Stan has been busy. From classic blockbusters to high-end British crime shows, the good folks at Australia’s very own streaming platform are constantly striking new distribution deals to bring us top-tier entertainment from all over the globe. They’re pumping a fair amount of dollars into making decent Stan Originals, too, which is great for us couch potatoes (as well as the Australian film and TV industry in general).
We don’t need to sell you on how good Stan is. Because, let’s be honest, you’ve probably already smashed through Yellowstone, Gangs of London, Black Snow, the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy – plus all the action you can get away with on Stan Sport. But if you need a little bit of help finding your next TV fix, we’re here to help.
This is the list of the best shows to watch on Stan Australia in 2026.
Best Shows on Stan
Half Man
After his breakout success with Baby Reindeer, actor and writer Richard Gadd teams up with Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Rocketman) for an equally tough watch. This premium, super intense six-part British drama unpacks the twisted thirty-year relationship between two troubled men who are bonded like brothers.
If you like dark dramas that explore toxic masculinity with plenty of emotional depth and a giant dollop of crime and violence, you’ll enjoy Half Man. Critics have widely praised both Bell and Gadd for their career-best performances.
Verdict: Stream it. It’s got awards season heavyweight contender written all over it.
The Westies
If you like dark and violent gangster dramas, The Westies, a brand-new drama from the co-creator of Narcos and Godfather of Harlem, should be on your watch list.
Starring Academy Award-winner J.K. Simmons and Titus Welliver, it’s a 1980s crime thriller about a brutal real-life Irish-American gang that goes head-to-head with the Italian Mafia in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.
The first two episodes premiered on Stan on July 12, with new episodes dropping weekly on Sundays. Critics so far have been comparing it to Peaky Blinders, Narcos, The Sopranos, and Scorsese’s gangster spectaculars. It’s not necessarily as good as any of those per se, but if you like that gritty crime-boss energy mixed with turf wars and high-stakes criminal negotiations, this will fill the void while you wait for Season 4 of Gangs of London to drop.
Verdict: A must-watch for fans of true gangster-crime epics.
From
Starring Harold Perrineau (Romeo+Juliet, The Matrix Reloaded), this American science-fiction horror has atmospheric tension for days. In a nutshell, it’s about a small town that traps anybody who enters it by day and pits them against terrifying humanoid creatures who descend by night. It’s a cult-favourite that critics and fans are comparing to the early seasons of Lost (the decent ones that actually made sense).
As of 2026, From is in its fourth season, with a fifth and final season already in the works. It has an average 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a bunch of Saturn Award nominations under its belt.
Verdict: It’s Lost meets The Walking Dead. Stream it if you have the stomach for terrifying, unrelenting tension.
The Hunting Wives
This addictive soapy drama (based on the novel by May Cobb) is somehow trashy and chic at the same time. It follows a seemingly naive wife and mother who moves to a close-knit East Texas town with her husband. And, as she befriends a glamorous socialite and gets drawn into her hunting wives clique, she’s thrown into a dark and toxic web of obsession, secrets, and murder.
Starring Brittany Snow, Malin Åkerman, and Dermot Mulroney, it’s basically Yellowstone meets Big Little Lies with plenty of extra steam. Season 1 of The Hunting Wives has an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with season 2 coming to Stan Australia in late 2026.
Verdict: Stream it if you want a soapy guilty pleasure with some pretty graphic sex scenes.
Alone
You’ve probably already heard of this global reality franchise. But in case you haven’t, it basically dumps a bunch of survivalists into the wilderness, leaving them to fend for themselves (and to film their own journey). Whoever lasts the longest wins a cash prize.
The latest season of Alone premiered on Stan on June 18, 2026, and features the first-ever World Championship. Set in the Arctic Circle and with a whopping prize pot of US$500,000 (~AU$720,000), it’s the most savage test of pure grit and survival yet.
Verdict: If you like raw and rugged reality shows about psychological and physical endurance, it’s worth a watch.
Sunny Nights
Will Forte (SNL, Last Man on Earth, The Four Seasons) and D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place) star in this Stan Original dark crime-comedy about American siblings who accidentally stumble into Sydney’s brutal criminal underworld while trying to build a spray tan empire. NRL legend Willie Mason also makes his acting debut as a troubled thug with a good heart underneath several layers of muscle, pain, and general toughness. He’s pretty good, too, to be fair.
Supported by Screen Australia, Sunny Nights strikes a decent balance between being darkly funny and horribly violent. Forte and Carden are both great in it, and you can’t help but root for the characters, although they’re idiotic and incredibly selfish at times. With a 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes since its debut on Boxing Day 2025, it’s a bingeable watch you can get through in a weekend.
Verdict: Dark, funny, violent, and just the right amount of ridiculous. I finished it in a day and a half.
The Killings at Parrish Station
Imagine True Detective meets The X-Files set in the Australian outback. Starring Mia Wasikowska and Xavier Samuel (and Aussie acting royalty Heather Mitchell and Robert Taylor as their older versions), this occult crime thriller follows a gruesome homicide investigation spanning four decades. It’s as much about the impact the case had on the detectives as it is about solving the mystery itself.
The Killings at Parrish Station is inspired by a real-life Russian cold case (the Dyatlov Pass incident, if you fancy losing an evening down a Google rabbit hole) and combines cold-case intrigue with real-time investigation. It’s well-paced, strange at times, and full of gruesome imagery. Essentially, it’s a time-jumping cosmic murder mystery that will keep you guessing.
Fair warning: you need to concentrate. Because if you get distracted by your phone, as I did, you will need to rewind to know what’s going on.
Verdict: An ambitious Aussie-made thriller worth watching.