🔫 Hitman & Assassin TV Series • Full Guide & Reviews

Action • Crime • Thriller • Dark Comedy

🔫 5 Best Hitman & Assassin TV Series

Contract killers, spies, and criminals who can't quite quit the life — this list rounds up five of the best hitman-themed TV series out there. Each one comes with a full breakdown: story, cast, trailer, episode count, total runtime, rating, my personal take, and answers to the questions people ask most.

1️⃣ Barry (2018–2023)

• Genre: Dark Comedy, Crime Drama
• Network: HBO
• Creators: Bill Hader & Alec Berg
• Cast: Bill Hader, Sarah Goldberg, Anthony Carrigan, Henry Winkler, Stephen Root
• Seasons / Episodes: 4 seasons, 32 episodes total
• Total Runtime: ~30 min/episode → roughly 16 hours across the whole series

Story

Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) is a depressed, low-rent Midwestern hitman who travels to Los Angeles for a job — and ends up wandering into an acting class. He discovers a genuine passion for performing and tries to build a new life on stage, all while his old handler and the criminal underworld keep pulling him back into contract killing. It starts as a dark comedy and grows steadily darker and more tragic with every season.

⭐ Rating

4.7 / 5 — widely considered one of the best-written shows of its decade, with near-universal critical acclaim across all four seasons.

💬 Personal Take

What gets me about Barry is how it never lets you get comfortable. One scene is genuinely funny, the next is quietly devastating, and by the final season it's one of the bleakest character studies I've watched on TV. Bill Hader's performance carries the whole thing — you feel for Barry even as he does unforgivable things, which is exactly the trap the show wants you in. The final season is a gut punch; go in ready for it.

❓ FAQ

Is Barry a comedy or a drama? Both — it starts as dark comedy and becomes increasingly dramatic and violent as it goes.

Do I need to watch all 4 seasons? Yes — it's a tightly serialized story that builds toward one ending, not an episodic show.

2️⃣ Killing Eve (2018–2022)

• Genre: Spy Thriller, Psychological Drama, Dark Comedy
• Network: BBC America
• Creator: Phoebe Waller-Bridge (based on novellas by Luke Jennings)
• Cast: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw
• Seasons / Episodes: 4 seasons, 32 episodes total
• Total Runtime: ~42-45 min/episode → roughly 23 hours across the whole series

Story

Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) is a bored MI5 desk officer who becomes obsessed with tracking down Villanelle (Jodie Comer), a glamorous, talented, and unpredictable assassin. As Eve is pulled deeper into the hunt, the line between hunter and hunted blurs — the two women become dangerously fixated on each other in a cat-and-mouse game that's equal parts espionage thriller and twisted love story.

⭐ Rating

4.0 / 5 — the first two seasons are excellent; later seasons are more divisive, especially the ending.

💬 Personal Take

Jodie Comer's Villanelle is one of the most magnetic TV characters of the last decade — chaotic, funny, terrifying, sometimes all in the same scene. Season 1 is close to perfect. My honest opinion is the show never quite tops that first run; it stays entertaining, but the writing loses some of its sharpness by seasons 3 and 4, and the finale split audiences hard. Still worth the ride for Comer and Oh's chemistry alone.

❓ FAQ

Is Killing Eve based on a book? Yes, on Luke Jennings' "Codename Villanelle" novellas.

Which season is the best? Most fans agree Season 1 is the strongest.

3️⃣ The Blacklist (2013–2023)

• Genre: Crime Thriller, Mystery
• Network: NBC
• Creator: Jon Bokenkamp
• Cast: James Spader, Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Ryan Eggold, Hisham Tawfiq, Harry Lennix
• Seasons / Episodes: 10 seasons, 218 episodes total
• Total Runtime: ~42 min/episode → roughly 152 hours across the whole series

Story

Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), one of the FBI's most wanted criminals, mysteriously surrenders and offers to help the Bureau take down dangerous fugitives — the "Blacklist" — but only if he works exclusively with a rookie profiler, Elizabeth Keen. Every episode unpacks a new criminal case while a much bigger mystery about Red's true identity and his connection to Liz slowly unfolds across the seasons.

⭐ Rating

4.1 / 5 — a long-running network hit carried almost entirely by James Spader's performance.

💬 Personal Take

This is the one to put on if you want something long, comfortable, and easy to binge in the background — James Spader is that good, honestly he's the entire reason to watch. My honest opinion: the case-of-the-week format gets repetitive by the middle seasons, and 10 seasons is a big commitment, but the central mystery around Reddington's identity is genuinely compelling enough to keep pulling you back in.

❓ FAQ

Do I need to watch all 10 seasons? No — many viewers stop after the first few seasons once the main mystery arc feels resolved for them.

Is Red actually a hitman? He's better described as a master criminal and fixer, though the show is built around a world of contract killers, spies, and fugitives.

4️⃣ Peacemaker (2022–present)

• Genre: Superhero, Action, Dark Comedy
• Network: HBO Max
• Creator: James Gunn
• Cast: John Cena, Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, Steve Agee, Jennifer Holland
• Seasons / Episodes: 2 seasons so far, 16 episodes total (Season 3 in the works)
• Total Runtime: ~50-60 min/episode → roughly 14 hours so far

Story

A spinoff of James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad," Peacemaker follows Christopher Smith (John Cena) — a compellingly vainglorious, morally questionable assassin who genuinely believes he's fighting for peace, "no matter how many men, women, and children he has to kill to get it." Recruited into a covert black-ops team, he's forced to confront his toxic upbringing and his own violent nature while battling a very strange alien threat.

⭐ Rating

4.3 / 5 — surprisingly one of the best-reviewed entries in the DC universe, praised for balancing raunchy comedy with real emotional depth.

💬 Personal Take

I went in expecting a dumb, gory comedy and came out actually invested in Chris Smith's arc — the show is way more heartfelt than the marketing lets on, especially around his relationship with his father. It's loud, crude, and violent, but it earns its emotional beats. John Cena is genuinely great in this role. If you like your hitman shows with a side of absurd humor and a killer soundtrack, this is the one.

❓ FAQ

Do I need to watch The Suicide Squad first? It helps for context, but Peacemaker works fine as a standalone.

Is it appropriate for all ages? No — it's extremely graphic, crude, and violent, strictly for mature audiences.

5️⃣ The Continental: From the World of John Wick (2023)

• Genre: Action, Crime, Neo-Noir
• Network: Peacock
• Cast: Colin Woodell, Mel Gibson, Mishel Prada, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Ayomide Adegun, Ben Robson
• Seasons / Episodes: 1 limited-event season, 3 episodes
• Total Runtime: each episode runs roughly 80-90 minutes → about 4.5 hours total

Story

A John Wick prequel set in 1970s New York, following a young Winston Scott (Colin Woodell) as he's dragged back into the criminal underworld he once fled. When his brother steals something extremely valuable from the Continental hotel — the neutral safe haven for assassins — Winston is forced to navigate a gritty, dangerous path through the hotel's underworld in a bid to eventually seize control of it for himself.

⭐ Rating

3.3 / 5 — solid action and great world-building, but a slower pace than fans of the films expected.

💬 Personal Take

The '70s New York setting and the deep dive into the Continental's lore are the best parts here — it really expands the John Wick universe in a way that feels earned. My honest opinion, though: it moves slower than a John Wick movie, and Colin Woodell's Winston lacks some of the charisma Ian McShane brings to the role in the films. Worth it for Wick fans who want more lore; skippable if you're only in it for nonstop action.

❓ FAQ

Do I need to have seen the John Wick movies first? Not required, but it adds a lot of extra appreciation for the Continental hotel's rules and lore.

Will there be a Season 2? It was released as a self-contained limited event series, with no second season confirmed.

📊 Quick Comparison

Barry

4 seasons · 32 episodes · ~16h total · ⭐ 4.7/5

Killing Eve

4 seasons · 32 episodes · ~23h total · ⭐ 4.0/5

The Blacklist

10 seasons · 218 episodes · ~152h total · ⭐ 4.1/5

Peacemaker

2 seasons · 16 episodes · ~14h total · ⭐ 4.3/5

The Continental

1 season · 3 episodes · ~4.5h total · ⭐ 3.3/5

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💡 Let's Discuss

Which of these hitman series is your favorite?

Did I miss one that deserves a spot on this list?

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