-packed epic — like the brilliantly written and insightful series "Vida," which ran for three seasons on the network between 2018 and 2020. Sisters Lynda "Lyn" (Melissa Barrera) and Emma Hernandez (Mishel Prada) are living in San Francisco and Chicago, respectively, when the series begins; the pilot sees both Lyn and Emma come back to their childhood neighborhood — Boyle Heights, Los Angeles — after their mother's death. As the two try and grapple with their loss, they decide to sell the family-run bar, only to discover that their mother's apparent lover Edwina "Eddy" Martínez (Ser Anzoategui) absolutely won't allow that.

Barrera and Prada have a phenomenal rapport on-screen, and throughout "Vida's" three seasons, they run the bar in Los Angeles and rediscover themselves amidst their grief. "Vida" is phenomenal, and you won't regret binging all three seasons.

It could be argued that there aren't enough shows out there focusing on the world of professional wrestling — a theatrical endeavor in and of itself — and in 2021, Starz attempted to fill that void with "Heels," a series created by Michael Waldron ("Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness") which stars Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig. In case you're not familiar, the title refers to a "heel," meaning a wrestling "villain" — and in the fictional dynamic in "Heels," Amell's Jack Space is the "heel" in the Duffy Wrestling League, while his younger brother Ace (Ludwig) is the "face," or hero of the wrestling narrative.

The two duke it out during matches in Georgia as they try to keep their father's legacy alive — their dad was a major wrestling figure — but despite their pre-planned roles as "heel" and "face," Jack and Ace's fights don't always go as planned. Unfortunately, "Heels" only ran for two seasons, but they're absolutely both worth watching on Starz.

Based on both real-life events in British history and a series of novels by Philippa Gregory, "The White Queen" — a joint venture between Starz and BBC One — tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville (future "Dune" star Rebecca Ferguson), a woman of middling rank who's swept off her feet by the new Yorkist king on the block, Edward IV (Max Irons). When Elizabeth takes her place at court as the Queen of England — and gives a ton of her family members royal titles and marriages — she causes a stir amongst many of Edward's closest allies, including Richard Neville (James Frain), nicknamed The Kingmaker, as well as Edward's conniving brother George (David Oakes). Throughout the War of the Roses, Elizabeth manages to hold onto the throne until Edward is killed, at which point she and her sons go into hiding.

"The White Queen," which splits focus between Elizabeth, mother of future Tudor king Henry VII Margaret Beaufort (Amanda Hale), and Richard Neville's daughter Anne (Faye Marsay), was followed by "The White Princess," continuing the story with Elizabeth Woodville's eldest daughter Elizabeth of York (Jodie Comer) and her tempestuous marriage to Henry VII (Jacob Collins Levy), in 2017. "The Spanish Princess" continued the history even further with a focus on Henry VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon (Charlotte Hope) as a young woman, but if you want to see where it all began, check out "The White Queen."

A decade and a half after the ballet melodrama "Center Stage" hit theaters, Starz's original miniseries "Flesh and Bone," created by Moira Walley-Beckett (who worked on "Breaking Bad"), brought real professional dancers Ethan Stiefel and Sacha Rudetsky back into the fray to create a short show about how difficult it is to make it in the world of ballet. Set in the fictional American Ballet Company (ironically, the same name used to stand in for the real American Ballet Theatre in "Center Stage"), we watch as director Paul Greyson (Ben Daniels) struggles to keep the troupe afloat as his prima ballerina Kiira (Irina Dvorovenko) struggles with both her age and an injury; luckily, new ingenue Claire Robbins (Sarah Hay) may just be the answer to his problems.

With Stiefel producing and choreographing and Rudetsky as a principal dancer in the company (who sleeps with many, many young female dancers), this series will scratch your "Center Stage" itch while showing a much darker picture of ballet as a whole. It's certainly worth streaming on Starz now, even if you just watch the unbelievable dance performances — done by bonafide masters of their craft — and nothing else.

In 2010, Starz introduced its second-ever major drama series — after 2008's "Crash" — with "Spartacus," a retelling of the adventures and fights of the Roman gladiator named Spartacus who has inspired countless films and projects (perhaps most famously, the 1960 film starring Tony Curtis). Across three seasons, we watch as Spartacus (Andy Whitfield in Season 1 and Liam McIntyre in Seasons 2 and 3) leads an uprising of slaves against the oppressive Roman government in Season 1 (subtitled "Blood and Sand"), and in Season 2, "Vengeance," McIntyre's Spartacus encourages gladiators to slay their masters. Season 3, "War of the Damned," keeps McIntyre as Spartacus and watches the aftermath of his two-season uprising as he now has to gather an army and fight Crassus (Simon Merrells), a wealthy Roman with bad intentions. 

"Spartacus" also spawned a prequel season, "Gods of the Arena," which aired between Seasons 1 and 2 — it also marked Whitfield's final turn as Spartacus after the actor died in 2011 due to complications from cancer. If you love huge historical epics, you'll love "Spartacus."